Chapter 14
Planning Information Systems
• What is Planning?
– An IS plan is a statement of how management
foresees its ISs in the future.
– IS plan includes:
• Activities planner believes will help achieve goals.
• Program for monitoring real-world progress.
• Means for implementing changes in the plan.
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1. Approaches to Planning
• Top-down Planning
– Focuses on organizational goals first, then on
the needs of business units
• Bottom-up Planning
– Focuses on needs of business units first, then on
organizational goals
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Approaches to Planning
• Planning by Critical Success Factors
– Executives define critical success factors first
so planning can address resources to support
those factors
• Critical success factor: issues identified as critically
important to business success
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Approaches to Planning
Figure 14.4 Business planning by critical success factors
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2. Information
Systems Planning
Figure 14.5 Advances in IS planning since the 1970s
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What are Key Elements of
Information
Systems Planning
• Key elements of an IS Plan
– Corporate mission statement
– Vision for IT within organization
– IS strategic and tactical plans
– Operations plan to achieve mission and
vision
– Budget to ensure resources are available
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Information
Systems Planning
Figure 14.6 The
steps of
information
systems planning
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Information
Systems Planning
• The Corporate and IS Mission
Statements
– The corporate mission statement
details the purpose of the organization
and its overall goals.
– IS mission statement outlines the
purpose of ISs in the organization.
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Information
Systems Planning
Figure 14.8 The mission statement of a university IS organization
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Information
Systems Planning
• The IT Vision
– Wish list of what IS managers
would like to see in terms of
hardware, software, and
communications, to contribute
to goals of the organization
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Information
Systems Planning
• Strategic and Tactical IS Planning
– IS strategic plan details what is to be
achieved
– IS tactical plan describes how goals
will be met and by when
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Information
Systems Planning
Figure 14.9 Rigid and dynamic planning
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What are important factors in
IS tactical planning
• Important Factors in IS Tactical Planning
– Flexibility
– Compatibility
– Connectivity
– Scalability
– Standardization
– Total Cost of Ownership
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3. IS Planning Initiatives
• Four groups of people who initiate
new or improved ISs from different
perspectives
–
–
–
–
Top management
IS professionals
Line managers
Users
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The Champion
• High-ranking officer who commands
sufficient political clout to include IS
in planning
• Most effective champions are not IS
professionals.
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The Champion
• A successful champion is a leader who can:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Promote the vision of IT in the organization.
Inspire top management and subordinates alike.
Remove barriers to realizing vision.
Focus on both short-term and long-term objectives.
Be a torchbearer for making change happen.
Drive accountability to lowest organizational level.
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The Systems Analyst as an Agent
of Change
• Planning almost always deals with change,
which people tend to resist.
• Systems analysts must convince users that
the new system will help them in their work.
– Explain how a new system will improve business
performance
– Train individuals in the use of the new system
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4. Ethical and Societal Issues
Codes of Ethics for IS Professionals
• IS professionals can find themselves in
situations where the interests of different
constituencies collide.
• Many organizations do not provide
adequate guidelines for resolving
conflicts of interest.
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Ethical and Societal Issues
Codes of Ethics for IS Professionals
• IS organizations with codes of ethics
– Association of Computing Machinery
– Data Processing Management
– International Federation for Information Processing
– British Computer Society
– Canadian Information Processing Society
– Institute for Certification of Computer Professionals
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