Developing IT Strategy and Managing Performance

Developing IT Strategy and Managing Performance

SMS services support effective management control of the acquisition, development, support and use of IT/IS services.

The senior executive can draw on our expertise to make key strategic decisions, including prioritising goals and improvement, based on objective information and best practice.

SMS teams of subject-matter experts support software teams in implementing any chosen strategy to deliver the desired results.

Measurement-driven process improvement.

SMS has established a reputation as an authority on measurement-driven process improvement. We have successfully supported measurement and improvement initiatives for customers from real-time to retail; from data processing to defence; and from transport to telecommunications. In fact, our services will benefit any organisation which acquires, develops, maintains, supports and/or uses software.

Using objective software measurement enables management to take control of software performance, including that of an outsourced supplier. It enables improvement activities to be directed where they will deliver most value to the business. It also enables the business to understand how pressure to drive down costs can impact on quality, or how to improve delivery time without increasing costs - in other words, to understand and quantify the value delivered from the software development lifecycle rather than simply the costs.

The effective and efficient collection, application and use of software measurement data is central to SMS’ core services. We offer unrivalled expertise in the three major ISO standard Functional Size measures – IFPUG, COSMIC and Mk II.

Delivering the support your business needs.

We work in partnership with other organisations to integrate our services into a comprehensive package for business change and improvement centred on the quantitative management of information systems. We can advise on the selection and management of outsourced suppliers and we are frequently called on to act as a “trusted third party” to resolve issues arising from outsourced partnerships.

Because we are independent of software providers, our consultants draw on their extensive experience to apply tools and techniques best suited to a task or organisation.

SMS Services in this area include:

• Assessing capability: appraisals (CMMI, ISO, ITIL, COBIT etc.), audits, gap analysis
• Balanced IT Scorecard
• Benchmarking
• Best Practice Audit
• Establishing & maintaining a measurement and analysis programme
• Estimating software size
• Fast Data Collection
• Function Point Analysis:
  • COSMIC Functional Size Measurement
  • IFPUG Function Point Analysis
  • MkII Function Point Analysis
  • Audits and healthchecks
• Goal-Question-Metric
• Implementing True North strategy
• Improving in-house performance
• IT/IS Governance
• Knowledge transfer
• Output-based contract management
• Rapid Application Portfolio Sizing
• Risk Management
• Scope Study
• SLAMit! - SMS Lean and Agile Method for Improvement Teams
• Software Portfolio Analysis
• Strategic sourcing decision-making
• Using Process Improvement models: CMMI, ISO, ITIL, COBit, Six Sigma, etc.
• Training in various Process Models and Improvement Techniques
• Books on Process Improvement and Capability Assessment