From cgenerali at cutter.com Thu Jan 5 11:15:11 2006 From: cgenerali at cutter.com (Cutter IT Journal) Date: Thu Jan 5 11:20:35 2006 Subject: [Authors] Call for Papers: CIO Dashboard -- IT Performance Management Message-ID: <4112-22006145161511347@cutter.com> CALL FOR PAPERS Cutter IT Journal Ken Rau, Guest Editor Abstract Submission Date: 20 January 2006 Articles Due: 24 February 2006 The CIO Dashboard and IT Performance Management -- Key to Demonstrating IT's Value? "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it."  Add to this old mantra, "and if you want to measure it, you'll need a computer."  So why is it, then, that we, the keepers of the computer, tend to be the worst at measuring and reporting our performance? Is this the classic case of the cobbler's children having no shoes?  Why is each seminar on measuring IT performance so well attended but implementation of performance management programs in IT so rare? Surely it can't be a fear of dealing with numbers or of implementing the software required for collection and analysis of performance, for that is the business of IT. Could it be we are finally being confronted with our fear of managing IT like a business? While the reasons for careless performance measurement and reporting in IT are many, varied, and perhaps disturbing in their implications, there is little doubt that those few IT organizations that have adopted and successfully implemented performance management programs are reaping the benefits of improved effectiveness, efficiency, professionalism, and image. These organizations have discovered that a performance management mentality in IT forces the setting of quantitative objectives and the tracking and reporting of results. The resulting disciplines not only lead to that of improved performance, professionalism, and image, but also the ability to demonstrate IT's value to the organization. One contributor to the greater use and success of IT performance management is the availability and proliferation of business intelligence (BI) software. This development has enabled something the pioneers of performance measurement and reporting could only dream about 10 years ago -- the automated collection, summarization, and on-line presentation of performance data.  When used in IT, this culmination of the performance management process is often referred to as the CIO Dashboard. When fully operational, the CIO Dashboard capability typically offers reporting of key IT performance measures over the organization's intranet. Common features include the ability to tailor the metrics that appear on individual user screens, and a drill-down capability for the examination of observed anomalies. While the CIO Dashboard is extremely valuable and effective when properly implemented, its dangers include the exuberant implementation of canned solutions. Such rapid-implementation approaches often lead to disappointing outcomes, program abandonment, and, in some cases, professional embarrassment for the perpetrators. However, the true cost to the organization of these failures is not the lost investment or the embarrassment of a few, but rather the negativity now associated with all performance-reporting initiatives planned or in progress and the reluctance of the organization to experiment or invest further. THE APRIL 2006 CUTTER IT JOURNAL INVITES USEFUL DEBATE ON AND ANALYSES of the approaches organizations are taking to identify and report their key IT performance indicators, what tools are being used to collect and report performance, and how performance reporting is being used to improve IT professionalism and value contribution. TOPICS OF INTEREST MAY INCLUDE (but are certainly not limited to) the following: * How are IT key performance indicators (KPIs) identified for inclusion on a CIO Dashboard? How useful are balanced scorecard initiatives, IT process modeling, and annual planning and objective setting in IT to this identification?  * What IT KPIs appear most often/always in summary performance reports of IT? Is there a standard set of KPIs that IT should use -- or at least begin with? How organizationally specific are IT KPIs anyway? * How important are BI tools in IT performance reporting? When should hey be considered or applied? In particular, which tools work, which ones do not work, and what selection criteria should be used? * What's right or wrong with using your organization's general BI tool for IT performance reporting? How much better are BI tools that are designed specifically for IT? * What are the most difficult aspects of implementing performance reporting and dashboards? Is it identifying KPIs, data sourcing, data collection, tools implementation, or organizational change management? What works well, what doesn't, and what are some of the lessons learned? * When is the time right to implement performance reporting and the CIO Dashboard? During bad economic times or during economic recovery? During (or in support of) balanced scorecard initiatives? When the value of IT is being questioned? * How should a CIO Dashboard program or initiative be governed?  Who should participate, oversee, or be involved in the program? * Organizational change management is often cited as the most important consideration in achieving successful performance reporting/dashboard results. What aspects of change management are key? * Today's KPIs are not likely to be tomorrow's or next year's. How can the CIO Dashboard be maintained, updated, or evolved to reflect changes in business direction, competitive threats, and technological opportunities? TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE IDEA Please respond to Ken Rau at krau@cutter.com with a copy to itjournal@cutter.com, by 20 January 2006 and include an abstract and an article outline. ARTICLE DEADLINE Articles are due on 24 February 2006. EDITORIAL GUIDELINES Most Cutter IT Journal articles are approximately 2,500-3,500 words long, plus whatever graphics are appropriate. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact CITJ's Managing Editor, Karen Pasley, at kpasley@cutter.com or the Guest Editor, Ken Rau, at krau@cutter.com. Editorial guidelines are available at http://www.cutter.com/itjournal/edguide.html . AUDIENCE Typical readers of Cutter IT Journal range from CIOs and vice presidents of software organizations to IT managers, directors, project leaders, and very senior technical staff. Most work in fairly large organizations: Fortune 500 IT shops, large computer vendors (IBM, HP, etc.), and government agencies. 48% of our readership is outside of the US (15% from Canada, 14% Europe, 5% Australia/NZ, 14% elsewhere). Please avoid introductory-level, tutorial coverage of a topic. Assume you're writing for someone who has been in the industry for 10 to 20 years, is very busy, and very impatient. Assume he or she will be asking, "What's the point? What do I do with this information?"  Apply the "So what?" test to everything you write. PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES We are pleased to offer Journal authors a year's complimentary subscription and 10 copies of the issue in which they are published. In addition, we occasionally pull excerpts, along with the author's bio, to include in our weekly Cutter Edge e-mail bulletin, which reaches another 8,000 readers. We'd also be pleased to quote you, or passages from your article, in Cutter press releases. If you plan to be speaking at industry conferences, we can arrange to make copies of your article or the entire issue available for attendees of those speaking engagements -- furthering your own promotional efforts. ABOUT CUTTER IT JOURNAL No other journal brings together so many cutting-edge thinkers, and lets them speak so bluntly and frankly. We strive to maintain the Journal's reputation as the "Harvard Business Review of IT." Our goal is to present well-grounded opinion (based on real, accountable experiences), research, and animated debate about each topic the Journal explores. FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS CALL FOR PAPERS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT HAVE AN APPROPRIATE SUBMISSION. From cgenerali at cutter.com Fri Jan 13 11:13:43 2006 From: cgenerali at cutter.com (Cutter IT Journal) Date: Fri Jan 13 11:23:04 2006 Subject: [Authors] Call for Papers: CIO Dashboard -- IT Performance Management Message-ID: <4112-220061513161343125@cutter.com> CALL FOR PAPERS REMINDER Abstract Submission Date: 20 January 2006 Cutter IT Journal Ken Rau, Guest Editor Articles Due: 24 February 2006 The CIO Dashboard and IT Performance Management -- Key to Demonstrating IT's Value? "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it."  Add to this old mantra, "and if you want to measure it, you'll need a computer."  So why is it, then, that we, the keepers of the computer, tend to be the worst at measuring and reporting our performance? Is this the classic case of the cobbler's children having no shoes?  Why is each seminar on measuring IT performance so well attended but implementation of performance management programs in IT so rare? Surely it can't be a fear of dealing with numbers or of implementing the software required for collection and analysis of performance, for that is the business of IT. Could it be we are finally being confronted with our fear of managing IT like a business? While the reasons for careless performance measurement and reporting in IT are many, varied, and perhaps disturbing in their implications, there is little doubt that those few IT organizations that have adopted and successfully implemented performance management programs are reaping the benefits of improved effectiveness, efficiency, professionalism, and image. These organizations have discovered that a performance management mentality in IT forces the setting of quantitative objectives and the tracking and reporting of results. The resulting disciplines not only lead to that of improved performance, professionalism, and image, but also the ability to demonstrate IT's value to the organization. One contributor to the greater use and success of IT performance management is the availability and proliferation of business intelligence (BI) software. This development has enabled something the pioneers of performance measurement and reporting could only dream about 10 years ago -- the automated collection, summarization, and on-line presentation of performance data.  When used in IT, this culmination of the performance management process is often referred to as the CIO Dashboard. When fully operational, the CIO Dashboard capability typically offers reporting of key IT performance measures over the organization's intranet. Common features include the ability to tailor the metrics that appear on individual user screens, and a drill-down capability for the examination of observed anomalies. While the CIO Dashboard is extremely valuable and effective when properly implemented, its dangers include the exuberant implementation of canned solutions. Such rapid-implementation approaches often lead to disappointing outcomes, program abandonment, and, in some cases, professional embarrassment for the perpetrators. However, the true cost to the organization of these failures is not the lost investment or the embarrassment of a few, but rather the negativity now associated with all performance-reporting initiatives planned or in progress and the reluctance of the organization to experiment or invest further. THE APRIL 2006 CUTTER IT JOURNAL INVITES USEFUL DEBATE ON AND ANALYSES of the approaches organizations are taking to identify and report their key IT performance indicators, what tools are being used to collect and report performance, and how performance reporting is being used to improve IT professionalism and value contribution. TOPICS OF INTEREST MAY INCLUDE (but are certainly not limited to) the following: * How are IT key performance indicators (KPIs) identified for inclusion on a CIO Dashboard? How useful are balanced scorecard initiatives, IT process modeling, and annual planning and objective setting in IT to this identification?  * What IT KPIs appear most often/always in summary performance reports of IT? Is there a standard set of KPIs that IT should use -- or at least begin with? How organizationally specific are IT KPIs anyway? * How important are BI tools in IT performance reporting? When should hey be considered or applied? In particular, which tools work, which ones do not work, and what selection criteria should be used? * What's right or wrong with using your organization's general BI tool for IT performance reporting? How much better are BI tools that are designed specifically for IT? * What are the most difficult aspects of implementing performance reporting and dashboards? Is it identifying KPIs, data sourcing, data collection, tools implementation, or organizational change management? What works well, what doesn't, and what are some of the lessons learned? * When is the time right to implement performance reporting and the CIO Dashboard? During bad economic times or during economic recovery? During (or in support of) balanced scorecard initiatives? When the value of IT is being questioned? * How should a CIO Dashboard program or initiative be governed?  Who should participate, oversee, or be involved in the program? * Organizational change management is often cited as the most important consideration in achieving successful performance reporting/dashboard results. What aspects of change management are key? * Today's KPIs are not likely to be tomorrow's or next year's. How can the CIO Dashboard be maintained, updated, or evolved to reflect changes in business direction, competitive threats, and technological opportunities? TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE IDEA Please respond to Ken Rau at krau@cutter.com with a copy to itjournal@cutter.com, by 20 January 2006 and include an abstract and an article outline. ARTICLE DEADLINE Articles are due on 24 February 2006. EDITORIAL GUIDELINES Most Cutter IT Journal articles are approximately 2,500-3,500 words long, plus whatever graphics are appropriate. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact CITJ's Managing Editor, Karen Pasley, at kpasley@cutter.com or the Guest Editor, Ken Rau, at krau@cutter.com. Editorial guidelines are available at http://www.cutter.com/itjournal/edguide.html . AUDIENCE Typical readers of Cutter IT Journal range from CIOs and vice presidents of software organizations to IT managers, directors, project leaders, and very senior technical staff. Most work in fairly large organizations: Fortune 500 IT shops, large computer vendors (IBM, HP, etc.), and government agencies. 48% of our readership is outside of the US (15% from Canada, 14% Europe, 5% Australia/NZ, 14% elsewhere). Please avoid introductory-level, tutorial coverage of a topic. Assume you're writing for someone who has been in the industry for 10 to 20 years, is very busy, and very impatient. Assume he or she will be asking, "What's the point? What do I do with this information?"  Apply the "So what?" test to everything you write. PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES We are pleased to offer Journal authors a year's complimentary subscription and 10 copies of the issue in which they are published. In addition, we occasionally pull excerpts, along with the author's bio, to include in our weekly Cutter Edge e-mail bulletin, which reaches another 8,000 readers. We'd also be pleased to quote you, or passages from your article, in Cutter press releases. If you plan to be speaking at industry conferences, we can arrange to make copies of your article or the entire issue available for attendees of those speaking engagements -- furthering your own promotional efforts. ABOUT CUTTER IT JOURNAL No other journal brings together so many cutting-edge thinkers, and lets them speak so bluntly and frankly. We strive to maintain the Journal's reputation as the "Harvard Business Review of IT." Our goal is to present well-grounded opinion (based on real, accountable experiences), research, and animated debate about each topic the Journal explores. FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS CALL FOR PAPERS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT HAVE AN APPROPRIATE SUBMISSION. From hugh at pradella.biz Mon Jan 16 20:07:21 2006 From: hugh at pradella.biz (John) Date: Tue Jan 17 02:35:17 2006 Subject: [Authors] MS Windows XP Professional SP2 - Our price: $65 Message-ID: <000001c61b34$a8bf5a80$0100007f@jdubreuiltlt> Most popular software: special price Microsoft Office 2003 Professional - Our price: $130 MS Windows XP Professional SP2 - Our price: $65 Adobe Photoshop CS2 - Our price: $80 Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 - Our price: $30 Microsoft Office XP Professional - Our price: $110 Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional - Our price: $120 Copyright OEM Avenue Ltd. 2001-2006. All rights reserved