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Innovation Process & Planning Quality Assurance Implementation Post Launch Services             Overview         The Innovation phase represents the beginning of the client business cycle. The goal of the Sonik Innovation service is to assist executive and senior management in communicating their vision, developing business / IT strategies, aligning tactical initiatives and prioritizing effort. This service also assists project sponsors receive approval and allocation of capital or operational funds towards the business initiative. Innovation services include: » Executive Team Facilitation » Strategic Planning » Business Case Preparation Executive Team Facilitation Facilitation services are one of the key steps required for reaching consensus among the executive team, and ensuring that each member has ownership of the business initiatives. The client leadership team must offer sufficient support of company vision / mission and strategic business initiatives. Skilled communication and organization are the key success factors in creating valued facilitation. Strategic Planning Strategic planning is the next key component of the Innovation service. In broad terms, this phase takes the business vision and key objectives as inputs, and determines how to achieve these organization targets. This component maps strategy to required methods (projects, applications, collateral) and infrastructure (resources, systems, facilities). Three sub-components of Strategic Planning methodology are described in this section: the Objectives-Strategy-Methods Map, the IT Strategic Plan and the marketing strategy. Objectives - Strategy - Methods Map The SDM Objectives - Strategy - Methods Map is one approach employed in this exercise. This methodology serves to provide a strong link between: corporate objectives and key business / change drivers through to department/ team objectives, and/or department/team objectives, key success factors, and strategies to projects/applications/collateral IT Strategic Plan Another common - and important - strategic planning component required by clients is an Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan. Often, the IT strategy is a natural component that is first identified in the strategic visioning stage, and is crystallized using the Objectives-Strategy-Methods Map. The IT Strategy must support the overall corporate objectives and business strategies. This point is often missed at the early stages of development, which can lead to systems and applications development that are not in synch with the original business mission. Business Case Preparation Business cases are commonly used within companies to validate and / or justify investments in proposed business initiatives. The Business Case often serves as a reality check for executives, project sponsors, and project managers alike - where business vision meets business constraints. Business cases are also often used to fund pilot projects, and to attract external / third-party investments to fund new business initiatives. Furthermore, at many Tier 1 organizations, business cases are a mandatory requirement of a formal gating / approval process.