IT Investment Governance:Effectiveness through improved governance

What is it?

IT Governance is defined as the responsibility of executives and the board of directors, and consists of the leadership, organizational structures and processes that ensure that the enterprise’s IT sustains and extends the organization’s strategies and objectives. Octo takes a streamlined or “lean” approach to investment governance. We are centered on investment management, employing a demand-to-deliver process that defines the lifecycle for capturing good ideas, selecting and planning projects, and executing smartly. But we don’t stop there. Our holistic EPM approach also helps agencies establish a sustaining process framework for managing the lifecycle of all asset classes, including foundational infrastructure and an extended asset definition that includes business processes, through the development and promulgation of standard procedures and enterprise governance decision guidelines. Working closely with our clients to understand their unique needs, Octo helps identify performance measures and targets for expected mission outcomes and--by partnering with customers to evaluate contemplated, current and future investments--communicate the mission value of those good ideas selected for implementation across the Enterprise.

Why do you do it?

Governance is getting a lot of press these days, because it potentially creates “compliance” and “alignment with the mission.” Governance concepts promise great efficiencies and increased returns on investments, but they don’t provide useful tools to operational managers with too much on their plates and not enough resources to meet the constant demand. At Octo, we understand that managers don’t need more wall-sized process flows and magic quadrants. Abstract models of Governance can be helpful in establishing a broad operational framework, but they are hard to implement in a “big-bang” manner. For starters, it’s difficult to impose a new mode of operations on an existing operating model – it’s like repairing an airplane engine with the plane in mid-air. In addition, few governance models build on what works while identifying what needs improvement. To be achievable in most organizations—particularly in today’s challenging fiscal climate--improvements in the management of projects and resources must be fast, incremental, and impactful while mitigating change. Common conditions that Octo’s pragmatic approach to lean Investment Governance addresses include:

A limited budget must be efficiently and effectively allocated and managed across the enterprise
Inefficient and redundant responsibilities among governance bodies
Processes are fragmented, resulting in inefficiencies and obscured transparency into the performance of the investment portfolio
Investment decision-making authority is unclear

What do you get?

Ultimately, leveraging Octo’s proven Investment Governance solutions will improve executive transparency into the alignment of major investments and performance against baseline plans, permitting informed critical investment management trade-off decisions. From an Enterprise perspective, good Governance rewards all stakeholders with organizational clarity around what can otherwise be amorphous transformation expectations and progress. For each stakeholder, the benefits of Octo’s approach to Governance are unique and tangible:

For Senior Management:

Strengthens alignment between solutions and mission objectives
Optimizes the investment portfolio spend
Improves risk management
Drives regulatory compliance
Improves resource utilization

For Process Owners:

Describes process, activities, and requirements to establish controls
Facilitates integration with other processes
Supports measurement of process maturity
Provides goals and metrics to assess performance

For Staff and Stakeholders:

Ensures formal process documentation to execute job responsibilities
Eliminates ambiguities regarding the agency’s performance against mission objectives