Agency IT Strategic Planning

There are three types of IT Strategic Plan (ITSP) updates that occur:

• Budget biennium update which occurs every 2 years;
• Budget cycle updates which synchronize the strategic plan with budget decision packages, the Governor's Budget, and the approved Appropriation Act; and,
• Ad hoc updates which occur as a result of an immediate pressing business requirement.

The below three accordion boxes contain detailed ITSP update process flows along with corresponding explanations of the process steps.

Writing the ITSP is a collaborative effort between the business and IT divisions within the agency. It cannot be written without input and involvement from both parties. Information technology supports the business mission, goals, and objectives, and a well written ITSP demonstrates this connection in two sections: the IT Summary Section and Business Requirements for Technology (BRTs), Projects, & Procurements.

The purpose of the IT Summary Section is to provide a view of the agency's information technology investments across the agency as well as across the enterprise and to explain how these investments support the business goals and objectives of the Commonwealth of Virginia as established by the Governor, the Commonwealth of Virginia Strategic Plan for Information Technology, and the agency. It is organized into four sections:

• Current State of Operational IT Investments and related issues;
• Factors Impacting Current IT from External Sources;
• Proposed Changes to IT Investments and Desired State of the Agency IT Investment Portfolio; and,
• Agency IT Investments.

The information provided within these sections provides an opportunity for the agency to identify its internally- and externally-driven IT challenges and to identify solutions that, when implemented, will achieve the agency's desired future IT state. The agency should also provide a summary of the financial investment required to implement its IT strategies as well as a total cost of ownership for information technology.

Appendix A of the agency strategic plan lists all proposed IT investments, which consist of new IT initiatives, active IT initiatives for which funding is already allocated or needed during the next biennium, along with the required financial investment associated with these initiatives. In the appendix, IT investments are identified as projects or procurements and are aligned with the service areas they support. The Information Technology Summary must explain how the IT investments recorded in Appendix A support the business goals and objectives of both the agency and the Commonwealth of Virginia and how these investments will move the agency from its current state to its targeted future state both from a business as well as an IT perspective.

The budget biennium planning cycle is a continual process. In the spring of an calendar odd year (e.g., 2021), before the start of the next biennium (i.e., calendar even year), agency strategic and service area plans will be reviewed and updated.

• April - May: Plans will be submitted to support the base budget submissions in August.
• September: There will be an opportunity to update the plans to support the submission of budget decision packages.
• January: Plans will be updated based on the Governor's proposed budget.
• Following April – May: Plans will undergo a final update after the budget has been finalized.

As the activities of any organization can change, based upon any number of internal or external factors, there will be opportunities over the course of the biennium to realign agency and service area plans according to changing demands.

Click on the links below for detailed information about each step in the Budget Biennium ITSP Updates process:

• Step 1a: ITSP Preparation
• Step 1b: MSI Infrastructure Strategic Planning
• Step 2: Agency Submission
• Step 3: COV CIO Review - QA
• Step 4: COV CIO Review - Governance
• Step 5: ITSP Approval

The annual planning calendar of events starts in the spring when agencies prepare their service area and strategic plans for the next biennium. These plans will be used to create and support the base budget of the organization. The dates in the Annual Planning Calendar may vary based upon factors such as:

• Extension of the General Assembly session
• Governor's amendments at the re-convened session
• Governor's vetoes

After the initial strategic and service area plans have been created for the new biennium, they can be simply maintained by a cyclic process and resubmitted with each required update.

Click on the links below for detailed information about each step in the Budget Cycle  ITSP Updates process:

• Step 1a: IT Budget Decisions
• Step 1b: ITSP Preparation / Update
• Step 2: Budget Decision Governance Review
• Step 3: C-Suite Review
• Step 4: IT Budget Recommendation for Approval
• Step 5: Budget Approval
• Step 6: Update ITSPs

Ad Hoc updates to an agency's IT strategic plan can occur at any point in the budget cycle. An agency may decide a change to the IT strategic plan is needed due to:

• a change in business requirements
• a change in planned project scope, timeline or budget for existing investments
• an emergency of some type (e.g., a natural disaster)

Ad Hoc changes to an IT strategic plan must be approved by the Commonwealth of Virginia Chief Information Officer (COV CIO) and occur in the Commonwealth Technology Portfolio tool known as CTP.

Click on the links below for detailed information about each step:

• Step 1: Agency Submission
• Step 2: Review of Changes
• Step 3: Approval of Changes