Activity 2.3: Determine Whether to Leverage
It is important to make a formal decision as to whether the experiences from the researched organizations and service providers should be leveraged or a partnering relationship can be established.In this activity, planners support the sponsor and governance in assessing the feasibility of leveraging experiences or partnering and then making a decision as to how that relationship will be established.
In some instances, it may be appropriate to draft a memorandum of understanding to document the terms of the relationship between the groups. This formal document will serve as a written understanding as to what each group expects including timing, financial consideration, and other important relationship matters.
Ultimately, the recommendation to leverage or partner must be presented to the sponsor and governance for formal consideration and approval. A formally approved recommendation to leverage or partner is an important input into the detailed planning in Step 3.
The following visual illustrates the tasks within this activity.
Tasks:
Assess feasibility of partnership given constraints
The risks and benefits of partnership have been considered but it is still important to evaluate the actual feasibility of a partnership given constraints on any of the relevant parties.
Constraints could be financial, organizational, political, or other forms of constraints that would hold back a partnership from either being formed or being successful. Planners must analyze the partnership risks and benefits from the previous activity in the context of whether the risks are increased due to constraints, the benefits are reduced due to constraints, or whether there are constraints that make partnering difficult to the point of not being useful.
Create potential memorandum of understanding
It is important to formally document how the relevant organizations may work together. In this task, planners develop a draft memorandum of understanding to document how the experiences from another organization might be leveraged or to document how the multiple organizations would like to form a partnership for planning.
A memorandum of understanding is an important mechanism for beginning a positive working relationship with the other organizations. The memorandum of understanding does not need to be ratified during this step, however it will be a useful tool for communicating intent to the sponsor and governance.
Present recommendations to leadership and gain approval
The final decision as to whether to leverage, partner, or do neither is up to the sponsor and governance. Planners will formally package recommendations for sponsor and governance consideration. The opportunities for leverage or partnership, the related risks and benefits, the analysis of constraints, and the memorandum of understanding must be presented to the sponsor and governance.
Activity Outputs:
| Output | Core | FEA Layers |
|---|---|---|
| Partnership Feasibility Report | Y | n/a |
| Memorandum of Understanding | N | n/a |
Key to FEA Layers: S = Strategy, B = Business, D = Data, A = Application, I = Infrastructure, SP = Security