CobiT definition:
Assess the current capability and performance of solution and service delivery to establish a baseline against which future
requirements can be compared. Define performance in terms of IT’s contribution to business objectives, functionality, stability,
complexity, costs, strengths and weaknesses.
Bill says,
Baselines are always important. In IT it is particularly important to measure the baseline from the perspective of what it takes to “keep the lights on.” That is the operational aspect of your business, without any of the projects that are driving to push the business forward.
When I measured our baseline we looked at it from three perspectives – the basic “keep the lights on”, the continuous improvement and the new business drivers. It’s important to properly budget for keeping the lights on and continuous improvement – in my mind that is the price of admission. Then you work with the business to get funding for those special projects that help drive the business in some way, either by saving money or increasing revenue.
So the third step in building the Strategic IT Plan is to assess current capability in whatever breakdown makes sense to you and to establish baselines for how you are performing in those areas.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
What are the actual form of “baseline”?
For Service porfolio, are they the SLA targets.
For Project portfolio, are they the individual project’s success criteria?
Like much of IT Management a baseline is whatever you define it as. As long as you use the same definition over time, then your baseline is effective. I don’t think an SLA is a good baseline unless that happens to be how you are performing. If you are beating your SLAs that should be your baseline. For projects, you need to ensure you have a way of measuring success then take your baseline off of that.