IT Strategy plan

GG FREIGHTWAYS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC PLAN

PART 1

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GGFRT Strategic Plan Outline

1. Business Statement

GG Freightways (GGFRT) is a regional transportation and distribution company serving major cities in the southwestern United States. The company operates from its headquarters in Los Angeles, CA, with eight terminals/warehouses and two maintenance facilities located strategically across the region. GGFRT boasts a fleet of 400 delivery vehicles, including 80 tractor/semi-trailer units, 160 box trucks, and 160 panel vans. With 750 employees, including truck drivers, GGFRT aims to achieve a total annual gross revenue of $35 million. The company's future financial goals include achieving an 8% profit with an 8% reduction in operating costs.

2. Business Strategic Objectives

GG Freightways management has established three strategic goals to meet targeted business growth. These strategic objectives will guide the management to have an insight in the development and success of the strategic plan. Below are the clearly stated goals;

Business Strategic Objective	Case Objective	How management will improve the business process of GGFRT
1	Track freight whereabouts and provide accurate and precise delivery dates/times to customers: Implement systems to track the location of freight within terminals and on trucks to offer customers precise delivery estimates. This will enhance customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.	The process of strategically placing freight transportation and distribution at various stages, including sorting, warehousing, and product delivery, is essential for verifying their origin and facilitating customer delivery. Management intends to implement a freight tracking software to monitor the movement of freight and receive real-time status updates. Additionally, customers will have the ability to input their freight number to access detailed tracking information and receive notifications about their freight. This initiative aims to enhance the company's efficiency and profitability while ensuring compliance with federal regulations, such as limiting drivers to 10 hours of driving time and requiring auto safety inspections every 10,000 miles.
2	Improve loaded miles percentage to reduce costs: optimize its fleet operations by coordinating pickups and deliveries in the same geographic area simultaneously. This strategy will increase the percentage of loaded miles, thus reducing operational costs.	Implementing dynamic routing involves collaborating with drivers to optimize freight distribution and loading at centralized locations, aiming to enhance efficiency and cost-effectiveness. This initiative enables management to monitor driver routes and tasks to ensure smooth operations while reducing expenses over time.
3	Provide warehousing services for customers to reduce delivery time: GGFRT intends to offer warehousing services to customers, enabling them to store products locally for quicker pickup or delivery. This initiative will enhance customer convenience and potentially attract new business.	This solution offers order processing and rapid local pickup services for customers, leading to time and resource savings for both management and clients while ensuring excellent customer satisfaction. Moreover, the company will meet FMCSA regulations by reducing daily driver operating hours.

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Ensure compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations:

Management will enhance compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations by implementing comprehensive training programs to educate employees on regulatory requirements, enforcing monitoring systems to track driver hours and vehicle performance, integrating technology solutions for real-time monitoring and intervention, reviewing and updating company policies to align with regulations, and conducting regular audits to identify and address areas of non-compliance. These measures aim to ensure adherence to FMCSA regulations, mitigate risks associated with non-compliance, and improve overall safety and efficiency in operations.

3. IT Vision and IT Mission Statements

To successfully embrace today's Technology-informed business models, CIOs need to adopt new IT strategic planning techniques that are more enterprise-driven, dynamic, and routinely reconsidered than in previous years (Overby, 2017).

Mission Statement describes company’s purpose, its goals and its strategy to accomplish that objectives. Vision statement is an anchor point of every strategic plan and defines where the organization aspires to achieve its mission. GG Freightways IT vision as well as mission statements are below;

a. IT mission statement: The IT department at GGFRT is dedicated to leveraging technology to enhance operational efficiency, improve customer service, and drive strategic growth initiatives. We aim to deliver reliable and innovative IT solutions that align with the company's objectives while ensuring the security and integrity of our systems and data.

b. IT vision statement: Our vision is to establish GGFRT as a leader in technological innovation within the transportation and distribution industry. We aspire to implement cutting-edge IT solutions that empower our employees, streamline business processes, and exceed customer expectations. By embracing emerging technologies and best practices, we envision a future where GGFRT sets the standard for excellence in IT-driven logistics solutions.

4. Governance

The purpose of IT governance is to provide the right framework that aligns an organizations IT system with its business strategy to produce significant results that would push them to achieve their goals (Lindros, 2017). The IT governance process will facilitate the organization in achieving its defined targets by clarifying the roles for each IT service and project management team. In order for GG Freightways to be in compliance with the Sarbanes Oxley Financial Review and Reporting Requirements, they need a guarantee that their policy goals and objectives are supported by the IT system.

a. Participants:

· President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

· Vice President of Operations (COO)

· Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

· Sales Manager

· Fleet Maintenance Manager

b. Roles

· CEO: Provides strategic direction and oversight.

· COO: Ensures operational alignment with strategic goals.

· CFO: Manages financial aspects and cost-effectiveness of IT initiatives.

· Sales Manager: Represents customer needs and market trends.

· Fleet Maintenance Manager: Provides insights into fleet-related requirements.

c. Specific Governance Methodology

The governance committee could leverage COBIT's Management Guidelines to advance their strategic business goals. COBIT was developed with several aims in mind: unifying various aspects into a cohesive framework, addressing stakeholder requirements comprehensively, ensuring comprehensive coverage across the enterprise, facilitating an inclusive approach, and distinguishing between management and governance functions (Harmer, 2014). By adopting COBIT's framework, the organization can effectively oversee and control information management, while also identifying and addressing IT risks and vulnerabilities. Additionally, the management team can use COBIT to mitigate and reconcile differences between business risks and technical challenges.

d. Responsibilities

The Vice President of Operations will oversee strategic decisions aimed at ensuring the organization's profitability and long-term viability through the oversight of monitoring, service coordination, and accurate reporting to the president.

The Chief Financial Officer will manage pertinent IT investments and oversee financial risk management to facilitate the organization's compliance with federal laws and regulations.

The system will enable the Chief Information Officer to deploy high-quality information systems and technology that align with and further the organization's objectives.

e. IT projects prioritization

· Prioritization Tool: Weighted Scoring Model.

· Criteria: Alignment with business objectives, potential ROI, strategic importance, regulatory compliance, and customer impact.

5. Inventory of Current IT Projects

Current System	Function/ Description	Strategic Goal aligned to	Business Unit/ Department	Business Benefits	IT Resources
Route optimization/ freight tracking system	Track and use the most cost-effective route for freight movement.	Track freight locations both at the terminals and on the trucks to provide accurate delivery dates & times	Dispatch operations	Streamlines automation and smooth effectivenes s of freight movement	Operations manager, Terminal managers, dispatchers
Fleet maintenance system	System of enhancing the safety and effectiveness of fleets for full operational use by coordinating all vehicle maintenance timely.	Increase percentage of loaded miles.	Fleet Maintenanc e & Safety	Helps account fleet maintenance and meet federal regulations compliance of vehicle safety check every 10,000 miles	Fleet manager, maintenance staff, safety manager, dispatchers, drivers
Finance and accounting system	A system that automates the company’s financial operations through	Meet the Sarbanes Oxley financial audit and reporting	Financial Accounting	Fast and precise company accounting services.	CFO, Help desk,

modules such as billing, payroll, expenses, income etc.

requirement s

References

Overby, S. (2017, October 27). Anatomy of an IT strategic plan in the era of digital disruption.

Retrieved from https:// www.cio.com/article/2437285/anatomy-of-an-it-strategic-

plan.html

Lindros, K. (2017, July 31). What is IT governance? A formal way to align IT & business strategy. Retrieved from https:// www.cio.com/article/2438931/governance/governanceit-

governance-definition-and-solutions.html

Harmer, G. (2014). Overview of COBIT 5 – Governance of enterprise IT. In Governance of enterprise IT based on COBIT 5: A management guide. [Books24x7 version] Retrieved from http://library.books24x7.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/toc.aspx?bookid=62283