Definition
An IT strategy template is a standardized structure used to document and communicate an organization’s IT strategy in a consistent format. It typically defines common sections such as strategic context, a summary of the current and target states, strategic priorities, a high-level roadmap, governance, and performance measures.
Concept and Terminology
A template is distinct from an IT strategy, which it helps document. The template provides the structure for recording decisions and priorities; the strategy is the decisions and priorities recorded within that structure.
The term is also used interchangeably with IT strategy document template, IT strategic plan template, and technology strategy template, though the scope implied by these terms can vary.
Purpose and scope
What it covers
A template establishes a consistent format for documenting the core elements of an IT strategy. It typically covers:
- Strategic context relevant to IT direction, including business objectives, drivers, constraints, and assumptions
- Current-state summary of the IT environment at a structural level, such as major capabilities, platforms, strengths, gaps, and constraints
- Target-state summary describing intended future capabilities and technology direction at a conceptual level
- Strategic priorities expressed as themes, focus areas, or major initiative groupings
- High-level roadmap structure that represents sequencing and time horizons for major changes without delivery-level detail
- Governance elements defining ownership, decision rights, and review forums associated with the strategy
- Performance measures used to track progress and outcomes, typically expressed as KPIs or metric categories
What it does not cover
A template is not designed to replace delivery planning, detailed design, or operational documentation. It generally does not cover:
- Implementation plans such as project schedules, sprint plans, dependency maps at task level, or runbooks
- Detailed solution architecture including system designs, integration specifications, or engineering standards beyond principle-level statements
- Procurement and vendor selection detail such as RFP criteria, vendor comparisons, or contract terms
- Non-IT enterprise strategy outside the IT organization’s mandate and decision scope
- Operational procedures such as service management processes, incident handling playbooks, or step-level SOPs
Common components
An IT strategy template commonly includes the following sections:
- Executive summary — A concise overview of strategic priorities, scope, and major directional choices.
- Strategic context — The business objectives, drivers, constraints, assumptions, and planning horizon that frame IT direction.
- Current state — A summary view of the existing IT environment, commonly expressed through capabilities, platforms, service performance, risk exposure, and material gaps.
- Target state — A summary description of intended future capabilities and technology direction, often expressed through guiding principles and target outcomes rather than detailed designs.
- Strategic priorities — The set of focus areas or themes that define what IT will prioritize and what it will deprioritize.
- Initiative portfolio (high level) — Major initiatives or programs grouped under priorities, described at a level suitable for executive review.
- Roadmap — A sequencing view of major initiatives across a planning horizon, expressed through phases, waves, or milestones rather than project plans.
- Investment view — Investment themes or categories used to align funding and capacity to priorities, without procurement-level detail.
- Risk, security, and compliance considerations — Material constraints and exposures that influence strategy direction, expressed at a decision-relevant level.
- Governance and decision rights — Roles, forums, escalation paths, and review cadence used to maintain alignment and manage changes to priorities.
- Metrics and KPIs — Measures used to track delivery progress and strategic outcomes, typically organized as a scorecard or KPI set.
- Appendices (optional) — Supporting context such as inventories, assumptions, definitions, and references.
Table 1: Common Components (Section → What it captures → Typical detail level)
| Common section | What it captures | Typical detail level |
| Executive summary | Scope, strategic priorities, and major directional choices | Summary |
| Strategic context | Business goals, drivers, constraints, assumptions, planning horizon | Summary–medium |
| Current state | Baseline capabilities/platforms, material gaps, constraints | Summary–medium (detail often in appendix) |
| Target state | Intended future capabilities/technology direction and guiding principles | Summary |
| Strategic priorities | Themes/focus areas and explicit areas of emphasis | Summary |
| Initiative portfolio (high level) | Major initiatives grouped under priorities | Summary–medium |
| Roadmap | High-level sequencing across phases/waves/milestones | Summary |
| Investment view | Investment themes or allocation categories for planning | Summary |
| Risk, security, compliance considerations | Material constraints and exposures influencing direction | Summary |
| Governance and decision rights | Ownership, decision forums, escalation paths, review cadence | Summary |
| Metrics and KPIs | Measures for progress and intended outcomes | Summary |
| Appendices (optional) | Definitions, inventories, assumptions, references, supporting detail |
Inputs and outputs
Typical inputs
An IT strategy template is typically populated using inputs that describe business direction, the current IT baseline, and the constraints that shape feasible choices. Common inputs include:
- Business strategy and objectives — enterprise goals, business priorities, and outcome expectations that IT is expected to support.
- Business capability maps and value streams — structural views of what the organization does and where technology enablement is most material.
- Application and infrastructure inventory (summary level) — major platforms, applications, services, hosting models, and lifecycle status.
- Technology standards and architectural constraints — enterprise architecture principles, approved patterns, and non-negotiable constraints.
- Security, risk, privacy, and regulatory requirements — control obligations, risk posture requirements, audit findings, and compliance constraints.
- Service and performance baseline — availability, reliability, service quality indicators, and operational pain points at a summary level.
- Financial and portfolio constraints — planning assumptions, investment guardrails, capacity limits, and major cost drivers.
- Stakeholder requirements and constraints — priorities and needs captured from business units, IT domains, and governance bodies.
Typical outputs
When completed, an IT strategy template produces a consistent set of strategy artifacts that can be reviewed and governed. Common outputs include:
- Strategic priorities and themes — a structured statement of what IT will focus on across the planning horizon.
- High-level initiative set — major initiatives grouped under priorities, suitable for portfolio-level discussion.
- Roadmap view — sequencing of major initiatives expressed through phases, waves, or milestone ranges.
- Investment themes and allocation categories — planning-level categories that connect priorities to funding and capacity discussions.
- Governance model summary — ownership, decision rights, review forums, escalation paths, and cadence.
- Measurement model — KPIs or KPI categories tied to strategic outcomes and execution progress.
- Key assumptions and constraints — documented conditions that materially affect feasibility, sequencing, or scope.
Table 2: Inputs vs Outputs Matrix
| Category | Example inputs (used to populate the template) | Example outputs (produced by the completed template) |
| Business direction | Business strategy, enterprise objectives, strategic initiatives | IT strategic priorities and themes aligned to enterprise objectives |
| Capability and value structure | Capability maps, value streams, business process priorities | Target capability direction and prioritized focus areas (summary level) |
| Technology baseline | Application portfolio and infrastructure inventory (summary), lifecycle status | Current-state summary and rationalized set of strategic focus areas |
| Architecture constraints | Enterprise principles, standards, target architecture intent | Target-state direction and constraints reflected in priorities and roadmap |
| Risk and compliance | Security requirements, regulatory obligations, audit findings (summary) | Risk/compliance considerations embedded as constraints and governance elements |
| Performance baseline | Service reliability/availability indicators, operational pain points (summary) | Measurement model (KPIs or categories) for progress and outcomes |
| Financial and capacity constraints | Investment guardrails, funding limits, capacity constraints, major cost drivers | Investment themes and planning categories linked to priorities and roadmap |
| Stakeholder requirements | Executive inputs, BU constraints, domain priorities | Governance model summary (ownership, forums, cadence) and documented assumptions |
How it differs from related artifacts
IT strategy template vs IT roadmap
An IT roadmap is a sequencing view of major initiatives and milestones across a planning horizon. An IT strategy template is a document structure that can include the roadmap, along with the context, priorities, governance, and performance measures that frame and justify the sequencing.
IT strategy template vs IT operating model
An IT operating model defines how IT is organized and run, including structures, processes, service responsibilities, sourcing arrangements, and decision forums. An IT strategy template documents intended direction and priorities and may reference operating model constraints, but it does not define operational procedures or organizational design in detail.
IT strategy template vs enterprise architecture
Enterprise architecture defines structural models and standards—such as business, data, application, and technology architectures—and may specify target architectures and approved patterns. An IT strategy template captures strategic intent and prioritized change at a summary level, and it may reference enterprise architecture to ensure consistency with standards and target-state direction.
IT strategy template vs project or program plan
A project or program plan defines delivery scope, schedule, detailed dependencies, work breakdown, and execution controls. An IT strategy template operates at a strategy level and typically documents priorities, sequencing at a high level, governance, and measures, without delivery-level planning detail.
Table 3: Related Artifacts Comparison (IT strategy template vs adjacent artifacts)
| Artifact | Primary purpose | Typical contents | How it differs from an IT strategy template |
| IT strategy (content) | Define IT direction, priorities, and major choices | Strategic objectives, priorities, trade-offs, target outcomes, investment themes | The strategy is the substance; the template is the structure used to document it. |
| IT roadmap | Show sequencing and timing of major initiatives | Phases, waves, milestones, dependencies (high level), timeline views | A roadmap is primarily sequencing; a template can include the roadmap plus context, governance, and measures that frame it. |
| IT operating model | Define how IT is organized and run | Organizational responsibilities, processes, service ownership, sourcing model, decision forums | Operating model defines how IT operates; the template documents what IT intends to prioritize and achieve at a strategy level. |
| Enterprise architecture (EA) | Define structural models, standards, and target architectures | Principles, standards, reference architectures, target states across domains | EA defines architectural structure and standards; the template records strategic intent and priorities and may reference EA for consistency. |
| Project/program plan | Manage delivery execution | Scope, schedule, work breakdown, resources, risks/issues, controls | Delivery plans operate at execution detail; the template stays at strategy-level direction, governance, and measures. |
Typical users (roles)
These templates are used by roles that contribute to, approve, govern, or apply IT strategy decisions.
- CIO / Head of IT — Accountable for overall strategy direction, ensuring priorities align with enterprise objectives, and presenting the strategy for executive review.
- IT executive leadership team — Contributes domain input (applications, infrastructure, security, data), resolves trade-offs, and aligns delivery and operating constraints with priorities.
- Business executives and business-unit leaders — Provide business priorities and constraints, review alignment to outcomes, and participate in prioritization and trade-off decisions.
- Enterprise architecture leaders — Ensure strategic direction remains consistent with architectural principles, standards, and target-state intent.
- Information security, risk, and compliance leaders — Validate that strategic priorities and roadmaps account for security posture, risk exposure, and regulatory obligations.
- Finance, portfolio management, and strategic planning functions — Connect priorities to investment themes, capacity planning, and measurement expectations at a portfolio level.
- PMO / transformation office — Coordinates strategy-linked initiatives at a macro level and supports governance cadence, reporting structures, and milestone visibility.
A template standardizes how IT strategy content is documented and presented. It defines common sections, inputs, and outputs, and distinguishes strategy documentation from adjacent artifacts such as roadmaps, operating models, enterprise architecture, and delivery plans. The format varies by organization and scope, but the intent remains consistent: to provide a repeatable structure for recording and reviewing IT strategic direction, priorities, governance, and performance measures.