IT Demand Management Course: Business Cases, Capacity and Chargeback for IT Leaders

Programme Summary

IT demand management is the subject of this one-week training course for senior technology leaders at managerial level, ending in an IT demand governance pack for one business unit. Requests arrive faster than any IT function can fund or staff, and unmanaged intake erodes trust with the business. The programme moves from principles, through diagnosis of the request pipeline, to design of intake, prioritisation and funding rules, then to application on live demand. Mars Training Centre UK delivers this IT demand management programme for technology functions across sectors.

The Business Case

When requests reach IT through many informal channels, the loudest sponsor wins, capacity is committed twice and projects start without a clear business case. Leaders who see the whole request pipeline can say yes, not yet or no with evidence, and show the business what its requests cost.

• Backlog Age: Falls as requests are screened, ranked and scheduled or declined.
• Delivery Capacity Utilisation: Becomes visible as demand is matched to staffing and supplier limits.
• Benefit Realisation: Improves as business cases name owners and measures before funding.

Principles and Evidence Base

• ITIL 4: The service value system and its guidance on business relationship management frame the intake and stakeholder topics in Sessions 1 and 2.
• COBIT 2019: Its governance and management objectives for portfolio and value delivery shape the decision rights designed in Sessions 3 and 4.
• ISO/IEC 38500: Its principles for governing the use of IT guide the evaluate, direct and monitor cycle applied to demand in Session 3.

Intended Participants

• Chief information officers and IT directors who own the technology budget.
• Heads of IT portfolio who rank projects.
• Business relationship managers who carry requests from business units into IT.
• Finance partners who review technology business cases and cost recovery.

The programme serves banks, government entities, telecommunications operators, utilities and health systems.

Learning Outcomes

1. Participants will be able to diagnose where IT demand enters the organisation and which channels bypass governance.
2. Participants will be able to construct an intake model that classifies requests as run, change or new investment.
3. Participants will be able to prioritise competing requests with agreed value, risk and urgency criteria.
4. Participants will be able to evaluate business cases for benefit logic, ownership and capacity impact.
5. Participants will be able to justify a chargeback or showback approach to business unit leaders.
6. Participants will be able to design an IT demand governance pack for one business unit.

Programme Structure

Day 1: IT Demand Management Principles

What counts as demand, and who is entitled to decide what IT does with it?

• Demand Taxonomy of Run, Change and Grow
• Service Value System Overview in ITIL 4
• Demand Owner and Sponsor Role Matrix
• Evaluate, Direct and Monitor Cycle of ISO/IEC 38500
• Decision Rights Chart

Day 2: Diagnosing the Request Pipeline

Where do requests come from, and what happens to them on the way to delivery?

• Request Source Inventory
• Backlog Ageing Analysis
• Shadow IT Spend Scan
• Business Relationship Interview Guide
• Pipeline Bottleneck Map

Day 3: Designing Intake, Prioritisation and Business Cases

How are requests screened, scored and funded on the same terms for every sponsor?

• Single Front Door Intake Form
• Weighted Scoring Matrix for Value, Risk and Urgency
• Business Case Template with Benefit Owners
• Portfolio Objectives Mapped to COBIT 2019
• Stage Gate Funding Rules

Day 4: Designing Capacity, Chargeback and Governance Forums

How are demand and capacity balanced, and who reviews the trade-offs?

• Capacity Plan by Skill Pool and Supplier
• Service Catalogue Costing Sheet
• Showback and Chargeback Model Options
• Demand Governance Forum Charter
• Escalation and Exception Rules

Day 5: Applying IT Demand Management to One Business Unit

Is the governance pack ready to put before the business and the executive committee?

• Applying the Day 2 Pipeline Map to the Chosen Unit
• Scoring Live Requests with the Day 3 Matrix
• Testing the Day 4 Capacity Plan against Priorities
• Rehearsing the Forum Decision Paper
• Completing the IT Demand Governance Pack

Methodology

The programme uses a structured exercise method built on anonymised request logs, sample business cases and capacity sheets. Participants work in small groups to classify and score requests and defend their rankings, with feedback from peers and the facilitator on each work product.

• Suggested activity: Classifying a sample request log into run, change and new investment.
• Suggested activity: Scoring ten competing requests and defending the ranking before a mock forum.
• Suggested activity: Comparing showback and chargeback outputs for two business units.

Capstone Output

Each participant completes an IT demand governance pack for one business unit. It holds a request pipeline map, an intake form, a scoring matrix, a capacity view, a cost allocation option and a forum charter with escalation rules. The pack opens the conversation with business sponsors on how demand is ranked and funded.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is IT demand management suitable for leaders who have not run a portfolio office?

Yes. IT demand management starts from the request pipeline and assumes responsibility for a technology budget, service area or business relationship, not prior portfolio experience.

Which models does IT demand management rest on?

IT demand management rests on ITIL 4 guidance on business relationship management, the governance and management objectives of COBIT 2019 and the principles of ISO/IEC 38500.

How is the pack from IT demand management used at work?

You use the IT demand governance pack to agree intake rules with sponsors, rank requests in a forum and explain how capacity and costs are shared.

How does IT demand management differ from a programme on IT project management?

IT demand management decides which requests enter the pipeline and how they are funded, while IT project management delivers the work once a request is approved.