As we’re heading toward the beginning of the next fiscal year for California agencies, it’s a good time to start discussing technology roadmaps. It’s pretty common for municipalities to create roadmaps for budgeting, project management, and goal alignment purposes. Most if not all agencies we work with have at least a technology plan, but not all have a roadmap.
A technology roadmap is a visual summary that outlines and maps an organization's vision and plans for its complex technology infrastructure (initiatives, strategies, services, and products.) It details what technology and other resources you have now, what you will need in the future, risk assessment, security weaknesses, and upgrade path.
Technology roadmaps are a critical tool for change management. When it’s time for a change it is useful to see where you were, where you are and then map the desired result of the change back to where you are now, to determine how to get there.
Develop a Laserfiche Roadmap
We work closely with almost 200 municipalities. While many administer their Laserfiche through IT some manage it through the clerk or records. Either way, a roadmap is fundamental for the organization to understand where they are with Laserfiche and plan where they want to go. Here are a few tips to consider when developing a roadmap:
Analyze where you are- What departments are using Laserfiche? What workflows do they use (if any)? Is Laserfiche being used for records management? Are you using the product like a digital file cabinet? Are there integrations between Laserfiche and business systems like your ERP?
Learn what Laserfiche can do- If you are a CPS client give us a call! Also, check out some of the resources on CPS247.com. Make sure you are signed up for the Laserfiche support site, check out the tutorials, and consider getting your Laserfiche certifications.
Identify your strategic objectives- Before you can plan the specific tactics of your Laserfiche project, you need to figure out why you’ve decided this initiative is essential. That means your first step is to identify and clearly articulate the “why” behind your proposed change. Ask yourself, “How will this IT change benefit our organization?” — and place your brief response at the top of your technology roadmap. This response is critical in helping you communicate your objective and often becomes your mission statement.
Determine your audience- You might be planning highly technical changes for your agency. But if you’re going to present this roadmap to your executive staff, you don’t want it to read like a Window’s help file. Determine which audiences will be viewing your Laserfiche roadmap, so you can build the roadmap using language all staff will understand. If you plan to share the roadmap with more than one audience, consider using web-based roadmap software. It allows you to quickly and easily build several versions of the same roadmap and switch effortlessly among the different views during your presentations.
Establish major themes- Now that you’ve decided on your primary strategic goals, it’s time to turn those goals into a plan. You’ll want to start with the highest-level actions. You can then drill down into each to figure out the details. We work with an IT department that uses Laserfiche forms to launch most workflow projects that they implement. Laserfiche Forms could be considered one of the themes.
Communicate- When your Laserfiche roadmap is ready to share with key stakeholders, you should call a meeting with them. At this stage, you should have a compelling message about why this new usage of Laserfiche will help the organization and a clear vision of how you plan to execute it. Expect your stakeholders — particularly your management team — to ask you to explain both points. Also, consider having Comms look over your language.
Finally, review, revisit and reassess your roadmap, often- The projects covered in a Laserfiche roadmap typically take about a month or less to complete. And because your team’s priorities can change many times during that period, you’ll want to review and update your roadmap regularly throughout the process. That way, your team is continuing to make progress and match it back to your original plan and goals.
