Strategic Planning 101—taking the first step

February 21, 2012

Guest Blogger, Larry Martin

In her previous blog (It’s all in the Planning, Strategic that is), Dawn Bott started a discussion about Strategic Planning.  She mentioned the use of SWOT analysis as the beginning in order to start to the strategic planning process. Though a SWOT is part of a Strategic Plan, which can be a useful tool, I wanted to talk about the entire process of creating the Strategic Plan.

There is no one way in creating a Strategic Plan. There are many different approaches some can take a year other approaches can take a day.  What is common among them all is the inclusion of the organization at all levels. Strategic Planning is all about feedback and gaining the commitment from the organization’s employees to implement the plan created.

Image Credit: sheelamohan

In creating and implementing a Strategic Plan, by-in and input into the process from all levels of the organization is essential for successful implementation.  It starts by including a good cross section of employees at all levels to determine what is working and what is not.  To make an analogy, the TV show “Under Cover Boss” is a good example.  For those who have not seen the show, the CEO goes under cover for a week to see how their organization is functioning or implementing their goals.  They are disguised so no one will recognize them while they work alongside different employees in different departments over the next 5 days.  In almost all cases, the CEO learns that what he/she has implemented at the upper management level may not actually be the best strategies for improving the organization’s products or service.  And in some cases, what they thought was a good idea, turns out not to be a good idea at all.

So now let’s put this to practical use.  How do you get started?

One of the best ways to start a Strategic Plan is to take this cross section of employees I talked about earlier and move them into a room, preferably off-site to eliminate distractions such as email and phone calls, so they can develop a list of Strategic Objectives.  This process is led by a facilitator who has no connection to the organization and whose first job is to define a Strategic Objective for the group. Strategic Objectives are ideas and suggestions that will improve the organization in one form or another. The facilitator needs to challenge the group in developing these objectives.

Since the gathering of these Strategic Objectives is a brainstorming exercise, they do not need to be in any particular order; it’s just important to capture the ideas on paper.  The Strategic Planning process may end up revealing ways to improve existing products or services and/or ideas for new product and service offerings.   Just remember all of those ideas are captured through feedback from all levels of the organization, not just senior management.

So now that we have the Strategic Objectives, what do we do with them?   Stay tuned . . .

Larry Martin is a guest blogger for www.tuoutreach.com. Larry is a Senior Project Manager with Towson University’s Center for Applied IT.  During his 28 years in the project management field he has managed a wide-range of projects and has guided numerous state agencies and departments through the Strategic Planning process.    

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Posted by Guest Blogger

Adventures in Surveying

October 20, 2011

Dawn

Adventurous is not a word people would use to describe me.  Solid, dependable, typical, predictable… they would work.  I usually like to do things the same way. If I know how to do something, why try something different.  Not a good mantra when you work in a tech industry. So when a client approached us this summer about trying to get a lot of information, from a lot of different people, who are not close by, in a short amount of time, the Center for Applied IT (CAIT) decided that our standard interview method may not be the best approach.  Here was an opportunity to try something different, and we decided to take a leap of faith using a survey tool.

For this project, CAIT needed to quickly identify IT resources overseen by one of the counties. Time was of the essence so we thought how could we get the information, eliminate or greatly reduce data entry and be able to manipulate the data easily. After looking at some of the commercially available tools, we found that a simple survey tool would do the trick. Aaron Guy at the Center for Professional Studies (CPS), another Division of Economic and Community Outreach (DECO) unit, came to our rescue since they were currently using a survey tool that would easily meet our needs.

After obtaining the client’s approval, Lisa Walker, Bill Hansman and I set to work. The tool allowed us to ask questions that could be answered using text boxes, radio buttons (for a single entry) or check boxes (for multiple entries). We developed questions, organized our survey and launched it in only a few weeks.

Launching the survey was simple too. We provided our client with the URL and some basic instructions.   Our immediate feedback was minimal. A few questions, but for the most part the users found it easy to use and the questions to be straightforward. Next, we downloaded the information into an Excel spread sheet and now we are working to discover all the information our survey results hold.

No new adventure is complete without discovering some pitfalls. Here is what we have learned so far:

  1. Fewer more targeted questions would have been better, making the survey more concise
  2. Make every question mandatory would have been helpful
  3. Limit free form text box use, because some participants became a bit wordy, making it hard to discern facts.

Overall, we really enjoyed developing the survey. It was fun to create the questions and to then reap the rewards of our efforts through the data we retrieved, data that we did not have to manually enter!

Since our first survey experience, we have upgraded the tool we are using and are looking for more opportunities to leverage this new skill.   I can’t wait to share this tool with another client and to survey again!

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Posted by Dawn Bott

“The Cloud” Keeps On Moving with VMware

June 16, 2011

Jimmy

As you may recall in my last blog post, Take it to “The Cloud”, I gave a high-level overview of “the cloud” as well as examples of how Google and Amazon are leveraging and visioning cloud technology.   However, I felt that it was necessary to gain more insight from industry leading professionals and to justify and discover how cloud services and technology could be practically implemented in the workplace to improve organizational IT and business functions.  As a result, I attended the 2011 VMware Forum last month to discover more information on VMware’s “Cloud” initiative and network with IT professionals and fellow VMware enthusiasts.

Representatives from Gartner Research and VMware gave the very insightful and informational presentations.

  • Gartner’s cloud presentation provided great background into architectural and technical components that are necessary to implement and manage a cloud infrastructure, as well as an emphasis that virtualization was a key driving force in cloud technology (though some often refer to virtualization as cloud technology which is not the true case).
  • VMware speakers discussed how VMware was leading the way in cloud technology with its vCloud product and how organizations that leverage virtualization technology could implement cloud technology and IT infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

Though it may seem like a lot of techno-jargon when describing “the cloud”, the truth is that “the cloud” is coming to a data center near you in the near future!  “The cloud” is not a mysterious Internet phenomenon but rather an enabler for new way of presenting, managing, and delivering IT services.  Products such as VMware vCloud are designed to make private cloud implementations (i.e. an Intranet cloud or internal cloud) feasible for internal organizations that require on-demand delivery of such IT applications and services.  With vCloud or other private cloud alternatives, organizations can invest and manage their own cloud as an alternative to utilizing a 3rd party service such as Amazon EC2, especially if issues such as data security or data management are concerning.  Whether public, private, or federated, “the cloud” is here and growing!

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Posted by Past Bloggers

VIDEO: Meet Our Team – Fred Schroeder

May 24, 2011

Dawn

Fred Schroeder has to be the calmest person I know.  No matter what is happening in the Business Analysis & Project Management unit of DECO’s Information Systems Solutions, Fred remains calm.  That is no easy feat since he is not only the Associate Director for the unit, but also performs work as both a business analyst and a project manager, not to mention he is responsible for writing all of ISS’s responses to RFPs.  I can say that Fred is a great boss and I really enjoy working with him, as well as for him.  Hopefully this interview will provide you with a peak at just how calm, cool and collected my boss is . . .everyday!

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Posted by Dawn Bott

Take it to “The Cloud”

April 18, 2011

Jimmy

The hot topic in information technology is “the cloud.”  You may have heard about it online, the office, or have seen it on various TV commercials.  According to Wikipedia, cloud computing “refers to the provision of computational resources on demand via a computer network.”  The cloud gives organizations, government entities, and even individual users that ability to use highly scalable Internet services and resources for business or personal use.  Some core drivers for “cloud technology” include high-speed Internet, grid computing, utility computing, rapid/thin provisioning, clustering, and server virtualization.

Ok, so that sounds nice, but what can an individual or company expect from cloud computing?

Well, the truth is, a lot of companies are taking advantage of “cloud computing” from a service offering and marketing perspective, and companies like Amazon and Google are taking advantage of the hype!

Amazon offers a full “cloud infrastructure” that allows organizations to lease web services and virtual systems for software development and hosting.

Google has taken a different perspective on cloud computing by focusing its attention to the consumer.  Google plans to propose a browser-driven operating system and computing platform that would essentially be “cloud-driven.”  The Google notebook, which consists of a web-browser operating system (Google Chrome) and some utility software, allows an individual to perform all basic computer functions like browsing the web, using e-mail, or working with documents and spreadsheets.

However, all computer functions are driven by the “cloud” and various web services, so processing and storing (i.e. saved documents) are actually performed on remote systems rather than locally.  Aside from having a Google account, the only true requirement to use the Google notebook is being connected to the Internet.  To learn more about “cloud computing” and see Google’s vision of the technology, check out the Google Chrome OS website .

Photo Credit: How Stuff Works

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Posted by Past Bloggers

Video: DECO Data Center – The New Kid on the Block

January 26, 2011

 

Jimmy

Within DECO, many units thrive and are well-known at Towson University and in the surrounding community.  Applied research units such as the Center for GIS (CGIS), the Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI), Extended Education and Online Learning (EEOL), and Information Systems Solutions (ISS) have been providing services for Maryland State Agencies and the private industry for many years.  To better serve such clients and the units of DECO, a new group has emerged known as the DECO Data Center (DDC).

The DDC, led by Steve Marshall, Director, is a group of IT specialists and engineers that focus on providing IT consulting, managed hosting, and help desk services.  To learn more about the DDC and how this group can help your organization, check out this video:

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Posted by Past Bloggers

VIDEO: Come to the Showcase!

January 24, 2011

Bobbie

Mark your calendars for April 13th for Towson University’s fourth annual Solutions Showcase event!  The event will take place from 12:00-2:00 in the Minnegan Room and will include plenty of time for networking with TU’s faculty and staff exhibitors and two dynamic keynote speakers (stay tuned for that announcement).  What makes this event so exciting every year is the diversity of attendees–education leaders, business executives, government leaders, non-profit directors, and of course TU’s leading faculty and professional researchers!

Registration is OPEN and did I mention this free event includes a great lunch–it doesn’t really get any better than that!


Leave a Comment » | Business Analysis, Community Outreach, Economic Analysis, Education, Entrepreneurship, Events, IT, Mapping, News, Project Management, Students, TU Faculty & Staff | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Bobbie Laur

Video: DECO’s 2010 Holiday Card

December 13, 2010

Bobbie

For those that voted—No it wasn’t Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, or Rudolph—our 2010 holiday video card includes our talented staff and students singing (and in some cases dancing) to our version of the 12 Days of Christmas.  Jenn Lake, our student graphic designer, deserves a  big THANK YOU for all her work in producing this year’s video.

4 Comments | Business Analysis, Community Outreach, Economic Analysis, Education, Entrepreneurship, International Business Development, IT, Lifelong Learning, Mapping, News, Project Management, Small Business Development, Students, Training, TU Faculty & Staff | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Bobbie Laur

Getting in the Integrated Marketing Game

September 15, 2010

Sharyn

In recent months, DECO began to offer a new and exciting set of services. The Integrated Marketing Team (IMT) was formed to provide comprehensive solutions for communications and media challenges. Social media strategy and web site analysis and development are the focus of the team.

Just last week, the IMT completed a project where tactics, management strategies, and website integration approaches for implementing a Social Media Marketing Strategy were provided to six start-up businesses. Months were spent analyzing the companies and their industries. In turn, the IMT was able to provide a comprehensive strategy that included:

  • An overview of the social media landscape and how Web 2.0 has impacted the way consumers and businesses interact with one another.

    Click here for a one page reference sheet about the IMT services.

  • Specific social media tools that will work most effectively for each company.  Management and measurement strategies were suggested to ensure that implementing these tools are both time efficient and quantifiable.
  • Website analysis that includes improvement recommendations on navigation and functionality.  Also, social media tool integration recommendations were provided.
  • Tactical outreach, blogging, and search engine optimization (SEO) strategies provided additional advice on how to implement the suggested social media approaches effectively.

  • A Tool Kit provided summaries of each of our favorite social media tools.  The summary includes costs, usefulness, key features, step-by-step guide to get started, and helpful resources.

If social media is a marketing avenue your company would like to explore, don’t hesitate to contact me (I am one of the Project Managers for the IMT) for the guidance your business needs to take a strategy and run with it!

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Posted by Sharyn Grove

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