Developing a Strategic Plan ( Individual Assignment) Strategic Planning has been defined by several scholars and corporate leaders as the process by which leaders (not managers) of an organization determine what it intends to be in the future and how it will get there. Long range planning is closely aligned to Strategic Planning, however, is more focused on determining the vision, while strategic planning is focused on how the company will achieve this vision. Strategic planning is the development of a vision for the companys future and determining the necessary priorities, processes, and strategies to achieving the vision.

Included are measurable goals which are realistic and attainable, but also challenging; emphasis is on long-term goals and strategies, rather than short-term (such as annual) objectives. Strategic planning assumes that certain aspects of the future can be created or influenced by the organization. Strategic planning is an ongoing process and something that needs to be revisited constantly by a company. Technology-based and technology service related companies are very susceptible to rapidly changing market influences. These companies must constantly review and update Strategic Plans to remain competitive.

You are in a senior leadership role (CIO, COO, CTO, etc..) of a technology-based or technology service related company (a real company that you select). The CEO has come to you concerned that the companies Strategic Plan maybe obsolete and the company needs a new focus for the future. Even though the company is performing well today, the risk of maintaining this success in the future is not clearly laid out. The CEO has asked you to review the existing companies Strategy, determine if it is still relevant for the future or obsolete and develop or update the Company's Strategic Plan. Even if the current Plan is valid, the CEO has asked you to develop a new or updated plan. The updated plan may include a plan for IT or Engineering to align with the Companies Business Strategy.

The CEO has recently read the book, Barksdale, S. & T. Lund (2006),10 Steps to Successful Strategic Planning and would like your analysis and plan to follow these steps. They have also requested you research any other useful resources on developing a Strategic Plan, in particular from the Harvard Business Review (since they are a Harvard graduate).

The CEO has requested a Plan (Report) by Week 13 of the course. They also request you present the plan in a short PowerPoint slide pack to the all corporate leaders.

Objectives This project will help students to apply the content from the course and additional research to develop or modify a Strategic Plan. Students will document, study, analyze, research and develop a Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan will help students to:

Be able to analyze and document the Strategic Plan of a technology-based company and determine if the Strategy is obsolete.

Develop or update a Strategic Plan Develop a plan to align organizations business Units (IT, Engineering, ..) with the Business Strategy. Gain experience in applying the steps in developing a Strategic Plan. Understand the 10 Steps for a Strategic Plan as defined Barksdale, S. & T. Lund (2006). 10 Steps to Successful Strategic Planning.. Be able to research other methods for developing a Strategic Plan. Pedagogical objectives The pedagogical objectives of this paper are:

To help students to develop critical thinking abilities. To help students to present information in a concise and concrete fashion. To introduce students to technical writing expected in industry. Technical Writing The following link will also give you some other tips for technical writing: http://www.writer-on-line.com/content/view/315/66/~Articles/Technical-Writing/What-Is-Technical-Writing,-Anyway?.html

Presentation The presentation should be very concise and contain the key highlights from your Strategic Plan. Do not repeat your Strategic Plan word for word or use complex graphs that are difficult to read. Keep the slides and content to a minimum and push home the key message.

References Please use APA citation style for references.

Appendices (if any) This section should include items such as, tables, charts, diagrams, financial analysis, questionnaires, references of the interviewees (if any), etc. to support the content of the report. Students should ensure that any appendix (ces) is referenced in the body of the report.

File submission format MS Word and MS PowerPoint are preferred.

Specifications of the Strategic Plan The full content length of the Project Management Plan may not exceed 20 pages (this does not include title pages, table of contents, graphs and appendices).

The report should be written in 12 points Times New Roman font or similar with a minimum of 1.5 spacing.

Formatting is open to the student, however, must look professional with clear section headings.

Plagiarism Will not be tolerated and it will be dealt, according to the policies of the University.

Criteria Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Criterion Score Presentation 15 points Outstanding presentation. Key points included in a visual appealing manner.

All slides are clear and concise and convey key points.

12 points Acceptable Presentation

Main points included. Few slides may be too wordy or difficult to read.

8 points Poor presentation.

Too wordy, difficult to read font, graphics difficult to interpret.

0 points Slides not included

Score of Presentation,/ 15