Create and refine standards

Set technology standards(covered previously in this chapter)

Clearly document standards by area, with rationale

Refine iteratively with feedback from IT team

Introduce standard setting process, and benefits with IT steering committee

Review IT standards by area with SC

Refine standards with feedback from business units

Get cover page signoff from IT steering committee members

Get final IT team signoff on new standards

Introduce standards to finance department (Cap approval) and purchasing department

Change purchasing/ approval process to include IT approval for technology related Capex or other purchases

Route technology purchasing through IT department where possible

Implement standards

Analyze/

recommend and Steady state

approve new management

purchases

Locate all points of entry for

procurement of new technology in the organization

For all new procurement (through IT department or other department)

Assess procurement requests

Update standards if needed

Document exceptions to standards where business case can be made

Assess current technology platform

Ongoing management

Quarterly (or more frequent) review and update of standards

Should be part of the IT department operating calendar

Reiterate overall process of documentation, review and update

Update technology platform

Assess technology groups in existing technology platform

Analyze adherence to standards

Identify, document and understand implications of previous standard exceptions

Existing technology lifecycle analysis

Retire/reacquire end-of-lifecycle assets

Develop plan for migrating existing platform to homogeneous environment

Keep IT steering committee apprised of plan and progress

Exhibit 17.5 Process for Determining and Setting Standards by Area

be set and soliciting input. Then, send an e-mail identifying the particular standard with a discussion addressing the point raised in the first round of discussions. People like to be asked their opinions but oftentimes become jaded when it appears that their opinions were totally ignored. If the standard does not incorporate the opinion, a discussion attached to the standard should raise the issue and identify why it was not adopted.

Standards limit creativity and, as such, technical people often abhor standards. Perhaps even the same person who wrote the original standard, when faced with a different situation, might opt to ignore the standard. But the standard cannot be ignored. It must either be applied or modified.

For example, you are attempting to create an integrated document management system (DMS) throughout your enterprise. Assume you set a standard for your system, DMS-A. All of your offices except one purchased DMS-A, and you begin to integrate the solutions. One office, however, purchased DMS-B because they believed DMS-B was a better solution. It provided some additional functionality and fit better into their environment. This refusal to follow standards is sure to cause problems. First, even if DMS-A and DMS-B will integrate, that integration will be harder than simply integrating the same system worldwide. Second, your central project team, and any centralized support that may be required, must now learn two systems, DMS-A and DMS-B. Third, any future developments that you may consider must now also consider and test against each of the two DMSs. You have increased the complexity of your network, increased the cost of maintaining your systems, and increased the cost and complexity of future projects by failing to enforce the standard.

Operations

The road to good intentions is paved with hell.

-Donald E.Walker, Never Try to Teach a Pig to Sing

IT operations refers to the utility services provided by the IT department. IT operations generally covers management of hardware, network, network security, enterprise security, communications, user administration, and e-mail systems.

Approaches for effectively managing the operations area by implementing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the most common, repetitive tasks are provided. This section also covers techniques for improving quality through process improvement and root cause analysis for diagnosing system problems. Additionally, it covers methods for calculating appropriate staffing levels for the operations areas.

The operations unit most often receives only negative attention when service outages occur, and rarely receives positive recognition. The techniques

discussed in this section can help raise the visibility, service level, and positive feedback in the organization.

Scope of Operations

Operations incorporates the following processes and areas as shown in Exhibit 17.6:

Problem management (help desk)

LAN/WAN infrastructure and services management

Systems and network security management

Systems administration (patches, upgrades, tuning)

E-mail administration

User login and profile management.

Exhibit 17.6 IT Operations