Capabilities‒Based Planning the capabilities needed to accomplish a mission or fulfill a business strategy Only when capabilities are defined can we start with requirements elicitation

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Capabilities‒Based Planning for
Enterprise Projects
Capabilities‒Based Planning the capabilities
needed to accomplish a mission or fulfill a business
strategy
Only when capabilities are defined can we start
with requirements elicitation

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“End to end” delivery of Enterprise Solutions rests on
the keystone of Project Portfolio Management,
balanced by a Scorecard and a Capabilities Plan
n Business Mission and Vision
drives capabilities need
n Balanced Scorecard defines
the testable strategies for
delivering business value
n Capabilities Based Planning
defines business outcomes
n Event based tasks are the
basis of increasing
capabilities maturity
Capabilities
Based
Planning
Project
Portfolio
Management
Balanced
Scorecard
Strategy
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“Done”
“Demand”

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The supporting elements must be in place to enable
Capabilities Based Planning to succeed. This
presentation focuses Capabilities Based Planning
n Project Portfolio Management
defines the “trade space” for
decisions that impact value of
the work needed to produce a
business capability
n Capabilities Based Planning
defines business outcomes
resulting from these decisions
n Deliverables based tasks are the
mechanisms for increasing
maturity of the capabilities
Capabilities
Based
Planning
Project
Portfolio
Management
Balanced
Scorecard
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“Done”
“Demand”

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Capabilities‒Base Planning transforms
enterprise services from the delivery of
features and functions to the delivery
processes that support strategy
n Capabilities Based Planning is planning, under
uncertainty, to provide capabilities suitable for a
wide range of business challenges and
circumstances, while working within an
economic framework
n Capabilities Based Planning emphasizes
flexibility, adaptiveness and robust capabilities,
implying a modular building-block approach to
Enterprise Services
n When transformation takes place, it is because
new modules have come into use

5. Stages of a Capabilities‒Based
Plan
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External
Guidance
Project
Priorities
Future Environment
(Competition, Technology)
Deployment
Options
Business
Priorities

6. 1st Stage of Capabilities Based
Planning
n The 1st Stage takes an outward‒looking
strategic top-down perspective of the
demands of the business environment
n Capability Goals are statements, in
specific measurable terms of the desired
level of capability to meet a needed
priority or objective
n Scenarios built to determine factors that
warrant consideration in planning and
surface concerns
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7. 2nd Stage of Capabilities Based
Planning
n The 2nd Stage takes a bottom‒up view to
assess the performance of the current
system with respect to capability goals to
inform remedial action
n Comprehensible identification of
capability gaps, including deficiencies
and excesses
n The final step generates capability
options to mitigate gaps and assessment
of each option’s cost, schedule, and risk
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8. 8/29
Capabilities Based Planning is understood at the
execution level, but needs to be raised to the level
of enterprise process analysis
1. Identify a needed capability in operational
requirements terms;
2. using the set of capability options to;
3. assess the effectiveness in an operations
paradigm, and;
4. make choices about requirements and ways to
achieve the capability using an integrated
portfolio framework;
5. to produce of output set of options based on
these operational paradigms.

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Many enterprise projects focus on the delivery of
improved features and functions; ignoring the delivery
of the capabilities needed to implement strategy
Standish Chaos Report Failure Modes Capabilities Based Planning
Absence of a clear vision and statement
of the requirements expectations
Maturity assessment program events
provide visibility of progress independent
of effort or time
Estimating difficulties and organizational
politics result in unrealistic expectations
Capability assessment points define
“done” using agreed on measures of
progress
Poor project decomposition Master Plan and Master Schedule
vertically and horizontally integrated
Inadequate staffing Resource loaded schedules
Lack of stakeholder involvement Capabilities defined by business needs
Lack of strategic focus Capabilities connected to Balanced
Scorecard

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Capabilities Based Planning starts with business
scenarios, the tasks needed to implement the
scenarios, and testable capability outcomes
Scenarios
The business unit’s
operational needs in
scenario terms
Merge a General Ledger
from a 3rd party database
through a data
conversation process
Work Tasks
The individual work
processes needed to fulfill
the scenarios
1. Define the data to be
acquired from the new
firm
2. Verify data
conversation can take
place
3. Verify that business
operations can
continue
Capabilities
The planned capability of
the Business Units at each
level of maturity
“Acquire a $100M business
unit in 90 days or less”
“Process 100% AP invoices
from tier 1 vendors saving
$9M annually”
Business Process
Improvement
Strategy Management
Project Management

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Defining the desired maturity of a business processes
is the starting point for integrating Balanced Scorecard
with the Enterprise Services deployment processes
n The Integrated Master Plan (IMP) for Enterprise
Services starts with the identification of
increasing maturity of capabilities
n The successful delivery of supporting features
and functions can be measured by the
completion of the Significant Accomplishments
and their Criteria

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The focus of Capabilities‒Based Planning is on
assessing the increasing maturity of functionality
defined by the Balanced Scorecard strategy
n Planning under uncertainty, provides
capabilities suitable for a wide range of
challenges and circumstances while working
within an economic framework that necessitates
choice
n Focus on “possibilities” rather than features
¡ “What features do we need to achieve the desired
capabilities?”
¡ “How much of each capability to we need at this
point in time?”
¡ “How robust, flexible, and capable should we be at a
point time to provide the needed capability?”

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Capabilities Based Planning takes a near term and
long-term view of the emerging functional maturity
needed to implement the Enterprise Services strategy
n Near term effective use of processes, tools,
features and functions
n Future use of sound infrastructure and system
capabilities
¡ Joint solutions to problem by identifying vertical
connections between business processes
¡ Risk tradeoff assessment of vertical solutions within
and across business processes
¡ Build capability to respond to a wide variety of
possible demands

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Six trusted friends of a project-based organization are
the basis of capabilities based planning and balanced
scorecard
Why are we doing this? Balanced Scorecard
What is it we’re doing? Program Events
How is this going to be accomplished? Significant Accomplishments
When will we know it is done? Accomplishment Criteria
When will we be done? Tasks
Who going to do the work at what cost? Resources
Where will the work take place? Teams

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The measure of Enterprise Services Business Effect’s
is made visible at each maturity assessment point.
“Is this want done looks like?” must be the question
§ Derive business effects from capabilities
§ Link capabilities to effects
§ Explicitly identify cross links and
interdependencies between capabilities
§ Highlight “enabler” capabilities
Sub-
Capability
Capability
Business
Effect
Business
Effect
Capability
Capability
Sub-
Capability
Sub-
Capability
Sub-
Capability
Sub-
Capability
§ Functional decomposition of capabilities
§ Capabilities must be Collectively Exhaustive
and Mutually Exclusive
§ Provide a “menu” from which operations can
choose required capabilities
Capability 1 Capability 2
Sub-
Capability
Sub-
Capability
Sub-
Capability
Sub-Sub-
Capability
Sub-Sub-
Capability
Sub-Sub-
Capability
Sub-Sub-
Capability
Sub-Sub-
Capability
Sub-Sub-
Capability

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Evidence that the strategy is being fulfilled is tested in
the “units of measure” of the capabilities of a project
whose maturity is assessed at periodic events
Program Maturity
Assessment
Events
What are the maturity assessment points
along the way to completion?
Significant
Accomplishments
What accomplishments must take place in
order for this maturity to have occurred?
Accomplishment
Criteria
What is the evidence that the
accomplishments occurred?
Tasks What effort must take place for the
accomplishments to have be completed?

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The process drivers for Capabilities Based Planning
starts with functionality and ends with deliverable
effects on the business process
n Functional or feature planning does not deliver
the real value to the business units
¡ Features are not connected to strategy
n Balanced Scorecard connections are capabilities not
features
n Testing strategy involves a capabilities impact not the
presence of a feature
¡ Features are not connected to business value
n Business strategy is tested through scenarios and
capabilities
n Delivered value results from the use of a capability in a
scenario

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Capabilities Based Planning augments features with
business value, traceable to strategy through a
portfolio of projects and their Program Events
n Plan the delivery of capabilities rather than the
delivery of features and functions
n Features and functions are the raw materials of
Capabilities
n Capabilities enable the delivery of the strategy

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Program Events are evaluation points in the project
for assessing the maturity of the capability and its
effect on the business
n Program Events are Celebratory Opportunities
along the path to maturity
¡ Significant accomplishments enable a new capability
that supports a strategy
¡ The maturity of the derived effects are assured
through the assessment of the Significant
Accomplishment

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Significant Accomplishments describe the delivery of
capability needed to fulfill a business strategy using
work processes of the system
n A Capability is the deployment or delivery of a
feature or function in support of a business
process, product or service initiative
n Significant Accomplishments deliver this
capability
n Stating the needed maturity connects the
capability with strategy

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Accomplishment Criteria are the “exit criteria” for the
Significant Accomplishments, assuring the intent of
the Accomplishment is met
n Exit criteria are the evidence that the significant
accomplishment has been achieved
n The gathering and assessment of the Balance
Scorecard KPI in support of a Significant
Accomplishment

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Tasks are the raw material to implement the
functionality needed for the business process to
deliver on the capabilities
n The effort expended to deliver the
Accomplishment Criteria in support of the
Significant Accomplishment
n Short duration activities (20 to 40 working days)
with clearly defined deliverables
¡ 0% or 100% credit for the deliverables
¡ No partial completion of tasks
¡ Predefined technical outcomes

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Management consists of Capabilities Assessments
(Events), the Significant Accomplishments (SA) and
the Accomplishment Criteria (AC)
Business Strategy
IMP Process Step
WBS Element or
Subsystem
Events
Tasks
Accomplishments
Criteria
Significant
Accomplishments
(SA)
Accomplishment
Criteria (AC)
Subsystem
State of the
Project
State of the
Capability
State of the
Process
Demonstrates
Maturity
Identifies
End Item
How
Defines
Customer/Program
Direction
Program/Team
Direction
Team Direction
Performance
Team Status
Team Status
Something
Completed
Effort
Expended
Deliverables

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Starting with a “mini-Kaizen,” the maturity Assessment
Points (Events) are gathered along with the Significant
Accomplishments and Accomplishment Criteria

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A simple example of vertical and horizontal linking of
the capability — provisioning a new employee
illustrates the assessment of maturity
Human Resources
New Employee Ready to Work
Insurance
Orientation
Laptop Account Setup
Charge account setup
Information Technology
Finance
Buying authority available
Supply Chain Management
Capability: Provide Buying Authority within 10 working days of hire

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Maturity assessments allow progress to be measured
in how terms of “capability” effects the business; not
just the consumption of time and resources
n Define the desired maturity points along the
path to completion
n Measure the accomplishments
n Assess the effect on business improvement
n Engage all participants in a conversation about
capability

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The deployment of Capabilities Based Planning is the
basis of managing the deployment of Enterprise
Services
n What does done look like in terms of
operational capabilities?
n How can we measure the increasing maturity of
Enterprise Services in terms of “done,” rather
than the passage of time?
n How can the user community define their
operational needs in terms of capabilities rather
than features and functions?

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