Building the business case for FSD - Part 2

I ran a session at a meeting on 10th December of the Strategic Technologies Group (a part of the JISC FSD programme) to discuss the business case for FSD. The meeting attendees split into four groups to discuss the following topics:

1. What strategic (institutional) priorities does FSD address?

• Links to relevant University strategy (vision, strategic plan, etc.)
• Current issues (financial crisis, public sector debt, etc)
• New opportunities brought by FSD (for example, opportunities for innovation and/or collaboration)

2. FSD scope and (measurable) impact?

• EA or SOA specific project
• Business scope, systems scope or technology scope
• Embed FSD in existing processes
• What costs are likely to occur

3. Implementation - timescales, risks, management

• Risks of not doing FSD & risks of doing FSD
• Dependencies
• Phasing to allow for confidence building
• Early wins
• Specific timescales

4. Managing Change - issues, barriers, engagement?

• Cultural issues to overcome
• Business / IT disconnect
• Lack of governance
• Wearing the FD’s hat

The discussions were ably facilitated by others involved in the FSD Programme, from the JISC and The Open Group.

The results of the discussions are still being collated, and so Part 3 of this topic will attempt to distill the outcomes for the session.