IT Portfolio Management Step-by-Step: Unlocking the Business Value of Technology

2.2. BASELINE ASSESSMENTS

Baselines are critical to demonstrating success with change initiatives. In the absence of baselines, ex post facto improvement of change initiatives is subjective. Research found that 70% of IT projects are deemed unsuccessful. The root cause is failure to define success criteria at the start of the projects. This lesson must be applied to IT portfolio management initiatives. Of note in the aforementioned statistic is that of the 30% of IT projects deemed successful, 50% changed their objectives during the project. This is an acceptable practice called expectations management. Expectations management requires communication with key stakeholders, which is why communication planning and stakeholder analysis are also covered in this chapter.

Nonetheless, baselines must be obtained to measure improvement after the application of IT portfolio management and to temper objectives prior to beginning. The areas that are the most commonly baselined are:

• Organizational readiness to embrace the IT portfolio management process

• IT portfolio management process maturity

• Capabilities of the enterprise based on current abilities and organization readiness

• Credibility of the IT organization in the eyes of the business

If this is the initial foray into IT portfolio management, the catch-22 is that objectives and associated tasks at this stage have not been firmed up, so staffing requirements are unknown. Generally, the initial phase of IT portfolio management is sponsored ...