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ITD Technology Services to analyze processes, performance at
Governance Conference April 27 in Boise

A Governance Reunion is planned for April 27 at the Red Lion Downtowner in Boise to discuss the management of technology and the dovetailing of that information with departmental objectives.

Groups will discuss best practices, what's working well and what is not, and other topics related to Governance. An action plan to guide Governance efforts in the future is one of the goals of the conference as well.

One of the organizational challenges to be addressed is how to make sure decision-making reflects a more strategic directive — doing what is best for the entire organization rather than focusing only on what is best for the smaller group.

An "IT Governance" process was instituted in August 2016 as the culmination of several years of strategic planning and problem analysis.

About 80 employees from around the state came together, representing a variety of business lines. The groups have been meeting at least monthly since then.

Two of those individuals, POE Financial Specialist Lisa McClellan and Bonnie Fogdall of DMV, commented on the new process:

Fogdall

What positive changes have you seen since we implemented the governance process? More integration of ITD projects and greater understanding of ALL the various things ETS has on their plate.

How has the governance process impacted you in a positive way? Better understanding of ETS priorities and what support they are or are not able to give to DMV projects

How does the governance process support our cultural initiatives of collaboration, team building, etc.? Team building, collaboration, and communication are all parts of this effort and are much needed among the various ITD working areas.

How does the process help ITD be better? Identifies strengths and weaknesses in ETS, allows for better understanding of work being conducted by various ITD work areas and promotes team building, collaboration and communications.

McClellan (not pictured)

What positive changes have you seen since we implemented the governance process? More communication and more awareness as to limited resources. A deeper analysis of the demand — is it truly necessary, improved perspective from the ETS side of the house compared with our business eyes.

How has the governance process impacted you in a positive way? Greater knowledge of the resource limitations we face. Many high-priority needs still exist, and finding the resources (time, money and people) to complete them is extremely challenging. Insight into other division’s perspectives is helpful in weighing our “internally held beliefs” that may or may not be valid.

How does the governance process support our cultural initiatives of collaboration, team building, etc.? The business is part of the discussion. The business is now a participant in determining what moves forward and what may not be a priority. This provides us with a perspective of managing resources with future modernization in mind.

How does the process help ITD be better? It removes silos, and allows us to evaluate commonly held beliefs. It breaks down the “we vs. them” perspective – a great cultural improvement!