Stop Enabling Your Infrastructure Gaps

"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. "

~ Alexander Graham Bell

As corporate performance is evaluated, it needs to be accepted that gaps in infrastructure are either costing the company time, money, efficiency, effectiveness, or inhibiting its growth (Infrastructure referring to technology, knowledge, skills, policies, procedures, people, and etc.)

The following steps are used to flush out and eliminate technical gaps by establishing the correct IT infrastructure top-down and not by evolving bottom-up. Technical infrastructure should always be built around the business requirements needed to achieve success and must be scalable for growth.

1. Establish clear, measurable corporate and divisional goals.
2. Associate hard $$$ figures to each goal - this will aid in determining ROI and assist in justifying implementation costs.
3. Identify the specific results that will achieve the goals.
4. Establish the specific a) business practices; b) information; and c) metrics needed to drive the results.
5. Layout the business requirements needed to support these initiatives.
6. Determine and design what IT tools need to be put into place to provide the required information, metrics, and 'hard' policies ('hard' policies are restrictions and requirements build into the functionality or limitations of an IT tool.) Operations will drive 'soft' policies ('soft' policies are requirements and restrictions managed through training and face-to-face interaction.) Policies outline the best practice activities.
7. Implement.

IF existing IT and Operational infrastructures are in place:

1. Complete steps 1 - 6 listed above, then...
2. Separately line-up the existing and the desired IT and Operational infrastructures.
3. Identify gaps between the two. (Note: the desired IT and Operational infrastructures are the solutions. Any intermediate steps used to reach the same results are 'workarounds' and NOT solutions. Items and activities used to quickly bridge/workaround a gap are 'stop-gaps.')
4. Put together a project plan on getting from 'here' to 'there' - technically and operationally. Note all interdependencies.
5. Implement.

This way policies and tools will be built around best practices (used to achieve the goals) vs. the improved support of current practices. (Note: anticipate the need to mitigate the impact of new policies, procedures, and tools on the staff.)

~ Jason Saetrum