ICT Policy Board
Agency ICT strategy and Agency ICT asset
management plans template
Version 2, 22 May 2012
CONTENTS
Background ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Agency ICT Strategic Plan Template ......................................................................................................................... 4
1
Strategic context..................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Agency strategic business goals and priorities ....................................................................................4
1.2 Current state of ICT in the Agency .........................................................................................................4
1.3 Drivers, imperatives and issues for agency ICT Strategy ..............................................................4
2
Agency ICT Strategy ............................................................................................................................................. 4
2.1 Intended future state of ICT in the agency ..........................................................................................4
2.2 Strategic direction and principles for ICT..............................................................................................4
2.3 Proposed initiatives............................................................................................................................................4
3
Agency ICT governance and reporting ........................................................................................................ 5
Agency ICT Asset Management Plan Template ................................................................................................... 6
Business applications .....................................................................................................................................................6
Corporate applications ................................................................................................................................................6
Infrastructure .....................................................................................................................................................................7
Attachments ......................................................................................................................................................................... 8
A1 Business Case Summaries ..............................................................................................................................9
A2 Information Communications Technology Architecture ........................................................... 10
A2.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................10
A2.2 End user infrastructure * ........................................................................................................................10
A2.3 Local area networks (LANs) * .............................................................................................................10
A2.4 Wide area networks (WANs) *..........................................................................................................11
A2.5 Infrastructure – Midrange computing *..........................................................................................11
A2.6 Infrastructure – Storage *.......................................................................................................................12
A2.7 Infrastructure – Databases ....................................................................................................................12
A2.8 Infrastructure – ICT Facilities * ............................................................................................................12
A2.9 Infrastructure – Radio *...........................................................................................................................12
A2.10 Infrastructure – Telephony and related services * ....................................................................12
A2.11 Security..............................................................................................................................................................13
A2.12 Business applications *............................................................................................................................13
A2.13 Corporate applications * ........................................................................................................................13
A2.14 Application design & development ...................................................................................................13
A3 ICT strategic planning and asset management planning steps .................................................... 15
A4 Agency ICT Asset Management Plan Background .............................................................................. 16
A4.1 ICT business applications asset assessment ................................................................................16
A4.2 ICT business applications asset assessment strategy .............................................................16
A4.3 Business application status and review methodology .............................................................17
Agency ICT strategy and Agency ICT asset management plans template
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Background
The ICT Investment and Decision Making Framework includes regular review of agency strategic ICT plans,
agency ICT asset management plans and investment proposals.
This template is intended to guide agencies in preparing strategic ICT plans and strategic ICT asset
management plans that are aligned to the agency’s strategic plan and the ICT strategy developed by the ICT
Policy Board.
Throughout this document, guidance is in this font and colour.
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Agency ICT Strategic Plan Template
1
Strategic context
1.1
Agency strategic business goals and priorities
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1.2
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1.3
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Describe the business goals and priorities of the agency
Explain how the objectives and other elements of the Tasmanian Government ICT Strategy are
factored into these priorities
Describe any other business drivers, imperatives or challenges that the agency must respond to.
Current state of ICT in the Agency
Briefly describe the current state of ICT in the agency and the strengths and weaknesses for
supporting the business goals and priorities
Include an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses against the Tasmanian Government
ICT Strategy.
Drivers, imperatives and issues for agency ICT Strategy
Briefly describe the important factors that will drive the ICT strategy
The factors should reflect the identified strengths and weaknesses
They should also address emerging opportunities, threats and trends
2
Agency ICT Strategy
2.1
Intended future state of ICT in the agency
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2.2
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2.3
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Looking ahead 3 years and beyond, briefly describe the intended future state for ICT and how it
will be different to the current state
If useful, provide a vision for ICT
Outline key goals
Where possible, provide relevant KPIs for the goals
Strategic direction and principles for ICT
Provide a very brief and high level description of the strategy to achieve the future state and
stated goals
Describe the direction and principles that underpin the strategy
Explain how the strategy supports each of the principles and objectives of the Tasmanian
Government ICT Strategy.
Proposed initiatives
Describe each of the significant initiatives that are proposed to be undertaken by the agency
over the next 3 years to implement the agency ICT strategy
Describe each of the significant initiatives or actions that are proposed to be undertaken at a
government wide level over the next 3 years to implement the agency ICT strategy
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3
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For each of the proposed initiatives, provide an initial estimate of:
What will be done
Why it will be done (ie which goals does it support)
How it will be done
When it will be done
Who will be responsible
Resources required
If appropriate, reflect the initiatives in the Agency ICT Asset Management Plan or Business
Case Summaries.
Agency ICT governance and reporting
State or refer to the agency ICT governance arrangements
Include how progress on the agency ICT strategy will be monitored and reported
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Agency ICT Asset Management Plan Template
Assess agency ICT assets to determine appropriate course of action. Attachment A4 Agency ICT Asset Management Plan Background outlines the review
methodology. This methodology is to guide assessment of existing ICT assets. The key information is what are the major assets and what are the likely
plans or actions, together with indicative opex and capex figures, where they are readily available.
New requirements are identified through the agency ICT strategic plan.
Business applications
Environment
Business
Owner
Action
Description
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
<Item>
Estimate – Capital expenditure
Estimate – Operational expenditure
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
CapEx
OpEx
CapEx
OpEx
CapEx
OpEx
Initial
Date
CapEx
OpEx
Items or business applications as identified in A2.12 Business applications
Corporate applications
Environment
Business
Owner
Action
Description
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
<Item>
Items or corporate applications as identified in A2.13 Corporate applications
Year 4
Estimate – Capital expenditure
Estimate – Operational expenditure
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
CapEx
CapEx
CapEx
CapEx
OpEx
OpEx
OpEx
OpEx
Initial
Date
Infrastructure
Environment
Business
Owner
Action
Description
Year 1
<Item>
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Estimate – Capital expenditure
Estimate – Operational expenditure
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
CapEx
OpEx
CapEx
OpEx
CapEx
OpEx
Initial
Date
CapEx
OpEx
Items as identified in:
A2.2 End user infrastructure
A2.3 Local area networks (LANs)
A2.4 Wide area networks (WANs)
A2.5 Infrastructure – Midrange computing
A2.6 Infrastructure – Storage
A2.8 Infrastructure – ICT Facilities
A2.9 Infrastructure – Radio
A2.10 Infrastructure – Telephony and related services
Key:
Environment
Business Owner
Description
Action
Estimate
Initial Date
In production, proposed, under development, under review/refresh etc
Business owner of the application
Short description of the application, where possible identify the key budget outputs and policy outcomes supported by the
application
Proposed action for the year, see methodology below for further detail. Actions are
Tolerate – Meets business and technical standards; re-evaluate or reposition.
Integrate – Meets business requirements of several business units and meets technical standards; maintain and evolve.
Migrate – Does not meet technical standards, hence reducing capability to support; re-engineer, modernise.
Eliminate – No longer provides significant business value; retire, decommission.
Estimated capital and recurrent costs for the proposed action
Date the application was initially implemented.
A business case summary should be developed where the action is either integrate, migrate or eliminate.
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Attachments
A1 Business Case Summaries
For each proposed investment (which may be for a program of projects) develop:
Title
Reason for
proposal
Assumptions
External
conditions
(dependencies)
Relationship to
Government
policy priorities
Benefits /
outcomes
Risks
Timeframe
Estimated total
cost
Proposed
solution
Short title of the proposal
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Identify the problem the proposal is to address
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Outline why the problem needs to be addressed
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Identify the opportunity and proposed solution and how they will resolve
the problem
Outline any assumptions made relating to the proposal
What external conditions or dependencies are critical to this proposal
What Government policies, agency outcomes, and budget output groups
supported by the proposal
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Document impact of the proposal on the objectives of the ICT strategy
Document high level benefits or outcomes that will be achieved by this
proposal, including links to Government policies.
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Outline how these benefits or outcomes will be measured.
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Outline expected timeframe to achieve the benefits or outcomes.
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What negative impacts to Government are likely to result from the
identified solution, include a summary of agencies that may “lose” by the
proposed solution.
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Identify risks if the proposal is not successful (political, social, economic etc)
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Summarise the level of risk associated in delivering the proposed solution.
Outline expected timeframe to commence and complete the proposal and any
constraints on the timeframe.
Provide estimated capital and recurrent costs for the proposal, over the expected
life of the system.
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Do other agencies have a similar business problem or need?
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Have a range of solutions been explored?
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Have a range of sourcing options (bespoke, purchase off the shelf, cloud,
etc) been explored?
For Common ICT proposals:
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What is the current situation?
Outline assessment of the options of a shared service, common ICT service
and common ICT approach
Outline major benefits and risks to government
Outline major benefits and risks to agencies
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A2 Information Communications Technology Architecture
Agencies should separately maintain an ICT architecture, or infrastructure standards. The information
below provides guidance on scope and structure of such a document.
Information covered in the ICT architecture or infrastructure standards document need not be covered
in the agency ICT Strategy.
Where possible, the ICT architecture follows the taxonomy and definitions of the ICT benchmarking
coordinated by the Office of eGovernment and the ICT Roadmap.
Items marked with a * should be reflected in the agency ICT asset management plan as a single line
item
A2.1 Introduction
The summary of ICT architecture and standards of the agency is designed to provide an
understanding of the overall ICT architecture and standards of the agency.
Provide a short summary of the agency and ICT arrangements.
A2.2 End user infrastructure *
Definition – services, hardware, software, personnel, functions, activities and responsibilities that are
provided directly to end-users in the agency. Includes desktops, laptops, thin clients, associated
software, management tools, peripherals, print servers.
Outline current, and if necessary legacy, specifications of the standard client computing equipment
and software. The following is a guide to the content:
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Desktop and laptop computers
Mobile devices
Printers and network photocopiers/multifunction devices
Software
Installation, testing and support
Summarise the agency policies and practices on purchase, installation, testing and support of client
computing equipment.
A2.3 Local area networks (LANs) *
Definition – services, hardware, software, personnel, functions, activities and responsibilities that are
providing LAN services in the agency. Includes wiring, switches and support software and services.
Outline current LAN services infrastructure standards, and where appropriate sourcing arrangements,
of LAN services and infrastructure. Topics to consider include:
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Network standards
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Redundancy, Reliability and availability
Network protocols
IP addresses
Active network equipment
Switching equipment
Wireless equipment
Network cabling
A2.4 Wide area networks (WANs) *
Definition – services, hardware, software, personnel, functions, activities and responsibilities that are
providing WAN services in the agency. Includes NT II services and agency costs to manage, monitor
and provision the services.
Policy context: Agencies are required to use the Networking Tasmania II whole-of-government
contracts established by TMD to obtain data communications, Internet and related services. Under
this, each agency is to have its own policies and standards for services it procures
Outline and/or reference relevant agency policies and standards, topics to consider include:
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Network standards
Redundancy, Reliability and availability
Wide area network services
Remote access services
Network protocols
IP addresses
Active network equipment and services
Switching equipment and services
Wireless equipment and services
Network cabling and services
A2.5 Infrastructure – Midrange computing *
Definition – services, hardware, software, personnel, functions, activities and responsibilities that are
providing midrange computing services in the agency that are typically housed in data centres.
Includes services, hardware, software, management services (including virtualisation).
Outline current midrange computing services and operating environments of the agency, include
(where appropriate) topics such as:
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Sourcing arrangements
Lifecycle support
Virtualisation
Operating systems
Management systems
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A2.6 Infrastructure – Storage *
Definition – services, hardware, software, personnel, functions, activities and responsibilities that are
providing storage services in the agency that are typically housed in data centres. Includes NAS, SAN
and management and support services.
Outline storage services and operating environments of the agency, include (where appropriate)
topics such as:
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Sourcing arrangements
Lifecycle support
Management systems
Storage
A2.7 Infrastructure – Databases
Definition – preferred database environment for major corporate and business applications
Outline database services and operating environments of the agency, include (where appropriate)
topics such as:
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Sourcing arrangements
Lifecycle support
Database systems
Management systems
A2.8 Infrastructure – ICT Facilities *
Definition – services, hardware, software, equipment, rent, personnel for the provision of data centres
to the agency. Includes rent, racks, UPS, power, air conditioning and associated services.
Outline and/or reference ICT facilities sourcing and/or standards.
A2.9 Infrastructure – Radio *
If applicable to your agency, outline and/or reference radio sourcing and/or standards.
A2.10 Infrastructure – Telephony and related services *
Definition – fixed and mobile voice, video and related services, including handsets.
Policy context: Agencies are required to use the integrated communications services and
arrangements provided by TMD. Under this, each agency is to have its own policies and standards
for services it procures.
Outline and/or reference relevant agency policies and standards.
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A2.11 Security
Policy context – agencies are required to comply with the Tasmanian Government Information
Security Policy. Under this, each agency is to have its own information security policies.
Outline and/or reference relevant ICT information security policies.
A2.12 Business applications *
Definition – major business applications support and enable business functions of the agency.
Examples include the List, Motor Registry, FINES, Patient Administration System, Student
Management System, Jobs web site.
Costs include personnel, purchase, maintenance etc required to provision and support the application.
Outline current major business applications such as:
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Product and technology
Sourcing arrangements
Lifecycle support
Each major business application should be reflected in the agency ICT asset management plan as a
single line item.
A2.13 Corporate applications *
Definition – corporate applications support the back office functions of government. They should
include, but not be limited to:
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HR, payroll and related services
Financial and related services
Electronic document management and records systems (EDRMS)
Web content management and collaboration services
Help desk services.
Costs include personnel, purchase, maintenance etc required to provision and support the application.
Outline current corporate applications such as:
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Product and technology
Sourcing arrangements
Lifecycle support
Each corporate should be reflected in the agency ICT asset management plan as a single line item.
A2.14 Application design & development
Definition – preferred procurement model, technical standards etc for application design and
development for applications in the agency
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Outline the preferred application environment for new applications commissioned by the agency.
Summarise agency preferred:
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Preferred sourcing models, eg commercial of the shelf, software as a service, etc
Application infrastructure, such as databases, development platforms, web infrastructure,
authentication model
Development guidelines, including development methodology, architecture and design,
implementation and testing environments and practices, deployment models, documentation
and security standards
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ICT Benchmarks
Agency strategic
business goals
and priorites
Tasmanian
Government
ICT Strategy
Agency ICT
asset
assessment
Current state of
ICT
Imperatives for
change
What to achieve
Agency ICT
asset integration
Future state of
ICT
Agency ICT
principles
Tasmanian
Government
ICT Strategy
Agency ICT
asset
management
plans
Agency ICT
initiatives
Whole of
Government ICT
initiatives
How to achieve
A3 ICT strategic planning and asset management planning steps
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A4 Agency ICT Asset Management Plan Background
A4.1 ICT business applications asset assessment
The following approach to reviewing business applications was developed by the Department of
Education, utilising a Gartner methodology.
A4.2 ICT business applications asset assessment strategy
ICT business applications asset assessment strategy includes the following goals:
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Administrative workload and integration – with the aim to reduce time and effort spent
maintaining infrastructure and applications, decreasing the administrative burden of staff,
school and corporate areas. Where possible, new applications will reuse identity information,
finance information, qualifications, etc. It is undesirable that the same information is maintained
numerous times, sometimes by different business units. Business applications will integrate
with other applications as appropriate.
Sustainable business application diversity – while it may be desirable to support a variety of
business applications to cater for differing business needs, it must be recognised that this has
an impact on:
License cost (there may be no opportunities for state-wide licensing)
Support cost (may necessitate )
Professional development (as staff are mobile there may be a retraining effort as they
move from business unit to business and encounter different applications.)
Staff availability – due to a significant staff ‘churn’ it is desirable to standardise on a
number of platform and technologies
It is desirable that diversity is balanced against supportability and cost impacts.
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Better reuse of identity information - every staff member and client should have a single
identity (username and password) that they use during their interactions with the agency. It is
desirable that all corporate and e-learning business applications are able to re-use these
identities, rather than creating new ones. This also implies that a person identity remains
constant as they move from business unit to business unit.
Agility – business applications developed will be responsive to changing political and technical
environments, by virtue of exploiting new technologies and design approaches. For many
branches, current business applications were built during a time of independent business
processes and consequently silos were built with copies of data and with no real connection to
each business application. Over time piecemeal integration has lead to even more complex IT
infrastructure, with associated support costs. Organizational demands for business process
flexibility and adaptability are often difficult in an environment of ‘one purpose’ hardcoded
applications. There is a greater expectation for the agency to respond quickly to changing
priorities. A fleet of old applications will make this increasingly difficult.
Better resource management - providing a consistent methodology for approval of ICT priorities
investment. Taking a strategic approach to ICT investment will make it more likely to provide
better forward planning and align:
Internal IT staff resources
Business staff resources
Industry vendor availability
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Application architecture – using a standards based development approach to support
integration and reuse of data. All applications that are bought or built as part of this strategy
will be designed to be scalable, highly performing and allow for secure access by staff over the
internet. There will also be a significant focus on leveraging of whole of government
opportunities for application consolidation / hosting.
Strategic Direction
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Assess business application against the Agency ICT Strategic Plan, Tasmanian Government ICT
Strategy and ICT Roadmap.
Review with each of the business application owners the business application boundary and its
ability to satisfy business requirements.
Confirm on-going business application requirement, or business application decommissioning as
appropriate with business owner and users.
Utilise a software development and support panel of local companies to enable access to
multiple software skill sets.
Where ever possible will purchase rather than build a software business application.
A4.3 Business application status and review methodology
The business application solutions strategy will follow the Gartner methodology of needs identification,
essentially as a function of business value and technology risk.
Definition: IT portfolio management is a structured approach to categorize, evaluate, prioritize,
purchase and manage an organization's technology assets (hardware, software and human),
investments and projects based on current and future economic drivers — and the acceptable
balance of value/risk desired by the business.
Key benefits:
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Targets IT resources to meet business goals and increases IT and business alignment
Better IT budget control and management across the agency and improved transparency on IT
expenditures
Tolerate those systems that still satisfy a significant portion of the business function and are on
platforms that deliver high quality of service.
Integrate those involved in business processes that cross silos or where data volume precludes
conversion.
Migrate those systems that are "burning platforms" or that use declining or irreplaceable skills.
Eliminate those that no longer provide significant business value.
A sustainable business application lifecycle planning requires funding to be available for system
replacement upon retirement, and assumes that the original business drivers and processes for the
business application still apply
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Low - Technical quality - High
Year 3
Year 2
Tolerate
Integrate
(re-evaluate / reposition
Tolerate
(maintain / evolve asset)
Integrate
asset)
(re-evaluate / reposition
Tolerate
(maintain / evolve asset)
Integrate
asset)
(re-evaluate / reposition
(maintain / evolve asset)
asset)
Migrate
Eliminate
(re-engineer / modernise
Migrate
(retire / consolidate)
Eliminate
asset )
(re-engineer / modernise
Migrate
(retire / consolidate)
Eliminate
asset )
(re-engineer / modernise
(retire / consolidate)
asset )
Low - Business value - High
Tolerate
Tolerate those systems that still satisfy a significant portion of the business function and are on
platforms that deliver high quality of service.
Criteria:
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Satisfies 80% of the business function
Platform quality of service required
Problem is access, not implementation
Strategies:
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Presentation integration
Code cleanup
Restructure
Code analysis / inventory
Integrate (maintain / evolve asset)
Integrate those involved in business processes that cross silos or where data volume precludes
conversion.
Criteria:
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New business drivers cross traditional stovepipe applications
Data volume precludes conversion
E-business needs offered by packaged solution are critical
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Strategies:
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Presentation integration
Programmatic integration
Business Process Management
Desktop integration
Migrate (re-evaluate / reposition asset)
Migrate those systems that are "burning platforms" or that use declining or irreplaceable skills, or will
be consolidated as part of the ICT Roadmap.
Criteria:
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Burning platform
Declining and irreplaceable skill sets
Target for consolidation by the ICT Roadmap
Manageable quality of service expectations
Resolve merger and acquisition differences
Strategies:
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Business application infrastructure (software and hardware) replacement
Re-host
Re-write
Outsource
Platform migration
Eliminate
Eliminate those that no longer provide significant business value, which requires some agreement on
the parameters of business value.
Criteria:
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Low business value
Duplicate implementations
Alternate implementations
Strategies:
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Decommission
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Alternate assessment model
The diagram below is of an alternate assessment model. This model also assesses technical and
functional quality.
Systems not meeting user demands,
100
therefore enhancement/development
is required
Healthy Systems
90
Technical 80
Quality
70
%
60
50
40
30
System is neither
20 effective
nor efficient to the user, it
10
needs replacement
Systems do meet user
demands, however, they
are not operating efficiently
0
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Functional Quality
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