In the last few weeks I have been working on a proposal for the an SLT Business Decision Framework. This post has some concepts that lay the groundwork for the proposal itself.

In the last few weeks I have been working on a proposal for the an SLT Business Decision Framework. This post has some concepts that lay the groundwork for the proposal itself.

Business Decision Framework (BDF*)

Definition: The organizational and operational structure the IIBA will use to make fast, feasible, high value business decisions.

This framework will follow the life cycle of an Idea** and will be a tightly integrated part of the overall strategy development and business planning cycles. The core component of the Business Decision Framework (BDF) is an Idea, which is the core of a Business Case.

Idea

Definition: Some change to the organization that will take advantage of an opportunity or solve a problem.

Ideas are generated and documented three ways today:

• During our first annual Business Planning Cycle we developed dozens of Ideas to support our Vision and Mission as well as our Strategic and Operational Goals. These were recorded and managed in a Business Planning spreadsheet and a Monthly Dashboard Report.
• During the course of normal business each Business Unit and Program encounters opportunities and problems. These volunteers and staff come up with solutions - Ideas - to address their business needs. These Ideas are recorded in whatever medium is handy at the time, but increasingly in our Idea Proposal Form.***

In the SLT we have three ways to document Ideas generated during our quarterly strategic sessions and over the course of normal operations. Our Idea Proposal Process is a very simple version of a Business Case (1 page max). During our annual business planning cycle

Business Case

A tool used to describe three core components of an Idea:

• The Change that will take advantage of an opportunity or solve a problem,
• The Value that Change will bring to the organization
• The Investment that will be needed to cause the Change.

Prioritization

As a principle, it means doing first things first; as a process, it means evaluating a group of items and ranking them in their order of importance or urgency. For the SLT this means having a relatively objective way to assess the value of our Ideas, and the costs and risks associated with implementing them - or not.

Conclusion

Next time I visit this topic, I'll be able to talk about what the NEW SLT and Board have to say about the BDF.*

Julian Sammy
Chief Architect

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*I like abbreviations.
**Conception, Investigation, Development, Implementation, Sustainment.
***A one page description of an Idea.