8/11/2023 0 Comments It budget planning process![]() ![]() This will allow the document to be meaningfully reviewed throughout the budget year and during the development of the next year’s budget.ĭevelop business cases. Instead, the IT Department should use the budget as a planning document and include descriptions of project costs and purchases. A simple line item budget takes away an aspect of accountability if it is too vague. Too often, IT budgets are vague and oversimplified. This helps to simplify the equipment that the organization supports both from a hardware and knowledge perspective.Īvoid simple line items. The IT Department should have a published set of standards for the purchase of any IT equipment or software. This will help the department take a long-range view of operations instead of operating on a day-to-day or crisis-to-crisis level. The IT Department should develop annual goals and objectives that help inform the budget. This approach can also help prevent duplicative purchases.ĭevelop goals and objectives. Centralizing budgeting for IT products and services will ensure that budgeting for technology is done from an enterprise perspective instead of being siloed in individual departments. The following actions can help governments develop a higher functioning IT budget process:Ĭentralize IT budgeting. A sound governance structure should naturally help improve the IT budget process. IT governance also provides a means by which the IT department and other departments can collaborate and better align IT spending with government-wide objectives. In support of this, an IT governance structure should include processes for prioritizing IT investments and developing business cases for technology needs. What is the process for monitoring results?.The diagram following provides a visual of the value decisions that must continue to support any successful governance process: Pre-selection decisions In addition, a successful governance structure should provide answers to the following questions. The IT governance committee should include stakeholders from various departments in the agency who have been given appropriate authority to hold the IT department accountable and may include the IT Director/CIO, Finance Director, Human Resources Director, and any other stakeholders the government feels are appropriate. The IT governance structure should include a governance committee to help steer the decision-making process. Also, incorporating the governing structure into the IT budgeting process can ensure that future IT investments are based on performance of past projects, help manage risks, optimize resources, and foster the exploration of possible benefits of technology investments. IT governance specifies the decisions, rights, and accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the use of IT. ![]() The first step in developing a sound IT budgeting process is to develop a governance structure for IT. Most of these have less to do with the actual budget development and more to do with how decisions are made in the organization regarding IT investments. However, government bodies can implement many steps and processes that improve IT budgeting. Elements of an ineffective IT budgeting process include: lack of communication between the budgeting office and the IT Department, incomplete integration of the budgeting process with the government’s strategic plan and goals, and a nonexistent or ineffective IT governance structure. Unintentionally, it may create an infrastructure that is siloed and contributes to an overall inefficient process.Īlso, a poor IT budget can create a disconnect between the IT department and all other agency departments leading to failed technology implementations and to technology purchases that might not be a best fit for the agency. Alternatively, a poor IT budgeting process can cause governments to invest in technology that adds layers of complexity or results in a lack of investment in technology that might be critical to operations. ![]() In short, it ensures that scarce resources are appropriately aligned with the strategic vision of the agency.Īn effective IT budget process also promotes accountability and establishes spending guidelines for IT purchases. The IT budget can and should be used as a planning document that will help the whole organization prepare for future technology needs and communicate to internal and external stakeholders the priorities that those needs will support. Critical to effective technology plans is how the required investments will be prioritized and funded.Ī well designed information Technology (IT) budget and budget process can help local governments run more efficiently, provide responsive services to their citizens, and better manage their assets. Information technology is increasingly important given the current mantra of doing more with less. "Plans are nothing, planning is everything." – Dwight Eishenhower ![]()
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