Sunday 12 July 2015

How to assess ICT Capacity Requirements to Support Institutional Change?

Organizations world over consistently undergo institutional change for organizational strengthening. In recent times, ICT (Information Communication Technology) has become an integral part of organizations. Therefore, for planned institutional change (or complete institutional restructuring), the Change Managers need to perform an assessment of required change to existing ICT Capacity within any organization.    

Many Change Managers ask me to suggest a methodology to do assessment of ICT Capacity required for an Institutional Change. Now, organizations vary significantly from each other on strategic use of ICT and therefore, it is difficult to suggest a generic methodology. However, I believe, the following way I usually suggest to Change Managers (to an extent) works for them to do a brief initial analysis and to organize their thoughts towards conceptualizing an ICT change management synchronized with other aspects of organizational change.    

A broad assessment of IT Capacity for Institutional Change can be initiated on the basis of following four aspects of ICT implementation within organizations:-

1.       Institutional Support Capacity
2.       Electronic Service Delivery Capacity
3.       Organizational Automation
4.       Technology Infrastructure Capacity

 The broad outline for implementing above points are represented through following tables:-


Table -1: Matrix for assessing Institutional Support Capacity (customized using UNDP 1997 norms - see references section below for more details)

Level – 1 Dimensions of
Environmental Capacity (IT)
Existing Capacity
Required Capacity
Estimated Capacity Gap
Possible Strategies
IT Policy framework




Legal and regulatory framework




Management accountability




Level – 2 Dimensions of
Organization
Existing Capacity
Required Capacity
Estimated Capacity Gap
Possible Strategies
IT Strategic management




IT Organizational Structure




IT Processes




Human resources (IT)




Financial Resources (IT)




Level – 3 Dimensions of
Individual Capacity (IT Human Resources)
Existing Capacity
Required Capacity
Estimated Capacity Gap
Possible Strategies
Job Skills and Needs




Professional Development




Access to Information




Performance/Incentives




Communication Skills






















 _

Table -2: Matrix for assessing Electronic Delivery of Services Capacity

Electronic Delivery of Services
Existing Capacity
Required Capacity
Estimated Capacity Gap
Possible Strategies
Number of Services




Volume of Transactions




Application Performance
-          Service Level Norms
-          Availability
-          Scalability
-          Inter-operability
-          Latent Capacity (Ability to Handle Peak Load)




Security
-          User Level
-          Network Level
-           Infrastructure Level
-          Application & Database Level




Ease of Use








_

Table -3: Matrix for Organizational Automation

Organizational Automation
Existing Capacity
Required Capacity
Estimated Capacity Gap
Possible Strategies
Project Tracking and Control




Finance Management




Human Resource Management




Procurement and Supply Chain Management




Other Auxiliary Operations (like social media, infrastructure management)




Data Analytic / Reporting














 _

Table -4: Matrix for Technology Infrastructure Capacity

IT Infrastructure
Existing Capacity
Required Capacity
Estimated Capacity Gap
Possible Strategies

Application Architecture and Design

Application Upgradation Requirements





Application Support Systems (Auxiliary Supporting Software)




Networking




Hardware



  



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References:

Capacity needs assessment methodology and processes By Melvyn KAY, Consultant to IPTRID/FAO, Tom Franks, Senior Lecturer, Bradford Center for International Development and Sonia Tato, Technical Officer, IPTRID/FAO 




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