"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us
"Universe," a part limited in time and space. He
experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something
separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his
consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us,
restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for
a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by
widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living
creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the
striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the
liberation and a foundation for inner security."
— Albert Einstein.
_________________________________________________________
Two excellent papers to help establish
"accountability" for Business and IT planning --
in any environment !!!
Read on ...
_________________________________________________________
a) The two GAO best practice research studies (i.e. guidance
papers) below provide an excellent discussion about business
planning (the first paper) and then IT mgmt and IT planning
(the second paper).
The GAO publishes more than 2000 reports a year and these
two papers (below) are in my view in the "top 5"
from the past 10 years !!!
b) Also, (very important) just because they are written for
the government environment does not mean they are not
relevant to the private sector - i.e. name a private sector
organization that has more challenges and issues (for IT to
deal with) than the US federal
government.
c) Finally, David McClure's 1994 GAO IT Best Practice
guidance (the second paper below) remains one of the best
papers I have ever read regarding IT management
- (& I've read a few papers over the years).
Enjoy - & (pass this one on.)
Thanks.
Dan
www.securitybenchmark.com
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dans_SECemails/
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dans_CCCemails/
______________________________________________________
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty".
— Sir Winston Churchill.
"Cherish your vision; Cherish your ideals; Cherish the
music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in
your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts.
If you remain true to them, your world will at last be
built". - James Allen.
"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result
of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction,
and skillful execution; it presents the wise choice of many
alternatives." - Willa A. Foster.
_______________________________________________________
1. You should (MUST?) ensure your budgeting efforts
(particularly
in the IT area) are driven by your business planning.
The GAO has published an excellent paper on this subject
titled: "Executive Guide: Effectively Implementing the
Government Performance and Results Act". This
fundamental guidance (i.e. that we need to define our
mission, mandate, and goals "first") is
available at:
http://ww
w.gao.gov/special.pubs/gg96118.pdf
GAO published an executive guide on implementing
the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA).
GAO noted that:
(1) GPRA forces federal agencies to focus on their missions
and goals, how to achieve them, and how to improve their
structural organizations and business processes;
(2) agencies must define their missions and desired
outcomes, use strategic planning, involve stakeholders,
assess their environments, and align their activities, core
processes, and resources to support mission-related
outcomes;
(3) agencies need to measure their performance to ensure
that they are meeting their goals and making informed
decisions;
(4) performance measures need to be based on program-related
characteristics and performance data must be sufficiently
complete, accurate, and consistent;
(5) agencies must use performance data to improve
organizational processes, identify performance gaps, and set
improvement goals; and
(6) GPRA success depends on strong leadership practices that
devolve decisionmaking authority with accountability, create
incentives, build expertise, and integrate management
reforms.
_______________________________________________________
2. You must also get your information technology efforts
"in order" - i.e. check out GAO's landmark
guidance report entitled: "Executive Guide: Improving
Mission Performance Through Strategic Information Management
and Technology" which is available at:
http://arch
ive.gao.gov/t2pbat3/151707.pdf
Background: Making government more effective and efficient
is a national issue. Today's information systems offer the
government unprecedented opportunities to provide higher
quality services
tailored to the public's changing needs. Unfortunately,
federal agencies have not kept pace with evolving management
practices and skills necessary to
(1) precisely define critical information needs and
(2) select, apply, and control changing information
technologies.
The result, in many cases, has been wasted resources,
a frustrated public unable to get quality service,
and a government ill-prepared to measure and manage
its affairs in an acceptable, businesslike manner.
_______________________________________________________
In closing, if there are two documents you read this year
from me it should be these two papers) !!!!!!
(full stop).
________________________________________________________
Enjoy,
Dan
www.securitybenchmark.com
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dans_SECemails/
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dans_CCCemails/
"The most important contribution management needs
to make in the 21st century is to increase the
productivity of knowledge work & the knowledge
worker." - Peter F. Drucker.
The 2006 Mid Canada Information Technology Conference
www.midcanitc.com
Achieving Operational Excellence
www.tripwire.com/compliance/
Auditing Information Security
infosecuritymag.techtarget.com/articles/october00/features3.
shtml
Auditing System Conversions
www.theiia.org/ITAudit/index.cfm?act=itaudit.archive&fid
=5495
__________________________________________________________
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