ITem's senior management team
understands the process of any strategic planning effort has
many components, each of which contributes to the success of
the overall plan. Common problems may hamper efforts within
each of these individual components:
Statements
of purpose, missions and values are frequently confused
and misapplied from their intended purpose within the
planning process.
The blurring
of long-term, qualitative goals with short-term,
quantitative objectives hinders commonly accepted
measurement of the success of the plan.
The lack of
baseline and subsequent sample data on identified
critical success indicators eliminates the ability to
accurately monitor progress against the plan.
An
unfortunate majority of strategic plans gather dust for
lack of ongoing monitoring, control, and update
functions.
The
creation of IT budgets, annual work plans, and staffing
plans without direct reference to the "umbrella"
strategic IT plan may misallocate critical resources.
Finally, the lack of widespread
dissemination and publication of an approved strategic plan
prevents the institution's synergy in achieving the plan and
its sense of success over time. Most academic institutions
have a mature, comprehensive institutional strategic plan;
however, few institutions have optimized the linkages
between their institutional strategic plan and their IT
strategic plan. Lessons learned from the first process are
seldom shared with the second - a practice that needs to be
addressed.
ITem
professionals understand the two keys to a
successful refocusing of a strategic IT plan include the
involvement of all key stakeholders within the institution,
and the skilled facilitation of the comprehensive planning
process. Anything short of this combination will surely miss
the mark and jeopardize the institutional IT environment.
