Strategic objectives

This guideline helps practitioners and participants define achievable digital and ICT strategic objectives as part of their planning activities.  Defined digital and ICT related objectives set the scene for the formulation of strategies and the development of roadmaps in later planning stages.

This guideline draws on the results of activities from guidelines related to the strategic business direction of the organisation. For example, the ideas and expectations identified in the Vision workshops can often be turned into realistic and achievable objectives.

The practices outlined in this guideline can also be incorporated into other stakeholder workshops. Such as how defining objectives will complement the outputs of Vision activities and, where practical, can be conducted as part of the same workshop.

See the following guidelines for more information:

• Sponsorship, scope and stakeholders
• Strategic landscape
• Horizon scan
• Digital and technology trends
• Vision
• Gap analysis

Audience

A practitioner in the context of this guideline can include one or more of the following roles:

• Digital and ICT strategic planners
• Agency and service strategic planners
• Workforce planners
• Business analysts
• Information managers.

The work of defining digital and ICT objectives for an agency should be done in collaboration with stakeholders identified in the Sponsorship, scope and stakeholders guideline.

Objectives are generally defined as specific and measurable changes to the current state that can be achieved within specific timeframes. It is important to ensure digital and ICT business objectives are defined to support change in services across a number of areas, including:

• step changes to the service model and underpinning processes.
• incremental changes in the way stakeholders will access, use, provide, receive and manage information
• changes in the technology capability required to deliver the service vision
• incremental transformation in the capabilities of the workforce.

A well-constructed objective should contain the following elements:

• action (e.g., to expand the use of a service)
• detail (e.g., online applications and scheduling for new licence accreditation)
• metric and unit of measure (e.g., to reduce average customer wait times by 10%)
• deadline (e.g., within the next 12 months).

There are two methods of defining objectives outlined in this guideline, these are:

• directly aligning with strategic business objectives
• establishing planning horizons.

Refer to the tabs below to learn more about each of these methods.

Identify and prioritise workforce gaps

A gap analysis may be required before specific objectives and strategies related to the workforce can be identified. This analysis should be conducted immediately after Vision activities so the results can be considered as part of defining objectives.

Forecasting and gap analysis will provide a richer source of information prior to setting specific objectives, allowing practitioners to identify more specific measures. For example, to increase workforce competencies in the areas of A, B and C within the next 12 months or increase the number of FTEs in the roles of X and Y by 10% over the next two years.

See the Workforce profile guideline for more information on forecasting workforce needs and internal and external labour supply.

The direct alignment method first identifies and considers the strategic business objectives of the agency and the Queensland Government and examines how they directly translate to digital or ICT objectives.

The next step is to consider those broader objectives in relation to the information from the visioning activities, identified digital and technology trends and horizon scanning to derive digital or ICT objectives. There may be one or more digital or ICT objective for each strategic business objective. There may also be business objectives for which no digital or ICT objectives can be derived.

The direct alignment method is generally more effective in circumstances where there are:

• strong business objectives already outlined in the agency’s strategic plan, and digital or ICT objectives can be easily defined
• business objectives defined in agency’s strategic plan, but the agency’s level of digital or ICT planning maturity is still quite low
• focus areas already defined in the agency’s strategic plan with clearly defined outcomes, and digital or ICT objectives can be derived within these focus areas that will contribute to, or result in, achieving the required business outcomes.

The deadlines or timeframes for digital or ICT objectives are often dictated by the corresponding strategic business objective, making this a simple method to help stakeholders understand the connection of digital and ICT objectives to delivering outcomes.

Running workshops using the direct alignment method

Often workshops become more about the structure of the sentences defining the objective rather than the end state that needs to be conveyed. It is important to focus on the action and detail and refine the objective statements as part of consultation.

Practitioners should use business metrics and units rather than ICT related metrics and units where possible. The exact metric and unit may not be identifiable at the time of the workshop. For example, a reasonable metric may not yet exist to measure the objective.

If this is the case, discuss the options or indicators that might be applied or changed to measure the objective rather than decide on the exact metric and unit.

Establishing planning horizons involves setting pre-defined timelines for the expected life of the proposed digital or ICT strategy or plan (e.g. 1 year, 3 years, 5 years).

This method is generally more effective in circumstances where:

• business objectives outlined in the agency strategic plans are less well defined in terms of outcomes and timeframes. The agency is ‘starting from scratch’ with respect to its service vision and related digital or ICT objectives.
• the agency already has a clear service delivery vision and can clearly articulate where it should be with respect to the delivery of services within stated periods of time.
• an agency has a higher level of digital or ICT planning maturity and can clearly articulate standards for the delivery of services within given periods of time to take advantage of digital or ICT   transformation.
• ideas collected as part of Vision activities can be deconstructed further and plotted against the planning horizons.

A planning horizon approach helps practitioners identify the dependencies between the step changes. Point changes of service delivery along the way can be represented on the other planning horizons. These point changes could represent:

• step changes in technology
• business   process changes
• changes   in the way information is managed, secured and shared
• incremental   changes in workforce capability
• expanding   service offerings
• expanding customer segments.

Generally, the end state articulated as part of the Vision will be achieved in the farthest planning horizon. See an example of objectives based on planning horizons below:

Example

Digital and ICT objectives for Central Queensland Hospital and Health Services (HHS)

By 2025

Digital transformation preparation completed:

• funding, schedule and scope for Central Queensland HHS wide digital transformation approved
• required infrastructure rolled out across HHS to ensure all sites are ready for digital transformation
• reduce patient identification risks with a single patient identification number in place across Central Queensland HHS.

By 2030

Digital transformation of all our clinical services complete. All clinicians have access to decision support and healthcare information at the bedside.

By 2035

Working in a clinical network, regional hospitals will provide enhanced services as part of regional hubs to improve access and outcomes for rural and regional residents.

The methods outlined in this guideline are iterative. It might take several workshops with several diverse groups of people to articulate the final digital or ICT objectives.

It is important to ‘play back’ the outputs of workshops to participants within a short timeframe from the workshop. This will maintain interest and ensure the participants feel like their time and contribution was worthwhile.

Once the digital or ICT strategic objectives have been defined, the resulting business benefits, business changes and enablers can be defined.

Refer to the Benefits, business changes and enablers guideline for more information.