Assignment

Throughout your career in IT management, you will be asked to develop and improve a company’s IT department to help support the company’s strategic goals and mission. When a new strategic plan is developed by a company, typically the process begins with the CEO and various stakeholders writing strategic goals, with the assistance of subject matter experts from the business. Next, strategic goals are finalized and assigned to team members and others who will formulate solutions to achieve the goals within a specific time frame and budget. Then, operational goals in alignment with the company’s strategic goals and an operations plan will be created. Finally, a workflow to move from the current environment to the future state will be developed.

For this assessment, you will create an IT operations plan from the provided strategic goals in the attached “TreasureChest Case Study.” (The case study should be read before beginning this task.)

The skills you showcase in your completed IT operations plan will be useful in your career in responding to the demands you will receive from leadership. This IT operations plan may also be added to your portfolio to show to future employers.

Read the case study attachment. You will select and record two strategic goals from the case study attachment.  You will use the goals to develop IT operational goals and then create an IT operations plan.  Record all responses in the attached “IT Operations Plan Template.”

Scenario #1

You were recently hired as the new Chief Information Officer (CIO) at a SaaS treasury management company, TreasureChest. Your main responsibility is to implement innovative changes and become the direct report for the entire IT department. The CEO has been doing this prior to your hire. The first project the CEO has assigned to you is to produce a new IT operations plan for the company. You have been given the strategic goals for TreasureChest (see attached case study) and need to ensure your IT operational goals are in alignment with the company’s strategic vision and mission.

Requirements

Select and record two strategic goals from the case study attachment. All responses should be recorded in the attached “IT Operations Plan Template.”

A.  Evaluate TreasureChest’s current SaaS operation, hardware, operating systems (OS), networks, software, and database. Include examples from the attached “TreasureChest Case Study” that indicate the service and delivery, scalability, flexibility, interoperability, resilience, and security of the company’s current IT environment.

B.  Create three IT operational goals that align with the first strategic goal you have chosen. At least  one of the IT operational goals you create must be a software solutions.

C.  Create three IT operational goals that align with the second strategic goal you have chosen. At least  one of the IT operational goals you create must  be a software solutions.

D. Identify enhancements and associated activities that need to be executed in order to support each  of the six IT operational goals you created.

E.  Explain how COBIT or ITIL frameworks will be implemented in your IT operations plan to ensure the flexibility and sustainability of TreasureChest’s IT infrastructure through year one, year three, and year five.

F.  Identify security risks associated with each  enhancement proposed in your IT operations plan. Include steps for proactively addressing the identified risks to protect the IT security posture of the organization.

G.  Create a comprehensive operational workflow representing how TreasureChest will transition from the current IT environment to the environment proposed in your IT operations plan.

Scenario - #2

You were recently hired as the new chief information officer (CIO) at the SaaS treasury management company, TreasureChest. Your main responsibility is to implement innovative changes and become the direct report for the entire IT department. (The CEO has been doing this prior to your hire). You have been assigned to review the department staffing to ensure you have the right people and resources in the right positions. The CEO is looking for innovative ways to solve the staffing problem and wants you to collaborate with HR to fill these positions. You have been given the case study and strategic goals for TreasureChest and need to ensure your IT organizational and resource plan is in alignment with the company’s business demands.

Requirements

Part I: IT Organizational and Resource Plan

A.   Create an annotated hierarchical organizational chart illustrating at least  10 individuals in six various roles in the IT departmental structure and processes to meet the needs outlined in the attached “TreasureChest Case Study,” including the type of resources (e.g., full-time employees (FTEs), outsourcing, contracting, inshore, offshore, etc.).

B.   Write a job description for one of the roles from your hierarchical organizational chart. The job description should include the following information:

•   heading information (e.g., job title, pay grade, relationships)

•   summary of the role components and its overall benefit to the organization

•   objective summary of the job

•   job duties and responsibilities

•   qualifications

C.   Propose a resource option and an implemented technology (available internally or externally) to replace two FTEs or role assignments. Provide examples of how the replacements are innovative and will move the company forward.

Part II: Recommendation

D.   Summarize how your IT organization and resource plan meets the business goals of TreasureChest and provide examples from the plan that support your claims.

E.   Identify IT governance practices that contribute to the viability of your IT organization and resource plan and provide examples from your plan that show application of the governance practice.

F.   Recommend innovative organizational resource technologies that will improve service at TreasureChest and provide research-based examples of successful application of these technologies.