Develop an IT planning process for ModMeters which will accomplish the demands outlined in the mini case.

Guidance for Week 1.

Requirements for week 1 (4/16/2019 – 4/22/2019):

Participate in the following Discussion Forums:

Due by Day 1. Introduction. Post your introduction on the discussion forum found in Week One. Some of the topics you can consider in your introduction include, but not limited to your educational and employment background, how long you have been with Ashford, and your career objectives. Respond to at least three of your classmates’ postings.

1st Posting Due by Day 3. Idea to Opportunity Conversion. It is not that difficult to come up with a new idea but to bring that idea to fruition is a lot more difficult. That is where ‘leadership’ skills come in handy and that is what distinguishes Steve Jobs form others. Consider the significant barriers to conversion that can prevent an organization from converting a good idea into value or to deliver value to an organization? Provide some specific Information Technology examples to illustrate your answer. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.

1st Posting Due by Day 3. Good Metrics Programs. Metrics are required to measure the performance of a business effort. Provide a specific example of how a company illustrates the three key principles of good metrics program for IT. Discuss why are metrics important for evaluation of IT programs? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.

Assignments

Due by Day 7. IT Planning at ModMeters (Mini Case, p. 55-57). Review the IT Planning at ModMeters mini case in your course text. Develop an IT planning process for ModMeters which will accomplish the demands outlined in the mini case. Using APA style, write a 2-3 page paper outlining this planning process (please make sure there is a title page and a reference page in addition to the body of the paper).

Welcome all!

In this first week, you would study the IT Value Proposition, development of IT Strategy, designing IT business metrics and managing IT perceptions (Chapters 1-4, McKeen and Smith, 2009).

John McGreavy (2012), that is not his real name by the way, but he can be any of the prominent CIOs, says “Innovation isn’t just about coming up with creative ideas. Those ideas must be implemented—“. I couldn’t agree more with him. The objective of all businesses is to maximize share-holder value; a business also strives to provide value to its customers in order to succeed in the competitive marketplace. The effective implementation of IT requires an extensive redesign of existing business processes. People are often reluctant to make the difficult complementary business changes and the IT investments that are required. To effectively implement IT initiatives, a planned change management program must be put into place to measure the effectiveness of the IT deliverables. Formal change management programs allow employees and management to adapt to changes and also help businesses take advantage of new technology.

Conversion from an ‘idea’ to an opportunity can be difficult for many organizations. There are some significant barriers, like organizational and knowledge barriers, to conversion that can prevent an organization from converting a good idea into value to an organization.

Developing a good business metrics program for IT is essential. Some of the principles of a good business metrics program are:

Focus on total business performance. These programs all focus employees on both financial and nonfinancial enterprise performance and have an explicit expectation that everyone in the organization can influence these results in some way.

Information Dissemination is required. If management desires certain business results, it is important that the employees understand them. Sharing information through regular staff meetings where people can ask questions and discuss results is effective; sharing the information through the intranet can also help.

Keep it Simple. Majority of successful organizations prefer to keep their measures very simple and easy to use. For example, if the employee bonus is based on some factor of total profits – a link between company performance and individual effort, it is easier to understand. It would be easy for employees to calculate their bonuses based on the metrics provided.

Keep it Visible. The results and metrics should be made widely available to all employees on a periodic basis. Visibility would encourage employee buy-in and accountability. This would also encourage employees to make an effort to learn what is working well and how to improve what is not doing well.

Build incentive systems. Most successful companies involve a large number of employees in to the bonus programs. If all IT staff benefits from the incentive program, not just management, it would improve the effectiveness of the program. The most effective programs focus on fair compensation for individual contribution and competencies along with a reward for successfully achieving company objectives.

Curan (2010) outlines a list of ten metrics to measure. These include multi-year view on productivity, discretionary spending categorized by type of project, and average hours or days to close critical/high support issues. Like in any other type of project, metrics have to be well designed, data has to be collected, and reviews must be made. Of course, initial program is not written in stone, an iterative approach that involves feedback, assessment, communication, and change management is recommended (InfoTech Research group, 2008).

Should you have questions regarding these assignments, please contact me via email (mirza.murtaza@faculty.ashford.edu) or by posting a question in Ask your Instructor section. I look forward to getting to know you through your introductions, communications and discussions this week.

References

Curan, C. (2010). 10 Metrics for a New CIO. CIO Dashboard. Retrieved from http://www.ciodashboard.com/metrics-and-measurement/10-metrics-new-cio/.

InfoTech Research Group (2008). How to Create an Enterprise IT Metrics Program. Retrieved from http://www.itworldcanada.com/documents/it-metrics-program.pdf

McKeen, J.D. and Smith, H.A. (2009). IT Strategy in Action. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

McGreavy, J. (2012) Innovative Ideas Are A Dime A Dozen. InformationWeek. Retrieved from http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/innovative-ideas-are-a-dime-a-dozen/232602430.