IT Infrastructure Assessment

The IT infrastructure assessment is a one- to two-day review of an information systems organization. These assessments take a high-level snapshot of IT initiatives and issues within the infrastructure. We meet with key IT personnel, management and technicians, and key business personnel. The process is to have 30-minute interviews with mid-level IT management, senior executives, and—most important—the technical staff. We say that because technicians (in most companies) have a better understanding of the infrastructure and associated issues than management. And, just as important during the interview process, technicians don't have any hidden agendas. Managers too often have territorial and political conflicts.

We do interviews to understand the issues. The result is a report of about 30 pages providing recommendations on resolving those issues. The report is then presented to executive management with senior management usually present. Discussions are usually lively and very interactive. We've had 100 percent buy-in to date. Executive management buy-in is extremely important to the process. Without buy-in, the process is dead in its tracks. A copy of the assessment is included in Appendix A.