Information Systems Planning
Part 2
Information Systems Planning in an
organization
 Need for planning
 Improperly planned projects result in systems that cannot be
shared across an organization
 As business processes change, lack of integration will hamper
strategy and business process changes
2
Advantages of IS planning
1.
2.
3.
4.
Allow to construct ISs that support the whole organisation
Allow integration of different tools
Avoid data redundancy
Reduce maintenance costs because planned system will require
less revision
5.
Plans enable communication
 To enable and support intra-organizational communication
 To create a shared mental image of team members’ role
6.
Plans enable unity of purpose
 To specify the objective of IS deployment
 Clear responsibilities are agreed upon
7.
Plans simplify decision making over time
 To create a context for decision making
3
Description of three process that play
significant role in project selection
 Value chain analysis
 Information System Planning
 Corporate Strategic Planning
4
Information Systems Planning in an
organization
 Information system planning” is different from “project
planning”
 Information System Planning (ISP) is the process
by which a company (organisation) analyses its
information needs and plan its project carefully
 ISP is an orderly means of assessing the information
needs of an organisation and defining the systems,
databases, and technologies that will best satisfy those
needs
5
Information Systems Planning in an
organization
 ISP requires support of top management and its commitment to
reach desired objectives.
 Techniques used to capture information system needs, include
Interviewing managers and executives
 Reviewing corporate documents
 Analysing competitors, markets and products

 Three key activities:
 Describe the Current Situation
 Describe the Target (or Future) Situation
 Develop a Transition Plan and Strategy
5.6
6
Information Systems Planning in an
organization
 Information Systems Planning
1. Describing the Current Situation
There are two approaches to describe current situation needs
 Top-down Planning
 Generic methodology that attempts to gain a broad understanding of
the information system needs of the entire organization
 Bottom-up Planning
 Generic methodology that identifies and defines IS development
projects based upon solving operational business problems or taking
advantage of some business opportunities
5.7
7
Information Systems Planning in an
organization
1. Describing the Current Situation (Continued)
Include :
 Planning team is chartered to model existing situation.
 Identification of Organizational:
 Locations
 Units
 Functions
 Processes
 Data
 Information Systems
5.8
8
Information collected about current
situation
 Locations where the company operates
 Business unit that operate within a company
 Functions = cross organisational collection of activities
used to perform day-to-day business operation.
 Processes of a company
 Data underlying processes
 Information system represent automated and non
automated systems used to support business processes.
9
Information Systems Planning in an
organization
2. Describing the Target Situation
 Define situation and update list of organizational locations,
functions, etc. to reflect desired locations, functions, etc.
 Planners focus on differences between current lists and future
lists and
10
Information Systems Planning in an
organization
3-Developing a transition strategy and plans
 Plans reflect both short-term and long-term organisational development
needs
 Plans include organisational mission, information inventory, mission and
objectives of IS, constraints, long-term plans and short-term plans
 Selected projects are those derived from ISP and that fulfil the gap between
current and desired situation
11
Corporate Strategy Planning (CSP)
 Effective deployment of resources require clearly
understanding of organisational missions,
objectives & strategy
 Corporate Strategy Planning is a top-down process of
three steps
 CSP is an ongoing process that defines the mission,
objectives and strategies of an organisation
 CSP is a process that is frequently subject to change
 It requires constant surveillance
12
Process of corporate strategy planning
Steps:
Analysis of strategic position:
what is the current position?
Desired strategic
position: what are the objectives
13
Design of the possible strategies
to achieve desired goals
ISP and Corporate Strategy Planning
Current
enterprise
Current situation for informational needs
•Listing of manual & automated processes
•Listing of manual & automated data
•Technology inventory
•Human resources inventory
Desired situation for informational needs
Future enterprise
Strategic plan
14
•Listing of manual & automated processes
•Listing of manual & automated data
•Technology inventory
•Human resources inventory
Schedule of projects to transit from current to desired
Project 1
Project 2
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Strategic Alignment
 A high degree of fit and consonance between the priorities
and activities of the IS function and the strategic direction of
the firm
 Careful planning is critical for strategic alignments, especially
for firms in highly competitive environments.
Six Key IS Decisions
1.
How much should we spend on IT?

2.
Which business processes should receive the IT dollars?

3.
The cost/benefits of standardization and flexibility
How good do our IT services really need to be?

5.
6.
What business processes are most important
Which IT capabilities need to be companywide?

4.
What the role of IS and technology should be
The degree of service the firm needs and are willing to pay for
What security and privacy risks will we accept?
Whom do we blame if an IT initiative fails?

Allocate resources and assign responsibility for IS projects
Strategic IS Planning
 A partnership between
 Those with technical skills
 The information systems group
 General and functional managers
 Objective:
 Define how the firm plans to use and manage IS resources to
fulfill its strategic objectives
Strategic IS Planning Process
 Gathering information about the current availability and
performance of IS resources
 Providing a roadmap for decision-making about information
systems
Strategic IS Planning Process
 Strategic business planning
 IS assessment
 IS vision
 IS Guidelines
 Strategic Initiatives
An Iterative Process
Strategic Business Planning
Know Who You Are
 An organization's mission and future direction, performance
targets, and strategy.
 Effective IS planning can only occur when there is a clear
understanding of the firm:
 What makes it successful
 The business strategy
 Its future goals and objectives
Information Systems Assessment
Know Where You Start
 The process of
 Taking stock of the firm’s current IS resources
 Evaluating how well they are fulfilling the needs of the organization
 IS resources
 Technical resources: hardware, software and networking components of the IT
infrastructure
 Data and information resources: databases and other information repositories
 Human resources: skills, attitudes, preconceptions, reporting structures and incentive
systems of IS professionals and the user community
 Output: a snapshot of the current “state of IS resources” in the
organization.
Information Systems Vision
Know Where You Want To Go
Based on the role that information systems should play in the
organization
Defines the ideal state the firm should strive for, in its use and
management of its resources




More IT-intensive firms: IS may play a strategic role
Less IT-intensive firms: IS may be a “necessary evil”
Information Systems Vision
The Information Systems Vision
aligned and reflect
The Firm’s Business Strategy
 The IS vision is unique and highly specific to a given
firm.
 Two analytical tools:
 Critical Success Factors (CSF) methodology
 Strategic impact grid
Critical Success Factors
 The limited number of areas which managers must
effectively control to ensure that the firm will survive and
thrive
 It ensures that the planning team is able to prioritize
 It focuses on business objectives, not on information systems
The Strategic Impact Grid
 It enables simultaneous evaluation of the firm’s current and
future information systems needs.
The Strategic Impact Grid
 Current need for reliable information systems
 Focuses on current day-to-day operations and the functionalities
of the existing systems
 Future needs for new information system functionalities
 Focuses on the strategic role that new IT capabilities play for the
organization
 The strategic impact grid defines what the use of
information systems resources should be going forward.
Support Quadrant
 IS are not mission critical for current
operations
 New systems promise little strategic
differentiation
 The firm:
 Views IS as a tool to support and enable
operations
 Considers IS to offer little potential to
significantly benefit the organization
 Is generally conservative in IS investments
Factory Quadrant
 Even a small disruptions to IS
infrastructure can endanger the
firm’s well-being and future viability.
 A limited potential for new systems
and functionalities to make a
substantial contribution.
 The firm:
 Closely monitors its current systems
 Needs to be willing to fund their
maintenance and upgrade.
 But takes a conservative stance toward
future investments.
Turnaround Quadrant
 IS are not mission critical for current
operations
 New IS or new functionalities of existing
systems will be critical for the business’
future viability and success.
 The firm:
 Is readying to change its information systems
posture
 Needs to engage in some reorganization
Strategic Quadrant
 IS are critical to the firm’s current
operations
 New IS or new functionalities of
existing systems is critical for the
future viability and prosperity of the
business.
 The firm:
 should be extremely proactive with respect
to information systems and IT investments.
Information Systems Guidelines
Know How You Are Going To Get There
Information systems architecture
A set of statements specifying how the firm should use
its technical and organizational IS resources to achieve
the IS vision
Purposes






Enable communication
Establish responsibility
Guide future decision making
Purposes of IS Guidelines
 Communication
 To simplify tactical and operational decision-making
 To ensure that future decisions are aligned with the information
systems vision
 Identify responsibilities
 To set expectations for behavior
 Long range decision support
 Must be general enough to provide direction over a number of
years
 Must be actionable
Technical IS Guidelines
 Address future decisions pertaining to
 The hardware and software infrastructure
 Networking services
 The storage and protection of organizational data and
information
 Do not specify vendor, particular platforms or applications
 They are relatively general
Organizational IS Guidelines
 Address those decisions that pertain to
 Human resources
 The organization of the IS function
 Reporting and hierarchical structures
 Focus on
 IT governance issue
 Outsourcing and vendors relationships
 Human resource decisions
Information Systems SWOT
Know How Well Equipped You Are To Get There
 SWOT analysis focused on the firm’s current IS
resources and capabilities
 Remember IS planning is iterative
 The IS vision may need to be revised according to the result of
the SWOT analysis.
 The firm should be clear about what to do during the
current planning cycle after
 Having read the SWOT analysis
 Given the proposed vision and the guidelines
Proposed Strategic Initiatives
From Planning To Action
Long-term (three to five year) proposals that identify new
systems and new projects or new directions for the IS
organization.
These initiatives need to




Identify a set of future avenues for exploitation of the IS
resources
Be tightly aligned with the IS vision and the proposed role of IS
in the organization
Any Questions?