Just recently, Statera went into a Beta phase for their an integration engine called Stratus (http://stratus.statera.com). It’s a really cool idea/product which integrates Microsoft CRM Online with SharePoint Online completely via Microsoft’s Azure Services platform (which means everything is running in the Cloud). Some of the capabilities Stratus provides include:
· CRM users can provision SharePoint sites for Account, Opportunity and Case records, allowing them to store documents in a location where they are easier to collaborate on and in an environment where non-sales employees may be more familiar with
· CRM users can upload documents while in CRM and they are stored directly in SharePoint
· CRM users can view associated SharePoint document libraries and their contents and pull up documents without ever leaving CRM
· SharePoint users can navigate to SharePoint sites that are associated with CRM Account, Opportunity or Case records and access uploaded documents, CRM contacts, CRM activities as well as some other general CRM information
· SharePoint users can create new contacts or activities via the associated SharePoint site that are in turn stored in CRM
· SharePoint users can save CRM contacts directly into their Outlook contacts folder with the click of the mouse
The product also works with the on-premise versions of SharePoint and CRM or any combination of Online and On-premise (e.g. CRM Online and SharePoint on-premise), though the on-premise activation is not yet available.
There are some other cool ideas that will be coming out with in the future. For more information, check out the video or sign up to use the platform at http://stratus.statera.com – it only takes a few minutes to sign up and usage is free!
Showing posts with label Compliance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Compliance. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
DoF Abu Dhabi receives two ISO Certifications in Information Security
Here is an interesting article I found on http://www.zawa.com/ and you may read the original on: http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20090616072525
Abu Dhabi 16, June 2009:
The Department of Finance (DoF) - Government of Dubai
Today announced its acquisition of two ISO certifications, ISO20000 and ISO27001 in Information Security. This comes in line with its commitment to adopting the best quality standards at all levels of Governmental practice, especially in information security. DoF is the first local department in Abu Dhabi Government to receive both certifications at once, in appreciation of its ongoing efforts to improve its services and adopt best global practices in Information Security Management.
ISO 20000 is the world's first international standard for IT Service Management, which defines the essential requirements for a service provider to deliver managed services. This certificate allows for effectively conveying the managed services which meet business and customer requirements, therefore implementing the department's strategic plan of 2009-2013.
ISO27001 is one of the global certifications with an elemental purpose of assisting to establish and sustain an effective Information Security Management System using a continual improvement approach. It concentrates on confidentiality, integrity and availability of information and executes the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development values, prevailing security of network systems and information. This certification offers essential security measures to face potential menace.
Salem Al Rumaithi, Head of the IT Directorate at DoF clarified that the international German group TUV Rheinland used a 2-phase-audit process to ascertain DoF's readiness to get both international accolades. During the first phase TUV Rheinland reviewed the existing security measures and documents such as the Information Security Policy and the IT Security Management and Risk System at DoF. In the second phase, the group conducted a scrutinized audit to test the surveillance tools stipulated in the IT security Management System's regulations and supporting documents.
'We are proud of the Information Security team's great achievements. These milestones come in line with the directives of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Chairman of Department of Finance, to enhance the level of IT performance and security" said Al Rumaithi.
Al Rumaithi praised the IT directorate's efforts to build the capacities of staff that have been trained for the international Information Technology Infrastructure Library certification (ITIL). Currently, over 25 employees have achieved this certification which falls under the ISO umbrella. ITIL is a set of concepts and policies intended to assist organizations to develop a framework for IT Service Management and to manage their operations.
DoF adopts the highest quality standards throughout its network which encompasses over 40 governmental entities. DoF strives to enhance its human resource skills and employs the finest IT applications with the aim of supporting the department's different activities. The aim of DoF is to accomplish sustainable economic growth for the Abu Dhabi government and rank it amongst the top five governments in the world.
An overview of the Finance Department
The Department of Finance (DoF) was established in 1962, and plays a vital role in providing all local government entities with the best of breed of financial services. DoF aims at enhancing the prosperity of the Abu Dhabi community by contributing to economic growth and promoting private sector participation. DoF includes 5 main directorates and they are: Budgeting, Customs, Government Accounts, Support Services and Information Technology. DoF is adopting the latest processes and technology to further strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of its services.
UAE Governmental Institutions Strategic Plan encompasses the following 10 priorities:
Abu Dhabi 16, June 2009:
The Department of Finance (DoF) - Government of Dubai
Today announced its acquisition of two ISO certifications, ISO20000 and ISO27001 in Information Security. This comes in line with its commitment to adopting the best quality standards at all levels of Governmental practice, especially in information security. DoF is the first local department in Abu Dhabi Government to receive both certifications at once, in appreciation of its ongoing efforts to improve its services and adopt best global practices in Information Security Management.
ISO 20000 is the world's first international standard for IT Service Management, which defines the essential requirements for a service provider to deliver managed services. This certificate allows for effectively conveying the managed services which meet business and customer requirements, therefore implementing the department's strategic plan of 2009-2013.
ISO27001 is one of the global certifications with an elemental purpose of assisting to establish and sustain an effective Information Security Management System using a continual improvement approach. It concentrates on confidentiality, integrity and availability of information and executes the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development values, prevailing security of network systems and information. This certification offers essential security measures to face potential menace.
Salem Al Rumaithi, Head of the IT Directorate at DoF clarified that the international German group TUV Rheinland used a 2-phase-audit process to ascertain DoF's readiness to get both international accolades. During the first phase TUV Rheinland reviewed the existing security measures and documents such as the Information Security Policy and the IT Security Management and Risk System at DoF. In the second phase, the group conducted a scrutinized audit to test the surveillance tools stipulated in the IT security Management System's regulations and supporting documents.
'We are proud of the Information Security team's great achievements. These milestones come in line with the directives of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Chairman of Department of Finance, to enhance the level of IT performance and security" said Al Rumaithi.
Al Rumaithi praised the IT directorate's efforts to build the capacities of staff that have been trained for the international Information Technology Infrastructure Library certification (ITIL). Currently, over 25 employees have achieved this certification which falls under the ISO umbrella. ITIL is a set of concepts and policies intended to assist organizations to develop a framework for IT Service Management and to manage their operations.
DoF adopts the highest quality standards throughout its network which encompasses over 40 governmental entities. DoF strives to enhance its human resource skills and employs the finest IT applications with the aim of supporting the department's different activities. The aim of DoF is to accomplish sustainable economic growth for the Abu Dhabi government and rank it amongst the top five governments in the world.
An overview of the Finance Department
The Department of Finance (DoF) was established in 1962, and plays a vital role in providing all local government entities with the best of breed of financial services. DoF aims at enhancing the prosperity of the Abu Dhabi community by contributing to economic growth and promoting private sector participation. DoF includes 5 main directorates and they are: Budgeting, Customs, Government Accounts, Support Services and Information Technology. DoF is adopting the latest processes and technology to further strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of its services.
UAE Governmental Institutions Strategic Plan encompasses the following 10 priorities:
Identify efficient ways to finance priority projects of government entities including the concept of public-private partnerships
Develop a common and standardized financial framework to ensure financial stability of Abu Dhabi Government
Define decentralized financial-management model and assure its gradual transition
Establish a fiscal policy unit to develop strategies for efficient government spending and to cooperate with the federal level on all financial frameworks and policies
Introduce a performance measurement approach to enhance efficient use of government funding
Establish DoF as the reliable and comprehensive source of Abu Dhabi financial data and analysis by building a process for the collection, analysis and reporting of all financial data
Enhance world class treasury function to optimize short term cash debt management
Strengthen and develop DoF employee competencies by state of the art HR management with special focus on nationals
Enable and maintain state of the art IT technologies to support the future role and activities of DoF
Protect borders and citizens, facilitate trade, and collect revenues through effective customs
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
ITIL Assessment
What are the deliverables for one week ITIL Assessment? And how long does it take to complete a typical assessment.
My take is: A Matrix Assessment Report that will assess People, Process and Tools for each discipline under assessment.
=Maturity Score
=Score for each process assessed based upon maturity level
=Risk & Implication Report
=Recommendations
Time wise I would say it is an open ended question, one can do two to three disciplines in a week, i.e., Incident, Problem, Change, Service Management or others but in case of V3 Strategy, Design, Transition, Operation and Continous Service Improvement may take one week each.
With The Complete ITIL V3 Readiness Assessments, you can put any or all of the assessments to work in your company:
• Service Management strategy and value planning
• Linking business plans and directions to IT service strategy
• Planning and implementing service strategy
• Service design objectives and elements
• Selecting the service design model
• Cost model
• Benefit/risk analysis
• Implementing service design
• Measurement and control
• Managing organizational and cultural change
• Knowledge management
• Service knowledge management system
• Methods, practices and tools
• Measurement and control
• Companion best practices
• Application Management
• Change Management
• Operations Management
• Control processes and functions
• Scaleable practices
• Measurement and control
• Business and technology drivers for improvement
• Justification
• Business, financial and organizational improvements
• Methods, practices and tools
• Companion best practices
My take is: A Matrix Assessment Report that will assess People, Process and Tools for each discipline under assessment.
=Maturity Score
=Score for each process assessed based upon maturity level
=Risk & Implication Report
=Recommendations
Time wise I would say it is an open ended question, one can do two to three disciplines in a week, i.e., Incident, Problem, Change, Service Management or others but in case of V3 Strategy, Design, Transition, Operation and Continous Service Improvement may take one week each.
With The Complete ITIL V3 Readiness Assessments, you can put any or all of the assessments to work in your company:
• Service Management strategy and value planning
• Linking business plans and directions to IT service strategy
• Planning and implementing service strategy
• Service design objectives and elements
• Selecting the service design model
• Cost model
• Benefit/risk analysis
• Implementing service design
• Measurement and control
• Managing organizational and cultural change
• Knowledge management
• Service knowledge management system
• Methods, practices and tools
• Measurement and control
• Companion best practices
• Application Management
• Change Management
• Operations Management
• Control processes and functions
• Scaleable practices
• Measurement and control
• Business and technology drivers for improvement
• Justification
• Business, financial and organizational improvements
• Methods, practices and tools
• Companion best practices
Thursday, March 26, 2009
IT Governance Assessment
Holistic Approach to IS Governance Assessments
In the 80s and 90s, most people that were implementing process improvement efforts were using the reengineering approach. It is also an approach that is still used by various consultants and vendors today. Basically, reengineering implies that a consultant or process owner engages a team in the following way:
1. Stating that their processes are neither optimized nor efficient.
2. Informing the team that standardized processes should be used instead.
3. Plugging the standardized process in to the team environment.
4. Leaving the team with the expectation that the standardized process would now be
followed with increased efficiency.
Process improvement efforts conducted in this way clearly showed that the reengineering approached failed. In fact, the plug and play process efforts only succeeded 50% of the time. These projects failed because they assumed that every organization had the same pain points and goals.
It was overly focused on standardization and one-size-fits-all solutions. As a result, processes failed to evolve flexibly as customers' needs became more differentiated and their expectations grew. Moreover, the last round of adopt only efforts failed to take sufficient account of the organizational and people factors that lead to true behavioral change. While processes were reshaped, accountability was not institutionalized. There was plenty of talk about process owners and cascading change, but decision rights, coordination mechanisms, governance structures, and other organizational elements were not explicitly addressed until later - if at all. Process efficiency trumped organization alignment. Consequently, the substantial savings often quickly dissipated.
A more diverse approach to process redesign was needed.
The IT Governance processes that can be purchased and adopted should be considered as a starting point - not an end. Every company, organization, or team can benefit greatly from leveraging existing process frameworks. The key is leveraging, not just adopting. Consultant or a Subject Matter Expert (SME) inevitably has unique core values, business rules, and constraints that beg for a variation from the standardized process in parts of the framework. This is where an assessment is most helpful and an organized change management effort is important. Before you begin adopting the standardized process, learn where you need to massage the framework to meet your unique needs. The initial analysis will help you discover gaps before you begin adopting something that doesn't work for your organization. Then, plan a change management cycle that is the appropriate pace for your needs.
To this end, the consulting team should conduct interviews, meetings, and correspondence with client's management and key staff members to ascertain:
Current Workflows
Current Pain-points
Current Technologies, Applications and Components
Current Constraints and Guidelines
In the 80s and 90s, most people that were implementing process improvement efforts were using the reengineering approach. It is also an approach that is still used by various consultants and vendors today. Basically, reengineering implies that a consultant or process owner engages a team in the following way:
1. Stating that their processes are neither optimized nor efficient.
2. Informing the team that standardized processes should be used instead.
3. Plugging the standardized process in to the team environment.
4. Leaving the team with the expectation that the standardized process would now be
followed with increased efficiency.
Process improvement efforts conducted in this way clearly showed that the reengineering approached failed. In fact, the plug and play process efforts only succeeded 50% of the time. These projects failed because they assumed that every organization had the same pain points and goals.
It was overly focused on standardization and one-size-fits-all solutions. As a result, processes failed to evolve flexibly as customers' needs became more differentiated and their expectations grew. Moreover, the last round of adopt only efforts failed to take sufficient account of the organizational and people factors that lead to true behavioral change. While processes were reshaped, accountability was not institutionalized. There was plenty of talk about process owners and cascading change, but decision rights, coordination mechanisms, governance structures, and other organizational elements were not explicitly addressed until later - if at all. Process efficiency trumped organization alignment. Consequently, the substantial savings often quickly dissipated.
A more diverse approach to process redesign was needed.
The IT Governance processes that can be purchased and adopted should be considered as a starting point - not an end. Every company, organization, or team can benefit greatly from leveraging existing process frameworks. The key is leveraging, not just adopting. Consultant or a Subject Matter Expert (SME) inevitably has unique core values, business rules, and constraints that beg for a variation from the standardized process in parts of the framework. This is where an assessment is most helpful and an organized change management effort is important. Before you begin adopting the standardized process, learn where you need to massage the framework to meet your unique needs. The initial analysis will help you discover gaps before you begin adopting something that doesn't work for your organization. Then, plan a change management cycle that is the appropriate pace for your needs.
To this end, the consulting team should conduct interviews, meetings, and correspondence with client's management and key staff members to ascertain:
Current Workflows
Current Pain-points
Current Technologies, Applications and Components
Current Constraints and Guidelines
Now the consultant should compare his/her finding against the several guidelines to identify the weak spots in the existing model.
Following are some of the key model and frameworks that are being used to assess any IT departments for compliance and risk management.
- ITIL
- COBIT
- SOX
- COSO
- CMMI
ITIL: Is a framework that aligns IT with Business, establish Key Performance Mertics, define and assign Roles & responsibilities.
COBIT: Define Control Objectives for Business related IT organization.
SOX: It makes senior managemnt accountable for implementing controls for all financial reporting systems
COSO: The COSO framework defines internal control as a process, effected by an entity’s board of directors, management and other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of objectives in the following categories:
- Effectiveness and efficiency of operations
- Reliability of financial reporting
- Compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
CMMI: All CMMI models contain multiple Process Areas (PAs). A PA has 1 to 4 goals, and each goal is comprised of practices. These goals and practices are called specific goals and practices, as they describe activities that are specific to a single process area.
With all the information listed above and clear picture of your "desired state" a gap analysis can easily be conducted with all this in-hand, a solution road map can be derived.
If you are interested in any of my blogs, please contact me via contact information provided in this blog or visit my website http://www.statera.com
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