IT master plans — structured planning of the IT environment

To provide appreciable support for strategic business developments, functional divisions and IT units need a common, agreed basis for designing future organisational and technical arrangements.

A major objective of the IT function is to permit the harmonised, binding and concerted management of IT development through the key instrument of an IT master plan.

In the framework of developing an IT master plan, a great variety of highly interdependent issues have to be addressed. Therefore, it is vital to use a structured approach to tackle the tasks on hand. For that purpose, zeb/ developed a practice-tested model approach.

Its focus is on answering questions related to five central themes:

• Current situation
  In the analysis of the current situation, the status quo of the IT systems and the functionalities available are to be surveyed and documented. Performance capacities are assessed and gaps in the IT environment are identified.
• Functional requirements
  In the next step, the task is to clarify the functional requirements that have to be supported by the IT systems in the future. This must be based on an adequate understanding of the functional requirements and future structures for supporting the business strategy.
• Target situation
  The future IT environment is described in a draft of the target situation. It covers all the systems that have to be available in the future. Moreover, the planned developments are aligned with an overall architectural structure.
• Prerequisites
  Before the master plan can be drawn up, essential prerequisites of the target situation have to be examined. The aim is to draw up the framework required for achieving the target situation. Key aspects frequently include data management, infrastructure and IT production, but also IT management, sourcing and governance.
• Master plan
  Finally, the several IT issues are transformed into an overall master plan. This plan describes the strategic investment portfolio, i.e. the schedule and costs of the strategic IT development. It creates transparency on the time when the IT systems will be available to the users.

The target-oriented development of the IT environment is a critical success factor for the competitiveness of your company, in particular in view of the steadily growing competitive pressure in the insurance sector.

Based on the outlined project approach, a comprehensive master plan can be developed within a limited timeframe so that you can lay the foundation for the successful arrangement of the technical and organisational support of your company.

Taking account of strategic and technological framework conditions and objectives, the approach creates the necessary transparency and develops all the essential IT decisions in the form of a viable IT architecture for your company.

The intended level of detail, e.g. in the form of master plans and initial task descriptions, ensure feasibility and reliability both for the functional divisions and the IT unit in the subsequent implementation phase.