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Answer Upon - Provisioning/User Management System Upgrades: Part I -- Ten Reasons Why Not To Do An Upgrade
Well, if you want to make sure a prospective employer reads your resume, the objective statement can be more than special: It can be critical.If you are in the market for a new computer and a salesperson asks you what features you are specifically looking for, you may spout off a few details, such as: 512KB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, flat panel monitor, wireless optical mouse or any of a dozen other desired features. The salesperson is much better equipped to find a computer that matches your description if you provide the right kind of information.The same is true of an objective statement. If you don’t use one, an employer might not be able to figure out what type of position you are seeking.Do not assume your resume is clear and to the point. Do
For Further Information
Abridean “15 Rules for a Successful User Management and Provisioning Project”
http://www.abridean.com/SubPage.php?parent=experience&child=WhitePapers&grandchild=15Rules
Gomolski, Barbara “When Cheap Is Expensive” Computerworld 2/16/2004
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/roi/story/0,10801,90151,00.html
Lewis, Jamie, Blum, Dan “The Enterprise Directory Value Proposition” Burton Group 1999 http://www.burtongroup.com/
Microsoft “The Provisioning Challenge” http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/m
Don’t scare away your customers by saying the wrong thingsCustomers expect a certain kind of behaviour from companies and if we want to stay in business, it is our job as service providers or manufacturers to stand up to those expectations. There are certain things that are a total no-no while communicating with a customer. It will be a good idea to remember these things and have them as a ready checklist with you, always1. Never say to a potential customer: We don't accept credit cards. As a business entity you are expected to accept credit card payments. Your inability to accept credit card payment may disappoint your customers and they may move to another supplier. As a business entity you can get your own merchant account to process credit card payments.Bottom lin
The above is a real world example. It may happen if a provisioning/user management system is not meeting company needs and there are no plans to upgrade.
This is a two part series on the dark side of provisioning/user management upgrade projects. Upgrade will be defined here to include new hardware and software, and also the supporting environment of business processes, roles, organizations, business rules, etc. This article will discuss reasons why these projects do not get started or fail to reach completion. The next article will cover how to overcome these reasons.
Here are ten reasons why the needed systems improvement are not implemented:
1. No Budget
IT budgets are frozen or only the most needed projects get funded. This will impact hardware/software maintenance, hiring or contracting needed resources, and more.
2. Infrastructure is Not Sexy.
The budget is there but fixing an existing provisioning system is not considered a priority. Sadly, many companies see broken systems or processes as the “cost of doing business.” Or companies will do only the minimum upgrade to keep IT infrastructure running. But beware, as once was said in a well-written article “Cheap is Expensive.” It will come back to haunt you.
3. No Technical, Management, Or Financial Champions
It may be a great idea but there may not exist anyone who can sell this at the mid or upper management level in your company. Also, you may experience “champion burnout” – where past champions who unsuccessfully tried to sell the upgrade no longer wish to do it again.
4. Business Case Is Hard to Write
Only by including both “soft” and “hard” savings can can one get the true picture of an upgrade’s return. “Soft” costs include user login downtime and productivity declines (cost of finding the current information about a person, document, or hardware device), increased calls to helpdesk and decline of helpdesk staff morale) and more. However, “soft” savings are often considered irrelevant by management and usually the numbers aren’t there if you rely on hard savings alone.
5. Can’t Agree on Software/Hardware
For various reasons, technical types cannot always agree which is the best software to meet company needs. Differences may be over preferred operating system, vendor, hardware, software configuration and features, or political/personal whims.
6. Undocumented Current Environment
Perhaps due to turnover or lack of time, no one has documented (or recently updated) what the “AS- IS” user management/provisioning environment looks like. This includes roles and responsibilities, business rules and processes, and software/hardware.
7. No Shared and Communicated Vision
No one has written and communicated a possible “TO-BE “ roadmap for provisioning/user management software to decision makers and influencers. This may be due to lack of understanding of the “AS-IS” environment, politics, lack of time, or lack of knowledgeable resources to create such a roadmap. To ensure overall success, the “TO-BE” roadmap ideally should advocate a phased approach.
8. No Project Resources
All available staff who would be working on a software upgrade are busy doing other tasks (like system administration, user support, or other projects). So, there are no available resources that can be dedicated full/part-time to the project. Also, the company may be reluctant to hire outside consultants to perform the upgrade for various reasons.
9. No Agreement on Upgrade Requirements
It is possible to agree on vision, product, and project team and still get nowhere! Reasons could be an honest difference of opinion on configuration settings, hardware setup, features to enable, degree of customization, and more. Unclear and disputed requirements from the start will likely bring disastrous results.
10. Other Concerns
These are other factors too numerous to mention which could impact getting an upgrade project off the ground. – security concerns, lack of physical space for hardware, no organization/resources for administration, remote locations building their own unapproved “underground” solutions, organizational changes and mergers (with new organizations having their own IdM vision), vendor changes and mergers, and more.
Conclusion
I hope that this does not discourage you from moving forward on getting your provisioning/user management underway. By identifying possible obstacles, you can then begin to plan to overcome each of them. In the last article of the series, we will discuss what you can do to get your provisioning /user management upgrade on management’s radar.
For Further Information
Abridean “15 Rules for a Successful User Management and Provisioning Project”
http://www.abridean.com/SubPage.php?parent=experience&child=WhitePapers&grandchild=15Rules
Gomolski, Barbara “When Cheap Is Expensive” Computerworld 2/16/2004
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/roi/story/0,10801,90151,00.html
Lewis, Jamie, Blum, Dan “The Enterprise Directory Value Proposition” Burton Group 1999 http://www.burtongroup.com/
Microsoft “The Provisioning Challenge” http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/mp
When taking on a management position, there are three essential levels you must recognize are a part of being a manager. Working on polishing your skill in these separate levels will help you in becoming a well-rounded manager that can take on any job duty and handle them with ease. These principles of management are crucial if you would like to be viewed as a person of good integrity, work ethic and communicative with fellow workers. These three levels for being a high-quality manager are as follows: Technical Skill, Human Skill, and Conceptual Skill and the necessary functions of a manager are planning, organizing, directing and controlling.Technical skill is the ability to process the technical side of a job or part of your work. Proficiency in the technical knowledge of your jo
Here are ten reasons why the needed systems improvement are not implemented:
1. No Budget
IT budgets are frozen or only the most needed projects get funded. This will impact hardware/software maintenance, hiring or contracting needed resources, and more.
2. Infrastructure is Not Sexy.
The budget is there but fixing an existing provisioning system is not considered a priority. Sadly, many companies see broken systems or processes as the “cost of doing business.” Or companies will do only the minimum upgrade to keep IT infrastructure running. But beware, as once was said in a well-written article “Cheap is Expensive.” It will come back to haunt you.
3. No Technical, Management, Or Financial Champions
It may be a great idea but there may not exist anyone who can sell this at the mid or upper management level in your company. Also, you may experience “champion burnout” – where past champions who unsuccessfully tried to sell the upgrade no longer wish to do it again.
4. Business Case Is Hard to Write
Only by including both “soft” and “hard” savings can can one get the true picture of an upgrade’s return. “Soft” costs include user login downtime and productivity declines (cost of finding the current information about a person, document, or hardware device), increased calls to helpdesk and decline of helpdesk staff morale) and more. However, “soft” savings are often considered irrelevant by management and usually the numbers aren’t there if you rely on hard savings alone.
5. Can’t Agree on Software/Hardware
For various reasons, technical types cannot always agree which is the best software to meet company needs. Differences may be over preferred operating system, vendor, hardware, software configuration and features, or political/personal whims.
6. Undocumented Current Environment
Perhaps due to turnover or lack of time, no one has documented (or recently updated) what the “AS- IS” user management/provisioning environment looks like. This includes roles and responsibilities, business rules and processes, and software/hardware.
7. No Shared and Communicated Vision
No one has written and communicated a possible “TO-BE “ roadmap for provisioning/user management software to decision makers and influencers. This may be due to lack of understanding of the “AS-IS” environment, politics, lack of time, or lack of knowledgeable resources to create such a roadmap. To ensure overall success, the “TO-BE” roadmap ideally should advocate a phased approach.
8. No Project Resources
All available staff who would be working on a software upgrade are busy doing other tasks (like system administration, user support, or other projects). So, there are no available resources that can be dedicated full/part-time to the project. Also, the company may be reluctant to hire outside consultants to perform the upgrade for various reasons.
9. No Agreement on Upgrade Requirements
It is possible to agree on vision, product, and project team and still get nowhere! Reasons could be an honest difference of opinion on configuration settings, hardware setup, features to enable, degree of customization, and more. Unclear and disputed requirements from the start will likely bring disastrous results.
10. Other Concerns
These are other factors too numerous to mention which could impact getting an upgrade project off the ground. – security concerns, lack of physical space for hardware, no organization/resources for administration, remote locations building their own unapproved “underground” solutions, organizational changes and mergers (with new organizations having their own IdM vision), vendor changes and mergers, and more.
Conclusion
I hope that this does not discourage you from moving forward on getting your provisioning/user management underway. By identifying possible obstacles, you can then begin to plan to overcome each of them. In the last article of the series, we will discuss what you can do to get your provisioning /user management upgrade on management’s radar.
For Further Information
Abridean “15 Rules for a Successful User Management and Provisioning Project”
http://www.abridean.com/SubPage.php?parent=experience&child=WhitePapers&grandchild=15Rules
Gomolski, Barbara “When Cheap Is Expensive” Computerworld 2/16/2004
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/roi/story/0,10801,90151,00.html
Lewis, Jamie, Blum, Dan “The Enterprise Directory Value Proposition” Burton Group 1999 http://www.burtongroup.com/
Microsoft “The Provisioning Challenge” http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/m
Business ethics are a matter of much debate. Every MBA entrant is taught the meaning of them, and yet many will never follow these guidelines in their real life careers. It has become a vast and complex field, and is the subject of much research. Business ethics encompass a large and significant portion of what it takes to do business today. Under the umbrella of business ethics comes:• The social responsibility that a business is supposed to have towards the community in general, particularly the one in which it operates or has any interests. An example of this would be the Exxon Mobil oil spill. It is the responsibility of a business to protect the interests of the people, animals and environment where it uses resources. Due to improper handling of the issue, it became a public
5. Can’t Agree on Software/Hardware
For various reasons, technical types cannot always agree which is the best software to meet company needs. Differences may be over preferred operating system, vendor, hardware, software configuration and features, or political/personal whims.
6. Undocumented Current Environment
Perhaps due to turnover or lack of time, no one has documented (or recently updated) what the “AS- IS” user management/provisioning environment looks like. This includes roles and responsibilities, business rules and processes, and software/hardware.
7. No Shared and Communicated Vision
No one has written and communicated a possible “TO-BE “ roadmap for provisioning/user management software to decision makers and influencers. This may be due to lack of understanding of the “AS-IS” environment, politics, lack of time, or lack of knowledgeable resources to create such a roadmap. To ensure overall success, the “TO-BE” roadmap ideally should advocate a phased approach.
8. No Project Resources
All available staff who would be working on a software upgrade are busy doing other tasks (like system administration, user support, or other projects). So, there are no available resources that can be dedicated full/part-time to the project. Also, the company may be reluctant to hire outside consultants to perform the upgrade for various reasons.
9. No Agreement on Upgrade Requirements
It is possible to agree on vision, product, and project team and still get nowhere! Reasons could be an honest difference of opinion on configuration settings, hardware setup, features to enable, degree of customization, and more. Unclear and disputed requirements from the start will likely bring disastrous results.
10. Other Concerns
These are other factors too numerous to mention which could impact getting an upgrade project off the ground. – security concerns, lack of physical space for hardware, no organization/resources for administration, remote locations building their own unapproved “underground” solutions, organizational changes and mergers (with new organizations having their own IdM vision), vendor changes and mergers, and more.
Conclusion
I hope that this does not discourage you from moving forward on getting your provisioning/user management underway. By identifying possible obstacles, you can then begin to plan to overcome each of them. In the last article of the series, we will discuss what you can do to get your provisioning /user management upgrade on management’s radar.
For Further Information
Abridean “15 Rules for a Successful User Management and Provisioning Project”
http://www.abridean.com/SubPage.php?parent=experience&child=WhitePapers&grandchild=15Rules
Gomolski, Barbara “When Cheap Is Expensive” Computerworld 2/16/2004
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/roi/story/0,10801,90151,00.html
Lewis, Jamie, Blum, Dan “The Enterprise Directory Value Proposition” Burton Group 1999 http://www.burtongroup.com/
Microsoft “The Provisioning Challenge” http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/m
Having the correct attitude may almost seem like a trivial thing among all of the daily tasks that need to be accomplished with running any sort of business. Although, having the correct attitude will determine which direction your business will continue to grow, and ultimately the success of your business.While there may be a long list of items that lead to the demise of a newly started business, one of the top things to focus on should be one’s attitude. Having the correct attitude is one of the single most important things to establish when creating and maintaining a business.What exactly is your attitude? While many people may give a different answer as to what makes up an attitude, an attitude can be summed up in a few short terms when related to business. What exactly
8. No Project Resources
All available staff who would be working on a software upgrade are busy doing other tasks (like system administration, user support, or other projects). So, there are no available resources that can be dedicated full/part-time to the project. Also, the company may be reluctant to hire outside consultants to perform the upgrade for various reasons.
9. No Agreement on Upgrade Requirements
It is possible to agree on vision, product, and project team and still get nowhere! Reasons could be an honest difference of opinion on configuration settings, hardware setup, features to enable, degree of customization, and more. Unclear and disputed requirements from the start will likely bring disastrous results.
10. Other Concerns
These are other factors too numerous to mention which could impact getting an upgrade project off the ground. – security concerns, lack of physical space for hardware, no organization/resources for administration, remote locations building their own unapproved “underground” solutions, organizational changes and mergers (with new organizations having their own IdM vision), vendor changes and mergers, and more.
Conclusion
I hope that this does not discourage you from moving forward on getting your provisioning/user management underway. By identifying possible obstacles, you can then begin to plan to overcome each of them. In the last article of the series, we will discuss what you can do to get your provisioning /user management upgrade on management’s radar.
For Further Information
Abridean “15 Rules for a Successful User Management and Provisioning Project”
http://www.abridean.com/SubPage.php?parent=experience&child=WhitePapers&grandchild=15Rules
Gomolski, Barbara “When Cheap Is Expensive” Computerworld 2/16/2004
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/roi/story/0,10801,90151,00.html
Lewis, Jamie, Blum, Dan “The Enterprise Directory Value Proposition” Burton Group 1999 http://www.burtongroup.com/
Microsoft “The Provisioning Challenge” http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/m
Finding The Right FranchiseWhether it’s hamburgers, pizza, telecom, coffee, Internet, muffler parts, or seniors’ services, there are Franchise opportunities available to evaluate. There are great Franchise systems, good Franchise systems, and bad Franchise systems. The challenge is to ask the right questions to find the right system that will fit your goals and dreams. The key is to ask the questions – and listen closely to the responses. Only then can you determine if the Franchise opportunity is the right fit for you. So whether it’s food services like burgers or coffee, professional services like telecom or IT, or manual services like cleaning or oil changes, ask the questions and record the answers.Who are The Competitors?The Franchisor should have a good understa
For Further Information
Abridean “15 Rules for a Successful User Management and Provisioning Project”
http://www.abridean.com/SubPage.php?parent=experience&child=WhitePapers&grandchild=15Rules
Gomolski, Barbara “When Cheap Is Expensive” Computerworld 2/16/2004
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/roi/story/0,10801,90151,00.html
Lewis, Jamie, Blum, Dan “The Enterprise Directory Value Proposition” Burton Group 1999 http://www.burtongroup.com/
Microsoft “The Provisioning Challenge” http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/mps/challenge.asp
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