Organizational+Plan

1. List and explain the four main components of a technology plan. (25 points)17, what about budget, ways of measuring… this is more of the organizational plan VISION: Where does the department want to be in the future and what is the perspective. It is a long term view. It is a source of inspiration. It is generally short and concise statement consists of one or two sentences. MISSION: A statement that guides the focus of the plan and activities of the department. It provides an answer to “what do we do?”. It provides a path to realize the vision with its values. GOALS: Long range outcomes that serve the mission of the department. They should add value to business and they shouldn’t be very short term and temporary. OBJECTIVES: Measurable, attainable, specific and time based activities that will help obtain our goals. They should be clear and definitive. All of the components of technology plan must be aligned with organizational plan.

**Mission:** For an IT department, its **mission** describes the purpose for which it exists within the organization. It defines the opportunities and needs that the department should address in order to be aligned with the mission of the organization. The language should be motivational and short enough to be easily repeatable.

**Vision:** The IT department’s **vision** describes what it will do in the future to fulfill its mission. It focuses on “tomorrow”. It describes the “business” of the department. It is intended to be a reminder to everyone - owners, employees, board members, customer and other stakeholders- of what the department is going to achieve.

**Goals:** An IT department uses **goals** to describe specific targets that will be achieved with the Mission and Vision in mind. In class it was suggested that 4-5 goals is an appropriate number for a 5-year mission/vision.

**Objectives:** The objectives are the strategies the IT department uses to support its approach to achieving its goals. The IT department must build objectives based on its organization’s goals. Each department within an organization may have the same or similar objectives but will use department-specific and specialized tasks to meet the objectives. The organization should benefit from the achievement of these objectives as they relate back to the mission and vision of the IT department and the organization.

**Organizational Strategic Plan **
 * 1) Identify the purpose-Describe why your company’s mission is what it is. Top people should make the mission.
 * 2) Describe how you will meet these goals in order to follow through with the mission. Goals are what you need to accomplish.
 * 3) Show approaches to reach goals. These are modified as the process of the plan is implemented.
 * 4) Place an action plan for each strategy. Each department has a function. The top managers decide on who works the plan.
 * 5) You must update the plan by monitoring it. You must reflect and check in to what you’re doing and make sure that the focus is there and revise the plan where needed.

 · Create a strategic plan for technology  o Develop an IT Strategy (1.4)  o Determine who your team members are – team members may or may not be people on your staff. Find out their skill sets and backgrounds. Pg 15  o Determine how important technology is to your organization  o Technology can be used differently from one place to another.  § Needs analysis (*) - Determine customers and their needs.  · Mission / vision  · Prioritization  o Staffing  o Operations  o Infrastructure  o Systems