ICT Strategic Plan

All public institutions are advised to develop an ICT strategic plan to guide the adoption and implementation of ICT in accordance to each institution’s functions, in line with Smart

Rwanda Master Plan, the enterprise architecture blueprint development guidelines for GoR, the specific sector ICT strategy, and also aligned to other institutional strategic plans.
The following are key steps to the development of an ICT strategic plan at institutional level:

• Assessment of the current situation:

The development of an ICT strategic plan should start by the mapping of an institution’s business, information, applications, and technology and infrastructure domains. The mapping is aimed at highlighting the linkage between the above four domains to support the institution’s mandate and strategic objectives.
− The business domain focuses on functions, services, processes and roles.
− The information domain focuses on data models, data source and data usage (internal and external).
− The application domain focuses on applications portfolio, interfaces and services.
− The technology and infrastructure domain focuses on hardware and software assets as well as network infrastructure and configuration.
The output of the above mapping process is the institution’s IT landscape view called “As-Is
Blueprint”
Detailed guidelines on the 4 domains mapping process are provided as annex. (Enterprise
Architecture Blueprint Development Guidelines for GoR)

• Definition of the target position: the desired situation and attainable targets should be defined within a period of 3 years. The target position should contribute to the overall goals and strategic objectives of the organization, the specific sector strategic objectives, and also aligned to the National ICT strategy and existing ICT initiatives by the government. Stakeholders’ needs and funding mechanism should as well be considered.
• Definition of gaps: basing on the current position, a gap matrix should be developed to highlight shortages in the four domains. (Refer to the EA Blueprint Development Guidelines for GoR).
• Establishing a roadmap to close the gaps: should highlight the
  - Process changes that are needed and impact on organization’s business,
  - Software, hardware assets that need to be purchased or retired,
  - New ICT projects that should be initiated or existing ICT projects that should be re-focused and related description, priority, timeframe and schedule.
• Roles and responsibilities: the success of the ICT strategic plan depends on the endorsement, commitment and ongoing support from different decision makers within the institution and outside the institution. It is important to establish a stakeholder’s matrix that clearly outlines respective roles and responsibilities.
• Funding and resources: should summarize the amount of resources (human and financial) needed to implement the strategy and potential sources of funds.