IT Best Practices Document For Portland, OR

IT Best Practices Document Developed for Portland, OR

In the IT Best Practices document developed for Portland, OR, there are 20 best practices listed and explained. Select the three that you determine to be the most important for the business case your team is developing. In other words, which 3 best practices should really be followed to ensure a successful implementation of the proposed project? Then, explain why you selected each of the best practices and how they will help ensure success.

Paper For Above instruction

The success of any IT project heavily depends on adhering to proven best practices that facilitate effective planning, implementation, and ongoing management. For a business case, especially one involving significant organizational change like technology deployment, selecting the most critical best practices ensures focused efforts that increase the likelihood of success. This paper identifies three essential best practices from the standard IT best practices document for Portland, OR, which I believe are paramount for my team’s proposed project: comprehensive stakeholder engagement, robust risk management, and meticulous infrastructure planning. Each of these practices plays a pivotal role in addressing common project pitfalls and aligning technological solutions with organizational objectives.

Firstly, comprehensive stakeholder engagement is a best practice that I deem crucial for project success. Engaging all relevant stakeholders—executives, end-users, IT staff, and external partners—early and continuously helps to align the project with organizational goals, gather diverse insights, and foster buy-in. Resistance often hampers project progress; proactive engagement mitigates this by involving stakeholders in decision-making processes, ensuring their needs are met, and their concerns addressed. For example, involving end-users during the planning phase ensures that the implemented system is user-friendly and meets actual operational needs, reducing the risk of rejection or underutilization post-implementation. As noted by Ochieng and Price (2010), stakeholder participation enhances project legitimacy, improves communication, and increases the chances of smooth change management.

Secondly, robust risk management is vital for thwarting potential project failures. Identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks before they escalate is essential, especially in large-scale IT implementations that often encounter technical, operational, and security challenges. Proper risk frameworks enable teams to develop contingency plans, allocate resources effectively, and adapt to unforeseen issues. For instance, in implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, risk management would involve assessing data security concerns, integration difficulties, and user resistance, implementing controls such as data encryption, phased rollouts, and comprehensive training. According to Hillson (2003), effective risk management enhances decision-making, reduces project uncertainties, and improves the likelihood of project delivery within scope, time, and budget constraints.

Lastly, meticulous infrastructure planning is fundamental for a resilient and scalable technology environment. This best practice involves evaluating current capabilities, forecasting future needs, and designing infrastructure that supports ongoing organizational growth. Proper planning considers hardware, network, storage, and security components, integrating them seamlessly to ensure system reliability and performance. For example, in deploying a cloud-based system, infrastructure planning would include bandwidth assessments, cloud security protocols, and disaster recovery strategies. An infrastructure that is well-designed reduces downtime, improves user experiences, and provides a foundation for future upgrades. As Srinivasan et al. (2011) explain, detailed planning reduces surprises during implementation and ensures alignment with business processes and goals.

In conclusion, selecting and emphasizing these three best practices—stakeholder engagement, risk management, and infrastructure planning—are essential for the successful implementation of the proposed IT project. Stakeholder engagement ensures organizational buy-in and user acceptance, risk management minimizes potential disruptions, and meticulous infrastructure planning guarantees system resilience and scalability. By adhering to these practices, the project is more likely to meet its objectives on time and within budget, providing tangible benefits and supporting the organization’s strategic goals.

References

• Ochieng, E., & Price, A. D. (2010). Framework for managing stakeholder influence in project management. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 17(3), 286-300.
• Hillson, D. (2003). Effective Opportunity Management for Projects: Exploiting Positive Risk. CRC Press.
• Srinivasan, R., Jain, R., & Sriram, R. (2011). Infrastructure planning for cloud computing: Challenges and solutions. Journal of Cloud Computing, 1(1), 1-12.
• Standish Group International. (2015). CHAOS Report 2015: Executing projects successfully. Standish Group.
• Project Management Institute. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Sixth Edition. PMI.
• Graeser, V., & Tomforde, L. (2014). Stakeholder engagement and communication in information technology projects. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 7(3), 511-534.
• Kerzner, H. (2013). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. Wiley.
• Leach, L. P. (1999). Critical Chain Project Management (2nd ed.). Artech House.
• ISO 21500:2012. Guidance on project management. International Organization for Standardization.
• Williams, T. (2005). Assessing and Moving On: Improving Project Performance Using Essential Project Management. JBIM Consulting.