Technical Advisory Council

1
Technical Advisory Council

• September 2003 Update

2
Urban League Mission

• The Urban League of Central Carolinas, Inc.'s
  mission is to promote economic self-sufficiency
  among African-American families and racial
  inclusion in our communities. It is a
  multi-service, non-profit Agency, organized in
  1978.
• The Agency fulfills its mission by providing
  services in four target areas Workforce
  Development, Youth Development and Education,
  Home Ownership Education, Certification and
  Counseling, and Diversity Management and
  Consulting. In addition, the Urban League
  conducts research and programming to promote
  racial inclusion and advocacy.

3
Objectives of the TAC

• The Technical Advisory Council (TAC) was formed
  in November 2002 to serve as the key executive
  advisory council to the Urban League to provide
  advice and support on all of its Information
  Technology (IT) needs.
• These needs include assistance in maintaining and
  improving IT equipment and software related to
  administration and program operations, and
  assistance in building collaborations that can
  secure ongoing IT resources.

4
TAC Participants

• The TAC is a volunteer team comprised of senior
  IT leaders from several prominent Charlotte
  companies, including

5
Activities Underway

• Acentron Technologies jump-started our planning
  work by providing a current state assessment of
  the Urban Leagues IT environment, along with
  issues and recommendations for improvement.
• Accenture provided a strategic technology
  planning framework to help the TAC define a
  prioritized Technology Plan.
• Microsoft has engaged a team of 6 engineers that
  are working on tuning the performance and
  security of the Urban Leagues network.
• IBM is investing in the Urban Leagues mission by
  providing 4 new NetVista PCs, with a request for
  another 10-15 PCs pending.
• Wachovias eCommunities First program is planning
  a site visit during the week of Sept 15th to
  evaluate the agencys request for infrastructure
  and software to provide basic computer training
  along with financial management education.

6
Strategic Technology Planning Process

• The team adopted a strategic planning framework
  provided by Accenture to define a prioritized
  Technology Plan that ensures a prioritized focus
  on improvement initiatives that will yield the
  greatest benefit with the greatest probability of
  success.
• The output of the strategic planning framework
  was a set of project initiatives placed on a
  matrix of pain relief and feasibility to fix
  that indicates the best places to focus our
  initial improvement efforts.
• While approximately 35 separate initiatives
  emerged from this strategic planning work, we
  identified 9 projects that will be pursued
  immediately.
• The prioritized technology plan provides a
  starting point as well as a long-term roadmap for
  current and future TAC volunteers to follow.

7
Strategic Technology Planning Framework
We are here
8
Pain Relief Feasibility Matrix
High

• Recruiting Volunteers
• Org Definitions
• Governance

• Configuration Mgmt
• Standard Desktop Image
• Software Distribution
• Change Control
• Reporting

Data Consolidation Integration
Competency Dev.
The projects in bold boxes indicates Wave 1 2
Projects that will be pursued immediately. Other
initiatives will be pursued later.

• Inventory Mgmt / Assets Licenses

Network Performance Monitoring Tuning

• Security Mgmt
• User Admin.

• Backup / Storage
• DR Processes
• UPS / Generator

IT Strategic
Output Mgmt. / Queue
Application Mgmt.
IT Capability
Service Desk SD Reporting
Output / Printer
Feasibility to Execute
Service Desk / SD Database
High
Low
Service Desk SD Workflow
Policies / Standards
Financial Admin.
Resource Forecasting
Service Desk Incident Querying
Executive Expectations
Vendor Mgmt.
Demand Mgmt. / Priorities
Communications
Project Program Mgmt.
Capability Dev. Build Test
Database Mgmt.
Regulatory Compliance
Wiring / Cabling
Database Backup
Capability Dev. - Analysis
Capacity Data Capture
Operations Data Arch.
Capacity Data Collection
Capability Dev. - Design
Low
Pain Relief
9
Next Step Execution Plan for Wave 1
High
Backup / DR
Inventory Asset Mgmt
Infrastructure Security
Network Performance Tuning
Standardized Project Mgmt
Configuration Mgmt
Feasibility (relative)
Recruiting Volunteers

Data Consolidation Integration
Executive Expectations Mgmt
Legend
Infrastructure
Pain Relief (relative)
Low
High
Development Management
2003
2004
2005
2006
PROJECTS
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Technology Backup / Disaster Recovery
Plan
Verify Volume Defns
Verify Tape Drives
Develop Rotation Schedule
Begin New Rotation
Ongoing Operations
SAMPLE DELIVERABLE
Infrastructure Security
Develop Plan
Define Security Standards
Update Router Server Settings
Educate / Inform Users
Update User Profiles
Inventory Asset Management
Network Performance Tuning
TBD
Input Summarized Gaps Impacts
Process Prioritize based on Feasibility
Impact Lay out plan based on capacity and
skills Output Summarized IT Initiative
Plan
10
Initiative Priorities Wave 1

• Technology Backup / Disaster Recovery
• Verify backup scope, schedule and offsite
  rotation plan
• Verify appropriate backup power source
• Document Disaster Recovery processes
• Infrastructure Security
• Define and update network security passwords
• Improve user security administration
• Inventory Asset Management
• Inventory the Urban Leagues hardware and
  software assets
• Inventory and manage software licenses
• Network Performance Tuning
• Evaluate network performance and design
• Update network configuration to optimize
  performance

11
Initiative Priorities Wave 2

• Recruiting Technology Volunteers
• Define required roles skill sets
• Define skill qualifications for screening
  volunteers
• Equip TAC and other agency members with marketing
  tools
• Define point of contact and engagement process
• Project / Program Management
• Define project mgmt processes and templates
• Define program mgmt guidelines
• Configuration Management
• Define processes tools for software
  distribution, file transfer, maintenance of
  standard desktop image, change control and
  reporting

12
Initiative Priorities Wave 2 (contd.)

• Data Consolidation Integration
• Analyze data collection processes and tools in
  place today
• Define systems for consolidation integration
• Evaluate and select target database environment
  schema
• Define user interface for integrated systems
• Executive Expectations Management
• Develop and update management communications
  regarding TAC progress and plans
• Present updates to agency executive management as
  needed
• Coordinate with the Urban Leagues Strategic
  Business plan

13
Volunteer Skills Needed

• Currently, based on our list of projects, we are
  seeking qualified volunteers with skills in the
  following areas
• Disaster recovery planning
• Windows server administration
• IT asset inventory tools process
• Network wiring, design and performance tuning
• Symantec anti-virus administration
• CISCO Router Administration
• MS Exchange
• MS Office
• MS Access / SQL Server / Database Administration
• Project Program Management Expertise

14
Enablers

• Several processes must be defined prior to
  engaging volunteers
• Recruitment materials must be finalized and
  distributed
• We need a process to qualify candidates (TAC
  Review)
• We need some minimum project guidelines
• Project Manager named for each initiative
• Scope Definition
• Technical Design
• Roster
• Schedule
• All volunteers must be assigned and all work must
  be coordinated through the project managers,
  until Configuration Management and a Service Desk
  process are in place. At that time, we will have
  a process for issuing trouble tickets and
  matching tickets with available support
  resources.

15
How to Get Involved

• Ensure that you have at least 2 hours per week
  (or 1 day per month) available to dedicate to the
  effort.
• Contact Sheila Funderburke or Gene Buccelli at
  [phone] ( sfunderburke_at_urbanleaguecc.org ,
  gbuccelli_at_urbanleaguecc.org ) to let us know
  youre interested and which project youd like to
  work on.
• Submit a skills inventory or resume and times
  that you are available to work
• The TAC will assign you to your requested project
  team or may suggest other projects that need your
  help.
• The project manager for your project will contact
  you to schedule time for you to volunteer.
• Youll help improve the effectiveness of the
  agencys IT environment, and benefit all of its
  stakeholders!

16
For More Information Contact