Stick to the Facts

The key to declining politely but firmly, according to some CIOs, project managers and other experts, is to ask for and provide facts until the person who made the request is forced to acknowledge that the idea will not fly.

"Get the facts, address the issues, use good examples from other companies if possible," says Christopher Kowalsky, senior vice president and CIO of US-based Education Management Corporation. "Use the auditors and the other executives in the organization to assist with the discussions and related decision. Work through the budget and resource requirements, it will always be more than what the requesting department expected."

General Motors Holden CIO Julie Fahey says it is essential to ensure the proposers understand the total cost of ownership. That includes not just the cost of implementing the system, but of managing it, of upgrading it and any other costs of the system life cycle. "I start with that kind of discussion: Let's understand the total life cycle. So I spend a lot of time at the senior management level here really helping people understand the whole concept of that in an IT environment. That's the first thing.

"The second thing, which is probably the one thing that I am most passionate about, is: Do you actually understand how this will change your business process before you launch into the IT solution?"

Fahey says business sponsors often assume replacing a manual process with a new piece of software or updating some software is automatically going to be a good thing. People frequently do not understand that, in some circumstances, adding an online system can make operations harder or increase the cost of what was a manual process in the past.

"When you actually sit down with someone and you say: 'Let's map out how the way you do whatever this business activity is will change when you put in this system', you realize a lot of the time they haven't even thought about that."

Another useful approach is to try to make the proposal a department-sponsored budget request. Kowalsky says although you can expect push back, getting all of the facts on the table will help to achieve a rational consensus decision. Although such exercises take time and could prove complex, he says, patience is the key to being successful.

"Always begin by totally understanding the reasons why this technology is being requested," Kowalsky advises. "What is the scope and requirements? What is the budget? And who is the executive sponsor? Are there any regulatory or IT general control issues which will end up as an audit issue?"

He says ideally there will be an IT governance committee or a technology committee comprising decision makers who will put this new request in overall perspective. The CIO or top IT executive cannot handle these types of unplanned requests alone. The executive that the CIO reports to must be somewhat involved with this process.

"Too many times the CIO may be concerned about a matter which is better left to other decision makers in the organizations," he says. "The organization culture should require that it be a part of the strategic plan of the business, which calls for certain mandates and standards to be followed. The IT executives have resources available to them to either promote good ideas or to help explain why it may not be a good idea to proceed. The key is to never be on an island without decision support in the organization."

Kowalsky warns that unless proper business and IT strategic planning is done, departments will leave it up to themselves to figure out what is best. That makes a steering committee, budget process and value analysis mandatory. When these important processes are not performed anything can happen and the CIO will have issues to deal with.

For the same reason, he says, the CIO must always use a formalized process to safeguard against these unplanned events. While departments will tend to disagree with or not want to use the process, it is necessary and will provide for a better overall use of technology and IT services throughout the organization. Look to CobiT, ITIL and ISO as necessary IT-related processes to follow, he advises.