IT Assessment

As a health care organization you rely on technology.  An assessment of your information technology will determine compliance with HIPAA security and performance based upon industry best practices.  In addition, the IT assessment leverages a menu-driven approach that allows you to select the technology management components you want to have assessed. 

The areas for assessment can include:

• People - Roles, functions, org charts, skills/competencies, behaviors, accountabilities
• Process - Process flows, procedures, policies, service levels
• Technology - Data center, infrastructure, applications, data, vendors, equipment
• Financial - Contracts, salaries/benefits, bonus/incentives, budgets, projects
• Management - Strategy map, scorecard, project portfolio, recruit/retain, staff development

This assessment will

• Give your organization a knowledgeable, objective analysis of its technology compliance and performance in the areas assessed.
• Present a prioritized list of needs or improvements, along with estimated costs for remediation or implementation of the prescribed solutions.
• Provide a presentation that executive leadership can leverage to explain the effort to others in your organization.  The presentation will explain what was done, why, the findings, recommendations, and estimated costs.
• Allow development of an IT strategy.  An IT assessment is frequently completed as a precursor to information technology strategy development.

IT Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is often conducted in conjunction with an IT assessment.  An IT assessment provides understanding of the current state of your technology function, and IT strategic planning defines a roadmap to take your organization to where you want to be over the next three to five years.

Our strategy development approach understands your organization’s business and technology goals and leverages this information along with knowledge of the current environment, industry standards, and trends in the strategy development.

It is essential to understand what your organization is known for and how information technology supports this brand.  Alignment of organizational business and technology objectives is vital to maximizing organizational performance.     

The IT strategic plan will

• Give your organization a prioritized and logical plan for technology investments that can be tailored to your budget. 
• Present a prioritized list of investments, along with estimated costs and staffing/skill/training needs for implementation of the investment.
• Provide a presentation that executive leadership can leverage to explain the strategy effort to staff and the board.  The presentation will explain what was done, why, the findings, the plan, recommendations, estimated costs, and associated staffing/skill or training needs.
• Allow for implementation of the technology strategy within the budgetary constraints of your organization over a defined period of time.

Technology Advisory Services

Wipfli can provide your organization with ongoing coaching, mentoring, and advisory services in a structured and scheduled framework.  This service can be thought of as extending your technology management team capacity.  Frequency is typically between six and ten times per year, with the focus and participants of each discussion determined in advance.

The sessions can be used to brainstorm around relevant issues (e.g., budget prep and presentation, new technologies, and internal challenges) faced by the organization today.  Alternatively, the session could be used to introduce and evaluate concepts such as process improvement approaches, performance metrics or tools including an  accountabilities matrix, service level agreements, and competency evaluation.  This will help your organization better understand what each offers and how they might apply to your organization.

The advisory process provides additional management capacity for planning and exploration without hiring a full-time equivalent.  Typically, this service is provided on a retainer basis over the period of a year.

IT Service Agreement

Do you need assistance monitoring and maintaining your information technology investments and function?  The design of a service agreement is customized to what you want and need assistance with.  A service agreement can help with the management of technology assets, plan for technology investments that align to business strategy, and work to reduce the day-to-day issues with technology. 

The various areas of service can include

1. IT management
2. Infrastructure management and maintenance
3. Application management and maintenance
4. Continuous improvement
5. Project anagement
6. Training
7. End-user support (help desk)

The first step in establishing a service agreement is to schedule an on-site IT assessment of the current technical environment.  Following the assessment, we provide a report, rating key technology areas, offering suggestions for improvement, and identifying requirements needed to move to Wipfli Service Center support.  A schedule of regular visits is defined to provide the following outcomes if included in the scope of services:

• Establish and maintain a stable and secure technology environment.
• Perform preventative maintenance on servers, networks, and computers.
• Develop IT standards and procedures.
• Assist in IT project planning.
• Provide technical support through the Wipfli Technical Support Center for:
  • Desktop hardware
  • Server hardware
  • Network infrastructure
• Resolve computer-related issues as needed.
• Enhance the knowledge and experience of your staff.