IT Infrastructure, Strategy,
and
Charter Template
ISO 27000 Series Compliant
SOX, HIPAA and PCI-DSS Compliant
With the explosion of technology into every facet of the day-to-day business environment there is a need to define an effective infrastructure to support operating environment; have a strategy for the deployment and technology; and clearly define responsibilities and accountabilities for the use and application of technology.
The size of enterprise impacts the cost of IT as percentage of revenue is greatest in small enterprise (less than $100 million in revenue) and lest in large enterprises, those with reveenuses over $1 billion. Also infrastructure and budet vary by industry.
The template comes as both a WORD document utilizing a CSS style sheet that is easily modifiable.
Included with the template are a HIPAA Audit Program Guide and an ISO 27001 and ISO 27002 Security Process Audit Checklist. The Template is over 125 pages in length (the full table of contents can be downloaded by clicking on the link above) and the topics covered include:
- IT Infrastructure, Strategy, and Charter Summary (see sample page)
- Strategy and Charter Statement of Authority
- IT Management Structure
- Compliance
- Personnel Practices
- Controls
- Application Development Standards
- Service Requests
- Local Area Network
- Back-up and Recovery
- Disaster Recovery Plan
- Security
- Access Control - Physical Site
- Access Control - Software and Data
- Facility Requirements
- ISO 27001 & ISO 27002 Audit Checklist
- HIPAA Audit Program
- Full Job Description for CIO large enterprise
- Full Job Description for CIO small enterprise
- Security Management Checklist
- Massachusetts 201 CMR 17 Compliance Checklist
IT Service Management Template and 220 IT and Internet Job Descriptions are available with the in the Premium and Gold edition.
The IT Service Management Policy Template is a 130 page document that contains policies, standards, procedures and metrics that comply with the ITIL Standard. Chapters of the template include:
- Service Requests Policy
- Service Request Standard
- Help Desk Policy
- Help Desk Standards
- Help Desk Procedures
- Help Desk Service Level Agreement
- Change Control Standard
- Change Control Quality Assurance Standard
- Change Control Management Workbook
- Documentation Standard
- Application Version Control Standard
- Version Control Standard
- Internet Policy
- e-Mail Policy
- Electronic Communication Policy
- Blog & Personal Web Site Policy
- Travel and Off-Site Meeting
- Sensitive Information Policy
Versions of IT Infrastructure, Strategy, and Charter Template
Manage Critical Steps in Infrastructure Definition
Defining Your Optimal IT Infrastructure is a critical task that can no longer wait with all of the changes mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley and changes to your operating environment. The template helps you:- Understand and explain what infrastructure is, enabling you, your constituents, and the executive team to manage the organization's technology environment more effectively.
- Analyze the current state of your infrastructure so you know where it works well and where to focus improvement efforts.
- Justify infrastructure spending, using the template's comprehensive definitions and ready to use examples to link IT infrastructure and your company's bottom line.
- Prioritize your resources with a prescriptive toolset that lets you focus your efforts.
An Essential Strategic Advantage for Your IT Team
Implementing a cost effective IT Infrastructure that aligns with your organization's business strategy is essential to ensuring the success of the Information Technology function. For many IT professionals, the amount of time it takes to develop and implement such a infrastructure, and the unknown process required to complete it, makes infrastructure design and implementation a daunting task. The IT Infrastructure, Strategy, and Charter Template draws on the experiences of some of the best IT and business operations executives in the industry to provide you with the right shortcuts.
Infrastructure, Strategy, & Charter News
Social networking policy is a must
Social networks are about radically transforming the traditional battlefield of marketing and PR. Your social networking policy, in turn, is the rule book that defines the guidelines used to wage and win this war of the new media. While beginners new to the scene might mistake the presence of a policy for social networking as nothing more than a protective mechanism, the truth is that it exists not to limit but really to liberate participants.
Applied properly, the strategic use of social networks will allow a David to outmaneuver and outrun Goliaths, or for heavyweights to propel their reputation and brand awareness to greater heights. As social media gurus have said, The unique characteristics of disembodied identities in the virtual world can radically transform rules that traditionally govern social groups.
This is evidenced in the way large corporations are hiring digital or social media managers, or incorporating such roles into the primary job responsibilities of existing PR or marketing executives. As companies strive to cash in the rewards of successfully engaging social media, guidelines are required to formalize a company's strategy in this new, uncharted terrain. In addition, there is a need to recognize and protect social media practitioners within the company.
Taken together, it is clear that there is a need to craft a proper social networking policy so as to maintain a degree of consistency in your organization's engagement of social media. So what does a social networking policy consist of? The quick answer might be to point you toward a sample of a simple social networking policy on www.e-janco.com.
- more info
Focus of CIOs shifting
As the economy moves towards recovery, CIOs need to develop new strategies to be successful in the every changing business environment. This new strategy need to be structured around the following business imperatives.
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- Technology solutions need to be flexible and focused on IT Service Management and Service Oriented Architecture. Businesses must be able to respond to opportunities and challenges faster than ever before. Businesses are battling other well-resourced organizations that may be based where the opportunity originated, lower cost market, or another company that is reaching out for new opportunities. In order to compete, businesses have to be able to rapidly deliver products or service as good, or better, than that of any other company.
- Complexity should be avoided - infrastructure is key. Simplicity has always been rewarded, as the scope of technology increased this has led to increased complexity and risk. While per unit costs of technology typically are decreasing, in aggregate IT and technology cost are increasing. With the pressure on IT to act less as a cost center and more as a way to increase the profitability of business units, just adding more storage, more bandwidth, or additional technologies throughout the organization is no longer viable. Instead, successful CIOs are investing in technologies like continuous data protection, virtualization, and wireless connectivity to help IT slim down its footprint while increasing their businesss competitive advantages.
- Mandated requirements have moved security to be a top priority. With the growing importance of digital applications and data, the sources of threats to enterprise data have multiplied dramatically. Everything from natural disasters to criminals to corrupt sources within the company might try to steal or corrupt data. While businesses do everything that they can to stop these threats in the first place, they still must be prepared to recover from these threats as quickly as possible.
- Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans are no longer optional. As businesses have expanded the need for anytime, anywhere application access has become a requirement. At the same time, global 24/7 operations have shrinking maintenance windows and a need for applications to be running at all times. Delay or loss of data for any reason system failure, natural disasters has a domino-like effect across the entire organization, at any time of the day or night.
Steps to Take Before Disaster Strikes
Business continuity and disaster preparedness tips that businesses need to implement immediately.
that police and other first responders can contact the right people in your business - Research the Reverse 911 program for your area and register your business cell phones, voice over IP numbers or pagers. In an emergency situation, Reverse 911 enables emergency officials to send out an automated call to everyone registered in a specific area with important information.
Enable texting - Sometimes cell phone signals can become congested during emergencies, and it can be difficult to make or receive calls. Short text messages might be easier to get through. Plus, texting helps to conserve battery power.
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Fed IT Spending is on an uptick
Even if the national economy remains sluggish, federal spending for information technology will continue to accelerate at least through 2015, according to a new report from federal marketing analysis firm Input.
Federal IT spending will grow from $86 billion in 2010 to $112 billion in 2015, for a compound annual growth rate of 5.4 percent, according to Inputs new report "Federal Information Technology Market, 20102015."
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The IT job market is looking up
Some IT job market trends from recent surveys include:
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- Expect more churn in IT staff as CIOs accelerate their move to more flexibile staffing models. CIOs are outsourcing more technical work, including managed IP services such as VoIP and VPNs. They're hiring more contractors for desktop and security services, and they're putting more applications such as remote backup in the cloud. At the same time, they're looking to hire IT people with business and analytical skills, such as risk management and project management. Indeed, CIOs report that they're having trouble hiring IT people because either they can't find IT professionals with the right business skills or they can't afford them. All of this means more turnover in IT departments.
- IT hiring will grow in the second half of 2010. A Web site, which lists tech job openings, conducted a survey of IT hiring managers and recruiters, and nearly half of them said they plan to add 10% more employees in the next six months than they did in the first half of the year. Another 28% of respondents plan to increase hiring by 11% to 20%. Survey respondents are getting more optimistic about salaries, too. A quarter of survey respondents predicted that IT salaries will rise in 2010, compared to 10% of survey respondents making this prediction six months ago. Another good sign: 69% of survey respondents said layoffs are not likely at their companies during the next six months.
- Banks are starting to hire IT staff, but they are in no hurry to fill open jobs. Banks are looking for IT professionals who can manage new technology or integration projects, but that they are taking from six to eight months to fill open jobs. This compares to three or four months to fill jobs prior to the recession. Banks are being "really selective" and are looking for "exact matches" for their detailed job descriptions.
- IT pros are getting paid slightly more than last year, says Janco Associates' mid-year IT salary survey. Total mean compensation for IT pros has increased to $78,210 from $77,690 a year ago - a rise of less than 1%. However, most of the additional money is going to CIOs, and not their staffs. Compensation of CIOs in large enterprises rose 7.5% to $181,533, and in midsized enterprises it rose 3.7% to $169,303, Janco found. Lower-level IT pros, on the other hand, are experiencing reduced bonuses, frozen salaries and in some cases they are being asked to pay a greater portion of their healthcare costs, Janco said. One positive sign: companies are more willing to consider flexible hours and work schedules as a low-cost benefit for IT workers.
- CIO confidence is up. 10% of CIOs plan to expand their IT departments in the third quarter of 2010, while 4% plan to reduce staffing. The states with the most active IT hiring are expected to include New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Overall, 81% of CIOs said they are confident in their companies' growth prospects in the third quarter, while 40% said their firms are likely to invest in new IT projects in the next three months.
- Job hopping is on the rise, prompting CIOs to worry more about IT staff retention. A recent report found that more Americans quit their jobs in the last three months than were fired. The rise in voluntary departures is prompting CIOs to worry about retaining their best IT staff. 34% of technology executives are concerned about losing top IT performers in the next year, up three percentage points from last month. Similarly, 43% of CIOs say it is challenging to find skilled IT professionals today.
- CIOs say networking and security top their list of hot IT skills. CIOs say they had the hardest time filling jobs in networking, applications development and security. Other hot skills include software development, database management and help desk/technical support. Similarly, a recent survey of 400 U.K. recruitment consultants found that IT security skills were most in demand for permanent hires. Another survey found that full-time staff with enterprise software and developer skills were in short supply.
- Government, usually the safest sector of the economy in a downturn, has announced more job cuts this year than any other employer. Government agencies and nonprofits announced more job cuts than any other industry segment in May. The sector shed 16,697 jobs in May, 12% more than the job cuts announced in April. All total, the sector has shed 93,470 jobs in 2010.
