AV Technology - October 2008 - (Page 19)

agency. The individuals that participate in the team are likely to become advocates if the team leader empowers them in the decision making process during planning exercises. Brainstorming and technology exchange meetings are excellent ways to discover any gaps in program plans. These activities can include working group members, end users, and senior managers. Participation from end users is particularly important. Their feedback can greatly assist with developing business cases that flow from actual user requirements and provide mission impact. End users of AV systems include senior leaders from across the agency that can greatly influence funding decisions. It is also critical to keep IT leadership informed throughout the process. DOCUMENTATION Once relationships are established and communication skills are honed, it is time for documentation. Effective business cases depend on professional documentation. Without professional documentation, most senior managers will not consider requests to allocate program funding. Some agencies have business case templates for program funding. If properly completed, these templates can make requesting program funding fairly straight forward. Business case documentation may include any combination of program funding justification papers and briefings, financial analysis spreadsheets, return on investment (ROI) reports, benchmarking reports, cost/benefits analysis, risk mitigation plans, policies, processes, and various assessments. The list does not end there. The total volume of documentation required can be daunting, but it can be managed by delegating the workload and maintaining working documents in central locations such as wiki sites or SharePoint portals. All documentation should follow commonly accepted formats and should include executive summaries and/or abstracts. Agency leaders are busy people and they will likely not have time to review all of the documentation. Preparing short presentations to cover the highlights is critical. Patience is crucial. Program funding doesn’t just appear when you need it. It may take a year or longer to gather all of the documentation and support needed. Developing a sustainable program is not easy, but the reward is well worth the effort october 2008 | AVTECHNOLOGY | 19 both for the AV technology manager and the agency. All federal agencies are becoming increasingly reliant on complex AV systems that are merging with IT and telephony infrastructures. AV technology managers need to ensure seamless transitions to the collaboration environments of the future. The pace of innovation and advancement in our industry makes that nearly impossible without the flexibility that comes with dedicated funding. Successful AV technology managers will support the mission of their agencies by securing funding and proving return on investment. Taking a systematic approach to creating pro- gram funding business cases can mean the difference between a trick and a treat each October when the new fiscal year budgets are announced. I wish you all happy budgeting and safe haunting. Gary L. Hall, CTS-D, CTS-I, is a program management execution officer at the NationalGeospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) in Bethesda, MD. He is also an adjunct instructor at the InfoComm Academy and can be reached at garylhall@gmail.com. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and are in no way officially endorsed by NGA, and do not necessarily represent the views of the United States. http://www.vqseries.com http://www.vqseries.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AV Technology - October 2008

AV Technology - October 2008 Contents Precedent Corporate: Residential AV Does Not Equal Commercial AV Government: Funding Problems? Education: DIY ISP.EDU, Part Two The Cost of Bandwidth Star Grounding Wars Understanding IoIP How to Equip a Smart Classroom Two Rooms With A View From Primitive to Professional Product Review:�Visionary Solutions AVN 420 Encoder Product Spotlight: Document Cameras New Products Ad Index AV MO: Using Infrared Microphones

AV Technology - October 2008

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