Establish Strategic Foundations
Establish the IT Division's mission, vision, and guiding principles, aligned with those of the HS Agency and other organizations that the IT Division directly supports.
| Introduction |
| Activities |
Introduction
Strategic planning provides a framework for action that allows an organization to determine the direction for the future. Because the IT Division's primary function is to support the HS Agency, the IT Division must collaborate with the HS Agency to ensure that the IT Division's strategic goals align with the HS Agency-wide priorities. Aligning the IT Division's strategic efforts with the HS Agency provides a clear picture of where the HS Agency's programs and technology intersect with each other.
During these activities, the Strategy Team reviews the HS Agency's mission statement, vision statement, and guiding principles. This information helps create the baseline of the IT Division's mission statement, vision statement, and guiding principles. These activities assume that the strategic foundation for the HS Agency is established. If the HS Agency's current strategic foundations are not available, then they may also be created or updated. The Strategy Team drafts the IT Division's mission statement, vision statement, and guiding principles. If these already exist, then they are reviewed in light of the current situation, and statements are adjusted as appropriate. These foundations characterize the purpose and ultimate aims of the IT Division. They broadly state desired outcomes against which progress can be gauged and the ethical standards by which the IT Division makes decisions and conducts activities. These underlie the HS IT Strategic Plan.
Activities
To establish the strategic foundations, the Strategy Team will perform the following actions:
1. Review the HS Agency's Vision Statement, Mission Statement, Goals, and Subgoals
Purpose:
The purpose of this activity is for the Strategy Team to review and understand the HS Agency-level strategic elements which, in turn, provide the context for the HS IT Division's Strategic Plan. This information will help the Strategy Team ensure that the IT Division strategy aligns with the strategic elements of the organizations it supports.
Description:
The HS Agency's vision statement should be a representation of the desired future state. The vision statement should inspire action and help shape the future. It should be a realistic, credible, and attractive description of the future of the organization. A vision statement is an idea so energizing that it jump-starts the future. Most importantly, it is a great hope in common....meaningful to and owned by all levels within the organization. Refer to the Strategic Plan Template for an example of an HS Agency's vision statements.
The HS Agency's mission statement describes the organization's basic purpose, explains what services will be provided, identifies the customer, and explains how the services will be provided. The mission statement should be guided from a high level. Refer to the Strategic Plan Template for examples of an HS Agency's mission statements.
The HS Agency goals define how the organization is going to achieve its vision by charting a direction but not specifying how to get there. Goals support the vision and mission statements and should complement, not conflict, with each other. Once goals are established, subgoals can be defined. Subgoals are specific targets for improved performance. Subgoals represent milestones or intermediate achievements necessary to realize the desired outcomes from the HS Agency perspective. Refer to the Strategic Plan Template for examples of an HS Agency's goals and subgoals.
2. Develop the HS IT Vision Statement
Purpose:
The purpose of this activity is to develop and document an initial version of the HS IT Division's vision statement. A well-articulated and understood vision helps establish the association between the technology upon which the HS Agency depends and the services that the HS IT Division provides.
Description:
The Strategy Team begins this activity by reviewing the HS Agency's vision statement. Through facilitated sessions, the Strategy Team assists the stakeholders (e.g., IT Decision Makers and HS Agency Decision Makers) envision the future for the IT Division and use of its technology products. An example of how to conduct a facilitated vision workshop is provided as a resource. The Strategy Team captures areas of agreement as well as different ideas that emerge. Brainstorming is another effective tool for generating the vision. Guidelines on establishing the vision statements are as follows:
- The vision is an idealized view of a desirable and potentially achievable future position -- where the IT Division would like to be.
- A vision statement serves as a guiding theme for the IT Division, expressing the nature of its business and the intent for its future.
- The vision should be compelling so that individuals within and outside the IT Division can identify with it.
- The vision describes what IT Division and upper-level management want to achieve, often referring to the medium- to long-term outlook and often expressed as a set of goals.
- The vision can be considered an extension of the HS Agency vision and accompanying strategies. It must be in logical agreement with where the HS Agency or other key stakeholders are going.
- The vision should represent a challenge for the IT Division, but it should be achievable.
- The vision should represent the way technology can be used to support the future business, how that technology will be developed and deployed, and its support.
Rationale or assumptions made in regard to establishing the vision statements should be captured and held within the Strategy Team as working notes. The rationale may be required to provide insight into the vision. Based on the information captured during the facilitated sessions, the Strategy Team documents the IT Division's initial vision statement. The vision is expected to put demands on both the current and emerging technology and presents opportunities for the HS Agency. Examples of an IT Division's Vision are provided in the Strategic Plan Template.
3. Develop the HS IT Division's Mission Statements
Purpose:
The purpose of this activity is to develop and document an initial version of the HS IT Division's mission statement. A well-articulated and understood mission makes planning easier and outcomes more predictable.
Description:
The Strategy Team begins this activity by reviewing the HS Agency's mission statement. The mission statement needs to clearly and concisely define the IT Division's basic purpose, identify the customers, and explain how the services will be provided. Through facilitated sessions, the Strategy Team leads other stakeholders, such as the IT Division Decision Makers and the HS Agency Decision Makers, through the process of discussing the IT Division's business, development and operation needs. During the course of discussion and debate, areas of consensus and differences become apparent; the Strategy Team captures areas of agreement as well as different ideas that emerge. The Strategy Team guides the team to reach consensus on the issues. Leading the stakeholders through brainstorming activities is another effective tool for generating ideas and consensus. Guidelines on how to establish the mission statements are as follows:
- The mission statements express the primary business of the IT Division, its purpose and reason for being, without which it loses its rationale for existing.
- Consider the essential function that the IT Division exists to fulfill. This can be derived from the HS IT strategic capabilities and the HS strategic IT needs, as well as a review of obligations and relationships.
- The purpose addressed in the mission statements should clearly identify the organization being supported and the nature of that support (e.g., the HS Agency and the IT provided).
- The mission statements represent the IT Division's broadest goal, describing general products, services, and HS Agency needs.
- The mission statements should include areas that the IT Division is currently pursuing and plans to pursue in the future. There is always the possibility that actions currently under way may be retired.
- The mission statements should be succinct and be no longer than a few sentences.
- The mission statements may describe the nature of the relationship of all entities the HS IT Division serves or with which it interfaces, such as major customers or providers of the IT Division's products and services.
- The mission statements should support the HS Agency's mission, vision, and strategies, as well as those of other organizations the IT Division is obligated to support.
- The mission statements should support the unique aspects of the HS IT Division's purpose.
- The mission statements must be compatible with any constraints, such as statutes or regulations.
- The mission statements should consider the many life-cycle aspects of the IT Division's purpose, such as those affecting the HS Agency business (HS services), the development and deployment of technology- based solutions (the development processes), and the operational support of those solutions once fielded (technical operations).
Rationale or assumptions made in regard to establishing the mission statements should be captured and held within the Strategy Team as working notes. The rationale may be required to provide insight into the mission. Based on the information captured during the facilitated sessions, the Strategy Team documents the IT Division's mission statement. Examples of an IT Division's mission are provided in the Strategic Plan Template.
4. Develop the HS IT Guiding Principles
Purpose:
The purpose of this activity is to develop and document an initial version of the HS IT Division's guiding principles. These principles help guide the decision making within the Division and the relationships between the IT Division and other HS Agency entities. In addition, these principles help establish the technical position that the IT Division will assume (for example, how aggressive the IT Division will be on investigating and pursuing emerging technologies or its tendency to be more risk adverse.) Strategies that are to be developed can be evaluated against these guiding principles to determine whether they represent the values inherent in the principles.
Description:
IT Division's guiding principles need to address both the technology aspects and the organizational culture aspects of the IT Division. The guiding principles provide a structure for communicating what is important to the individuals within the Division to guide their actions.
The cultural principles are the beliefs that the IT Division's members hold in common and put into practice. Through facilitated sessions, the Strategy Team discusses with the stakeholders (representative of all individuals in the Division - from executive management to staff) the basic beliefs that they share as an organization.
The technology guiding principles establish the foundations for technology decisions and risk taking by the IT Division. These principles are the basis for analyzing trade-offs to the adoption of standards upon which the IT Division's systems are based. Through facilitated sessions, the Strategy Team discusses characteristics of the technology produced and technology advances that make the products better. The CIO, testers, architects, and developers participate in this session. Guidelines on how to establish the guiding principles are as follows:
- The guiding principles express the fundamental belief, shared values, and management style of the IT Division. These values represent what individuals in the IT Division collectively believe.
- Guiding principles can articulate the ethical standards by which the IT Division makes decisions and conducts activities. They establish the boundaries of behavior. They affect the ability of the organization to carry out its mission.
- Guiding principles should not make broad, sweeping generalizations. They should make it possible to challenge the assumptions behind each principle. This is how new principles can be discovered and adopted as the IT Division's situation changes.
- The guiding principles should be simple and readily understandable by the IT Division and HS Agency management and staff.
- The guiding principles should conform to the HS Agency and IT Division's mission and internal and external environments, such as regulatory or technology environments within which the HS Agency and IT Division are expected to operate.
- The guiding principles will be stable for the duration of the Strategic Plan and are unlikely to change significantly.
- The guiding principles should address a significant concern of the HS Agency business, development, or operations. They may be related to a critical capability.
- It is not necessary to devise a long list of principles; a few well-chosen principles are more beneficial.
Rationale or assumptions made in regard to establishing the guiding principles should be captured and held within the Strategy Team as working notes. The rationale may be needed to provide insight into the principles with stakeholders. The Strategy Team documents the IT Division's guiding principles. Examples of an IT Division's guiding principles are provided in the Strategic Plan Template.