One of the most common questions we hear is “How do you make TBM work in the real world?” While there are many ways to answer this question, we usually find ourselves discussing the core Technology Business Management (TBM) program office, roles, skillsets, and so on.
These elements were discussed in chapter three of the TBM eBook and are the focus of the next installment in our series of management summaries. In particular, this summary discusses how to:
- Deliver the necessary fundamental reports. Technology service owners, resource owners, project owners, and others are responsible for different layers in the technology value chain. To meet the decision-making needs of these managers, six key types of reports are necessary: service reports, resource reports, project reports, cost recovery reports, general ledger, and executive dashboards.
- Staff the right skillsets and experience. Service owners, business relationship managers, and other TBM roles are the consumers of transparency—responsible for making decisions. But what about the roles that we need to create and sustain that transparency? To achieve this, additional roles such as TBM analyst, TBM program director, and executive sponsor are also required.
- Define the essential elements of a transparency system. Many different tools can be used to build a transparency system. Regardless of which tools are used, essential requirements should include scalability, flexibility, automation and error handling, delivery of the right information (e.g., both prepackaged reports and the ability for users to create their own), and security.
If you want to learn more about how to make TBM sustainable, there are a number of useful resources. For those wanting to explore the topic in some depth, we recommend reading the TBM eBook. We also hosted a TBM Council teleconference on the topic; the summary, transcript, and recording for the teleconference can be found here. Finally, we hosted an Apptio webinar on the topic, featuring Chuck Niethold from First American (available here to registered users).
Of course, we also encourage you to stay tuned for additional management summaries, which Apptio will continue to create as new TBM eBook chapters are published. The chapters will cover topics such as creating a bill of IT, performing demand-based planning, building on the decision-making capabilities of the TBM Framework, and so on. You can find all of the management summaries in the series here as they are published.