There are three groups involved with the Fiduciary Management of IT (Governance). The first is Senior Business Management and they have become more active in the Asset Development phases of IT. They have been mainly absent from Asset Conservancy, not because they want to, but because the information they require is not available. For Conservancy issues they need information that relates to the business activities associated with Service Delivery.
The second group is Senior IT Management. They have been more involved in the Conservancy activities, but in recent years they have been neutralized. The complexity of the computing envelope along with diminished Capacity Management skills sets have reduced “managed capacity” to one of system replacement. In the past years this was acceptable, but the practice is no longer cost effective and needs to be changed.
The final group is the IT Practitioner. This group has declined in general Capacity Management skills (almost non-existent) due to increased solution complexity and the lack of commitment to the process. The devolution of traditional Capacity Management tools to those of a monitor has further reduced this group (in the context of Conservancy) to a glorified help desk staff reacting when a system summons (alerts) them.
For most organizations, the IT Governance function will be carried out with just Senior Business and IT Management. In reality, the third group (IT Practitioner) should be an active participant in a guest role to the governance panel. The reason is they do not participate is they normally do not have the business information needed to assist in the governance process.
Inputs
The fiduciaries are concerned with five areas in the governance process.
The Architecture inputs are related to the business needs of today and in the future. The concerns could be related to new standards or regulations that are required by the business. For some industries, the areas of technology are rapidly changing and a business must likewise do so in order to remain competitive.
The Capital inputs are the most obvious and well known and no explanation is needed.
The Stakeholder inputs are necessary for a balanced governance process. Each have their concerns and constituents that must be considered in the governance process.
The Business Operations and Business Strategy inputs must balance the needs, growth and customer well being for the business.
Focus
The governance process needs to focus on five business related areas in the context of the IT.
No one area is more important than another and all five areas must be considered equally for each decision in the governance process. These areas are weighed and considered for each issue discussed by the governance panel.
Development Measures
As part of the governance process, it is necessary to evaluate Asset Development in the context of key performance measures. These measures fit into the following groups:
The Development Performance Measures are used to govern a development process. Singularly they will convey governance information, but they are most effective when used together with the others for maximum decision impact.
The Resource Measures are predominately cost based measures used determine the effectiveness of expenditures in relationship to the goals achieved. The Management Measures are more related to how the organizational assets are used to achieve desired solution. The final Communication Measures are a gauge of how well the solution(s) is progressing on its way to implementation.
Conservancy Measures
The Conservancy Performance Measures are used to govern Service Delivery to the business. Like the Development Performance Measures, when used collectively with the other measure they will provide for a maximum impact.
The Resource Measures are predominately cost based measures used to determine the effectiveness of expenditures in relationship to the value of Service Delivery to the business. The Management Measures are more related to how Service Delivery resources are being used for the good of the business. The final Communication Measures are a gauge of how well the IT operations is providing Service Delivery.
Business Measures
The final area of consideration in governance is measuring the effect of IT operations on the business itself. These measures determine whether the solutions and the related Service Delivery are meeting the needs and concerns of the business.
All three groups of measures have the same basic considerations. Depending on the group, the evaluation process would have difference measures and considerations. While the cost element might initially seem the most important, operational and strategic decisions can take priority when needed.
The Business Process measures are related to the internal processes of the business. These processes could be streamlined methods for handling internal information, automation of human tasks, or some other business related process.
The Business Activity measures are not directly related to the business processes themselves, but rather what action the business process is to achieve. The measures and evaluation is more of “what” is done rather than “how” it was done.
The final set of measures deal with the customer. Enough said.
