Piercy assigned each member of his 10-person IT managerial team to one of four architectural "domains" focused on applications, data, infrastructure and services. "Now, everyone on my team has a part of the IT architecture," he says. "They're responsible for setting standards and making sure there is clear alignment with Germany." They also make sure that all new projects initiated in the U.S are implemented in a standard way.

Beginning in 2005, VWoA also began putting in place strict service standards. It adopted the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework of best practices for the delivery of IT services from various outside providers, including Gedas (which is no longer owned by VW). ITIL outlines an extensive set of management procedures for achieving quality and value in IT operations. The procedures are supplier-independent and cover IT infrastructure, development and operations.

Then came the hard work of documenting the company's activities and mapping them to the technology and the information required to perform each one.

No prima donnas

There are no pure IT projects or traditional IT staffers at VWoA. Hands-on IT work, such as programming and testing software applications, is conducted almost entirely by outside contractors. What has stayed in-house are the far more strategic tasks of managing projects, working with business units to analyze business proc'esses and the information needed to perform them, and supporting the measurement of business performance. This is the work of the company's ultralean 33-person IT governance organization, which is headed by Hestermeyer.