Performance Lifecycle Management (SM-10-007)

Topics:

SM-10-007 Performance Lifecycle Management

Issue Date: 9/05/2009

Revision Effective Date: 5/01/2011

PURPOSE

Enterprise IT Performance Lifecycle Management (Lifecycle Management) is a combination of methodologies, processes, metrics, and systems that allows an organization to manage and to report on the performance of IT investments.

This standard establishes the minimum common practices for managing the life of an information technology system (the investment) from initiation through disposition. The practices include investment reviews by key stakeholders at selected points of the investment lifecycle. These reviews, called Stage Gate Reviews, are a business owner’s mechanism to ensure the viability of the investment and the compliance with agency, state and federal laws and regulations, as required. Key stakeholders provide the review results with any recommended action to the business owner for decision.

STANDARD

An agency which uses information technology to support a business process shall ensure the use of Lifecycle Management to manage the initial and continuing investment of funds for information technology applied to the business process. Lifecycle Management shall be used to organize deliverables and make decisions on an information technology investment through the planning and building into an operational or production state, and to organize deliverables and decisions concerning subsequent system support and operations and the eventual retirement, disposal and discontinuation of service activities. Lifecycle Management procedures shall be documented and, at a minimum, include the following components:

1. Adoption of Enterprise IT Lifecycle Framework to manage IT investments as follows:

a. For those investments designated for Enterprise-level review by GTAs Enterprise Program Management Office, Lifecycle Management including the use of the Enterprise IT Lifecycle Framework shall be applied by Program (or Project) Managers and the Enterprise-level IT business owner.

b. Other investments are designated for Agency review. Lifecycle Management shall be applied by Program (or Project) Managers as appropriate, the Agency business owners and/or IT governing bodies.

2. Stage Gate Reviews, at a minimum, are required at the end of the Plan process and the Build process but may be more frequent at the discretion of Key Stakeholders as determined during the Planning Stage. To prepare for Stage Gate Reviews, the Program (or Project) Manager shall provide required stage gate documentation, documentation of known issues and plans. The results of the review shall be provided with recommended action to the business owner and appropriate IT governing body for decision.

TERMS and DEFINITIONS

Business Owner - The person who serves as the primary stakeholder and advocate for a technology investment. The Business Owner is responsible and accountable for ensuring the technology investment meets the business and regulatory requirements. The Stage Gate Review process is the Business Owner’s mechanism to ensure the viability of the investment and the compliance with agency, state and federal laws and regulations.

Key Stakeholders - Stakeholders are individuals with vested interests in the success of the technology investment. Certain stakeholders are considered Key Stakeholders or critical partners because of their expertise and/or roles in the reviews and governance of the investment. Their purpose is to ensure compliance with policies, standards, practices, legislative requirements and environmental limitations. Their contributions are on behalf of and at the request of the Business Owner, as needed and based on their respective areas of expertise. Because organizational structures vary in the Agencies, the expertise for these roles may be fulfilled from a mixture of organizations, as appropriate. Key Stakeholder roles include:

Strategic Planner
Technology Architect
Information Security Officer
Procurement Officer
Budget/Finance Officer
Workforce/HR, and
Representatives of non-agency groups such as federal authorities or Georgia’s Office of Planning & Budget, Georgia Technology Authority, Department of Administrative Services and State Accounting Office.

Stage Gate Reviews - A formal review held at the end of a project lifecycle stage by Key Stakeholders to ensure that the project has produced all the required deliverables and adequately met all exit criteria for the stage.

IT Investment - The term “investment” as used herein is meant to be all inclusive of information technology solution in that it can consist of a single project, or of several logically related projects.

Program - A Program is an investment composed of multiple projects in an ongoing implementation. It may apply to new solutions, major enhancements to existing solutions, high-priority, fast track projects, commercial off the shelf (COTS) products acquisitions, major telecommunications projects and infrastructure projects.

IT Governing Body - The term is relative to the risk, complexity and cost of an investment. For major State investments and critical projects, the IT governing body will be the State Critical Project Panel. For delegated projects, an IT governing body organization may be designated by the Business Owner.

REFERENCES

Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO) Methodology, “Project Manager's Project Guide - Helping the PM and the Project Succeed”, (http://gta.georgia.gov/00/channel_title/0,2094,1070969_63101296,00.html)
“A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)” Dennis Bolles and Steve Fahrenkrog. 2004. Third Edition. Newtown Square, PA., Project Management Institute. (ISBN: 1-930699-45-X), (http://www.pmi.org)
“ Stage Gate Reviews” Template, published and maintained by GTA’s Enterprise Project Management Office, published and maintained by GTA’s Enterprise Project Management Office