Compile and Coordinate Plateau Plan(s)

Coordinate the detailed project plans to establish an integrated plan for the current and next Plateau, as appropriate.

Introduction Activities Roles and Responsibilities Artifacts Additional Resources

- IT Evolution Plan - Contracting Strategy Document - Contract Management Plans - Contractor Management Plans - Contractors and Procurement Documentation - HS IT Estimate of the Situation - HS IT Risk Management Plan - Project Plan(s) Integrate Project Plans Document and Submit APD(s) for the Plateau Commit to Plan Execute IT Evolution Plan - Plateau Plan - APD - Evolution Management Team - Project Management Teams - Technical Architecture Team Risk Analyst - Other Key Stakeholders

Introduction

The IT Evolution Plan created during the Develop IT Evolution Plan activities forms a framework in which to integrate the lower-level projects. This activity compiles the detailed, lower-level project plans into a coherent and consistent set of activities. Resources are balanced across the projects, dependencies and schedules are adjusted to account for uncertainties and risks, and major decision points are refined. A commitment to the next plateau in the integrated IT Evolution Plan is established, and the plan is then executed.

TANF Example: A typical TANF example could be that during the overall development of the project there are other smaller projects taking place, and these other projects must be completed in order for the TANF project to work. A more detailed example would be that a common front end is being developed for the Child Support Enforcement system and the TANF eligibility system. Even though the projects are separate, their completion and milestones could cause other projects to miss deadlines and fail. Therefore, it is important to consider all smaller or indirect projects because they roll up into an overall IT Evolution Plan for the HS IT Enterprise.

Top

Activities

These activities are performed in an iterative manner to coordinate and integrate the IT Evolution Plan. Consolidated guidelines are available to perform the following key activities:

1. Integrate Project Plans. The project's independently define their approach to meeting the requirements imposed on them in the higher-level plans. This includes overall functional requirements imposed by the HS programs (e.g., TANF, migration or infrastructure changes (e.g, migrating to a shared data store), interproject dependencies, budget allocations, staff availability, and shared facilities, as noted in the IT Evolution Plan. You must review and coordinate those independent plans to ensure that they complement one another. When integrating the plans, consider the following special cases:

   • Risk Mitigation Projects
     Activities that are specific to mitigating risk may be collected in one or more projects and managed separately from the mainline development. The activities primarily focus on risks that a single project cannot address adequately. Because risk involves a degree of uncertainty, then decision points may need to be added to the overarching IT Evolution Plan to include review of the results of the risk mitigation activities before dependent projects can be initiated. The result expected from the mitigation activities may not be the result obtained, and replanning or adjustment of dependent projects may be necessary.

     Risk mitigation activities may include prototyping, simulation, surveys, comparative evaluations, user meetings, and other appropriate techniques that operate on the factors contributing to the risks. Small risk-related activities, such as collecting information or simple analysis, can be part of a risk mitigation project or conducted as small activities within the context of the IT Evolution Management activities (e.g., special projects). The RMP will indicate the management approach, techniques used, and when and where risk-related progress should be reviewed and decisions made.

   • Acquisition Projects
     Projects that rely on external entities not under the direct control of the HS Agency IT organization may require additional coordination. The timetable for the IT Evolution plan must synchronize with outside entities, such as other State Agency planning cycles, vendor product upgrades, or contractor schedule variances. For projects that rely on contracted products or services, a solicitation period may be needed and factored into the overall plateau timeline. The solicitation and selection of contractors may require creating proposal packages, reviewing bids, and selecting contractors to satisfy the WBS elements allocated to the projects. The integrated plans must account for State procurement policies, practices, and selection criteria (e.g., a contracting strategy document). Project plans cannot be finalized until negotiations are complete and all parties agree to the contract terms. When agreements are finalized, a subcontractor management plan is developed. Use data from previous acquisitions in planning acquisition projects.

   Some projects defined in the IT Evolution Plan will develop, deploy, or operate all or part of a product primarily with HS Agency resources (staff or outside labor). Consider the following when reviewing and coordinating the individual project plans:

   • Base the project's practices on accepted State or HS Agency regulations and IT standards, policies, and procedures. Derive the key project processes from those identified in the IT Evolution Plan because the project estimates assumed those practices will be used.
   • Establish technical activities, methods, practices, or tools used to complete each task, as identified in the IT Evolution Plan and derived from the A-TARS guidelines and conventions.
   • Include sufficient interfacing events (e.g., interface control working groups, management reviews, and in-process reviews) to coordinate this project's activities with other projects and provide oversight.
   • Include ongoing support activities (e.g., CM, QA, and technical documentation) as needed.
   • The project plan is a comprehensive document that includes the following:
     • Project Goals and associated success criteria
     • The size and scope of the project, such as number and type of products (e.g., modules and documentation), activity dependencies or sequences, cost and schedule, resources, or expected defects. Base these estimates on available historical planning and engineering data..
     • A WBS for work packages for the key activities defined for the project. Packages include expected costs, durations, resources, and intermediate milestones for applicable activities.
   
   

2. Document and Submit APD(s) for the Plateau. As the IT Evolution Plan is coordinated, it may involve Federal cost sharing. If already submitted, you may need to define and process the APDs. See the APD activities in the Develop the IT Evolution Plan for further information.

3. Commit to Plan. Provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to review and comment on the results of the planning and integration activities. Stakeholders reach consensus that the collective set of activities of the project's plan is appropriate to achieving the Plateau end-states. Incorporate stakeholder comments into updates for the IT Evolution Plan. As necessary, provide briefings to senior management on the plan, soliciting their involvement. These briefings may be a natural extension of any existing, periodic internal management reviews.

4. Execute IT Evolution Plan. Once the plan is approved, the Evolution Management Team will open and assign work packages and begin oversight of the executing projects in accordance with their documented plans.

Top

Roles and Responsibilities

The key roles and their responsibilities are as follows:

• Evolution Management Team. These individuals have primary responsibility for preparing and managing to the IT Evolution Plan and either perform or delegate the planning activities.
• IT Project Management Team. These individuals, specifically the IT Project Manager, have responsibility for one or more IT projects and participate with the Evolution Management Team by planning the individual projects and coordinating the plans across projects.
• Technical Architecture Team. These individuals provide insight into the Technical-Architecture-related issues during the planning, such as the overarching technical guidelines and how the architecture elements may be implemented.
• Risk Analyst. This individual is responsible for planning all risk-related activities that are included in the IT Evolution Plan. The Risk Analyst provides advice to help ensure that the resultant IT Evolution Plan is well balanced in order to meet evolution goals and reduce risk.
• Other Key Stakeholders. These individuals or groups have a vested interest in the establishment, approval, or oversight of how the evolutionary path will be achieved. This may include IT management, contractors, support management, a contract manager, State procurement personnel, and the HS Agency Decision Makers, among others.

Top

Artifacts

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

• IT Evolution Plan. This is the main output of these activities, providing complete plans for the upcoming Plateau ready to be put into execution.
• Contracting Strategy Document. This is created to define which of the products will be built internally, by contractors, or purchased.
• Contract Management Plans. This document describes the process that will be used to manage a specific contract.
• Contractor Management Plans. This document describes the process that a specific contractor will use to manage their activities.
• Contractor and Procurement Documentation. This is the collection of legal and binding documentation that has been agreed to for a specific contract.
• HS IT Estimate of the Situation. The resultant IT Evolution Plan is checked to verify that it will meet EoS expectations.
• HS IT Risk Management Plan. The IT Evolution Plan must implement the RMP.
• Plateau Plan. This part of the IT Evolution Plan is detailed for the upcoming Plateau.
• Project Plan(s). Individual projects develop coordinated lower-level plans.
• Advanced Planning Document. An APD is generated from the planning process work products if Federal Financial Participation (FFP) is needed.

Top

Additional Resources

Items that can be used to perform these and other activities are consolidated in the Resources portion of the IT Planning and Management Guides. Resources specific to this activity are cataloged below.

Template: Contracting Scorecard Describes background of the contracting scorecard approach and identifies a tailorable list of common factors applied to the contracting scorecard. 02-01-02