What's striking about baseline assessment work is that it usually reveals issues that the organization already is aware of intuitively - such as a need to speed process redesign. However, what were once only hunches about the environment can now be supported by hard data.
Step 3: Target Definition The target definition phase is designed to identify the new IT projects that must be staffed and funded down the road. Start by asking the management team (either in a workshop or an interview setting) to paint its vision for the future deployment of IT within the enterprise.
For example, the Metro Group, one of the largest trading and retail groups in the world with more than 2300 stores across 28 countries, envisioned what it calls a "store of the future". Making that happen called for exploiting RFID technology to track products through their entire lifecycle - from production to the shelves to the sale. RFID-tagged items would be placed on pallets and scanned upon leaving the warehouse; shipping data would be sent to the store manager for review; upon receipt at the store the pallets would be scanned again, and any discrepancies would immediately generate a report. Anything missing or damaged could be replaced through a follow-up order. RFID-equipped shopping carts would be used to monitor customer length of stay and average purchase. Item replenishment would be triggered by the system when low volume is indicated. Misplaced items would be flagged for restocking.
Clearly, this vision will require many IT initiatives: from RFID vendor selection to new order processing and inventory control applications. But this exercise helps ensure that all those IT initiatives are targeted to strategic business goals.
Step 4: Gap Analysis A gap analysis is required to compare the baseline with the target and identify what's missing. For example, besides the RFID selection and new inventory applications, the Metro Group also needed to identify projects to address skill gaps, and to process redesign needs and a whole host of standards and best-practice-based initiatives needed to help it bridge the gap between its current and future IT environments. It's not unusual for this work to spawn 20 to 30 new IT initiatives.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.