TASK 1: IT OPERATIONS PLAN
INTRODUCTION
Throughout your career in IT management, you will be asked to develop and improve a company’s IT department to help support its strategic goals and mission. When a company develops a new strategic plan, the process typically begins with the chief executive officer (CEO) and various stakeholders writing strategic goals, with the assistance of subject matter experts (SMEs) from the business. Next, these strategic goals are finalized and assigned to team members and others who will formulate solutions to achieve the goals within a specific time frame and budget. Then, the team creates operational goals in alignment with the company’s strategic goals and an operations plan. Finally, a workflow is developed to move from the current environment to the future state.
For this assessment, you will create an IT operations plan from the provided strategic goals in the attached “TreasureChest Case Study.” The case study should be read before beginning this task. The attached “IT Operations Plan Template” can be used to complete this task.
The skills you showcase in your completed IT operations plan will be useful in your career in responding to the demands you will receive from leadership. This IT operations plan may also be added to your portfolio to show to future employers.
SCENARIO
You were recently hired as the new chief information officer (CIO) at a SaaS treasury management company, TreasureChest. Your main responsibility is to implement innovative changes and become the direct report for the entire IT department. The CEO has been doing this prior to your hire. The first project the CEO has assigned to you is to produce a new IT operations plan for the company. You have been given the strategic goals for the company (see attached “TreasureChest Case Study”) and need to ensure your IT operational goals are in alignment with the company’s strategic vision and mission.
REQUIREMENTS
Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. The originality report that is provided when you submit your task can be used as a guide.
You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
Tasks may not be submitted as cloud links, such as links to Google Docs, Google Slides, OneDrive, etc., unless specified in the task requirements. All other submissions must be file types that are uploaded and submitted as attachments (e.g., .docx, .pdf, .ppt).
Using the “TreasureChest Case Study” in the Supporting Documents section, create an IT operations plan by doing the following:
Note: The attached “IT Operations Plan Template” can be used to complete this task.
A. Analyze each of the following six components of TreasureChest’s current IT environment, including how each component’s current state affects the company’s operational efficiency and future innovation opportunities:
• SaaS operation
• hardware
• operating systems (OS)
• networks
• software
• database
1. As part of your analysis in part A, provide one or more examples from the case study of how each of the following six elements is affected by TreasureChest’s current IT environment:
• service and delivery
• scalability
• flexibility
• interoperability
• resilience
• security
B. Design an IT strategy for TreasureChest’s IT operations by doing the following:
1. Select one strategic goal from those listed in the case study and complete the following:
a. Create three IT operational goals that support the strategic goal selected in part B1, one of which must include a software solution.
i. Explain how the proposed software solution solves one operational challenge in the case study.
b. Describe two unique enhancements for each of the three IT operational goals created in part B1a that support the goal’s objectives.
i. Describe two unique planned activities for each of the six enhancements described in part B1b that need to be executed to implement your strategy.
Note: You must provide a minimum total of six enhancements and twelve planned activities.
c. Describe two unique security risks associated with each of the six enhancements described in part B1b.
i. Describe two unique steps for proactively mitigating each of the twelve identified security risks from part B1c to protect the IT security posture of the organization.
Note: You must provide a minimum total of 12 security risks and 24 proactive mitigation steps.
2. Select one additional strategic goal from those listed in the case study that is different from the goal selected in part B1 and complete the following:
a. Create three IT operational goals that support the strategic goal selected in part B2, one of which must include a software solution. These goals must be different from those in part B1a.
i. Explain how the proposed software solution solves one operational challenge in the case study that is different from the challenge in part B1ai.
b. Describe two unique enhancements for each of the three IT operational goals created in part B2a that support the goal’s objectives. These enhancements must be different from those in part B1b.
i. Describe two unique planned activities for each of the six enhancements described in part B2b that need to be executed to implement your strategy. These activities must be different from those in part B1bi.
Note: You must provide a minimum total of six enhancements and 12 planned activities.
c. Describe two unique security risks associated with each of the six enhancements described in part B2b. These security risks must be different from those in part B1c.
i. Describe two unique steps for proactively mitigating each of the twelve security risks to protect the IT security posture of the organization. These steps must be different from those in part B1ci.
Note: You must provide a minimum total of 12 security risks and 24 proactive steps.
C. Design an implementation plan for TreasureChest’s IT operations by doing the following:
1. Explain how either the COBIT framework or ITIL practices will be incorporated into your IT operations plan to ensure the flexibility and sustainability of TreasureChest’s IT infrastructure through each of the following operating years:
• year one
• year three
• year five
2. Prepare a comprehensive operational workflow representing how TreasureChest will transition from the current IT environment to the environment proposed in your IT operations plan.
Note: Your workflow may be in a variety of formats (e.g., a diagram, list, etc.).
D. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
E. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
TASK 2
INTRODUCTION
Throughout your career in IT management, you will be asked to develop and improve a company’s IT department, including staffing and innovative solutions. Once a company has finalized its strategic goals and budget, an organizational and resource plan needs to be developed. Then, innovative staffing solutions and job descriiptions need to be developed with assistance from Human Resources (HR).
For this task, you will create an IT organizational and resource plan that includes an annotated hierarchical organizational chart for the company described in the attached “TreasureChest Case Study.” The case study should be read before beginning this task. Once the chart is complete, you will write a job descriiption for one of the positions and then propose innovative replacements for two other positions. Finally, you will write a recommendation to the Steering Committee summarizing your plan and its alignment with business processes.
The skills you showcase in your IT organizational and resource plan and recommendations will be useful in collaborating with the various stakeholders you will work with during your career. This IT organizational and resource plan may also be added to your portfolio to show to future employers.
SCENARIO
You were recently hired as the new chief information officer (CIO) at the SaaS treasury management company, TreasureChest. Your main responsibility is to implement innovative changes and become the direct report for the entire IT department. The CEO has been doing this prior to your hire. You have been assigned to review the department staffing to ensure you have the right people and resources in the right positions. The CEO is looking for innovative ways to solve the staffing problem and wants you to collaborate with HR to fill these positions. You have been given TreasureChest’s case study and strategic goals and need to ensure your IT organizational and resource plan aligns with the company’s business demands.
REQUIREMENTS
Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. The originality report that is provided when you submit your task can be used as a guide.
You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
Tasks may not be submitted as cloud links, such as links to Google Docs, Google Slides, OneDrive, etc., unless specified in the task requirements. All other submissions must be file types that are uploaded and submitted as attachments (e.g., .docx, .pdf, .ppt).
A. Create an IT organizational and resource plan to meet the needs outlined in the attached “TreasureChest Case Study” by doing the following:
1. Create an annotated hierarchical organizational chart illustrating 10–12 individuals in six various roles in the IT departmental structure and processes, including the type of resources (e.g., full-time employees [FTEs], outsourcing, contracting, inshore, offshore, etc.) for each of the six roles.
Note: An annotated organizational chart is a chart to which you add labels for each role and resource type.
a. Write a job descriiption for one of the roles in your organizational chart that includes information for each of the following aspects:
• heading information (e.g., job title, pay grade, relationships)
• summary of the role components and their overall benefit to the organization
• objective summary of the job
• job duties and responsibilities
• qualifications
2. Propose an innovative strategy to improve efficiency and reduce headcount by doing the following:
a. Describe a collaborative partnership with an internal or external business resource to replace one FTE or role in your organizational chart, including two examples of how the replacement is innovative and will move the company forward.
b. Describe a technology to implement to replace one FTE or role in your organizational chart, including two examples of how the replacement is innovative and will move the company forward.
B. Write a recommendation to TreasureChest’s Steering Committee detailing your IT organizational and resource plan from part A by doing the following:
1. Summarize how your plan meets the company’s business goals and provide two examples from your plan that support your claims.
2. Describe two IT practices aligned to either COBIT or ITIL that contribute to the viability of your plan and provide two examples from your plan demonstrating the application of each practice.
3. Recommend two innovative organizational resource technologies to improve service at the company and provide two research-based examples demonstrating the successful application of each technology.
C. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
D. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.