While I think the fact that technology is often considered an "adminstrative" or "overhead" expense is an exacerbating factor, I'm in the camp who believe the complexity of preparing and sustaining a relevant and usable global technology plan for a Museum is the main challenge.
We recently underwent a professional audit of our Technology Planning and Management processes which may help simplify - or complicate(?) - the issue. The auditor, who used the CobiT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technolgy) framework for his work, made a clear distinction is his recommendations between a Technology Plan and a Strategic Information Technology Plan. The former is, in his view, a primarily technical document which includes things like the network architecture, corporate application standards, etc. The Strategic Information Technology Plan is, on the other hand, a document which focuses on mid to long term business needs and opportunities and what broadly defined technology capabilities, services and investments are required to meet these needs and opportunities. Greg Smith Manager, IT Canadian Museum of Nature > -----Original Message----- > From: Ilana Trager [SMTP:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 3:45 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: RE: Web or IT Plans as Part of Museum Planning > > Here's a theory: All non-profits, including museums, want to show as > little > of their budget going to admninistration as possible. It's important when > persuing grants and public support that we produce balance sheets that > show > most of our budget going to "programs," not "administration." IT is > considered "administration," unless it's shown as part of a program > department's budget, like curatorial, education, or even marketing. So, I > suspect the typical lack of a comprehensive technology plan has less to do > with the complex nature of museum tech, and more to do with avoiding a > managment style that will complicate the issue of reporting the admin vs > program budget ratio. - i > _____________________ > Ilana Trager > Information Systems Manager > Bellevue Art Museum > > office 425.519.0766 > fax 425.637.1799 > > -----Original Message----- > From: Guy Hermann [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 8:52 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re:Web or IT Plans as Part of Museum Planning > > > This comes up periodically on this list and I have yet to see any > meaningful integration of a technology plan with any museum's > strategic plan. More typically, a museum will include programs that > depend on technology to their plan and then look at the ramifications > of that separately. > > I am beginning to think that this is because of the exceptionally > complex nature of the museum technology environment--there are just > too many needs to serve. Creating a fully integrated plan that > addresses collections, the web, education, ticketing, fund raising, > group scheduling, membership, facility management, accounting, etc. > is simply too much, especially since all of these are still moving > targets. > > I have done a few technology assessments recently--the precursor to > planning. The results have been a better sense of priorities and of > what is possible, but even in these committed organizations, a fully > integrated plan is too ambitious. > > What do others think? Why don't more museums have formal technology > plans? > > ----------------------------------------------------- > Guy Hermann > 8 1/2 Godfrey Street > Mystic, CT 06355 > > home: 860-536-2994 > cell: 860-857-7363 > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > [email protected] > > --- > You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]
