Question

Successful Alignment of IT with Business/Project Prioritization Refer to the readings for this week on aligning IT to the business strategy, and either do some research or draw from your own experience to tell us about an organization that has successfully aligned its IT to the business. Choose one of the following questions and discuss the importance of its answer to the CIO, integrating the information on the organization into your response: 1. How are IT projects currently determined and prioritized by the organization? 2. In what ways are the IT staff aligned or disconnected with organizational needs?

Answer 1

Organizations can successfully aligned its IT to the business by integrating it's long term and short term goals and objectives with the organization. Prioritize work, and tasks to achieve goals.

Explanation:

• Business IT alignment is a process in which a business organization uses IT to achieve business objectives for improved financial performance or marketplace competitiveness. This includes exploring other revenue streams and integrating other departments of their business into each other.
• An aligned organization gets things done faster, with less effort, and with better results, and is more agile and responsive to changing business conditions.

The question is How are IT projects currently determined and prioritized by the organization?

• Become involved in strategic level planning  : This involves program, portfolio or project manager is to become involved in strategic level planning. Help the leadership team to gain a full understanding of the direction of the business, the timing, and their overall vision. Decision making comes under this step. A roadmap or blueprint that will not only mark the desired destination but also provide additional markers along the way to follow, to help confirm if the project is in the right direction.
• Identify project drivers  : The drivers may motivate a business to initiate a project for the purpose of creating or enhancing something, meeting a requirement or hurdle, reducing the risk, removing an existing or potential problem, increasing revenues, offering an opportunity not previously available or simply streamlining a process. Competitive advantage  Cost savings, financial benefit , Operational efficiency, process improvement , Legislative, legal, tax implications , Improving quality, Risk reduction , Growth, business opportunities  come under comepetitive advantage.
• Quantify strategic value  : Understanding and quantifying the strategic value, immediate and/or long-term impact as well as anticipated benefits of each project being considered. The risks of not starting certain projects on schedule will also have to be weighed carefully.
• Determine factors that may impact project success : Return on investment (ROI), budgeted funds, available resources, and timing, and if there are any dependencies or limitations should be given importance. Company budgets and timing are almost always limited, making it impossible to take on all project ideas conceived.
• Create an evaluation and prioritization matrix  : Once you have gathered all the applicable information, create a project evaluation and prioritization matrix to identify and rate each project in terms of criteria. Use a weighted scale to put a rating on each of the criteria in order to accurately evaluate.
• Close the loop : Sit down again with management and review the project evaluation and prioritization matrix to ensure expectations are clear with all parties involved. This allows management an additional opportunity for added input