Service Owners get behind new financial practices

Following a balanced scorecard update in November, progress is well underway to train all Service Owners on fiscal management by the end of FY21. This training supports one of the two financial objectives (F1) on IT’s Strategy Map: to enhance financial acumen and responsibility within the organization.

The team overseeing this effort includes Mark Manton and Karen Polhemus, with support from Matt Tarducci and the Service Management Organization. Together, they developed resource materials and hosted training sessions for Service Owners in December on the following topics:

• Understanding the Financial Activity and Balances (FAB) report by Service
• Writing narratives explaining the current financial state of services
• Hosting strategy discussions and reviewing roadmaps from a financial perspective

Further progress on this initiative included:

• Reviewing the FAB by Service report at a recent Service Owner’s meeting to help them understand components within each cost category and timing for charges
• Posting the How to read the FAB quick guide on the IT @ Yale Teams site (including an offer for Service Owners to contact matthew.tarducci@yale.edu with additional questions)
• Distributing a form to complete narratives within the FAB

A significant number of Service Owners have already completed narratives for their services. These narratives helped inform the Q2 Forecast narrative shared with the Finance Department and used in the corporate document provided to the trustees.

Additionally, most Roadmaps are now completed from a financial and strategic perspective. Service Owners are currently identifying rating decisions on whether to increase, sustain, or reduce spend for each service. The Pillar Chairs will evaluate these ratings by mid-February. The Portfolio Management Office will then perform analytics on this data and see if budget requests for these services align with the investment strategy, long term planning, and institutional needs.

The team overseeing this Balanced Scorecard initiative is very grateful to Service Owners for their ongoing support. For questions, contact matthew.tarducci@yale.edu.