Agency IT Strategic Plan (ITSP)

Writing the Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan is a collaborative effort between the business, finance, and IT leaders within the agency. It cannot be written without input and involvement from all parties. The resources who are responsible for the agency strategic plan must work with the resources responsible for the agency's IT Strategic Plan (ITSP) to successfully write this section.

The ITSP is the primary tool for communicating how agency business needs drive IT investment decisions, and how the agency's IT investments support the business goals and objectives of the agency and the Commonwealth. The ITSP provides a detailed view of the business value of agency IT investments, identifies the alignment of each individual IT investment to the agency's service area objectives and performance measures, and provides additional information for each investment (i.e., costs, start and end dates, service area owner, etc.)

IT Strategic Planning Links

• IT Strategic Planning Refresher Training 
• List of In-scope Agencies and Exemptions 
• ITSP Requirements for Executive Branch Agencies 
• DPB Agency Planning Handbook for the 12-14 Biennium 

ITSP Components

• Virginia Performs 
• Commonwealth Technology Portfolio (CTP) 
• Request CTP Access 
• Commonwealth Enterprise Technologies Repository (CETR) 
• CETR Reference Guide   (Need CETR access to view) 
• Request a New COV Account for CETR Access 

ITSP Update Processes

• ITSP Update Processes Overview 
• ITSP Updates: Ad Hoc 
• ITSP Updates: Budget Biennium 
• ITSP Updates: Budget Cycle 

ITSP Schedule

For the 12-14 biennium, although the rest of the agency strategic plan is due to the Department of Planning and Budget (DPB) by August 26, the ITSP is due to the CIO of the Commonwealth by October 28. The additional time for submission of the ITSP has been added to allow agencies time to match IT investments to approved agency business strategies.

Requirements for the Health and Human Resources Secretariat

For the 12-14 biennium, agencies in the Health and Human Resources Secretariat have additional requirements, due to the Secretariat's focus on fulfilling federal mandates under the Commonwealth's Health IT/Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (HIT/MITA) Program. Per the Secretary, Health and Human Resources agencies will:

• use a single Secretary-approved Appendix A for the entire Secretariat;
• use common descriptions for all projects and procurements in the HIT/MITA program. The descriptions will be provided by the HIT/MITA program office; and,
• in addition to agency head approval, will obtain Secretary approval on their ITSPs.

ITSP Components and Requirements

The ITSP has four agency head-approved components that must be completed by all in-scope agencies:

1. the IT Summary Section of the agency strategic plan in the Virginia Performs system;
2. the IT Budget Estimation Tables in the agency strategic plan in the Virginia Performs system;
3. the Appendix A in the Commonwealth Technology Portfolio, or an Appendix A Exemption Letter on file with VITA's ITIM Division. For additional information about your agency's use of the Commonwealth Technology Portfolio, please contact your AITR; and,
4. the agency Application Portfolio in the Commonwealth Enterprise Technologies Repository. If you do not already have a COV account (i.e., your agency has not been message-transformed), you will need to request a new COV account.

CIO Approval

After all components of the agency ITSP have been approved or certified by the agency head, the ITSP must be submitted to the CIO of the Commonwealth for review and approval. To submit the agency ITSP for CIO review and approval, please email Constance Scott (constance.scott@vita.virginia.gov) and Sean Weir (sean.weir@vita.virginia.gov) in VITA's IT Investment Management (ITIM) Division.