What the resulting product or service will accomplish Organizational units involved and their needs IT professionals identify IT solutions that contribute to their agency's strategies and programs. They do this by exploring ways to apply technology to achieve one or more critical success factors. This requires an understanding of the organization, its structure and its operating environment. Successful IT project managers understand their agency's programs and processes and can describe how technology fosters improvement in agency business performance. Linking IT projects to agency objectives requires involvement by senior management and consensus among stakeholders.
Senior managers possess the broad perspective necessary for strategic planning.
They judge if linkage exists and to what degree it exists. The IT project manager identifies the stakeholders and works to obtain their agreement and support. The project manager faces the challenge of balancing the interests of internal and external stakeholders which often differ. USBP management utilizes information that ICAD produces to make tactical decisions on the deployment of Border Patrol resources and strategic decisions on future Border Patrol operations. The INS developed performance measures to show the effect of ICAD at the strategic, programmatic and tactical levels of the organization.