Establish Strategic Management Team

Establish the Strategy Team to perform the strategic planning activities.

Introduction

This activity establishes the roles for those that will have key responsibilities to perform the strategic planning activities: the HS Agency Decision Makers, the IT Decision Makers, and the Strategy Team. Having the right individuals involved is necessary to establish a meaningful IT strategy and the commitment to implement it. 

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Activities

Purpose:

The purpose of this activity is to create and authorize the Strategy Team to conduct the HS IT strategic planning activities. The team structure and other key stakeholders, such as HS Agency Decision Makers and IT Decision Makers, are also defined.

Description:

Proper makeup of the Strategy Team is essential to strategic planning activities. The first step is to form the team and ensure that they have the necessary skills, resources, and authority to meet their responsibilities to collect information and analyze the situation. Refer to the Guidelines for Forming the Strategy Team for additional insight.

The IT Division has ultimate ownership of the HS IT Strategic Plan. Both the IT Division and HS Agency Decision Makers must provide resources and support for that plan and the actions it specifies. Some items to consider when identifying those individuals to represent the HS Agency and IT Decision Makers are:

• They should represent the HS Agency's program leadership team (e.g., the executive director or commissioner).
• They have ultimate decision authority and responsibility for overseeing the definition and use of IT within the HS Agency.
• They oversee the Strategy Project, provide resources to that project, and review status

• The following types of individuals can be considered:

  • Advocate: Someone who wants change to take place.
  • Sponsors: Someone who has the power to sanction the change in the organization.
  • Change Agent: Someone who has the authority to effect the change.
  • Change Target: The individual whose behavior will be modified.
• These individuals are "visionaries" because they are focused on what could be and how to apply technology to get there. They understand the Enterprise's current difficulties but are focused on new possibilities rather than fixing existing problems.
• They are willing to work as a change agent or champion to help the HS Agency progress through the transition; these individuals understand the organization's culture. These individuals are responsible for managing any change within the business that the IT strategy may instigate, balancing business and technological change influences.
• These individual should be representative of the affected community, such as HS Agency programs, end-users, clients, caseworkers, advocacy groups, and the IT Division itself.
• They represent the major organizational entities of the IT Division.
• As a group, they understand the technology life-cycle issues that the IT Division must address.
• They have insight into IT Division-specific strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities for improvement.
• They have a good understanding of the IT development, deployment, and technical operations processes.

The Strategy Team is composed of a core team with an individual delegated as the Team Lead. In addition to this central set of individuals, an extended team of experts can be assigned, as needed.

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