IT Portfolio Management
In today’s tight economic times, State and local governments face challenges in effectively managing their IT investments. Specific problems include:
- Getting a complete inventory of existing IT investments and contracts
- Identifying and eliminating significant duplication of effort
- Automating business case submission, evaluation and selection
- Managing and overseeing funded investments
The workload and administration required to be successful in these areas is prohibitive, resulting in IT and Finance organizations that are unable to effectively manage and improve a large and growing IT infrastructure.
Streamline Investment Management
U.S. State and Local IT Portfolio Management solutions enable states and municipalities to get a clear picture of their existing IT investments along with their current heath and status. Additionally, they provide an infrastructure to enable effective selection of new IT investments. Finally, they provide real-time, day-to-day monitoring of events, to help assure consistent direction and performance over time.
These solutions are delivered using off the shelf portfolio management software tools. These tools enable IT organizations to customize them specifically for use within State and Local government IT planning and management. Additionally, importing existing forms, spreadsheets and processes help leverage your existing investment.
The Benefits
Using Portfolio Management within U.S. State, local governments and agencies, enables these organizations to:
- Get a clear picture of all funded IT investments and their current status.
- Track and manage IT contracts effectively.
- Automate, streamline and simplify the creation and submission of business cases and associated funding requests for budgeting evaluation and approval.
- Ensure alignment between the goals of individual agencies, the state and the Governor.
- Provide scoring, ranking and selection of potential new investments based on characteristics of their business cases; such as alignment with state goals, risk profiles, contribution to citizen services, etc.
- Improve IT investment oversight and ensure more reliable outcome.
Given the huge benefits to be derived from implementing a portfolio management solution within State and local government, it’s not surprising that, even with the current economic challenges, more and more government organizations are embracing it.