IT Consolidation Plan

Read more about the IT Consolidation RFP

The Office of Information Technology with support from Deloitte Consulting initiated the process of creating a roadmap for transforming Louisiana’s IT environment into a consolidated model for service delivery in November 2013. The process included interviewing departmental/agency CIOs, business leaders, and staff, as well as examining the existing infrastructure, services and organizational structures of current IT operations. The IT Consolidation Plan was completed in March 2014, and 21 actionable deliverables were produced.

It is important to understand that IT Consolidation will be an on-going iterative process as the State moves towards the ideal model for the new centralized Office of Technology Services (OTS). The 21 Deliverables provide a viable framework for this process and the detailed implementation plan will evolve over time as the State’s IT professionals continue to work together to create an effective and responsive IT organization.

Consolidation Plan Overview of Deliverables

Deliverable #1: Human Capital Management

This deliverable includes a broad assessment of the existing state IT staff with respect to their job functions. It includes a comprehensive Human Capital Management plan that addresses job roles and functions for the statewide centralized IT development requirements, staff retention, recommendations for designation of new job titles, and career path analysis. It also includes analysis of the available state IT staff to identify areas where sufficiently qualified staff are not available and areas where there are excess available state IT staff.

This deliverable includes the following sections:

  1. Analysis of existing staff (staffing levels, job titles, benchmarks, key strengths, gaps and challenges)
  2. Future state roles and functions, staffing levels
  3. Recommended approach to filling skills gaps including recruitment, training, and retention

This deliverable does not include a detailed skills assessment of existing staff or an individual (person by person) transition plan for staff.

Deliverable #2: Governance

This deliverable includes analysis of state statutes, rules, policies, and executive branch organizations, and general IT services requirements, identification of effective governance models for the statewide centralized IT services organization, and recommendations for potential legislation to support effective implementation and administration. The deliverable then defines new roles, responsibilities, and oversight groups, as needed, that will enable proper oversight and leadership to the new IT environment.

This deliverable includes the following sections:

  1. Current state analysis of governance structures
  2. Overview of leading governance practices and policies in use in other states
  3. Recommendations for governance structures for use in the future

This deliverable does not include portfolio management assessment or recommendations as those will be included in Deliverable #9: Project and Portfolio Management Strategy nor does it include detailed statutory or policy language; recommendations for policy changes are included in Deliverable #19: Administrative Management Plan.

Deliverable #3: Organizational Structure

This deliverable includes identification of challenges and pain points with the organizational structures involved in the current delivery of IT services. It identifies optimal organizational structures to be utilized in support of a centralized statewide IT services model to provide stable, quality IT services to customers while also providing a dynamic and flexible work environment for employees.

This deliverable includes the following sections:

  1. Current state assessment of IT organizational structures in use in Louisiana
  2. Organizational model alternatives based on leading practices
  3. Recommendations for a future model with details on organizational elements

This deliverable does not include detailed position descriptions or individual staff mapping to the new organizational model, nor does it include the plan for transitioning staff into the new model from the current model. That process is documented in Deliverable #12: Change Management Plan.

Deliverable #4: Services Catalog Development – This deliverable is being refined into a serviceable structure to address the needs of the customer base. A comprehensive version will be published through the Office of Technology Services when it is finalized.

This deliverable includes a catalog of IT service offerings to be deployed and supported by the centralized statewide IT organization, including technical service specifications, functional service descriptions, integrated service level agreements (Deliverable #10), service metrics and reporting, and hand-off guidelines. It also includes a menu of the highest volume external services that OTS will provide to customers.

This deliverable does not include detailed process guides, process flows, process activity descriptions, or roles and responsibilities. It also does not include services that OTS will provide internally.

This deliverable document has been combined with Deliverable #10: Service Level Agreement and Associated Metrics Structure.

Deliverable #5: Operational Plan for Service Management and Delivery

This deliverable includes an Operational Plan for Service Management and Delivery describing proposed organizational structures, proposed financial models, recommended IT services catalog (Deliverable #4), proposed procurement management plan (Deliverable #6), proposed facilities management plan (Deliverable #16), proposed provider management plan (Deliverable #15) and human capital management plan (Deliverable #1) which includes requisite policies, procedures, controls, and performance objectives. The Operational Plan includes a description of the IT service management activities and processes that will support the running of the future state environment for operational efficiencies and process standardization.

This deliverable does not include operations that are outside of the future state OTS environment. IT service fees are not included in this deliverable.

Deliverable #6: Sourcing and Procurement Strategy

This deliverable includes analysis of current IT spend and review of the state procurement code and associated rules. Using the spend analysis for key object codes, it also provides future IT procurement requirements under the centralized statewide IT services organization and an IT Sourcing and Procurement Strategy that addresses leveraging volume purchases, economies of scale for IT investments, efficiencies in the procurement processes, and other opportunities to capture cost savings and efficiencies. It also includes identification of key areas of deviation between existing procurement statutes and rules as compared to identified procurement capabilities that are deemed necessary to successfully accomplish IT consolidation, outsourcing, and out-tasking.

This deliverable includes the following sections:

  1. Spend analysis
  2. Opportunity Identification
  3. Sourcing and procurement strategy
  4. Necessary policy changes

The deliverable does not include individual contract analysis or analysis of purchase card data.

Deliverable #7: Financial Model

This deliverable provides a shared IT services financial model based on an analysis of back-end funding models, billing structures, and cost allocation models.

This deliverable includes the following sections:

  1. Analysis of current state funding approaches
  2. Analysis of possible funding models with pros/cons of each option
  3. Recommendations for a possible model

This deliverable does not include detailed cost allocation structures, billing structures or accounting processes, nor does it include policy or legislative language in support of the recommended funding model. Any policy changes are included in Deliverable #19: Administrative Management Plan.

Deliverable #8: Technical Architecture – This deliverable contains sensitive material related to the State’s technical architecture and will not be published online.

This deliverable describes the development of a target enterprise technical architecture that is cost efficient, agile, scalable, and stable.

This deliverable includes the following content:

  1. Current state assessment results-review of how architecture is handled in most Executive Branch Departments, based on information gathered through interview notes
  2. Enterprise architecture in the State of Louisiana-description of target enterprise architecture vision and benefits, including business, information, application, and technical architecture. This includes a strategy for management of the future Enterprise Architecture through an evaluation of key decision points including:
    1. Standardization and modernization of platform and speed of onboarding for new customers
    2. Recommendations for best practices for the future state architecture
    3. Stable availability for key state services delivered to customers
  3. A high-level implementation plan for rationalizing the existing technical environment into the proposed future state enterprise architecture

Deliverable #9: Project and Portfolio Management Strategy

This deliverable includes an analysis of existing Executive Branch IT projects and portfolios of IT application functions. It also includes the development of a project and portfolio management strategy and a set of recommendations that will enable more effective investments that better align and enable business objectives and strategies, based on an analysis of the existing Executive Branch Department IT projects, and portfolio of IT applications.

This deliverable includes the following sections:

  1. A recommended approach for portfolio management to align with business objectives
  2. Standard project organization structures
  3. Standards for project work plans
  4. Project deliverable management
  5. Project controls including action Items, decisions, and change control
  6. Project change control processes
  7. Project financial management
  8. Processes for status reporting and RACI

This deliverable document has been combined with Deliverable #11: Risk and Issues Management Plan.

Deliverable #10: Service Level Agreement and Associated Metrics Structure – This deliverable is being refined into a serviceable structure to address the needs of the customer base. A comprehensive version will be published through the Office of Technology Services when it is finalized.

This deliverable includes a catalog of IT service offerings to be deployed and supported by the centralized statewide IT organization, including technical service specifications, functional service descriptions, integrated service level agreements, service metrics and reporting, and hand-off guidelines. It also includes a menu of the highest volume external services that OTS will provide to customers.

This deliverable does not include detailed process guides, process flows, process activity descriptions, or roles and responsibilities. The deliverable does not include services that OTS will provide internally.

This deliverable document has been combined with Deliverable #4: Services Catalog Development.

Deliverable #11: Risk and Issues Management Plan

This deliverable includes a comprehensive risk and issues management plan, utilizing processes, tools and templates to both plan/identify/mitigate risks and detect/correct/track issues for the State’s IT Consolidation project. The deliverable includes any current risks and issues that might impact the overall delivery of the IT Consolidation program.

This deliverable includes the following sections:

  1. Analysis of current risk and issue tracking and mitigation templates and tools
  2. Update of the templates with the future state risk and issue tracking template
  3. How to populate the template with current issues and risks for the IT Consolidation program
  4. Documentation of the process for managing risks and issues going forward

This deliverable document has been combined with Deliverable #9: Project and Portfolio Management Strategy.

Deliverable #12: Change Management Plan

This deliverable provides a plan for transitioning from the existing federated organizational structure into a centralized services organization.

This deliverable includes the following content:

  1. Key considerations for transition
  2. Staff training and retooling needs for transition
  3. High level staff transition approach
  4. Associated transition templates

This deliverable does not include the transition approach for specific individuals (transition describes the aggregate), nor does it include an actual change readiness assessment, or training or communications plans as those are described in the Deliverable #1: Human Capital Management and Communications Plan.

Deliverable #13: Communications Plan

This deliverable includes a plan for communications between the centralized statewide IT services organization, stakeholders, and executive branch customers to ensure the efficient flow of information relative to service requirements, accessibility, and performance.

This deliverable includes the following sections:

  1. Plan overview
  2. Communications objectives
  3. Approach – phased communications approach, roles and responsibilities, tools and timing/cadence
  4. Communications processes
  5. Stakeholder analysis

Deliverable #14: Customer Engagement Plan

This deliverable describes a customer engagement plan by the centralized statewide IT services organization which promotes high levels of customer engagement, efficient and responsive support of customer needs and positions the organization to develop partnerships with its customers in utilizing technology to deliver services in support of Executive Branch programs. This plan also includes the State’s goals for continuous service improvement and identification of innovative solutions or potential shared services.

This deliverable includes a current state review of customer engagement practices and recommendations on customer engagement practices for use in the future, including an approach to gauging customer satisfaction through surveys.

Deliverable #15: Provider Management Plan

This deliverable includes a provider management plan, based on an analysis of the twenty Executive Branch Departments’ IT service requirements, along with the current IT capabilities, to determine potential areas where these services may be delivered more cost effectively as out-tasked services from private sector providers.

This deliverable includes the following content:

  1. Overview of the approach to defining the Provider Management Plan
  2. Definition of the service areas for consideration
  3. Overview of current state for service provisions
  4. Criteria and framework for assessment
  5. Assessment of suitability for alternative service delivery/out tasking
  6. Sourcing options based on leading practices

This deliverable does not include actual sourcing of categories identified; timing and roadmap elements are included as part of Deliverable #18: Statewide IT Consolidation Project Plan.

Deliverable #16: Facilities Strategy and Management Plan

This deliverable describes recommendations for a facilities strategy and management plan, based on an analysis of existing state data processing facilities, inclusive of data center and network infrastructure assets and cognizant of the impact of cloud computing and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) delivery models on the industry.

This deliverable includes the following content:

  1. Current State Assessment Results-An analysis of the existing state data processing facilities inclusive of data center and network infrastructure assets with considerations of the impacts of cloud computing and Infrastructure-as-a-Service delivery models
  2. Future State Recommendations-A strategic plan for facilities investment and a management plan for utilization of state assets
  3. Implementation Approach-A gap analysis of deviations between current state practices and future state facilities requirements and recommendation for implementation approach to reach future state facilities strategy and management plan

This deliverable only includes major facilities identified in the current state assessment; this deliverable does not include a detailed assessment of existing or future state facilities schematics or physical design.

Deliverable #17: IT Network and Communications Management Plan – Under Review

This deliverable describes recommendations for an IT network and communications management plan based on an analysis of the State’s existing network and communications systems in relation to its future state requirements and development of a strategic plan for network support, security, and communications management.

This deliverable includes the following content:

  1. Current state assessment results-a review of the current data, voice and video networks and telecommunications systems in relation to its future state requirements based on available documentation and information gathered through interview notes
  2. Future state recommendations-A strategic plan for data, voice and video network support, security and telecommunications management
  3. Gap analysis-identification of deviations between current and future state network and telecommunications system strategy requirements; recommendation for an implementation approach to achieve the future state data, voice and video network support, security, and telecommunications plan

This deliverable does not address the Department of Public Safety’s radio networks; it does not include a detailed assessment of existing data, voice or video network schematics or physical design.

Deliverable #18: Statewide IT Consolidation Project Plan – (2 Components)

Microsoft Project Plan: The Project Plan is a working document that changes and evolves over time and will not be published. – This deliverable lists the next steps for implementation. It includes the steps for implementing Governance, Organization Design, Sourcing and Procurement, Project and Portfolio Management, Technology Architecture and IT Service Management scope areas.

IT Consolidation Roadmap – This deliverable also includes the roadmap for the State of Louisiana IT Consolidation program which is a wall chart of the current state, identified gaps, future state recommendations and plans for implementation for the areas in the project plan.

Deliverable #19: Administrative Management Plan

This deliverable includes analysis of the policies that are in place across the agencies and a recommendation of future policies for the OTS organization. The intention of this deliverable is to highlight areas of gaps between current and future state and capture opportunities for improvement.

This deliverable is a framework representation of the different policy areas and recommendations. It takes the format of a 6 column table with the following column headers:

  1. Administrative area
  2. Recommendation
  3. Current state observations
  4. Future state opportunities
  5. Approach to move from current to future
  6. Timing

This deliverable does not include detailed rewrites of policies, approaches or models.

Deliverable #20: Project Management Strategy / Resourcing Plan

This deliverable incorporates planning for and monitoring of resources applied to major IT Consolidation projects. This strategy addresses options for establishment and operation of an Enterprise Project Management Office. The deliverable also contains a model for listing IT resources, understanding the projects they are assigned to, and their anticipated availability dates.

This deliverable includes the following content:

  1. Analysis of the current project management strategies and resourcing plans
  2. Templates for project management resource planning the allow listing of current resources and their current assignments
  3. A process for updating the resource plan and a process for assigning available resources to projects

This deliverable only includes resources that are part of OTS and will not include resource planning for department and agency resources.

Deliverable #21: Utilization Management Plan

This deliverable includes a plan for understanding current use of resources, planned use, future forecasting and models to utilize available resources. The objectives of this deliverable are to understand how to use existing assets more efficiently and effectively as well as to plan for more effective future uses. This deliverable provides an approach to get to the future state.

This deliverable includes the following content:

  1. Overview of existing approaches to providing key technology services/managing key service assets
  2. Descriptions of opportunities to increase utilization of existing infrastructure; examples include virtualization, pooled storage, and managed services
  3. Identification of opportunities to move to other architectures to increase utilization
  4. Activities necessary to move from the current to the future state

This deliverable does not include detailed capacity or demand planning. People-related utilization is covered in Deliverable #1: Human Capital Management Plan, Deliverable #3: Organizational Structure, and Deliverable #20: Project Management Strategy / Resourcing Plan.