Development of an Information Technology Strategic Plan (ITSP) for GG Freightways

Assignment

Before you begin this assignment, be sure you have read the “GG Freightways Case Study” and the feedback you received on your IT Strategic Plan Part 1 assignment.  Also, be sure you have read the course content materials that have been assigned to this point.

This assignment gives you the opportunity to apply the course concepts to complete the development of an Information Technology Strategic Plan (ITSP) to support the strategic direction of GG Freightways (GGFRT).  This assignment specifically addresses the following course outcomes to enable you to:

identify, define, and explain the concepts of information technology governance and management

apply best practices in information technology management and governance to make, defend, and justify an IT decision.

For the previous assignment, you developed Part 1 of an IT Strategic Plan for GGFRT.  For this assignment, you will incorporate any needed changes resulting from the feedback you received on your Part 1 assignment and you will add Part 2.  Part 2 will include an IT project that you are proposing that GGFRT undertakes.  This new project will be included in the IT Portfolio section of Part 2 and will be further described in a future assignment, the “IT Decision Paper.”  The entire ITSP will be submitted as a single document for this assignment.

First, you should make any changes to your Part 1 assignment, as indicated in the feedback you received.  Then, you will develop Part 2 of the ITSP for GG Freightways (GGFRT), using the outline below, and add it to Part 1.  A single, complete ITSP, with both Parts 1 and 2 will be submitted for this assignment.  Note that Part 2 includes a project you are proposing that GGFRT undertakes.  In addition to the course materials, at least one external resource (resource other than those provided in the class) must be used.  Two or more cited references will earn top credit. Use a separate References page to list just the references you have cited.  Remember to use the APA formatting rules and correctly cite and reference your sources with APA format.  Use the Grading Rubric to be sure you have covered everything.  

Please use this outline to build Part 2 of your IT Strategic Plan.  Use the numbering and headings shown below.    

1.IT Strategies - Write four (4) IT strategies and explain how they align to one or more of the business strategies from ITSP #1, Section 1, including the compliance requirements, articulated in the Case Study.  If these business strategies were not included in your Part 1 paper, you should add these strategies into Part 1 prior to submitting this assignment.  When the full ITSP is submitted for this assignment, there should be a clear link between the business strategies in Part 1 and the IT Strategies in Part 2.  Provide at least one (1) internal IT strategy and two (2) business-enabling IT strategies and identify each as either and internal or business-enabling strategy.  Refer to the reading on “Creating a Future Vision for the Chief Information Officer” for an explanation of internal and external (business-enabling) IT strategies.

Purpose of this Assignment

2.2.IT Portfolio Roadmap - The overall IT Roadmap shows the systems that are currently in development or are planned to start within the time frame shown.  It is a summary of projects to support your proposed strategy.  You should review the case study and identify the new systems that the stakeholders are requesting or that GGFRT has decided to implement.  Each of these systems should be entered into the table below under the appropriate functional area, such as marketing or finance.  Then, the time frame for developing the system should be presented as a bar in the table.  The table covers a six-quarter time frame shown, with each quarter having three months. Thus, the six-quarter time frame looks out a year and a half into the development and implementation of the strategy.  Of course, the entire implementation may take longer, but six quarters allows both short term and long term to be viewed at a glance.  For purposes of this assignment, only the projected timeframes to develop the projects are required.  Assume that the beginning of Quarter 1 is today with the projects already in the development process.   The table below shows the five functional areas of an example company and two systems for each area.  To develop your roadmap, use a table like the one below to create a timeline; you can copy the table, insert the functional areas and systems that are discussed in the Case Study, and use ‘insert shape – rectangle’ to insert the bars showing the timeframes for development of each.  The functional areas and projects in development, and their timeframes should be extracted from the Case Study.  

3.Proposed Project:  Next, (1) you will propose a new IT project to support at least one of the strategies in section 1 above and include it in the Table above.  (2) Use a different color font to indicate this new project and insert it with the appropriate functional area in your table.  In Section 3, (3) describe in a short paragraph how your proposed project will supplement the current IT development projects (systems in development) in supporting the business of GGFRT.  In a future assignment, you will use this project to develop an “IT Decision Paper”; therefore, you should look at that assignment to be sure the project you propose will be appropriate for that assignment as well.  (You can propose a specific vendor package though it is not necessary.  However, if you are incorporating an integrated solution, you should discuss the various features of the package that are appropriate for the study.  Solutions such as backups, training of employees, utilizing social media, customizing packaging of products for storage and others involving Human Resources are not appropriate solutions for this assignment.)  Refer to Case Study for ideas for a new project. This is a major part of the next assignment. Give this some thought.

4.Risk Management – (1) List and explain four (4) risks that Lance should be prepared to manage as he executes his plans. (2) What is the impact of the risk on GGFRT if not properly managed?  (3) What risk management techniques can he use for each one to try to prevent and/or mitigate them (state: accept, reject, transfer or mitigate)? You must discuss specifics, related to the case study in your response. 

This is a good area to do some external research – see what you can find on the web about IT project risks and risk management.   (Review the document “IHS Guide to Risk Management” found under the Week 3 readings.)  Complete (1), (2), (3) for each risk; list each risk separately in the format a. Risk 1, b. Risk 2, c. Risk 3, d. Risk 4, then the subsections (1), (2), (3).  A source must be incorporated into this section for full credit.

5.Business Continuity Planning

(a) List and explain the general steps Lance should take to develop a Business Continuity Plan for GGFRT so he can be sure that the most important systems will remain operational in the event of a catastrophe.  

(b) Include who should be involved in its development and their roles, focusing on the BCP (not general company roles).  

(c) In addition, from the Case Study, identify what you consider the three most important systems currently in use at GGFRT along with justification of your choices.  

(d) Based on the three systems chosen in (c), explain the specific steps Lance can take to ensure those systems continue to be available for GGFRT in the event of a local catastrophe. 

The "right" and "wrong" answers have to do with whether or not you correctly incorporated the course concepts from the course and addressed all parts of the assignment. The project you propose is not as important as that it makes sense considering the course content and the Case Study. Use the Rubric below to be sure you have covered all aspects of the assignment.