Improving IT management at the BMW Group by integrating existing IT management processes

The management of IT landscapes consisting of thousands of business applications, different middleware systems, and supporting various business processes is a challenge for modern IT management. The BMW Group has addressed this challenge by establishing an integrated IT management process which covers strategy, architecture, planning and controlling. The BMW Group integrates the following preexisting IT processes in a continuous management process: "architecture and standardization" defines blueprints in terms of architectural patterns; "landscape management" maintains an overall model of the (present and future) IT landscape; "portfolio management" coordinates, evaluates and prioritizes action items with IT impact; "synchronization management" manages ongoing (IT) projects, their dependencies and the cross functions; "strategy and objectives" generates action items, defines guidelines for the other processes and adjusts strategies based on feedback from the other processes. This paper describes the problems that arise if such an integrated, continuous management process is lacking.