IT SERVICES ARCHITECTURE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

• US 20070288275A1
• Filed: 06/13/2006
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kumar, Dinesh
• Application Number:
  US11/423,863
• Publication Number:
  US 20070288275A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals

Abstract

Technology for evaluating an IT enterprise is provided. The technology models all information technology or solutions as services which are provided to a business organization. Each service can itself consume and be consumed by other services. Using a defined model service portfolio, the business goals of an organization are mapped against the portfolio to derive a services portfolio for a given business. Real world constraints such as budgeting and existing technology are then applied against the developed portfolio to derive a service plan.

Claims

1. A method of planning an information technology architecture for a business organization, comprising:

defining an information technology architecture as an information technology (IT) service;

mapping the attributes to other services;

determining future business goals for the organization and for each goal, the information services required to support such goal; and

creating a services portfolio comprising an organization of at least some of said IT services.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of defining includes defining a functional capability for each IT service.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein each functional capability includes at least one attribute.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said at least one attribute includes an attribute selected from a set of attributed including:

access, delivery, information, transaction, communication, collaboration, consolidation, integration, infrastructure, security, performance, operations and organization.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of mapping includes determining for a given service whether the service consumes or is consumed by another service, and identifying any consumed service in a service definition of a consuming service.

6. The method of claim 1 further including the step, following said mapping step, of creating a preliminary services portfolio model.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the services portfolio includes at least a subset of functional capabilities of those in the preliminary services portfolio model.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining future business goals includes the steps of determining, for a particular business goal:

what content is needed;

who might need the content,

where the content might be needed,

when the content might be needed; and

how the content might be provided.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein each said step of determining is mapped to a particular attribute of an IT service definition.

10. The method of claim 1 further including the step of applying constraints to the services portfolio to define a statement of direction.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the statement of direction includes a gap analysis.

12. A method of planning an information technology architecture, comprising

building a model services portfolio for a business enterprise comprising a set of services defined by functional capabilities and attributes;

gathering a series of business goals for the organization; and

creating a modified services portfolio based on the forward looking business goals.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of building includes defining each solution in an information technology architecture as an IT service;

and mapping the attributes to other services.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of defining includes applying a service definition taxonomy including a functional capability and a set of attributes including access, delivery, information, transaction, communication, collaboration, consolidation, integration, infrastructure, security, performance, operations and organization.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of building a model services portfolio includes determining for a given service whether the service consumes or is consumed by another service, and identifying any consumed service in a service definition of a consuming service.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of gathering includes the steps of determining, for a particular business goal:

what content is needed;

who might need the content,

where the content might be needed,

when the content might be needed; and

how the content might be provided.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein each said step of determining is mapped to a particular attribute of an information service definition.

18. The method of claim 12 further including the step of applying constraints to the services portfolio to define a statement of direction.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the statement of direction includes a gap analysis.

20. A method for evaluating information technology of a business, comprising:

defining an information technology architecture as an IT service;

mapping the attributes to other services;

creating a model services portfolio;

determining future business goals for the organization and for each goal, the information services required to support such goal; and

creating a modified services portfolio comprising an organization of at least some of said IT services.