Analyze the Situation
Establish a clear understanding of the current internal and external environments of the State HS Agency and the factors that influence the HS IT Division's technology decisions.
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- Descriptions of the
Current Situation
(External, Internal, 
Introduction
Because the HS IT Division supports the HS Agency, the Strategy Team must understand the HS Agency's ever-changing environment. The scanning activities are the first steps in understanding the complete situation and planning for the future. The scanning activities assume a broad view. The Strategy Team investigates both the IT Division and its immediate obligations and responsibilities and also the HS Agency's internal and external stakeholders (such as the Federal Agencies, technology vendors, and other entities) that influence the HS Agency. During the scanning process, the Strategy Team looks at the organization through "the eyes" of the internal and external stakeholders. Using this approach, the team can identify areas of strengths or weakness, threats that might hold the IT Division back, and opportunities for moving the IT Division forward. This information allows the IT Division to position itself for changes originating from many environments.
The following section can show examples for application of this information for the HS Agency you choose.
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Activities
Part of strategic planning, thinking, and management is an awareness of resources and an eye to the future environment, so that an organization can successfully respond to changes in the environment.
The following main activities are performed:
- Scan HS Agency External Environment - Identify and analyze the conditions outside the HS Agency that might require it to adapt or change its course in some way. These changes may have technology implications. Investigate how the HS Agency's technology must support Federal requirements, State requirements, or other external requirements.
- Scan HS Agency Internal Environment - Identify and analyze the conditions inside the HS Agency that may cause it to adapt or change its course in some way. Investigate how the HS Agency's technology is currently supported or is planned to support HS Agency requirements. Include the influence of other applicable internal requirements, such as the HS Agency's mission and understanding of its values and principles.
- Scan HS IT Division Environment - Identify and analyze the responsibilities and obligations of the HS IT Division, including an understanding of the current technology base and its qualities.
As these activities are performed, you should collect and analyze lessons learned, and provide them as feedback to improve the process.
Roles and Responsibilities
The key roles and their responsibilities are as follows:
- HS Agency Decision Makers - They review and use the outcomes of the analysis as the basis of HS Agency-wide business decisions.
- IT Decision Makers - They review and use the analysis as the basis for business decisions regarding implementation and maintenance of IT.
- Strategy Team - They are responsible for performing these activities. They collect and analyze information and present it to the HS Agency and IT Decision Makers.
- Other Key Stakeholders - These are other key individuals or groups, such as case managers, HS Agency administrators, the State CIO, the State Legislature, and Federal Agencies, that fund programs and related information systems, advocacy groups, IT users, or others (e.g., vendors) that may contribute insight into the current situation.
Artifacts
The following information is used or produced by these activities. Templates, examples, and checklists for identifying and documenting items are available. Consider these Sources of Strategic Information, if needed.
- External Conditions - These are input to the activities, forming the basis of the understanding of the world outside the HS Agency. These items may indicate current conditions as well as trends that may affect the HS Agency and how it may choose to provide future services (e.g., vendor product plans or e-government initiatives). The Strategy Team is looking for items that indicate the current conditions and likely changes that can affect how the HS Agency will define and deliver HS services. This includes looking at HS Agency partners and other external information systems with which the HS Agency may interoperate.
- Internal Conditions - These are input to the activities, forming the basis of understanding about the world inside the HS Agency.
- HS IT Conditions - These are input to the activities, forming the basis of understanding about how the IT Division operates, as well as data about the inventory of IT assets, including plans for their update. These inputs also include the various HS Agency models (e.g., process or logical data models) and plans (e.g., current system development or upgrade plans). These conditions are reviewed and their meaning interpreted by these activities.
- Descriptions of the Current Situation This summarizes the most important characteristics of the current environment and IT conditions. It identifies trends, significant forces, and other factors about the state of the current situation and serves as a building block for the other strategic planning activities.
- IT Baseline and Assessment This is an output containing the summary description of the current IT assets and an assessment of their qualities.
- Activity Status - The status of these activities is periodically collected and provided to the Strategy Team Lead to assess progress against the Strategy Project Plan.
- Strategy Project Plan - This plan is used to establish the management structure for these activities.
- Strategic Foundations - This is used to guide establishing the scope and context for these activities.