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Technology Strategic Planning: Mission Impossible or Mastering Our Fate?. Scott Garrison, Head Information Technology Services Wallace McLendon, Associate Director Library Services University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Technology Strategic Planning: Mission Impossible or Mastering Our Fate?
Scott Garrison, Head
Information Technology Services
Wallace McLendon, Associate Director
Library Services
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Health Sciences Library
Mid-Atlantic Chapter/ Medical Library Association 2002 Annual Meeting
October 18, 2002
Technology planning
Mission impossible? no, it can be done
Mastering our fate? the library will increasingly
depend on technology planning for direction
Evolution of technology planning
We will use the evolution of technology planning to introduce New technology planning
concepts Uses of existing planning models
to plan technology
How can we go where no woman or man has ever gone before?
Reason # 1
Libraries and librarians involved in information technology have a unique perspective due to the interconnectedness between technology and the delivery of information; we will see trends and implications early.
How can we go where no woman or man has ever gone been before?
Reason # 2
Sometimes it is more important to be provocative than right.
Typical strategic planning Vision Mission Goals Objectives Activities Inputs or resources needed Outputs or products Measurable outcomes
Typical technology planning management creates organizational plan IT reviews strategic direction IT identifies capabilities that meet needs review existing IT resources summarize IT needs identify system alternatives determine implementation plan develop resource/timetable steps review/present recommended plan
John P. Glaser, The Strategic Application of Information Technology in Healthcare Organizations. McGraw-Hill: New York, 1999, p. 20.
Technology planning today
Reactive Supportive Aligned
Reactive technology planning?
IT not at planning table Strategic planning done without
considering technology support IT given a copy of strategic plan IT manager scurries for resources
Supportive technology planning IT may be invited to planning table to
hear first-hand library direction Strategic plan completed first Followed by a technology support plan IT manager keeps his/her staff informed
about direction of library IT staff raise red flags if organization is
disregarding technology implications
Aligned technology planning
IT represented at planning table
IT plans resources & activities to align with internal & external goals & forces
Health Sciences Library Plan
HSL Dept Plans
Health Affairs School Plans
HSL IT Dept Plan
HSL IT Staff Annual Performance Plan
University PlanUniv IT Plan
Med School IT Plan
Nursing School IT Plan
Dental School IT Plan
Pharm School IT Plan
School of Public Health IT Plan
Hardware development
Software development
Telecomm development
Vendor/provider relationships
Tech market
IT personnel market
Challenge of aligned planning
The future of technology planning Reactive Supportive Aligned Symbiotic Integrated Convergent Directive Emergent Envisioned
Symbiotic technology planning
Library services and IT capacity are co-dependent
IT plan & strategic plan done in unison Sometimes the service drives the plan Sometimes IT capability drives the plan
Integrated technology planning
IT capabilities determine library service capabilities
IT begins to become inextricably intertwined with planned activities
IT begins to determine the existence of some services
Convergent technology planning
Occurs when innovative technology aggressively determines information delivery direction (e.g., end-user searching, the Internet)
Library strategic plan attempts to converge on or “intercept” the advancing technology
The library is now reacting to the technology rather than the technology reacting to the library
Directive technology planning
Technology moves in new direction (e.g., PDAs, mobile handhelds)
Technology is the library service Technology transforms or revitalizes
an old service into a new service Without technology some strategic
goals could not have been conceived
Emergent planning
Technology planning no longer distinguishable from library strategic plan due to impact of emerging technology on library services
The library no longer reacts to technology, it is indistinguishable from the technology
Technology begins to reshape library mission (e.g., institutional repositories)
Envisioned planning Library vision recast due to envisioned
technology Library technologists envision capabilities
that do not exist, that require re-design of existing hardware/software/telecommunications
Libraries collaborate with software & hardware developers/designers to create tools that do not exist to provide new services & programs
Evolution of technology planning Reactive Support Aligned Symbiotic Integrated Convergent Directive Emergent Envisioned
Hospital libraries
Hospital librarians are often dependent on hospital IT department with competing demands
1st step: hospital IT manager has to become your best friend; integrate with him/her
2nd step: wrangle seat at IT department planning table
Take component of IT service provision off shoulders of IT department
How to get in the door? Read what our IT counterparts are reading
eWeek (http://www.eweek.com/) Gartner Group (http://www.gartner.com/) CIO magazine (http://www.cio.com/)
Learn how they do their planning, and manage projects, standards, and platforms
If we speak their language, we connect better with them
If we use their standards or even negotiate new ones, our stuff works on their systems
ColdFusion/SQL vs. Java servlets, XML, and federated systems
How to get in the door? Gain credibility by doing something with technology for
ourselves Balance searching databases with creating them!
Or get tricky with spreadsheets, at the least Get some IR devices and push data to PDAs Use PDAs with barcode readers for shelflists, use tracking,
roving record maintenance Leverage technology to make work more efficient Go beyond just searching databases: develop them
Start with small, demonstrable successes, and build from there
Build a Web view of our content Then add value by adding context sensitivity
All of us should… Be more provocative and aggressive, less right and safe
Unlearn what we have learned Forecasting is NOT the same thing as needs assessment
Get out there and find out what our users want to do Relate what they want to do to how we could be slightly
ahead based on where industry is/state of the art The best way to predict the future is to invent it
Create programs that watch where users are going/lay the track ahead of the train
How to actually plan? For a huge plan, use existing
techniques to break it down: iterative project management Use PM as an approach to planning in
general
Challenges to the project management approach: It takes a lot of time
How to actually plan? Benefits of the project management approach:
We are detail people, after all, and so are IT staff! Ticket mentality
We have control Version control Expectation management Accountability
Documentation is built into the process Great at annual report time Bosses like documentation
You can spread the work across many staff who all use a common approach, and concatenate all parts of the plan
An IT view of HSL’s environment
Linux and OSS
Relationship bldg
State budget cuts
Ejournal access
databases R&D
ILS selectionJoint projects
Clinical apps/oppsNext-gen dig lib
teleconferencing
Adv Tech Ctr
renovation
purchasing
Server shuffle
Software testing
Explore tablets
PDA utilization
Desktops
laptops
Disk images
?
?
?
?
?
Project Management 101?
Enthusiasm Disillusionment Panic Search for the guilty Punishment of the innocent Praise and honors for the non-
participants
Project Management 101
Define requirements Analyze stakeholders (360-view) Create a statement of work Create a work breakdown structure Analyze your risks Create your estimates Network analysis and scheduling Execution and control Evaluation, lessons learned, closeout
Making sense of requirements
hardware software staff exp.programs budget
IT plan requirements
Must involve library-wide staff participation, at appropriate points
Must be fundable, but more importantly, sustainable
Must mesh with overall library strategic plan
Must be flexible enough to accommodate a reasonable number of new things
Must be settled enough not to get thrown off track
Stakeholders
Persons who are impacted by what you do (or do not) execute and complete
Different for different parts of the plan - reuse them
Forces and factors revisited Need to be involved in various project stages,
e.g. Analysis Design Construction Testing Implementation Maintenance
Health Sciences Library Plan
HSL Dept Plans
Health Affairs School Plans
HSL IT Dept Plan
HSL IT Staff Annual Performance Plan
University PlanUniv IT Plan
Med School IT Plan
Nursing School IT Plan
Dental School IT Plan
Pharm School IT Plan
School of Public Health IT Plan
Hardware development
Software development
Telecomm development
Vendor/provider relationships
Tech market
IT personnel market
Stakeholders superset
Our plan statement of work
Create a technology plan to get us through building renovation (goal)
Should include each phase: planning, upfit, phase 1, phase 2, move-in (scope)
Should incorporate supporting legacy work - in medias res
Should be version 1.0 of the plan, amendable to 1.x versions as needs arise Be clear about what that means: expectation
management
Genesis of work breakdown
hardware software staff exp.programs budget
tech spacestelecommutedigital librarymobile techintranet/KM
moving-targetinfrastructure
for it all!
serverworkstationperipherals
networkfurniture
serverworkstation
trialdevelopmentproductiondistributed
existingturnover
ed needed?stakeholders
new tech,new staff needed!
state fundssoft money
discretionarylines
jointly fundedcollaborative
ventures
WBS: server migration
Domino effect: bring new servers in, cascading ‘demotion’ - old X server becomes Y server, old Y becomes Z, old Z gets retired
What exact steps are needed to prepare each server for its part in the migration? Relates directly to budget, programs
Include knowledge that staff will need to accomplish the work
WBS: next-generation DL
We’ve evolved a special, streamlined project management process for ITS Development Project request Project functional specifications Project completion contract
They work differently
WBS: next-generation DL Start with database backend and standards
Wheel reinvention avoidance Start identity and interface storyboarding work
simultaneously Establish separate task forces and liaisions to share the work
Usability test those things with staff and other stakeholders
Finalize prototype version for further testing Start next project to evolve prototype into ver 1.0 “Party like it’s 1999.” (Prince)
WBS: technology spaces Start with intensive stakeholder analysis
Users who don’t work in the library Library staff
Analyze the tech marketplace Analyze the enterprise infrastructure Coordinate with fund raising efforts Keep it flexible: wait until the last
possible minute to actually buy stuff!
Risk analysis: server migration If we don’t do X with servers, Y could
potentially happen If we don’t do X with servers, we won’t be
able to take advantage of Y If we don’t do X with servers, users will be
impacted in Y way Having to live with bad decisions, e.g. NOS If we don’t weigh all stakeholders and
compromise between them, we’re in trouble!
Estimates: server migration How many/much requirements, resources,
and time do we have? Case in point: sudden staff vacancy in ITS
Support will impact remaining staff’s ability to get servers done on schedule Can ITS Development help? Hire temp help? What gets postponed?
Estimates are constantly revisited, especially in IT
Network/scheduling: server mig Fortunately, work usually has a critical path -
nowhere more true than IT Establishes task relationships Uses Gantt, milestone, and PERT charts Very useful for administrators to have a visual
representation of the WBS Web servers first, then database cluster, then
file/print server, then development server, then Linux!
Execution and control Staff intact? Unforeseen variables?
NLM and XML for NCHI influenced server migration plan
Today’s mantra: version control Avoid “creeping featuritis” (Morgan) Keep an issues log to track new issues for
future iterations Have a communication plan
So, where is HSL in IT planning?
Symbiotic IntegratedHSL
We’re in the middle of it as we speak. Where are we on Wallace’s continuum?
My view:
Summary Planning is evolving from technology planning
reacting to library planning to library planning reacting to technology planning
Technology capabilities and library services will become indistinguishable for planning purposes
Project management is critical Different for IT, but aligned (rapid pace)
Provide resources to execute and sustain Take it a step at a time, and maintain buy-in
Contact us… Scott Garrison, Head of Information
Technology [email protected]
Wallace McLendon, Associate Director for Library Services
Thank you!