Consolidate and Publish Plan

Prioritize which initiatives are essential to the goals and reach consensus on the IT Division's Strategic Plan.

	- Descriptions of the Current Situation - IT Baseline and Assessment - IT Division Goals, Sub-goals, Measures, Critical Factors - HS IT Initiatives - Strategic Foundations - Strategy Project Plan
Prioritize Initiatives Coordinate and Publish		-Prioritized Initiatives - HS IT Strategic Plan - Activity Status
	- HS Agency Decision Makers - IT Decision Makers - Strategy Team - Architecture Team - IT Evolution Management Team - Other Key Stakeholders

Introduction

Once the initiatives are determined, the Strategy Team creates a framework for prioritizing initiatives and relating them to the IT Division's goals. Prioritizing initiatives allows the HS Agency Decision Makers and the IT Division Decision Makers to focus their attention and resources on initiatives essential to the IT Division.

Next, the Strategy Team creates the strategic plan and circulates it among the key stakeholders (IT Decision Makers and the HS Agency Decision makers) for comments. The Strategy Team then incorporates comments and publishes the plan.

Once the HS IT Strategic Plan is ready to be published, all those with an interest in the It Division's Strategic Plan should receive an orientation. This includes all those in the HS IT Division, as well as those in the HS Agency or other IT Divisions, as needed.

The following section can show examples for application of this information for the HS Agency you choose.

TANF Example: Welfare Reform has provided States with an opportunity to develop and implement creative approaches to assist recipients achieve self-sufficiency. As a result there is an increased demand on the IT initiatives that support the goals of the HS Agency. Information systems must support expanded set of application in three main areas, initial assessment, including eligibility determination and case management; service planning; and program oversight. When assisting families achieve and maintain self-sufficiency the HS Agency is more effective if the HS Agency's IT system address the following issues:

Collect information needed to identify resources, such as service providers, who can assist in moving clients to self-sufficiency

Collect new non-financial information, such as compliance with immigration requirements, felon status, domestic violence/mental health, dependents' school attendance, probation status, and substance abuse

Collect information necessary to determine whether appropriate progress is being made by individual clients and staff

Collect important information necessary to assess program outcomes

CSE Example: The significant changes in welfare reform in the recent years has expanded the requirements and approaches to implement creative approaches to maximize the collections of support payments for those in need. The collection opportunities made available as a result of welfare reform changes allows the States to interface and match information with many data sources across the nation. Current systems must have the flexibility to match data or share data across many enterprises to locate absent parents, to collect support payments, as well as many other technology needs. Information systems must support an expanded set of applications in several broad areas: case management, including case initiation; locating absent parents, establishment of paternity, tax intercepts, licensure, as well as program oversight. When the technology aligns with the agency goals, the Child Support Enforcement organization is more effective in:

Collect information needed to identify resources, such as non-custodial parents, absent parents, who can assist in moving clients to self-sufficiency

Collect new non-financial information, such as compliance with support orders, paternity establishment, referrals from other agencies, interface with court systems.

Collect financial resource data

Collect information necessary to assess program outcomes and successes.

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Activities

To formulate the HS IT Strategic Plan, perform the following activities:

Prioritize Initiatives. During this activity, the Strategy Team prioritizes the initiatives by identifying the initiatives they deem most critical to the IT Division's goals.
Coordinate and Publish. Based on the information gathered during the strategic planning process, the Strategy Team completes the first draft of the Strategic Plan. The Strategy Team circulates the strategic plan among key stakeholders (IT Division Decision Makers and HS Agency Decision Makers. Once the key stakeholders' comments have been incorporated into the IT Division's strategic plan the Strategy Team increases awareness of the plan and promotes commitment throughout all levels of the organization.

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Roles and Responsibilities

The key roles and their responsibilities for these activities are as follows:

HS Agency Decision Makers. These individuals review, make revisions and approve the final strategic plan.
IT Decision Makers. These individuals review, make revisions and approve the final strategic plan.
Strategy Team. This team prioritizes the initiatives. Once the prioritize the initiatives, the Strategy Team Lead assigns a team member the task of assembling the strategic plan. An individual with strong writing skills should be assigned to assemble the strategic plan.

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Artifacts

The information in the following list is used or produced by these activities. Templates, examples, and checklists for identifying and documenting items are available through the Additional Resources at the end of this page.

HS IT Strategic Measures. This describes the specific measures collected, as well as the collection processes. It can be published separately or as an appendix to the HS IT Strategic Plan.
HS IT Strategic Plan. This is the main input, as well as an output, of these activities. The goals, subgoals, critical factors, and strategies are used as a basis for defining the measures. It may be necessary to clarify the HS IT Strategic Plan based on the analysis of the measures. The HS IT strategic measures may be published separately or as a part of this plan.
Descriptions of the Current Situation. The information represented by this input is required to identify current measures for establishing the measurement baseline.
IT Baseline and Assessment. The information represented by this input is required to identify the IT-related measures or measurement-gathering processes. For example, the surveys used to gain insight into the subjective qualities of the existing IT may be refined and used to measure improvements.
Activity Status. The status of these activities is collected periodically 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.

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