Value Chain Approach to IT

One of the major sections in my book is the development of a unified process framework. The reader might well ask: with such breadth and depth available in COBIT, CMMI, and ITIL, why spend any time developing a new framework? As Jeff Kaplan notes in his excellent it is a primary value chain activity. Without actually doing software construction, activities such as configuration management, verification and validation, and process and product quality assurance have no meaning. The core activity has become de-emphasized to the point where bureaucracy swamps it: all ITIL volumes), but both mix primary and secondary IT activities into what might be called laundry-list frameworks. Capacity Management is a high profile activity in ITIL, but would probably not be identified by the end IT customer as value-add, while Incident Management probably would be. The entire system design and build activity is seen as one small part of the Release process area, itself a subsidiary of the Change process. COBIT (the most holistic framework) similarly has "Develop and maintain procedures" (clearly a supporting process) as a peer process to "Install and accredit systems" (clearly core value chain). The solution is not "either-or," but "both-and": Competitive Advantage.) The concept of "ERP for IT" is a driver for this book, and the salient characteristic of ERP systems is that they enable value chains. Without a value chain perspective on IT, we have no basis for using "ERP" as an architectural concept. Here is one representation of an IT value chain concept. IT Physicial Heal Thyself. I am very interested in any other work along these lines - if you have any references please send them along. www.erp4it.com weblog.