ITAM fundamentals

Managing the total cost of ownership (TCO) while ensuring your organization's software and hardware are properly inventoried, updated and serviced. Maintaining a good balance of resources and control between centrally managed and network-distributed systems. Deciding how many of your information systems and how much of your systems management to outsource, if any. Ensuring the security of all your information, including everything transmitted via mobile devices. Choosing among proprietary, compatible, and open source software options to find the right balance of resource and control between centrally-managed and network-distributed systems.

These are just a few of the issues and challenges facing the CIOs and senior IT executives charged with IT management responsibilities. The proliferation of choices doesn't make the task any easier.

When developing any management process that works, there are certain principles and best practices that make up an effective ITAM strategy for your business. An effective solution must be supported by a robust end-to-end approach to ITAM transformation. The Activity Sphere Model, shown in the following screenshot, represents a best-practices approach, ensuring all critical tasks leading toward the development and implementation for an effective and efficient ITAM program are accurately scoped and securely implemented as planned.

Initial activities are undertaken with an eye to the total enterprise, ensuring clarity in each of the three key areas: vision, strategy, and policy. From there, focus intensifies on planning, designing, implementing, and maintaining the solution. The aim is always to support the processes, tools, and communication required in completing the ITAM transformation. The following illustrates the essential approach:

The McLachlan Activity Sphere Model leads directly to my Tactical Framework Methodology. This consists of five phases that ensure all aspects of the ITAM process that directly affect its success are addressed. The following illustrates the key drivers influencing this approach:

The Assessment step is the planning phase, where you will review the current strengths, weaknesses, and risks as compared to best practices and the requirements of your environment and business. All identified requirements are analyzed with a practical eye towards available resources and possible issues and concerns.

The assessment results should include gap analysis, strategic and tactical action choices, and recommendations. Deliverables from this step include:

• Measurement and reporting recommendations
• Improvement suggestions, prioritized by your needs and best practices
• A project charter that incorporates the findings of the assessments and includes the achievable goals, resources, benefits, and end results
• An outline of subsequent projects, including major milestones, broken into an estimated, reasonable schedule, based on information gathered

The Design of Future Desired State typically includes process redesign, where existing processes are adapted to include automation and standardization. During this step, the assessment results are refined into a roadmap. The roadmap should include: The expansion of processes with additional assets or locations, the development of new policy language, application of standards, implementation of automation, or the development of data to support tactical and strategic analysis. Depending on the assessment results and your choices, I always recommend creating the following planning tools to facilitate a common understanding:

• KPA-based action plan
• Data dictionary
• Employee Awareness Plan (EAP)
• Mapping of product capabilities to process requirements
• Systems review (data sources, complementary process automation)
• Updated systems architecture diagram
• Recommendations for standardized training

The Planning for Achieving Desired State step digs into the actions, resources, and time line required to implement the improvements that have been taking shape in the preceding steps.

The Implementation Across Enterprise step differs depending on whether a product implementation is part of the action steps. It includes delivery of the evaluation and recommendations, a project plan, specific tactical deliverables such as a data dictionary, and other specific deliverable as outlined later in the document.

For process-only projects, the implementation step typically includes process-reengineering, development of internal training materials, documenting the processes, and brokering cooperation between departments.

When a new solution is being incorporated into your environment, the implementation step includes installation of all products, loading of data, and the development of tailoring and customization to automate as planned for lifecycle management of the in-scope assets. Multiple product implementations may be conducted at the same time, which shortens the timeline and facilitates the development of a common understanding of the data elements and the reporting capabilities in both products.

Development during product implementation can include configuration, design and coding of the application, reports, notifications, workflows, and wizards. The time required for each of these items will depend on the complexity of the business rules that are being encoded. The vendor-supplied integration tools should be used to load the ITAM system or to integrate with other systems in your organization's environment.

The Support and Integrate Enhancements step reflects the inspirations that occur during the project implementation. These include new opportunities where unforeseen benefits are uncovered during the implementation. As success measured by goal achievement for the project becomes visible and enthusiasm for the project rises, and as employee awareness is conducted and grows, new requests for lifecycle management and reporting will arise. This is a good thing, and not something to be feared. Plans for these enhancements, as well as the training of internal staff and participation in the ongoing development and support of the process can be developed as part of a follow-on strategy.

This loose, tactical framework allows you to clearly articulate the steps and key deliverables required to enable the transformation ITAM brings to your organization. The activities shown in the McLachlan Activity Sphere Model are incorporated into this framework.

Solutions from full implementation of the entire asset lifecycle system to those addressing portions of an existing system that is either not functioning properly or missing some functions are available. Ongoing support for ITAM best practices and initiatives is required as the ITAM process matures. Regardless of the size of your implementation, both the Activity Sphere Model and the Tactical Framework Methodology help ensure the development of the very best solutions for your enterprise. Remember that ITAM is a transformative process, so change and adaptation are the norms.