First things first—Information Technology Planning

We begin our Building Capacity Through Technology series at the beginning, with Information Technology Planning.

It's common wisdom that careful planning is the best way to ensure that we achieve our organizational goals and fulfill our missions. It's also true that for most organizations, after pure human creativity and plain hard work, Information Technology has become the tool we rely on most heavily to implement our plans. We use it to communicate, to create and implement programs, and to store and manipulate all kinds of critical information. Information Technology has become a core building block of our organizational capacity. It follows that a strategic plan that lacks a solid, well-integrated technology component completely overlooks the implementation "engine" that makes the plan go.

In the Summer 2001 issue of Enterprising Times, we touched on another important reason to create a technology plan: machinery can fail. An IT plan includes backup and contingency plans to prevent the risk of losing information when, for example, a nasty virus is circulating around the globe, or an old computer decides it's had enough and conks out.

Finally, there's the issue of training. The only way to fully leverage the power of our technology tools is to put them in the hands of well-trained staff. By and large, these tools are not easy to learn to use. (I know what you're thinking:"Tell me something I don't know.") But even if they were easy to learn, the pace of change in the field of technology is such that new tools and upgrades enter our offices regularly. An IT plan acknowledges the "hidden cost" of training, and ensures that funds are budgeted for it.

Buying the computer is the cheap part of the deal. The real cost comes in training staff to use it.

An IT plan, then, must address all three of these areas: matching the technology to the mission and strategic plan, safeguarding against loss of vital information, and training staff to use technology productively.

Stepping back—before the plan: some definitions
It may be helpful to establish an understanding of some terminology before we jump into planning.

What is Information Technology? IT involves all aspects of storing, managing, and presenting information. For microenterprise programs, it encompasses client tracking, proposal writing, reporting, administrative functions, and all kinds of communication-with clients, funders, other agencies, and the community at large. In its broadest sense, information technology could be defined to include all of the equipment you use to receive, send, and process information, including the phone and the copy machine. For the purposes of this series, however, and because it's the prevalent understanding of the term, we will narrow this definition to: IT=computer hardware and software.

Okay, so what exactly are computer hardware and software? These terms are thrown around so casually, you'd think there would be hard-and-fast definitions. We were surprised to find many different definitions when we started digging. Finally, we settled on this composite:

Hardware consists of the physical components of your computer equipment including things like the printer, mouse, keyboard, and modem. A rule of thumb: if you can bump into it, it's probably hardware.

Software consists of instructions to the computer hardware about how to manipulate information. It's all about ideas and concepts. When all of the software programs you have chosen to load onto your computer are combined, they add up to what you can think of as your computer's mind.

The Elements of an IT Plan
The following list of steps was compiled from a variety of resources. Each one we looked at had its own planning style and sequence-and indeed you have your own planning style to bring to this project. These steps can be modified to suit.

Step 1. Start with your mission
It may seem odd, but the last thing you want to think about when you begin writing your technology plan is the technology itself. Let your mission be your guide - all of your office technology, current and future, exists solely to support it. Starting with your mission ensures that your IT plan will serve it. It also keeps you from becoming overwhelmed at the start by all the different kinds of hardware and software that are available, or by budget or staff-time concerns.

So start your plan by writing your mission at the top of the page, and keep it in mind every step of the way. Check the completed plan against it. If anything you've put in the plan doesn't help you to achieve your mission in a very direct way, it doesn't belong there. This "mission test" helps keep your plan honest, just in case you or someone on your staff gets a little "technology-happy" and falls in love with the latest astonishing (but irrelevant to your mission) toy.

Step 2. Move on to goals and objectives
Now that you've got the big picture in mind, you can start to focus down. What are your goals and objectives for this year? For next year? (You can decide at the outset what time period you want your plan to cover.) Write down your goals and objectives. Do you want to improve your client tracking? Improve your organization's image and visibility? Communicate more effectively with clients and the community? Make it easier to raise money? Improve organization in the office?

Step 3. Break it down into specific projects
As you ponder your goals in the context of IT planning, your mind will almost certainly start to wander off into hardware and software. Try not to go there yet. Instead, begin to list the concrete projects you plan to undertake that will move you toward your goals.

Let's say that one of your goals for the year is to improve your organization's image and visibility. What specific projects will you undertake? Will you start a Web site? Redesign an existing site? Work to produce more professional grant applications? Do you want cleaner, better-looking handouts for trainings or presentations? Think about what you want your finished product to look like - when you've achieved your image and visibility goal, what tangible products will you have created? This is where you begin to move from theory into practice. Now put your project list to one side and let it rest for awhile. It's time to move on to another essential piece of your plan.

Step 4. Take a technology inventory of your office
We've finally arrived at the technology itself. But no, we're not going shopping yet. Now it's time to take a thorough inventory of all of your hardware and software. Yes, it's time-consuming-and boring. But do not skip this step! List the make, model and/or version, and function of each hardware and software item in the house. In your inventory, be sure to include any backup media you may have, such as floppy drives, zip drives, CD-writers, or tape drives. Also include anti-virus software. These are your current IT assets.

This step is a very worthwhile investment of your time. It does three things for you.

It shows you precisely what your "base" is: this keeps you from making redundant purchases.

It will almost certainly point out obvious training needs in your office (perhaps you have a perfectly good presentation program on your computer, but nobody knows how to use it).

It forces you to seriously consider the tools you have at hand.

Step 5. Information backup and virus protection
Describe your current backup and virus protection procedures. If you have no procedures in place, now's the time.

Don't learn about backing up information the hard way. The hard way is turning your computer on in the morning and getting just a black screen. The hard way is bringing a virus in through your email that scrambles up your hard drive. It's wonderful that these little machines can contain so much information, but that's the downside too-it's all stuck inside this little machine! Take it out, regularly, and put it in a safe place.

How frequently should you schedule backups and virus updates? One hardware expert we asked told us it depends on the importance of the information, and came back with his own question: "How upset would you be if you lost it?" At a minimum, build a weekly routine into your office schedule. And keep a floppy disk handy to capture important files between regular backups.

Step 6. Identify your needs
You now have your list of projects from Step 3 and a complete list of the tools you have available to accomplish them—your assets—from Step 4. What do you need that you don't presently have? Answer that question for yourself, and be sure to pose it to your staff and coworkers as well. The farther away you are from day-to-day office operations, the more important this input is.

The additional resources you need to implement your projects may take the form of:

Outside consultants (Web designers, network administrators)
Staff training to use equipment and software already in your office
New equipment and/or software (with training)

Now you need to get down to cases. Perhaps you need a Web site, but you don't think it's feasible to hire a staff person to be your Web master: you need a consultant. Maybe you want to re-work your database to better meet your needs. You have a staff person with good database skills, but she's telling you the software you have won't cut it: you need to make a software purchase. Identify your needs, project by project.

Step 7. Research, research, research
Now that you know what you need, it's time to go find it. Where you look depends on what you want. The resources below are good starting places. An Internet search can be very helpful too: CAMEO did a simple search on DSL (high speed) Internet service, for example, and found www.dslreports.com, a helpful site, in just a couple of minutes. Be sure to ask friends and co-workers. This might be a good time to pull in a consultant to help.

Step 8. The final step: the budget
If you're planning to buy hardware or software, you'll obtain the price through your research. Consulting fees are a little harder. Ask around locally to get ballpark rates, and when in doubt, aim high. When it comes to estimating training costs, remember to budget for both time spent at trainings and time spent after trainings. Your staff will need the opportunity to apply what they've learned in tutorials and workshops to the "real-life" work of your office as soon as possible, while both knowledge and inspiration are still fresh.

Resources
www.techsoup.org. Click on Technology Planning for an extensive series of articles, as well as worksheets to guide you through the steps.

www.genie.org. "Nonprofit Genie" has a series of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) that guide you through the planning process. Click on Tech Planning.