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Investment planning methodology

Business planning techniques

Gather business direction The information gathered in this activity will ideally already exist and be documented from prior business planning activities. If this is the case, the gathering of information on the organisation’s vision, goals, objectives and strategies should be a simple transcription exercise. However, in an organisation where this information is not readily available or is not available at the level required to describe the business area, it will be necessary to generate it through interviews or workshops with the key stakeholders of the business areas.

For the purpose of the investment planning process, consistent definitions should be used for the business vision, goals, objectives and strategies as these are used as a means to assess the consistency and validity of the organisation’s business profile. The following definitions are used in the Investment planning methodology.

Term Definition

Vision The key focus of the organisation and how it wants to be perceived by external parties at some point in the future. There should be only one business vision.

Goal A generalised statement of a long-term target that the organisation is aiming to achieve.

Objective A specific outcome that is to be achieved in a specific timeframe.

Strategy An implementation choice that, when executed, assists that organisation to achieve the business objectives.

QGEA PUBLIC Business planning techniques

Final draft | v3.0.1 | October 2014 PUBLIC of 36

The figure below can be used to understand the link between business vision, goals, objectives and strategies.

Future State

CurrentSituation

Strategies determine how to move from the current situation

to the desired future state

Goals describe the desired future state

Objectives measure progress towards the desired future state

Timeline showing business goals, objectives and strategies

The figure below provides further information on the relationship between goals, objectives and strategies.

Goals describe the desired future state of an organisation.

Goals are often set by the organisation itself, such as “Leader in utilising ICT in innovative ways to enhance services to the citizens of Queensland”.

However, goals can also be imposed upon an organisation. For example, compliance goals may be set via regulations; these goals must be met, but are not self defined.

VISION Strategies determine how to move from the current situation to the desired future state.

There are an infinite number of strategies available to move an organisation towards its goals. The choice of strategies must match the business direction and be realistic given the attainable resources and capability of the organisation.

Objectives measure progress towards a future state and goals.

Objectives must be SMART:SpecificMeasureableAchievableRealisticTime-framed

Strategies are developed and refined to meet goals

Objectives show how close an organisation is to meeting its goals.

Objectives must also be linked to a goal.

Objectives measure the progress of strategies in moving an organisation from the current state to the future state (described using goals).

Goals

Strategies

Objectives

Vision, goal, objective and strategy relationship



Terms used in the Queensland Government Performance Management Framework Where business planning activities have already been conducted, it may be discovered that different terms have been used to express the organisation’s vision, goals, objectives and strategies.

For example, the Queensland Government A Guide to the Queensland Government Performance Management Framework, provides definitions of key terms used for strategic planning purposes. The figure below provides a comparison of these terms to those used for the purposes of investment planning:

Vision Vision

Goals Objectives

Objectives Performance Indicators

Strategies Strategies

Key focus of the organisation and how it

wants to be perceived by external parties

Investment Planning Performance Management Framework

A generalised statement of a long-term target that

the organisation is aiming to achieve

A specific outcome that is to be achieved in a

specific timeframe

An implementation choice that, when

executed, assists that agency to achieve the

business objectives

Describes what the agency aspires to be by reflecting on how it wishes to be perceived by clients and stakeholders

The effects or impacts that an agency seeks to have on its clients and stakeholders

Measures the extent to which the outcomes achieved by an agency are meeting their objectives in their strategic plan

The way in which the Government or an agency intends to pursue its objectives

http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/publications/categories/guides/perf-manage-framework.aspx

http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/publications/categories/guides/perf-manage-framework.aspx



Example business direction register This section provides suggested attributes for a business direction register to support the investment planning process:

• planning unit name • vision • goals • objectives • strategies.

An example register can be found in the Investment planning methodology workbook.

Classify business direction This section specifies techniques to support the classification of business direction elements to a strategic focus classification framework (e.g. Treacy-Wiersema Value-Discipline Model Classification). In addition, it provides information that supports the understanding of the implications of this classification.

Treacy-Wiersema value-discipline model classification The Treacy-Wiersema Value-Discipline Model1 is a strategic tool that helps organisations understand what they want their customers to value them for.

This model looks at three different areas in which an organisation may focus its energies. Each area results in customers valuing the organisation in a different way. The three value-disciplines are:

• operational excellence • customer intimacy • product leadership.

The Treacy-Wiersema value-discipline model

1 Treacy, M. and Wiersema, F., 1997, The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts. Gartner Inc., 2001, Gartner, G2 Value Discipline Framework, Gartner Inc.

http://www.qgcio.qld.gov.au/products/qgea-documents/547-business/2517-ict-resources-strategic-planning-is2-web-portal



The model on page 4 above states that in order to be competitive, an organisation must be competent in all three disciplines, but to be a market leader, an organisation must excel in just one discipline.

Treacy-Wiersema further propose that an organisation cannot excel in all three disciplines because the basic organisational culture, structures, people, facilities, processes and business models that lead to excellence in any one discipline are incompatible with achieving excellence in the others. For example, operationally excellent organisations tend to have a limited range of products/configurations as this is cheaper to build and deliver than a vast range of products and configurations typical of a customer intimate organisation.

The use of the model assists the organisation in understanding how well it has aligned itself to that strategic focus. A misalignment or a mix of alignments may indicate an organisation that will have difficulty delivering on its business objectives. The three tables below provide descriptions of each value discipline.

Operational excellence

Operational excellence

Operational excellence is characterised by low or lowest priced and hassle free service

The principles of operational excellence are: • efficient management of people - employees

trained in the most efficient and lowest cost ways of doing things

• management of efficient transactions - maximising the efficiency of all parts of a transaction, including the full supply chain

• dedication to measurement systems - ensuring rigorous quality and cost control, with measurement targeted at finding ways to reduce costs

• management of customer expectations - provision of a limited variety of products and/or services and managing customer expectations accordingly.

The dimensions of operational excellence are: • organisational performance - efficiency through

improved processes and automation for speed and hassle-free delivery

• quality - detecting, understanding and removing problems in processes, products and services that have efficiency impacts both before and after delivery

• cost - analysing and adjusting processes and products to facilitate the most cost-effective delivery.

Customer intimacy

Customer intimacy

Customer intimacy is characterised by occupying only one (or a few) high-value customer niches and being obsessive about understanding the individual customers in detail. Excel in customer attention and customer service

The principles of a customer intimate organisation are: • having a full range of services available to serve

the customers on demand - may involve having a wide range of services available from other suppliers at very short notice through contract arrangements

• a corporate philosophy and resulting business practices that encourage deep customer insight and breakthrough thinking about how to improve the customer’s situation or business.

The dimensions of customer intimacy are: • reach and range - location of service access points,

number of channels through the product or service can be accessed, level of self-service available

• cycle time - time between awareness of customer need and delivery, and product or service development time

• product identification - ability to identify new products or services required by customers.



Product leadership

Product leadership

Product leadership is characterised by products that are simply the best in their market and highly valued by customers

The principles of a product leadership focussed organisation are:

• encouragement of innovation - a culture that fosters experimentation and innovation and rewards product or service improvement

• risk-oriented management style - management that allows the organisation to take risks and reap the rewards of new ventures

• recognition that the organisation’s current success and future prospects lie in its talented design people and those who support them

• recognition of the need to educate and lead the market in the use and benefits of new products or services.

The dimensions of product leadership are:

• capability maturity - maintaining the level of capability to deliver products or services and the continuous improvement of those capabilities

• intellectual leverage - developing and using intellectual assets for improved product and service delivery

• responsiveness - minimising the response and turnaround times for product and service design and delivery.

Understand business direction classifications The Investment planning methodology applies the value-discipline model to define the strategic focus for the organisation for which planning is being undertaken. This strategic focus is then used to assess how well the organisation has aligned itself to that strategic focus. A misalignment or a mix of alignments can indicate an organisation that will have difficulty delivering on its business objectives.

The methodology not only assesses the value-discipline of the organisation but it also assesses vision, goals, objectives, strategies and business processes for which value-discipline they align most to. This assessment is then used to evaluate the alignment between the organisation’s perceived or desired value-discipline and their operational value-discipline.

The assessment of the alignment of the vision, goals, objectives, strategies and business processes can best be represented as a chart referred to as the strategic alignment chart.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

VisionGoa

ls

Objecti

ves

Strateg

ies

Proce

sses

ProductLeadership

CustomerIntimacy

OperationalExcellence

Strategic alignment chart



For the Investment planning methodology, the sole reason for this assessment is to gain and understanding of the quality of the set of business processes and business objectives that will be the basis upon which the ICT support for the business will be assessed. For example, the strategic alignment chart on page 6 shows that the vision and objectives are balanced between operationally excellent and customer intimate, with goals more focused on customer intimate. However, the strategies reflect and organisation that focuses on product leadership.

Map business direction This section provides an overview of the element mappings conducted for the business direction, and also includes techniques for analysing the results of these mappings.

The following mappings are undertaken in this stage.

Activity Mapping Used Purpose

Profile business Business goal - business strategy

Yes To validate which strategies will contribute to the achievement of business goals.

Business goal - business objective

Yes To validate which business objectives will indicate the achievement of business goals.

Business objective - business strategy

Yes To validate which strategies will be measured by which business objectives.



Understand business profile mappings A variety of charts can be produced to support analysis as a result of the business direction mapping.

Objective to Strategy Support Chart

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Objective 1

Objective 2

Objective 3

Objective 4

Objective 5

Objective 6

Objective 7

Objective 8

Objective 9

Objective 10

Objective 11

Objective 12

Objective 13

Objective 14

Objective 15

Objective 16

Objective 17

Objective 18O

bjec

tives

Number of Supporting Strategies

Supported

Hog

Gap

Example objectives supported by strategies

Strategy to Objective Support Chart

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Strategy 1

Strategy 2

Strategy 3

Strategy 4

Strategy 5

Strategy 6

Strategy 7

Strategy 8

Strategy 9

Strategy 10

Strategy 11

Strategy 12

Strategy 13

Stra

tegi

es

Number of Supported Objectives

Unique

Mule

Orphan

Example strategies supporting objectives



Charts can be valuable in workshops where it is necessary to validate the outcomes of the mapping activities with stakeholders.

For the purpose of overall analysis in each profile for business, information, application and technology, it is recommended that the alignment of artefacts be represented as a simple pie chart that demonstrates the percentage of each mapping type. In the case of the business direction, a pie chart clearly demonstrates the level of support between the vision, business goal, business objective and business strategy artefacts. The figure below uses a pie chart to illustrate business strategy-business objective mappings support.

Business Objectives to Business Strategy Support

23%

23%

13%3%3%

35% GapsHogsSupportedOrphanUniqueMule

Example support of business strategies to business objectives

In general, a large proportion of gaps should be investigated as these represent poor alignment or possible shortfalls in the artefacts collected. If there are a large proportion of gaps in any of the mappings between business goals, business objectives and business strategies, the investment planners may need to consider delaying the investment planning process until the discrepancies in the business profile have been resolved. In the information, application and technology layers, the investigation of gaps may result in the creation of new asset initiatives.

A high proportion of Hogs may reveal opportunities to rationalise some artefacts. While orphans may be acceptable, these should also be investigated as some of these artefacts may no longer be required. Supported, mule and unique mappings are generally considered to be acceptable and demonstrate a high level of alignment between artefacts.

The table on the following page provides possible interpretations and courses of action from business direction mappings.

QGEA PUBLIC Business profile – Investment management methodology


Business direction mapping assessment guideline


Business goal – business objective

Gap Goals without business objectives

This is an indication that some objectives may have been overlooked during the gather process. This may be further substantiated by gaps in other objective mappings such as business strategy to objective and business process to business objective.

Investigate gaps to ensure that objectives have not been overlooked. Include any additional goals to the mapping that were discovered as a result of the investigation.

Goals from outside the scope of the planning activity may have been included.

Investigate the scope of the goals included in the gather activities. Ensure the scope of the goals collected is consistent with the scope of the objectives collected. Adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that the scope of the goals and objectives collected are aligned.

Gaps may indicate that the goal is a legacy and the business no longer conducts activity to support the goal. This may be further substantiated in other mappings such as business strategy to goal.

Investigate gaps to ensure that the goals are not legacy goals. Remove any legacy goals from the mapping.

Gaps may also be indication that the goals are future goals and the business has not yet sufficiently identified the activity or measures required to realise the goal. In this scenario the gap may be acceptable.

Record the gaps in the business profile. Document the reasons why the gaps have been accepted in the business profile.




The gap may be genuine - objectives do not exist to support the goal but should.

Review the strategies (if any) that have been mapped to the goal. Decide on appropriate objectives that would be supported by these strategies and include any new objectives in the mapping. If the gap is accepted, record the gap in the business profile. Discuss the implications of the gap in the business profile remembering that other artefacts such as information assets and applications are mapped to business objectives.

Supported Goals supported by one business objective

Goals supported by one business objective - this is the normal case.

No action required.

Hog Goals supported by many business objectives

This is generally not an issue and would be considered normal as a wide range of different activities required to realise a goal would also result in a number of measures to realise that a goal has been achieved.

No action required.

If the number of objectives supporting a goal is excessive, this may be indication that the scope of the goal is too broad.

If the goal is too broad, split the goal into two or more explicit goals.

Orphan Objectives that support no goals

This is an indication that some goals may have been overlooked during the gather activity. This may be substantiated in other business goal mappings such as business strategy to business goal and business process to business goal.

Investigate orphans to ensure that goals have not been overlooked. Include any additional artefacts collected in the mapping that were discovered as result of the investigation.




Some of the objectives from outside the scope of the planning activity may have been included.

Investigate the scope of the business objectives included in the gather activities. Ensure the scope of the objectives collected is consistent with the scope of the goals collected. Adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that the scope of the objectives and goals collected is aligned.

The objective is a legacy that relates to an activity that no longer supports the strategic directions of the organisation. This may be further substantiated by other mappings such as business strategy to business objective and business objective to business process. If the objective has no supporting business strategies or business processes then the objective may be a legacy.

Investigate orphans to ensure that the objectives are not legacy objectives. Remove the orphan artefacts from the mapping.

Some objectives may relate to business imperatives (HR and Finance) and as such may not necessarily map to a goal.

Record the orphan objectives in the business profile. Discuss the reasons why the orphan mappings have been accepted in the business profile.

The orphan relationship is genuine - an objective exists that does not support any goals or business imperative. This may be further substantiated by supporting strategies that also do not map to goals. In these circumstances the organisation may be conducting an activity that does not support the strategic direction to business imperatives of the organisation.

Record the orphan objectives in the business profile. Discuss the implication of the orphan mappings in the business profile. What is the impact to the organisation of conducting an activity that does not support the strategic direction or business imperatives of the organisation?

Unique Objectives that support only one goal

This is the normal case. No action required.




Mule Objectives that support many goals

It is considered the normal case for goals to be supported by multiple objectives.

No action required.

If the number of supported goals for an objective is excessive, this may indicate that the scope of the objective is too broad.

Split the objective into multiple, more explicit objectives with a clearly defined target and timeframe.

Business goal – business strategy

Gap Goals without business strategies

This is an indication that some strategies may have been overlooked during the gather process. This may be further substantiated if gaps appear in other strategy mappings such as business strategy to objective and business strategy to business process.

Investigate gaps to ensure that strategies have not been overlooked. Include any additional strategies in the mapping that were discovered as a result of the investigation.

Some goals from outside the scope of the planning activity may have been included.

Investigate the scope of the goals included in the gather activities. Ensure the scope of the goals collected is consistent with the scope of the strategies collected. Adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that the scope of the strategies and goals collected is consistent.

Gaps may indicate that the goal is a legacy and the business no longer conducts activity to support the goal. This may be further substantiated if gaps appear in other strategy mappings such as business objective to business goal and information asset to business goal.

Investigate gaps to ensure that goals are not legacy goals. Remove any legacy goals from the mapping.

Gaps may indicate that the goals are future goals and the business has not yet sufficiently identified the activity required to achieve the goal. In these circumstances the gap may be acceptable.

Record the gap in the business profile. Document the reasons why the gaps have been accepted in the business profile.




The gap may be genuine - strategies should exist to support the goal but do not.

Record the gap in the business profile. Discuss the implications of the gaps in the business profile. What is the impact of the missing strategies to the organisation?

Supported Goals supported by one strategy


Hog Goals supported by many business strategies

This is generally not an issue and would be considered normal as a wide range of different activities would normally be required to achieve a goal.

No action required.

Orphan Strategies that support no goals

This is an indication that some goals may have been overlooked during the gather activity. This may be further substantiated in other business goal mappings such as business objective to business goal and business process to business goal.

Investigate orphans to ensure that goals have not been overlooked. Include any additional goals to the mapping that were discovered as a result of the investigation.

Some strategies from outside the scope of the planning activity may have been included.

Investigate the scope of the strategies included in the gather activities. Ensure the scope of the strategies collected is consistent with the scope of the goals collected. Adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that the scope of the strategies and goals collected is consistent.




The strategy is a legacy - it no longer supports the strategic direction of the organisation. This may be further substantiated by the mapping of business strategy to business process. In these circumstances the strategy may still exist however any activity in the form of business processes has ceased.

Investigate orphans to ensure that they are not legacy strategies. Remove the legacy strategies from the mapping.

Some strategies may relate to business imperatives (for example HR and Finance) and as such, may not necessarily map to a strategic goal.

Record the orphan strategies in the business profile. Discuss the reasons why the orphan mappings have been accepted in the business profile.

The orphan relationship is genuine - the strategy is current, however, it does not support the goals or business imperatives. The organisation should question why they are conducting activity (business processes and information inputs and outputs) to support this strategy.

Record the orphan strategies in the business profile. Discuss the implications of the orphan mappings in the business profile. What is the impact of conducting activity that does not support the strategic direction or business imperatives of the organisation?

Unique Strategies that support only one objective


Mule Strategies that support many objectives

Strategies represent implementation choices to achieve an objective. Whilst it is possible for strategies to support multiple objectives, excessive objective support may indicate the strategy is too broad in scope.

If the strategy is too broad, split the strategy into two or more explicit strategies.




Business objective – business strategy

Gap Objectives without supporting business strategies

This is an indication that some strategies may have been overlooked during the gather process. This may be further substantiated if gaps appear in other strategy mappings such as business strategy to goal and business strategy to business process.

Investigate gaps to ensure that strategies have not been overlooked. Include any additional strategies in the mapping that were discovered as a result of the investigation.

Some objectives from outside the scope of the planning activity have been included.

Investigate the scope of the objectives included in the gather activities. Ensure the scope of the objectives collected is consistent with the scope of the strategies collected. Adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that the scope of the strategies and objectives collected is aligned.

Gaps may indicate that the objective is a legacy and the organisation no longer conducts activity to support the objective. This may be further substantiated if gaps appear in other objective mappings such as business objective to business goal, business objective to business process.

Investigate gaps to ensure that objectives are not legacy objectives. Remove any objectives discovered as a result of the investigation

The gap is genuine - strategies should exist to support the objective but do not.

Record the gap in the business profile. Discuss the implications of the gaps in the business profile. What is the impact of the missing strategies to the organisation?

Supported Objectives supported by many strategies





Hog Objectives supported by many strategies

This is an indication that the objective may have been described at too high a level and that the objective is more likely to be a goal.

Review these objectives to ensure that they should not be reinterpreted as goals or broken down into several more succinct objectives with a definite measure and timeframe. If required, revise the mappings to include or exclude any artefacts resulting from the investigation.

Orphan Strategies that support no objectives

This is an indication that some objectives may have been overlooked during the gather activity. This may be further substantiated by other business objective mappings such as business objective to business goal and business objective to business process to confirm that objectives have not been overlooked during the data gathering process.

Investigate orphans to ensure that objectives have not been overlooked. Include any additional artefacts collected in the mapping that were discovered as result of the investigation.

Some strategies from outside the scope of the planning activity have been included.

Investigate the scope of the strategies included in the gather activities. Ensure the scope of the strategies collected is consistent with the scope of the objectives collected. Include any additional artefacts collected in the mapping that were discovered as result of the investigation.

The strategy is a legacy and it no longer supports the strategic direction of the organisation. This may be further substantiated by the mapping of business strategy to business process. In these circumstances the strategy may still exist, however any activity in the form of business processes has ceased.

Investigate orphans to ensure that they are not legacy strategies. Remove the orphan artefacts from the mapping.




Some strategies may relate to business imperatives (for example, HR and Finance) and as such, may not necessarily map to a strategic goal.

Record the orphan strategies in the business profile. Discuss the reasons why the orphan mappings have been accepted in the business profile.

The orphan relationship is genuine - the strategy is current, however, it does not support the goals or business imperatives. The organisation should question why it is conducting activity (business processes and information inputs and outputs) to support this strategy

Record the orphan strategies in the business profile. Discuss the implications of the orphan mappings in the business profile. What is the impact of conducting activity that does not support the strategic direction or business imperatives of the organisation?

Unique Strategies that support only one objective


Mule Strategies that support many objectives

Strategies represent implementation choices to achieve an objective. Whilst it is possible for strategies to support multiple objectives, excessive objective support may indicate the strategy is too broad in scope.

If the strategy is too broad, split the strategy into two or more explicit strategies.



Gather business processes This section provides specific techniques for gathering business direction

Organisations provide value through the delivery of business services. These business services are ultimately implemented through processes. A business process encompasses tasks, participants and supporting systems that work together to produce an end result that is of value to the organisation.

The information gathered in this activity will ideally already exist and be documented from prior business activities. If this is the case, the gathering of business processes should primarily be a simple transcription exercise. However this will depend on the level of detail required by the organisation and the maturity of the business process planning to date. Business processes can be gathered from various documents including:

• service catalogues • enterprise architect repositories • business process repositories • business analysis documentation • procedure manuals • project documentation.

However, in organisations where this information is not readily available or is not available at the level required, it will be necessary to generate it through interviews or workshops with the key stakeholders of the business areas.

This section describes two specific techniques that can be used by organisations to identify their business processes.

Technique Description

Value chain analysis Adapted from Porter’s Value Chain Analysis, which identifies business processes that encompass the entire lifecycle of a business service from conception (or planning) to retirement

Business process context analysis

A modified version of traditional context diagrams, which uses business stakeholders as the underlying construct for deriving a list of business processes that are triggered by stakeholders.

Business process identification techniques

These techniques will identify core business processes, and as such contingency needs be allowed to ensure appropriate analysis of additional in-scope processes that may not be identified during these initial scoping activities. Both techniques provide a different perspective of scope. Although it is possible to define the scope based on only one of these techniques, it is recommended that both techniques be used as a cross-check for completeness. Both techniques are described below.



Value chain analysis Value chain analysis is the recommended technique when the business drivers for the modelling and analysis activity can be fundamentally linked to a business service. The organisation should investigate each business or program unit to determine what their major functions are. This information can usually be found in the area’s business or operational plans, or the plans for higher levels in the organisational structure. Once the major functions for each unit are identified, a further breakdown of high level processes can then be identified.

The underlying assumption is that by identifying all segments of a business service lifecycle, the underlying processes for each life cycle segment can be derived. The figure below is an example of a value chain for a training service.

Example value chain for a training service

Context diagram analysis Business process context analysis is the recommended technique when the business drivers for the modelling and analysis activity can be fundamentally linked to the stakeholders impacted by the business processes. These stakeholders can be either people or organisations (either physical or logical). Context analysis allows you to derive a list of business processes that are triggered by stakeholders for a particular area of interest.

The organisation should identify all internal and external stakeholders that consume services or receive deliverables for decision making. Use a context diagram to identify business processes that support service production and consumption, and/or information submission and provision. In the process context diagram (page 21), continuous flow lines represent process names and dashed flow lines represent information flows.



Example business process context diagram

Regardless of the technique used, there are a number of generic rules when naming business processes.

• Apply a consistent naming convention starting with a verb followed by a business object noun e.g. register customer.

• The name should reflect the objective and outcome of the process. Specify ‘what’ is being done and be precise and concise.

• Avoid generic verbs such as manage, process, handle, maintain as they do not provide any indication of what the business process sets out to achieve e.g. does manage payment mean receiving payment or making payment.

• Should not include the words to, and, for and from in the names, unless these words form part of the business object noun.

Example business process register Suggested attributes for a business process register to support the investment planning process include:

• business process name • description • custodian.

A comprehensive business process register is not needed and the above attributes will be sufficient (as opposed to the detail required for registers in the information, application and technology layers). In addition, it is not necessary to model business processes as part of the investment planning process.



Classify business processes This section provides techniques to support the classification of business processes to a standard business process classification framework. In addition, it provides information that supports the understanding of the implications of this classification.

During development of the business profile, classifications of business processes to a standard business process classification framework are analysed to develop a course of action which may ultimately lead to future actions or initiatives.

The classifications are only preliminary indicators for the organisation in the development of the investment plan. Outlined the table on the following page is a description of the possible interpretations and the potential actions that should be considered for a given set of classifications. It should be noted that actions resulting from domain analysis of business processes may not directly result in initiatives. Potential actions from these classifications are more likely to be considered as part of business planning and organisational change.



Business process classification assessment guideline

Classification Classification type Interpretation Course of action

Business processes to business classification framework

Coverage – Distribution of processes across the domains of the Business classification framework

Business processes are evenly distributed across the domains in the Business classification framework. The portfolio of processes demonstrates reasonable support for both the line of business and business imperatives of the organisation.

No action required.

Business processes are concentrated in line of business domains appropriate to the line of business conducted by the organisation.

No action required.

Business processes are concentrated in domains that support business imperatives or other domains that do not directly support the line of business or strategic direction of the organisation.

Investigate opportunities to decrease activity in domains that do not directly support the line of business or business imperatives of the organisation. Investigate opportunities to outsource these processes or retire any redundant processes.

These opportunities should be documented in the business planning considerations section of the business profile.

Gaps – Domains in the Business classification framework where no business processes have been classified

Gaps exist in domains, however the gaps are considered appropriate given the line of business and strategic direction of the organisation. The gaps exist in domains that do not support the line of business or business imperatives of the organisation.

No action required.

Gaps exist in domains that directly support the line of business or strategic direction of the organisation.

Investigate opportunities to increase activity in these domains.



Classification Classification type Interpretation Course of action

Gaps exist in domains that support the business imperatives of the organisation.

Investigate opportunities to increase activity in these domains. Keep in mind the proportion of investment in business imperative domains versus those domains that directly support the line of business or strategic direction of the organisation.

New opportunities should be highlighted in the business planning Considerations section of the business profile

Duplicates – Multiple business processes have been classified to the same domains in the Business classification framework

Duplication in any domain indicates opportunities to rationalise a portfolio of business processes through the standardisation of processes.

Investigate opportunities to standardise similar business processes and retire redundant or legacy business processes. Opportunities should be highlighted in the business planning considerations section of the business profile.



Map business process This section provides an overview of the element mappings conducted for business processes, and also includes techniques for analysing the results of these mappings.

The table below shows mappings that can be undertaken in this stage

Business process mappings


Profile business Business goal - business process

Yes To validate the alignment of the activity (business processes) to the strategic intent of the organisation.

Business objective - business process

Yes To validate the alignment of activity (business processes) to the achievement of business objectives.

Business strategy - business process

Yes To validate which business processes are required to implement business strategies.

Understanding business profile mappings The table on the following page provides possible interpretations and courses of action as a result of business process mappings.



Business process mapping assessment guideline

Mapping Mapping type Interpretation Course of action

Business goal – business process

Gap

Goals without process support

This is an indication that some processes may have been overlooked during the gather phase. This may be further substantiated by gaps in other process mappings such as business objective to business process and business strategy to business process.

Investigate gaps to ensure that processes have not been overlooked.

Include any additional processes in the mapping that were discovered as a result of the investigation.

Some goals from outside the scope of the planning project have been included.

Investigate the scope of the goals included in the gather activities. Ensure the scope of the goals collected is consistent with the scope of the processes collected.

Adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that scope of the goals and processes collected are aligned.

Gaps may indicate that the goal is a legacy and the business no longer conducts activity to support the goal. This may be further substantiated if gaps appear in other goal mappings such as business objective to business goal and business strategy to business goal.

Investigate gaps to ensure that goals are not legacy goals.

Remove any legacy goals from the mapping.

Gaps may indicate that the goals are future goals and the business has not yet sufficiently implemented the activity required to achieve the goal. In these circumstances the gap may be acceptable.

Record the gap in the business Profile

Document the reasons why the gaps have been accepted in the business profile.




The gap may be genuine - processes should exist to support the goal but do not.

Record the gap in the business profile.

Discuss the implications of the gaps in the business profile. What is the impact of the having a current goal that is not supported by any current business process? The organisation may need to consider if the goal is valid.

Supported

Goals supported by only one process


Hog

Goals supported by many processes

It is acceptable for a goal to be supported by a number of business processes.

No action required.

If the number of supporting processes is excessive this may be an indication that the scope of the goal is too broad.

If the goal is too broad, split the goal into two or more explicit goals.

Orphan

Processes that support no goals

This is an indication that some goals have been overlooked during the gather activity. This may be further substantiated by other business goal mappings such as business objective to business goal and business strategy to business goal.

Investigate orphans to ensure that goals have not been overlooked.

Include any additional goals in the mapping that were discovered as a result of the investigation.

Some business processes from outside the scope of the planning activity may have been included.

Investigate the scope of the business processes included in the gather activities. Ensure the scope of the business processes collected is consistent with the scope of the gaols collected.

Adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that scope of the business processes and goals collected are aligned.




The business process may support a business imperative (for example HR and Finance) and as such, may not necessarily map to a strategic goal.

Record the orphan processes in the business profile.

Discuss the reasons why the orphan mappings have been accepted in the business profile.

The process is a legacy - it no longer supports the strategic direction of the organisation. The organisation should question why it is still conducting activity that does not support the strategic direction or business imperatives of the organisation.

Investigate orphans to ensure that they are not legacy business processes.

Remove any legacy business processes from the mapping.

Unique

Processes that support only one goal


Mule

Processes that support many goals


Business objective – business process

Gap

Objectives without process support

This is an indication that some processes may have been overlooked during the gather phase. This may be further substantiated by gaps in other process mappings such as business goal to business process and business strategy to business process.

Investigate gaps to ensure that processes have not been overlooked.

Include any additional processes in the mapping that were discovered as a result of the investigation.

Gaps may be valid if certain business units and associated business processes were considered to be out of scope for the purpose of investment planning.

Investigate the scope of the business processes included in the gather activities. If the scope of the business processes and objectives collected are different, document the gaps in the business profile and discuss the impact of the missing processes in the mapping. Keep in mind that




information assets and applications are also mapped to business objectives and business processes.

Alternatively, adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that the scope of the business processes and objectives collected are aligned

Gaps may indicate that the objective is a legacy and the organisation no longer conducts activity to support the objective. This may be further substantiated if gaps appear in other objective mappings such as business objective to business strategy, business objective to information asset and business objective to application.

Investigate gaps to ensure that objectives are not legacy objectives.

Remove any legacy objectives discovered as a result of the investigation.

Gaps may indicate that the objectives are future objectives and the business has not yet sufficiently implemented the activity required to support the objective. In these circumstances the gap may be acceptable.


Document the reasons why the gaps have been accepted in the business profile.

The gap may be genuine - processes should exist to support the objective but do not.


Discuss the implications of the gaps in the business profile. What is the impact of having a current objective that is not supported by any current business process? The organisation may need to consider if the objective is valid.

Supported

Objectives supported by only one process





Hog

Objectives with excessive process support

This is an indication that the objective may have been defined at too high a level.

Ensure that any related objectives are broken down into smaller objectives or redefined as goals where necessary.

Hogs may also indicate that the processes have been captured at too low a level.

Review the levels at which business processes have been captured. Some business processes may need to be redefined for the purpose of investment planning.

Orphan

Processes that support no objectives

This is an indication that some objectives may have been overlooked during the gather activity. This may be further substantiated by other mappings such as business objective to business goal.

Investigate orphans to ensure that objectives have not been overlooked. Include any additional objectives in the mapping that were discovered as a result of the investigation.


Investigate the scope of the business processes included in the gather activities. Ensure the scope of the business processes collected is consistent with the scope of the objectives collected. Adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that scope of the business processes and objectives collected are aligned.

The business process may support a business imperative (for example HR and Finance) and as such, may not necessarily map to a business objective.

Record the orphan processes in the business profile. Discuss the reasons why the orphan mappings have been accepted in the business profile.


Investigate orphans to ensure that they are not legacy business processes. Remove any legacy business processes from the mapping.




Unique

Processes that support only one objective


Mule

Processes that support many objectives


Business strategy – business process

Gap

Strategies without process support

This is an indication that some processes may have been overlooked during the gather phase. Gaps may further substantiated in other process mappings such as business goal to business process and business objective to business process.

Investigate gaps to ensure that processes have not been overlooked. Include any additional processes in the mapping that were discovered as a result of the investigation.

Gaps may be valid if certain business units and associated business processes were considered to be out of scope for the purpose of investment planning.

Investigate the scope of the business processes included in the gather activities. If the scope of the business processes and strategies collected is different, document the gaps in the Business Profile and discuss the impact of the missing processes in the mapping. Keep in mind that information assets and applications are also mapped to business processes. Alternatively, adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that the scope of the business processes and objectives collected are aligned.




Gaps may indicate that the strategy is a legacy and the organisation no longer conducts activity to support the strategy. This may be further substantiated if gaps appear in other strategy mappings such as business objective to business strategy, business strategy to information.

Investigate gaps to ensure that strategies are not legacy strategies Remove any strategies discovered as a result of the investigation.

Gaps may indicate that the strategies are future strategies and the business has not yet sufficiently implemented the activity required to support the strategy. In these circumstances the gap may be acceptable.

Record the gap in the business profile. Document the reasons why the gaps have been accepted in the business profile.

The gap may be genuine - processes should exist to support the strategy but do not.

Record the gap in the business profile. Discuss the implications of the gaps in the business profile. What is the impact of the having a current strategy that is not supported by any current business process? The organisation may need to consider if the strategy is valid.

Supported

Strategy supported by only one process


Hog

Strategies supported by many processes

This is an indication that the strategy may have been defined at too high a level.

Ensure that any related strategies should not be further broken down into smaller more explicit strategies.

Hogs may also indicate that the processes have been captured at too low a level.

Review the levels at which business processes have been captured. Some business processes may need to be redefined for the purpose of investment planning.




Orphan

Processes that support no strategies

This is an indication that some strategies have been overlooked during the gather activity.

Investigate orphans to ensure that strategies have not been overlooked. Investigate the number of orphans in other mappings such as business strategy to business goal and business strategy to business objective to confirm that strategies have not been overlooked during the data gathering process. Include any additional strategies in the mapping that were discovered as a result of the investigation.


Investigate the scope of the business processes included in the gather activities. Ensure the scope of the business processes collected is consistent with the scope of the strategies collected. Adjust the artefacts collected in the mapping so that scope of the business processes and strategies collected are aligned.

The business process may support a business imperative (for example, HR and Finance) and as such, may not necessarily map to a business strategy.

Record the orphan processes in the business profile. Discuss the reasons why the orphan mappings have been accepted in the business profile.


Investigate orphans to ensure that they are not legacy business processes. Remove any legacy business processes from the mapping.

Unique

Processes that support only one strategy





Mule

Processes that support many strategies




Assess business profile The Investment planning methodology does not provide steps to assess business processes. However the Queensland Government business process improvement methodology (Queensland Government employees only) provides techniques to assess the business impact and condition for business processes. These assessments can be used by agencies to help to determine which processes most likely need improvement (e.g. those assessed as high or extreme risk).

Analyse business profile This section provides additional considerations when analysing the business profile. This analysis should address the following questions:

• How well aligned are the organisation’s vision, goals, objectives, strategies, processes? • Are the objectives, goals and strategies clearly defined? • Do the business processes support the organisations business direction? • Overall is the alignment good enough for the rest of the investment planning process?

The business profile template provides examples of the following dashboards:

Business profile dashboards

Dashboard Description

Value discipline alignment Demonstrates the number of, and consistency between, the visions, goals, objectives and strategies under each value-discipline.

Goal – objective support Shows the number of gaps, supported, hogs, orphan, unique and mule mappings between business goals and business objectives.

Demonstrates the number of supporting objectives for each goal.

Goal – strategy support Shows the number of gaps, supported, hogs, orphan, unique and mule mappings between business goals and business strategies.

Demonstrates the number of supporting strategies for each goal.

Goal – process support Shows the number of gaps, supported, hogs, orphan, unique and mule mappings between business goals and business processes.

Demonstrates the number of supporting processes for each goal.

Objective – strategy support Shows the number of gaps, supported, hogs, orphan, unique and mule mappings between business objectives and business strategies.

Demonstrates the number of supported objectives for each strategy.

Objective – process support Shows the number of gaps, supported, hogs, orphan, unique and mule mappings between business objectives and business processes.

Demonstrates the number of supported objectives for each business process.

https://portal.qgcio.qld.gov.au/products/qg-methodologies

https://www.qgcio.qld.gov.au/products/qgea-documents/547-business/2604-business-profile-is2



Strategy – process support Shows the number of gaps, supported, hogs, orphan, unique and mule mappings between business strategies and business processes.

Demonstrates the number of supported strategies for each business process.

The business profile produces a vast amount of information, and investment planners need to ensure that they do not overload senior executives with too much information. When deciding on what information should be presented to senior executives, the following questions may be useful:

• What business problems is the organisation trying to answer? • Does any of the business profile provide executives with meaningful information to tell a story and help

them make a decision? • What inconsistencies and misalignments were found (e.g. goals that have no objectives) - this is the

information that will most likely require some future action from the business? • Can ICT specific terminology be avoided? – a business executive would not intuitively know what a gap,

mule or hog is!

Example business profile template An example business profile template is located in the IS2 toolbox.

Licence

This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence. For permissions beyond the scope of this licence, contact [email protected].

To attribute this material, cite the Queensland Government Chief Information Office.

https://www.qgcio.qld.gov.au/products/qgea-documents/547-business/2604-business-profile-is2

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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