Seeing our clients problem holistically

Octo excels at seeing the forest for the trees. Often our clients believe they have a problem in one area. But we discover the real issue—and its root cause—somewhere else entirely. Our approach is to use our diagnostic to help us understand the holistic problem and get to the root cause. This tool gives our consultants the power to help our customers quickly identify problem areas and strong points. This creates the foundation of the plan to solve problems and get results. We developed the Octo Diagnostic with our practice areas and building blocks in mind. Our practice areas are aligned to our clients' core functions and responsibilities:

  • Planning (through architecture)
  • Selecting (through managing your portfolio)
  • Buying (through robust acquisition processes)
  • Executing (using program management discipline)

Each of these responsibilities requires maturity in a set of disciplines common across all organizations that we describe as building blocks: strategy, process, organization, performance and technology. Our diagnostic helps you understand the intersections between these disciplines and organizational responsibilities—giving you a framework for more effectively understanding your own organization.

 

  Planning Selecting Buying Executing
Strategy 1 2 3 4
Process 1 2 3 4
Organization 1 2 3 4
Performance 1 2 3 4
Technology 1 2 3 4

What Octo Can Produce 

  • A high-level vision statement that complements the organization's mission
  • A list of key enterprise business strategies that you can use to prioritize your target-state

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • A vision of where you organization needs to go and the initiatives to undertake to see it through
  • A start to gaining confidence from business stakeholders that IT can deliver, can respond, and can enable the organization

What Octo Can Produce

  • Criteria for making investment management decisions
  • Portfolio Rationalization Roadmap

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • A clear understanding and acceptance of the criteria that is used to make investment decisions
  • Common IT lexicon and understanding of corporate strategic objectives

What Octo Can Produce

  • Sourcing and acquisition strategies

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • A agency-wide understanding of when to in-source, out-source, and multi-source
  • An understanding of what role performance based acquisition has in your organization
  • A strong framework to provide leaders the ability to build and execute a sound business plan to improve existing procurement processes

What Octo Can Produce

  • Concept of Operations for your program (CONOPS)

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Ability to articulate short- and long- term value of program to mission requirements
  • Agreement on the vision and scope of future programs

What Octo Can Produce

  • Strategic planning or Enterprise Architecture framework and process (step by step)
  • A strategic plan or target-state architecture that articulates actionable, near-term initiatives (anything else is overkill and not likely to be implemented in a timely fashion)

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • A roadmap for how to move your business, information, and technology towards your target-state vision
  • A start to gaining confidence from business stakeholders that IT can deliver, can respond, and can enable the organization

What Octo Can Produce

  • Portfolio management framework and process (step by step)
  • Investment review models to understand total spend on projects and programs
  • A prioritized list of where to make investments in your organization

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • IT budget is aligned with the strategic IT and business plans; IT spend targets are informed by strategic objectives
  • The investment portfolio is dynamically balanced to reflect changing internal and external conditions
  • Business process improvement opportunities are classified and prioritized

What Octo Can Produce

  • Performance based acquisition framework and process (step by step)
  • Performance work Statement (PWS) templates
  • Award Fee Plan
  • Request for Information (RFI) development and analysis
  • IGCE development
  • Requirements workshop facilitation
  • Concept of Operations Development
  • Requirements documentation

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Increased likelihood of meeting mission needs
  • Better value and enhanced performance by your vendors
  • Shared incentives that permit innovation and cost effectiveness while still offering the contractor flexibility in choosing solution
  • Less likelihood of a successful protest

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Program management "right-sized" SOPs
  • Implementation and maturation guide for target program processes
  • Operational processes (e.g. ITIL)
  • Software development processes (e.g. Agile development)

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Application of just-enough process methodologies are to achieve the desired programmatic results
  • Programs that are on-time, on-budget, and delivering value to the customer

What Octo Can Produce 

  • High-level catalog of architecture or strategic planning decision bodies
  • Diagram depicting the interactions between each of the boards, committees, decision bodies -- to identify gaps and overlaps
  • Charters for architecture review board

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Thorough understanding of the participants, inputs outputs, triggers, communications, and decisions that are needed to achieve your vision
  • An understanding of how decision making needs to work in a federated enviornment

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Investement Committee Charter(s)

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Disposition decisions are made using a codified governance process (e.g., repair, replace, retire, consolidate)
  • An investment committee comprised of business and IT leadership meets regularly to evaluate and make decisions around the investment portfolio
  • Business process opportunities and enterprise architecture blueprints inform investment decisions
  • An agreed-upon enterprise operating model connects strategic planning and tactical execution processes

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Organizational and governance structures aligned to the acquisitions in question
  • Governance processes for a multi-sourced enviornment

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Governance structures aligned to promote effective performance standards to achieve program results

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Program charters and RACI tables

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Organizational and governance structures are right-sized for the program and leading to on-time, on-budget
  • Governance structures are aligned or empowered to promote effective decision making to achieve program results
  • Organizational and Governance structures are aligned against the underlying program processes resulting in high productivity and performance

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Performance measures and metrics for your target-state organization

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Measureable objectives for your business to achieve

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Performance measures and metrics for your future investments 

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Business cases are easily comparable and require Net Present Value (NPV) and Return on Investment (ROI)
  • Benefits and returns are calculated in financial and non-financial terms
  • Use of financial and performance metrics in decision making is consistent across the enterprise
  • Cost, benefit, resource, schedule, and risk data is aggregated and fully leveraged for evaluating investments

What Octo Can Produce (Work Products)

  • Performance Management Strategy and measures
  • Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan
  • Source Selection Plan

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • The use of measurable performance standards and quality assurance surveillance plans
  • Sevice level agreements that actually address the type and quality of service that the program needs
  • Provisions for reductions of price or fee when a service is not performed or does not meet contract requirements
  • The use of positive incentives, where appropriate

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Outcome-Centric Performance Measures
  • Underlying Performance Assurance and Monitoring Processes
  • Performance Dashboard

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Program performance metrics are aligned to program outcomes (e.g. increased citizen participation) and not program outputs (e.g. internal process efficiency)
  • No performance metrics exist in order to measure, track, or communicate program success leading to misaligned stakeholder expectations
  • Performance is not tracked or measured on a regular basis to identify early indicators of critical conditions

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Requirements for an EA repository to manage artifacts
  • Market research for leading EA modeling tools 

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Streamlined management of EA artifacts
  • Consistent modeling of artifacts

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Portfolio management system functional requirements
  • Capital planning tools and models

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • An enterprise portfolio management decision support or business intelligence tool has been implemented and initialized with investment data
  • The mission value of projects and the production application portfolio has been assessed & validated by appropriate mission stakeholders
  • Senior decision-makers can easily conduct investment trade-off sensitivity analyses and explore "what-if" scenarios using interactive dashboards and toolsets

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Contract Performance Dashboards
  • SLA management tools

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Comprehensive market research can produce results that:
    • Determines whether the service is commercially available
    • Help acquisition team understand what alternative solutions the marketplace can provide
    • Provide insight regarding potential price expectations
    • Serves as the gateway for keeping abreast of the latest in technology and current market trends

What Octo Can Produce 

  • Technology Use Plan for Program Planning, Knowledge Sharing, Communications, and Collaboration
  • Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V)
  • Balanced Scorecard and Performance Dashboard development

What Octo Can Deliver (Results)

  • Technology is not effectively leveraged or 'tuned' for program collaboration, communications, or knowledge-sharing leading to decreased efficiency and performance
  • Focus on technology and program tools overtake immediate program performance requirements