CENTER FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH (CISR)
MIT Sloan School of Management  3 Cambridge Center, NE20-336  Cambridge, MA 02142
Telephone: 617/253-2348  Facsimile: 617/253-4424  http://mitsloan.mit.edu/cisr/
IT Governance and Business Performance: A Brief Survey
This brief survey on critical IT governance and engagement mechanisms is an effort by MIT Sloan
Center for Information Systems Research (MIT CISR) to better understand how companies are getting
business value from IT. It is based on earlier MIT CISR research into how organizations effectively
implement and sustain organization-wide objectives, such as a target enterprise architecture.
The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete.
Your participation is important because the greater the number of respondents, the more insights we
can provide all participants.
Your participation in this survey is voluntary, and you may opt not to answer any question(s). Your
identity will be kept strictly confidential by the study team. The information you provide will be used
for aggregate statistics, and will not be used to identify you or your organization. If you have any
questions, please feel free to contact us.
Once complete, please save the survey and then e-mail it to nilsfonstad@mit.edu.
Thank you for participating.
Nils Olaya Fonstad
Mani Subramani
Research Scientist
Center for Information Systems Research
MIT Sloan School of Management
3 Cambridge Center, NE 20-336
Cambridge, MA 02142-1607
Professor
IDSc Department
Carlson School, University of Minnesota
321,19th Ave S.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
t: 1-617-253-8319
e: nilsfonstad@mit.edu
t: 1-612-624-3522
e: subra010@umn.edu
You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies because of you participation in this research study. If you feel you have
been treated unfairly, or you have questions regarding your rights as a research participant, you may contact the Chairman of the
Committee on the Use of Humans as Experimental Subjects, M.I.T., Room E25-143b, 77 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139,
phone 1-617-253 6787.
A. Participant Contact Information
1. Name:
2. Email address:
3. Organization:
4. Your position:
5. How long have you been with the firm ...in any capacity:
years ...in your current position:
years.
6. What is the total number of information systems employees currently in the organization as a whole,
including the central group?
people (full time equivalents)
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B. Organizational Integration and Corporate IT Governance
1. Please indicate how many business units (e.g., subunits, divisions, lines of business, etc.) there are in
the organization as a whole:
2. Which business unit do you belong to?
"corporate")
(If you are part of corporate IT, please indicate
3. Please indicate the city you primarily work out of:
4. Please indicate the location(s) of your key client(s):
5. Please describe the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements about
how the organization as a whole operates.
Strongly
Disagree
1
2
Strongly
Agree
3
4
5
a. Business units regularly share data as part of their daily operations
b. Applications are largely shaped by local objectives/needs
c. Applications are largely shaped by organization-wide objectives/needs
d. Technology platforms are standardized across our business units
e. Core business processes are standardized across business units
f. Core business processes are integrated across business units
g. Data for core business processes are standardized across business units
h. Data for core business processes are integrated across business units
i. Business processes can be plug-and-played onto a core process
platform
j. IT principles – the vision for IT in the larger organization – are clear
k. Decision rights and accountability regarding integration and
standardization requirements of business processes are clear
l. Decision rights and accountability regarding enterprise-critical
infrastructure services are clear
m. Decision rights and accountability for IT investments are clear
n. Decision rights and accountability regarding business applications that
are either acquired or internally developed are clear
C. Details of Typical Large Project
Consider the life cycle of a typical large project that you actively participated in and recently completed.
1. Please provide one or two sentences describing the project:
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2. With respect to this project, please indicate which groups actively participated in each mechanism.
Please note: if you belong to a business unit of a larger organization, then "corporate" refers to that larger
organization.
Linking Mechanisms and Participation
Mechanism
Not
Used
Corporate
Level
IT
Business Unit Project Team
Level
Level
non-IT
IT
non-IT
IT
non-IT
Example: Executive Committee - Sets objectives and
forms strategy for the entire organization.
a. Prioritization process - A committee assesses and prioritizes IT
projects from across the organization as a whole, according to a
common set of criteria, before any receives funding.
b. Program management office - A central group coordinates
related projects and creates inter-project efficiencies.
c. Business cases for projects - Business or IT leaders specify
expected project outcomes in terms of business value.
d. Early-stage client involvement - Participants jointly define
and agree on general requirements, execution plans, and deliverables.
e. Post implementation review - A group assesses a project’s
key targets and deliverables at the conclusion of the project.
f. Project gates tied to organization-wide objectives Throughout a project’s lifecycle, a team regularly assesses the project
against organization-wide objectives.
g. Early involvement of enterprise architecture - A group
ensures that, early in its lifecycle, a project will help build out and/or
leverage the enterprise architecture.
h. Enterprise architecture conformance process - A team
periodically reviews projects in terms of their compliance with
enterprise architecture principles.
i. Business-IT relationship management role - A role to
connect IT and a specified part of the business.
j. Local incentives tied to organization-wide objectives Project participants are rewarded for accomplishing organizationwide objectives.
k. Risk assessment process – A process to assess the influence of
projects on IT portfolio risk.
l. Accountability for project outcomes – The people who are
held accountable for project success.
m. Business process integration – A group responsible for
integrating core business processes across business units.
n. Business process standardization – A group responsible for
standardizing core business processes across business units.
D. Project Performance
With respect to the specific project you mentioned in Question C…
Strongly
Disagree
1
Strongly
Agree
2
3
4
5
1. ....the project was completed on-time
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2. ....the project was completed within budget
3. ....the project accomplished local business objectives
4. ....the project advanced organization-wide objectives (e.g. it was
consistent with the enterprise architecture)
5. ….the project applied lessons from prior projects
6. This project is typical of large IT projects in our organization
E. Business Integration: Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following:
Strongly
Disagree
Strongly
Agree
1. Personnel from different business units routinely share knowledge
2. Related functions rarely coordinate their strategic planning
3. Personnel from different business units have little mutual understanding
4. Key business processes are coordinated across business units
5. Related business units engage in considerable ongoing coordination
6. IT and non-IT executives have a high level of understanding of each
other’s missions, objectives and plans
7. IT members have little ability to influence important non-IT decisions
and policies
8. IT and non-IT executives rarely consult each other
9. IT has enhanced business process discipline across the firm
10. Non-IT executives share responsibilities for deriving business value
from IT
F. IT Performance: Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following:
Strongly
Disagree
Strongly
Agree
1. Key applications/platforms are easily scaled to handle higher volumes
2. IT helps the business respond to competitive challenges
3. IT services are cost effective
4. IT cost allocations are transparent to customers
5. There is a high level of customer satisfaction with IT services
6. Key applications (or modules) can be easily replaced or upgraded
without disrupting related systems
Would you be willing to be contacted by the researchers for any clarifications we may have?
THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THE SURVEY.
PLEASE SAVE THE COMPLETED SURVEY AND E-MAIL IT TO nilsfonstad@mit.edu
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