IT Strategy and Tactical Planning
Strategic plans align the goals and business direction to the technology direction and investment. Not all planned items are big investments, but many include directional goals for employees and managers to be more effective at using what is already in place.
Tactical plans execute projects within the overall strategic plan. These are the deployments, planned retirements, system tune ups, business process improvements and changeovers needed to move the business forward. The efforts must take place in the larger framework of the strategic IT direction and overall business plans in order to evaluate them fairly.
Critical elements of these plans cover:
Technology plans: List of technologies supporting the business processes; where they are deployed where and how they will evolve over time.
Capital plans: Planned upgrades and depreciation schedules for IT purchases. Many companies waste cash through incorrect accounting of equipment and do not budget for eventual replacement, leading to a cycle of crash-and-burn upgrade projects.
Expense plans: Clear cost accounting for IT operational expenses. Over seventy percent of IT budgets can be consumed by operations. Expense plans are critical yardsticks for the business to measure and improve itself.
Activity plans: Just as IT expenses consume budgets, talented people can lose their time in operational work, hamstringing critical new projects. An activity plan, budgeting people's time, can keep staff on track to completion.
Training plans: Keeping people up-to-date is an often overlooked or assumed expense.
