Business Analysis – Audits and Strategic Planning (2013)

Objectives

Executed an Audit of IT systems (what they do, how old they are, who’s using them and why) and operations (where are the staff allocated, how do programs share resources):

  • Interview all program heads
  • Design qualitative and quantitative research as needed
  • Summarize current state and identify opportunities for improvement
  • Present findings to management

Solution

I audited operations at a large Public Health Sector organization. I interviewed stakeholders, collected information on IT systems and people, and presented an analysis with diagrams and organizational recommendations.

I delivered a presentation and wrote a 60-page report on the state of IT operations, covering 9 program areas:

Expanded The Scope

On my own initiative, I expanded the scope to include Strategic guidance for management based on my findings. This included organizational models, a service blueprint (lists of responsibilities, goals, beneficiaries, internal vs. external stakeholders), and a governance survey (audited the management process itself).

The Work (Service Blueprinting)

I created a Blueprint to help management to better understand the scope of the organization (using “The Work” model) and the effect of external factors (it wasn’t always obvious to people managing The Work).

I further broke down the organization into areas like Data, Processes, Business Applications, and People. I then detailed all the internal support activities that are required to manage each aspect of the organization. Finally, I mapped internal activities to public services:

Surveys And Interviews

I created multiple surveys (developed the scope and wrote the questions). The big challenge was that each program used different terminology and had a different way of seeing itself in relation to the whole. I had to think how to frame questions in Plain English in a way that is properly interpreted by all participants.

Surveys included systems and process questions:

Surveys also included self-evaluation of the management team and their relationship to IT (provider of services):

When a standard survey format was insufficient, I created a custom framework and format:

After survey data was collected, I interviewed the head of each program. In the end, I presented my findings to the whole team.

Data Analysis And Customized Presentation

I created different presentations for different types of data.

For data pertaining to relationships, I created a relationship overlap diagram:

For standardized data, I created a color-coded map to highlight pain points:

From qualitative data and interview notes, I extracted and summarized the key actionable requirements:

Governance Framework

I created a survey to assess the effectiveness of the IT Steering Committee in areas like communication and resource management. I also created an overarching framework to convey the scope of organizational activities, weak points, and opportunities (SWOT analysis):

More Leadership Projects:

Presented Vision for IT Service Delivery (2012): Presented to cross-divisional senior management about transforming IT services through collaboration and workflow automation. Current state included poor collaboration across silos, resistance to change, and lack of process transparency. I explained how process definition enables measurement and creating efficiencies through reuse. I also presented ITIL Service Design principles and sample IT service catalogues.

Charter for TPH IT Strategic Plan (2013): IT wanted to understand the gaps in its service delivery to business and develop a service-oriented strategy to create Business-IT alignment. I advised senior managers on creating a project plan for this initiative. I developed problem statements, objectives, and analyzed risks. I prepared a detailed roadmap of activities.