Chapter 13
Organizing Information
Systems Resources
The Strategic
Management of
Information
Technology
Transaction Processing
System
Input
Process
Systems Development
Communication
Information
Output
Object-Oriented Approach

Catalog objects
– Found by keywords
– In a Library or Database

Objects
– Exhibit certain behaviors
– Attributes and operations are encapsulated
or pulled together
– Operations describes how attributes are
processed
– Behave in certain ways in response to
messages
Object-Oriented Approach

Classes
– Set of Objects that share common structure
and behavior

Inheritance
– Objects receive attributes and operations
from other objects
– Add more attributes and operations of their
own

Polymorphism
– Ability of object to respond to and
implement each object
An Integrated System
Research Directions:
Systems Development
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Object/Oriented Programming
Client/Server Technology
Project Management
Object/Oriented
Programming
Client/Server
Technology
Project
Management
Research Directions:
Systems Development:
Object/Oriented Programming
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Defining Objects, Classes, and Use Cases
Identifying:
– Objects
– Components
– Applets

Expediting Code Process
– Reuse
– Data Repositories
– Data Libraries
Object/Oriented
Programming
Client/Server
Technology
Project
Management
Research Directions:
Systems Development:
Client/Server Technology

Local Area Network Implementation
– Novell
– Unix
– Windows/NT
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Mail and Database Considerations
Internet Linkages
Three-Tier and Two-Tier Architectures
– Mainframe
– LAN
– Personal Computer
Object/Oriented
Programming
Client/Server
Technology
Project
Management
Research Directions:
Systems Development:
Project Management

Breaking Development Process into:
– Tasks
– Summary Tasks
– Milestones

Tracking Development Process
–
–
–
–
–

Cost
Resources
Duration
Time
Completion
Project Management Tools
– Microsoft Project
– AllClear
– Project Workbench
Object/Oriented
Programming
Client/Server
Technology
Project
Management
Business Integration
Business integration is a process, not a
project
 People need time to change
 Recognize the potential up front
 Make job changes throughout the
organization
 Manage the pace of change

Transition from “Art”
to a More Structured Approach
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Implement systems planning and project management techniques.
Stress systems analysis to define user requirements.
Develop alternative conceptual systems designs for evaluation and
selection before making a major commitment to detailed design,
technology acquisition, and software development.
Design all systems components functionally, including technology and
controls, for further review, evaluation, and implementation.
Use the detailed functional design as a blueprint or guide in applying
software designing, coding, and testing.
Use a coordinated, planned approach to systems implementation.
Prepare clear, complete, and current documentation.
Perform a postimplementation review.
Design for and perform systems maintenance.
Two Organizational Systems
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An information link is a value-added chain
between two organizations, such as between a
dealer and a manufacturer, used after the two
organizations have established a relationship
An electronic market is a computerized
marketplace with several buyers and several
sellers, with someone acting as the market
intermediary.
Business Integration
Guiding vision is put in its place
 Program management is given proper
support
 Underlying technical problems are tackled
fully and early enough
 People are given the appropriate help in
changing the way they work

The Difference Between a Product-Line Approach and a
Customer Segmentation Approach to Marketing
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In the product line approach (technology-driven), products are spawned from
the technology to create wants, while in the customer segmentation approach
(market-driven), products are assembled to meet predetermined needs of
customer segments.
In the product line approach, the systems development and the delivery
function (marketing) are the responsibility of the managers of technology.
Product marketing by the producers in a popular structure for entrepreneurial
products (leading edge technologies) and organizations in early growth.
In the customer segmentation approach, the delivery function (marketing) is
customer-oriented and market-driven (instead of technology-driven). Products
are developed to meet well defined needs by employing only those
technologies that are necessary to do so.
Five responsibility Areas in the
Leadership Role for CIO’s
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Understand the business
Establish credibility of the systems department
Increase the technological maturity of the firm
Create a vision of the future and sell it
Implement an information system architecture
Seven ways to
“Learn the Business”
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Have project teams study the marketplace
Concentrate on lines of business
Sponsor weekly briefings
Attend industry meetings with line executives
Read industry publications
Hold informal listening sessions
Become a “Partner” with a line manager
Vision
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A Vision is a statement of how someone wants the
future to be or believes it will be; it is used to set
direction for an organization.
Strategies tell how someone is going to get
somewhere; it is their plan for the future.
Boeing’s Three Visions
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The right part in the right place at the right time.
Create an enhanced information stream
Define a strategic business architecture
Five Waves of Innovation
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Wave 1: Reducing cost
Wave 2: Leveraging investments
Wave 3: Enhancing products and services
Wave 4: Enhancing executive decisionmaking
Wave 5: Reaching the consumer
Five Attitudes CEOs Take Toward IT
Wilson’s Study
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The majority of CEOs interviewed -- 52% to be exact -- are neutral,
believing they do not have enough knowledge to direct IT investments.
Quadrant 1: CEOs in this category have a high degree of confidence in
receiving benefits from IT investments. 12%
Quadrant 2: CEOs in this category are well aware that implementation
problems can destroy that potential. 26%
Quadrant 3: CEOs countered here are pessimistic about IT, believing
that all systems will be delivered over-budget. 8%
Quadrant 4: CEOs in this category believe that IT is harmful because
it introduces chaos and too much change for people to cope well. 2%
Major Roles for Systems Departments


An increasing trend to outsourcing
The appearance of high-impact projects by highcaliber SWAT teams
Relationships for CIOs (Keen)
Cooperative external relationships
 Partnerships between systems and senior
management
 Partnering between systems professionals
and users

Marketplace Changes
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The quality imperative
Consumer computing
Deregulation of some major industries
Crossing industry boundaries
Traditional customers are “leaving”
Crossing national boundaries
Production is becoming global
New product and service development cycles are
shortening
Two Ways Companies and Alliances
Compete with Information Technology
To Stay in Business
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Quality
Service
Innovation
Speed
To Gain Market Share
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Competing With Time
Total Quality Management
Customer is King
Innovate or Die
Wiseman’s Approach to
Strategic Thrusts
Differentiation
 Cost
 Innovation
 Growth
 Forming alliances

TELOS
 Technical
Feasibility
 Economic Feasibility
 Legal Feasibility
 Operational Feasibility
 Schedule Feasibility
Unsuccessful Systems
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Systems were developed which did not support business
strategies and objectives.
Poor systems planning and inadequate project management.
Failure to define or understand user requirements.
Negligence in estimating costs and benefits of the systems
project.
Creation of a myriad of design defects and errors.
Acquisition of computers and software that no one needs or
knows how to use.
Installation of incompatible or inadequate technology.
Negligence in implementing adequate controls.
Development of unstructured, unmaintainable software.
Inadequate implementation tasks.
SMDS

Switched Multimegabit Data Services is a
switched service for MANs that uses cell relay
technology.
– The service is now being offered by local
telephone companies and promoted for linking
LANs within metropolitan areas.
– Long distance carriers are also looking into
offering it between MANs, as is Stanford
University to transfer medical images (such as
CAT scans) and earth resources mapping images
among buildings on the campus
Characteristics of
Interorganizational Systems
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At least two parties to create an IOS, thus the partners in the venture
must have a willingness to cooperate and the ability to perform the
work.
Standards play a major role in permitting many IOS efforts to get off
the ground.
Education of potential partners is often more of a hurdle than the
technology.
Coordination of joint systems often entails using a third party.
The various efforts need to be synchronized.
Work processes are often re-evaluated.
Technical issues are minor compared to the relationship issues.
IOS often requires more openness than traditional system
development.
Interoperability

The capability for different machines, using different
operating systems, on different networks to work
together on tasks-exchanging information in standard
ways without any changes in the command language
or in functionality and without physical intervention.
Investment Strategy Analysis
Approach To Studying
Current Expeditures

The true “intensity of beliefs” about the use of
technology, says Norton. It allows the managers to
stand back from the business, see where the
investments are currently being made, and then
decide where they should be made in order to align
the information systems investment with the business
strategy.
Problem-Solving Approach to
Information Systems
Couger’s three variants to the classical method
 Techniques that can be used to enhance several I/S/
planning approaches.
 Recognizing the problem, analyzing problem information
to develop a useful problem definition, generating
solutions, and selecting and implementing a solution.
 Opportunity identification
 Nonlinearity and recursiveness of the model, and the
identification of a variety of creativity techniques for each
problem-solving phase.
Critical Success Factors in the
Systems Planning Process

Critical success factors are the few key areas of
the job where things must go right in order for the
organization to flourish. Factors are critical for
accomplishing the objectives, and are also used to
determine the prime measures for satisfying each
factor.
Examples of Distributed Systems Structures
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A hierarchy of processors is the most familiar data processing structure, with a large,
controlling computer at the top of the hierarchy and PCs or terminals at the lowest level.
The important characteristic of its structure is that the mainframe, or host computer, is the
central, and controlling, component.
Decentralized stand-alone systems do not really form a distributed system at all. They are
basically a holdover from the 1960s, when departments put in their own departmental
computers, with no intention of connecting them to other systems. Hence, they are
decentralized, not distributed.
Systems based on a local area network (LAN) have become widely used as the basis for
distributed systems. This approach began in the office system arena with LANs providing
the links between PCs, print servers, and gateways to other networks. This structure has no
hierarchy, processors communicate on a peer-to-peer basis.
LAN-based systems that communicate with mainframe-based systems another structure for
distributed systems. It is essentially a combination of the hierarchy approach (for
mainframe-based processing) and the LAN-based system (in offices).
Cooperative systems are the newest member of the distributed system family. A cooperative
system melds and extends the previous approaches. All the components are linked to each
other via interconnected LANs and wide area networks (WANs). In essence it is an interneta network of networks. All machines are equal; no machine is at the hub.
Key Messages for Managers and Analysts
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Process innovation is a new and desirable approach to
transforming organizations and improving their
performance
An explicit approach to process innovation is important
Information and information technology are powerful tools
for enabling and implementing process innovation
How a firm approaches organization and human resources
is critical to the enablement and implementation of
innovative processes
Process innovation must occur within a strategic context
and be guided by a vision of the future process state
Innovation initiatives can benefit all manner of processes
Scenario Approach to Planning

A way to manage the assumptions required
for planning by creating scenarios that
combine trends, events, environmental
factors, and the relationships among them.
Scenarios should Include:
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
 GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY
 PEOPLE CHANGES
 FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
 TECHNOLOGY

High
Five. Business scope redefinition
Four. Business network redesign
Three. Business process redesign
Two. Internal Integration
Revolutionary
levels
Evolutionary
levels
One. Localized exploitation
Low
Low
High
Range of potential benefits
Enablers
Technological
•Favorable costperformance trends
•Vendor push-system solutions
Organizational
•Localized impact
•Ease of assessing
efficiency benefits
•Minimal disturbance
to operations
Inhibitors
IT-induced
reconfiguration:
Level One
Technological
•Obsolescence
•Further reduction in
cost-performance
Organizational
•Lack of strategic
vision
•Unwillingness to
recognize the strategic
role of IT and IS
Enablers
Technological
•Favorable costperformance trends
Organizational
•Awareness of the
power of IT
•Willingness to make
quantum changes to
fully exploit IT power
Marketplace
•Competitive
pressures
Inhibitors
IT-induced
reconfiguration:
Level Three
Technological
•Uncertainty
•Cost of redesign
Organizational
•Lack of strategic
vision for redesign
•Organizational inertia
•Costs of transforming
the organization
Tightly
coupled
Business
governance
Collaborative
advantage
Business
network
redesign
Electronic
infrastructure
Competitive
advantage
Loosely
coupled
Common
role
Information
technology
governance
Unique
role
Technology Enablers and Inhibitors
Enablers
•Ability to specify
and/or create
standards for
integration
Inhibitors
•Lack of standards
IT-induced
reconfiguration:
Level Four
•Lack of vision and
understanding
•Identification of
value-added services
•Lack of
commitment to
integration
•Recognition of
mutual benefits
•Possible erosion of
market positions
Three Phases of Business Transformation
NEW CORE
COMPETENCE
Phase 3
Redefinition
Performance Focus
VALUE-ADDED
PROCESSES
AND SERVICES
Phase 2
Enhancement
EXCELLENCE
Phase 1
Automation
TRANSITION
BARRIERS
EFFICIENCY
INTERNAL
OPERATIONS
Organizational Focus
CUSTOMER AND
SUPPLIER
INTERFACE
NEW
BUSINESS
UNITS
Boundary transforming technologies
MARKET
RELATIONS
BOUNDARY
-INFORMATION
REFINERIES
-OSS
-ENVIRONMENTAL
SCANNING
ENTERPRISE
-INFORMATION
GATEWAYS
Attributes of Innovations
Relative advantage - The innovation is technically superior
(in terms of cost, functionality, “image”, etc.) than the
technology it supersedes.
Compatibility - The innovation compatible with existing
values, skills, and work practices of potential adopters.
Complexity - The innovation is relatively difficult to
understand and use.
Trialability - The innovation can be experimented with on a
trial basis without undue effort and expense; it can be
implemented incrementally and still provide a net positive
benefit.
Observability - The results and benefits of the innovation’s
use can be easily observed and communicated to others.
Economic Factors Impacting
Technology Adoption
Prior Technology Drag - A prior technology provides
significant network benefits because of a large and mature
installed base.
Irreversibility of Investments - Adoption of the technology
requires irreversible investments in areas such as products,
training, and accumulated project experience.
Sponsorship - A single entity (person, organization,
consortium) exists to define the technology, set standards,
subsidize early adopters, and otherwise promote adoption
of the new technology.
Expectations - The technology benefits from an extended
period of widespread expectations that it will be
pervasively adopted in the future.
Strategic Process Elements
Technology
Forecasting
Implementation
Plans and
Measurement
Competitive
Analysis
Business and IT
Alignment
Assessment of
Effectiveness
Initiative
Identification and
Justification
Models and
Architectures
Culture and
Commitment
Systems Maintenance Phase
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Systems Plan Report
Systems Analysis Report
General Systems Design Report
Systems Evaluation and Selection Report
Detailed Systems Design Report
Systems Implementation Report
Prototyping
User requirements
 Input, output, and transactions
 Databases
 Controls
 Technology
 Applications
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Four Types Of Documentation
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Systems Documentation
Software Documentation
Operations Documentation
User Documentation
Information Engineering
Methodology (IEM)
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Systems Planning
Systems Analysis
Systems Design
Systems Construction and Implementation
Changes in Traditional Environments
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Many organizations are emphasizing teams to accomplish
major tasks and projects.
Information workers are increasingly mobile.
Organizations are examining what they should do
internally, and what should be done by some other
organization.
Corporations are shifting their emphasis from financial
capital to human capital.
New forms of self-managing groups are appearing.
A coming labor shortage will result in more jobs for
women, part-time older people, and the poor and
disadvantaged.
According to Naisbitt and Aburdene
Procedure-Based vs. Goal-Based
Information Systems
Procedure-Based Activities:
 Tend to consist of high volumes of transaction in which each has
relatively low cost or value.
 Are based on well-defined procedures (or algorithms) where the
outputs are well-defined too.
 Are based on the handling of data.
Goal-Based Activities
 Tend to handle fewer transactions of higher value or cost.
 Are based on ill-defined processes (or heuristics) and the outputs are
less defined as well.
 Tend to focus on defining the problems and the end results or goals
with effectiveness stressed in achieving them.
 Are based on the handling of concepts.
Three Components of the
Marketing Model
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
A set of technologies that represent products,
developed by the systems department in an
organization
A set of users of the technology who we can view
as customers for these products
A delivery mechanism for developing, delivering,
and installing these systems that is analogous to
marketing activities
Main Purpose of Each of the Three Groups in Mead’s
Current Information Resources Organization

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Information Resources Planning and Control Department - the
corporate perspective for information systems planning to ensure that
Mead’s information resources plans meshed with business plans, and
acted as planning coordinator to help various groups and divisions
coordinate their plans with corporate and information resources plans.
Information Services Department - computer operations, development
of corporate-wide systems, provided technical services, and furnished
all the telecommunications services to the company
Decision Support Applications (DSA) Department - all end user
computing support for the company