IT landscape assessment and 90-day steering plan
Ten consulting days spread over three to four weeks. At the end you know which IT decision comes first, which can wait and which cannot be made yet, plus a plan for the following 90 days with a sponsor for each decision. Designed for managing directors, executive boards, CFOs and CIOs of organizations with roughly 250 to 1,200 employees.
- Decide first
- Then
- Can wait
- Can wait
- Cannot be decided today: what is missing, who has it
on site and remote, within three to four calendar weeks, at a fixed price.
Decisions in sequence, a sponsor for each, three checkpoints.
of your organization's time in total, all participants combined, about four of them with the sponsor.
What you have on day 10
- The assessment as a presentation for executive management and as a full report
- A rating for each domain, with evidence. A domain is a coherent part of the IT landscape, such as workplace, telephony or ERP; six to eight per organization
- An accountability map for the domains examined in depth: who decides, who executes, who carries the risk
- The page "What cannot be decided today": for each item, what is missing, who has it and how to obtain it
- The 90-day steering plan with a sponsor for each decision. The sponsor is the person in your organization who can make that decision and own it
- The decision log from the closing meeting
No technical audit, no implementation, no appraisal of individuals. The report also states what was not examined.
Before day one you answer one question: which decision should be possible on day 10? The answer is the first acceptance criterion.
Every rating states what it rests on. The report distinguishes what documents show, what interviewees report, what several sources confirm, and what is an assessment. A document proves what it contains, not that anyone follows it; two matching statements make a claim more likely, not certain. So alongside the number of sources, how current and relevant they are matters. As a minimum rule, no rating rests on a single person's statement alone. Indications of serious risk appear in the report.
Your IT lead reviews the facts in the report on day 9: figures, system names, responsibilities, time periods. Corrections go in before the closing meeting.
The assessment is backed by evidence and open to discussion. Where views still differ after review, the decision log records both.
Ten consulting days to the assessment, 90 days for the first decisions
- Day 0
Your entry question: which decision should be possible on day 10? Documents requested, sponsor meetings fixed.
- Day 5
Mid-point with the sponsor: first picture, choice of the domains to examine in depth.
- Day 10
Assessment, 90-day steering plan and decision log in the meeting with executive management.
- 90 days after
Your plan: decisions in sequence, a sponsor per decision, three checkpoints you run yourself.
Days 1 to 10 are consulting days, spread over three to four calendar weeks.
You choose the two or three domains to examine in depth, usually from the lowest-rated ones, weighted by business criticality.
Report, plan and decision log in the meeting with executive management. Decisions made in the meeting are recorded there.
A plan you run yourself: decisions in sequence, a sponsor for each, three checkpoints.
What an assessment looks like
| Domain | Operational stability | Responsibility and authority | Capacity bound | Change load | Risks and dependencies | Business criticality | Relevance for next steps | Steering priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workplace | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | watch |
| Telephony | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | now |
| ERP | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 90 days |
| Network | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | watch |
| CRM | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | sponsor decides |
| Security | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | hold |
| Providers | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | now |
Five controllability ratings, each from 1 to 5 and backed by evidence: operational stability; responsibility and authority; capacity tied up in operations; project and change load; risks and dependencies. Plus two weightings set with the sponsor: business criticality and relevance for the next steps.
The steering priority comes from ratings, weightings and an estimate of the change effort, together with dependencies between decisions and dates that are coming anyway, such as contract expirations. The lowest rating is a signal, not automatically the first decision. If a domain rates low and is expensive to change, the sponsor decides on it explicitly.
Where a role carries responsibility without the authority to decide, the other values rarely stay stable.
1 · Assessment
The same seven values for every domain, every rating backed by evidence.
2 · Judgment
Which domains are under control with the roles in place, which are not, and which decision comes first, with business criticality, urgency and dependencies in view.
3 · Options
Decisions in sequence with a sponsor for each, plus the page "What cannot be decided today".
Scope and commercial terms
Ten consulting days within three to four calendar weeks, mostly on site, at a fixed price plus travel; further days on request at the day rate. The offer fits on one page and follows the first conversation.
About 14 to 18 hours across all participants: around four with the sponsor, around six with the IT lead, the rest with two or three business unit heads and one or two providers.
A sponsor who can decide on the 90-day plan. An IT lead whom the sponsor has informed in advance. A basic set of documents: org chart, legal entities, project list, provider list with contract end dates, IT budget overview, open problem list.
One round of factual corrections within ten working days is included: figures, system names, roles, dates. Where views still differ, the report records them.
What can follow
The plan is yours; you run the checkpoints yourself. Three follow-ons are possible, each as a separate engagement, when the occasion arises.
If a domain sits at "now" and the first decisions find nobody inside who can carry them in the coming weeks: support for those decisions as a block with a fixed scope.
If you would rather not run the three checkpoints alone, or at a checkpoint more deadlines have passed than decisions have been made: preparation and support for the checkpoints, with the plan staying your plan.
If responsibility and authority rate low in the core domains and the IT leadership role is vacant or needs relief for a period: leading the IT function for a defined time with authority agreed up front.
If none of these occasions arises, that is a good sign: the plan works with the roles you have.
Let's talk
If an IT decision is coming up or a role needs covering for a while, send me a note. Two or three sentences about the situation are enough; I reply personally.
mw@mathieswaehner.comWillich near Düsseldorf, Germany · remote and hybrid · German and English