Case.Study:.Sidmar.–.Arcelor

During the last 10 years, the expenditure of the IT department has known a
continuous growth. From 1996 to 2001, this growth was rather strong due
to a heavy investment program at the Sidmar plant and the delivery of solutions
towards the commercial organization of the flat carbon steel sector.
Since 2001, the IT budget is frozen and now that Sidmar is part of Arcelor,
the budget is expected to stay under pressure.
On business governance level, Sidmar introduced in 2004 a company-wide
process-based management system. This is know under the name ICE, standing
for integral company excellence. ICE actually brought existing individual
components of process management together into one structured whole,
covering all levels at Sidmar and describing strategic, tactical, operational
and supporting processes.
One of the 22 ICE processes is P23: Management of Information Systems,
under responsibility of the IT department and its director. The process clearly
defines ins and outs, different sub-processes, and its activities, the interdependencies
with other processes, measurements (KPIs), and a reporting and
evaluation structure.
IT.Governance.Structures
Organisational Structures
The centrally located IT department of Sidmar does not exclusively provide
services to its own organisation; it also partly supports the commercial organisation
of the flat carbon steel sector (Figure 67). Approximately 15 to 20
percent of the total IT budget is being spent for the commercial organisation.
Over time a further integration and alignment with the global IT department
of the Arcelor group is expected.
The IT department counts approximately 170 internal and 90 external employees,
divided into three main groups (Figure 68). A first group is responsible
for the development and architecture of applications, a second group deals
with infrastructure and networks, and a third group supervises the operations
including logistics, administration and helpdesk.
The application development and architecture team is seen as the most important
player in the IT governance organisation. They have the prime contact