Document Actions
Success Stories
Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
Situation: A global company was facing significant challenges with their Section 404 compliance effort.
Solution: We performed an initial assessment to determine the current status of their IT controls. Then we developed a remediation strategy based on the CobiT framework and managed the implementation effort. A test plan was developed and the test results documented. In addition, a strategy to perform periodic reviews was established. Our team worked closely with the external auditors to ensure successful compliance.
Results:
- Implemented standard IT processes and procedures
- Increased IT's productivity
- Received a favorable attestation from their external auditor.
IT Infrastructure Portfolio Management
Situation: The IT organization of a Fortune 100 company was unable to meet their commitments to the business because they could not effectively prioritize projects or manage resources.
Solution: First, a governance model was developed for accepting, prioritizing, managing, and reviewing projects. Each current project was then analyzed for its overall health; prioritization and alignment to the business strategy, resource allocation, schedule, and dependencies. Then project plan templates based on a phase-based approach and training materials for project managers were created and implemented.
Results:
- Enhanced IT credibility and efficiency
- Improved abilities of project managers
- An increase in projects completed on time
- Improved resource management
- Increased communications between IT and its customers.
Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery
Situation: A large healthcare organization was recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina in one of their major markets. While performing a post-mortem they realized the critical nature of not having a business continuity plan for communications.
Solution: We developed a detailed business continuity plan to prepare the organization in the event of another disaster. The activities included developing an awareness campaign, performing a business impact analysis with LOB executives, performing a risk analysis, an assessment of satellite capabilities, packaging a solution for bringing up data and voice communications, and step-by-step procedures for patching the facility into the corporate backbone.
Results:
- Improved ability to ensure patient safety in the event of a disaster
- Justification and prioritization of current expenditures for business continuity
- Reduced risk
- Enhanced IT credibility.
IT Asset Management
Situation: The IT organization of a Fortune 100 company was asked to lower its costs for IT assets while continuing to support growth. When asked for a complete list of the IT assets in service, the IT organization was unable to provide such information.
Solution: We developed an IT asset life cycle management strategy. The strategy included the following activities:
- Discovery of existing assets (hardware, software, and network)
- Developing procurement processes
- Developing a methodology for tracking assets
- Establishing inventory levels
- Developing a refresh strategy for hardware
- Developing a change and disposition strategy.
Results:
- Lower and more predictable annual costs for IT assets
- Improved IT services
- Increased procurement effectiveness
- Increased contract effectiveness
- Known life expectancy of assets
- Improved inventory management
- Reduction of obsolete equipment.
Data Center Relocation / Consolidation
Situation: A global entertainment company was experiencing rapid business growth. This led to the need for a larger data center.
Solution: An initial assessment was performed to review the completeness of policies, procedures, processes, and supporting documentation. Then the data center assets were inventoried, their interrelationships with business processes documented, and their lifecycle recorded. Disaster recovery and business continuity plans were developed in conjunction with business owners. Next, the assets were grouped by business function and a business impact analysis was performed. Then the technical architecture was documented followed by the creation of a detailed project plan to support the relocation efforts. The schedule, processes, and procedures were communicated to all shareholders prior to the move.
Results:
- Seamless transition for the business
- A set of disaster recovery and business continuity plans were prepared
- Well-defined operating standards and processes were established
- Asset Management processes were implemented.
Business Process Reengineering
Situation: A leading global business process outsourcer sought to improve their service delivery capabilities.
Solution: Our solution was a service management framework based on the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The initial focus was on service support, particularly incident management and change management. The key development activities included the following: process flows, process activities, roles and responsibilities, process role mappings, policies, measurements, and reporting.
Results:
- Improved service delivery
- Decreased number of open tickets
- Developed service levels for responding to and closing service requests
- Improved customer relations
- Increased system availability
- Decreased number of outages caused by system changes.