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Planning Phase: | Choosing the Best IM/IT Investments |
Tracking & Oversight: | Manage the Investments by Monitoring for Results |
Evaluation Phase: | Learn From the Process |
Questionnaire |
The goal of the planning phase is to assess and organize current and proposed IM/IT projects and then create a portfolio of IM/IT projects. In doing so, this phase helps ensure that the organization:
A critical element of this phase is that a group of senior executives makes project selection and prioritization decisions based on a consistent set of decision criteria that compare costs, benefits, risks, and potential returns of the various IM/IT projects.
Once the IM/IT projects have been selected, senior executives periodically assess the progress of the projects against their projected cost, scheduled milestones, and expected mission benefits. The type and frequency of the reviews associated with this monitoring activity are usually based on the analysis of risk, complexity, and cost that went into selecting the project and that are performed at critical project milestones. If a project is late, over cost, or not meeting performance expectations, senior executives decide whether it should be continued, modified, or cancelled.
The evaluation phase provides a mechanism for constantly improving the organization's IM/IT investment process. The goal of this phase is to measure, analyze, and record results, based on the data collected throughout each phase. Senior executives assess the degree to which each project met its planned cost and schedule goals and fulfilled its projected contribution to the organization's mission. The primary tool in this phase is the post-implementation review (PIR), which should be conducted once a project has been completed. PIRs help senior managers assess whether a project's proposed benefits were achieved and refine the IM/IT selection criteria.
This is an assessment of the investment management processes that the organization is following to plan IM/IT investments, control and monitor progress of these investments, and evaluate final results. The central question to be answered is:
"Does the organization have defined, documented processes for planning, selecting, controlling, and evaluating its IM/IT investments?"
The goal in assessing an organization's processes is to identify to what extent the organization has a structure in place for managing and evaluating IM/IT investments.
An important point to remember when making an assessment of existing processes is that the evaluation should be focused solely on the organization's policies, practices, and procedures, not on actual decisions. Having institutionalized management processes, honed to work in the culture of the organization, is critical to producing consistently good results. The investment processes should accurately reflect the way the organization actually functions and makes decisions.
An IM/IT investment process cannot operate without accurate, reliable, and up-to-date data on project costs, benefits, and risks. It is the basis for informed decision-making. In addition, documentation of management decisions is essential to begin to assemble a track record of results. Evaluating the data involved in the IM/IT investment management process requires evaluating two different types of data:
All projects (proposed, under development, operational, etc.) should have complete and accurate project information – cost and benefit data, risk assessments, links to business/program goals and objectives, and performance measures, as well as up-to-date project-specific data, including current costs, implementation plans, staffing plans, and performance levels. In addition, the organization should have qualitative and quantitative project requirements and decision criteria in place to help screen IM/IT projects, assess and rank projects, and control and evaluate the projects as they move through the various phases of their life cycle.
All management actions and decisions that are made should be documented and maintained. Moreover, some decisions require that additional information be produced. For instance, after a project is selected, project-specific review schedules and risk mitigation plans should be developed.
One of the most important goals of this guide is enabling evaluators to assess the effectiveness of the organization's IM/IT investment process and the extent to which it is contributing to the improved mission performance of the organization. After evaluating the processes that the organization uses to plan, monitor, and evaluate IM/IT investments and the data that are used to make decisions evaluators will be in a much better position to reach conclusions about the specific decisions that the organization is making. The central focus of analysis is on whether management decisions and actions are being taken using the investment control processes and requisite project data.
The IM/IT investment portfolio should represent a mixture of those projects that best meet the mission needs of the organization. Projects in the portfolio should be consistently monitored and decisions should be made at key milestones to ensure that the project is continuing to have its expected business or programmatic impact with a focus on minimizing risk and maximizing return. Completed projects are evaluated to compare actual performance levels to estimated levels and to feed lessons learned back into the Planning phases.