Project-based budgeting was derived in part from Gartner's own consulting and research advice, applying what Stanco calls "Gartner at Gartner". For example, Gartner has long stressed the necessity of an ROI analysis after launching a project - something the IS department now does religiously as an integrated part of the project-based budgeting process. The planning templates used in these analyses ask the types of questions espoused by Gartner's "IT value scorecards", which are used to align IT and business. Though applying Gartner's consulting advice to itself may seem obvious in retrospect, some of the initiatives met with resistance. For example, the advisory councils "took a little time to get traction", says Mike Zboray, chief technical officer and a former analyst. Stanco's proposal to establish these councils goes beyond the types of projects and proposals usually expected of IS.

To ease cultural issues, Stanco and his team strove to earn the confidence of the business units by continuing to take care of the basics, such as running the database centre and help desk, managing the desktops and telecommunications - what Paolillo calls "right-to-life" issues.

Still, Stanco felt a key challenge in his efforts to become a partner with the business side of the house was articulating a vision that would help drive the IT alignment mission from the CEO and CIO all the way down to department managers.

With that in mind, Stanco enlisted Hunter Muller, who runs professional management company Hunter Management Group in Connecticut, to help spell out the principles behind the criteria Gartner now uses to prioritise projects. Those principals are as follows: The IT department should deliver a competitive advantage to increase shareholder value; it should form a partnership with the business side to focus on creating value, increasing efficiencies and reducing costs; and it should focus on organisational development of people, process and technology.

The project-based budgeting methodology has made an amazing difference, says Paolillo. "What it's done is helped close the gaps, not just between corporate services and business units but between the business units themselves." By bringing those groups together, Stanco and Paolillo hope to have made Gartner's misalignment woes a thing of the past.