MANAGING
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
FIFTH EDITION
CHAPTER 14
SETTING A DIRECTION FOR
INFORMATION RESOURCES
E. Wainright Martin  Carol V. Brown  Daniel W. DeHayes
Jeffrey A. Hoffer  William C. Perkins
WHY SET A DIRECTION
FOR INFORMATION RESOURCES?
 To share information among diverse parts of
the organization
 To communicate the future to others
 To provide a consistent rationale for making
individual decisions
 Planning discussions help business managers
and IS professionals in making decisions
about how the “business” of IS will be
conducted
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THE OUTPUTS OF THE
DIRECTION-SETTING PROCESS
Information Resources Assessment
Information resources assessment – includes inventorying
and critically evaluating these resources in terms of how
well they are meeting the organization’s business needs
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OUTPUTS OF THE DIRECTIONSETTING PROCESS
Information Vision and Architecture
 Is an ideal view of the future
 Not the plan on how to get there
 Must be flexible enough to provide policy
guidelines for individual decisions
 More than just fluff
 Must focus on the long term
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OUTPUTS OF THE DIRECTIONSETTING PROCESS
Information Vision and Architecture
Information vision – a written expression of the desired
future about how information will be used and managed in
the organization
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OUTPUTS OF THE DIRECTIONSETTING PROCESS
Information Vision and Architecture
Information vision – a written expression of the desired
future about how information will be used and managed in
the organization
Information technology architecture – depicts the way an
organization’s information resources will be deployed to
deliver that vision
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OUTPUTS OF THE DIRECTIONSETTING PROCESS
Information Resources Plans
Strategic IS plan – contains a set of longer-term objectives
that represent measurable movement toward the
information vision and technology architecture and a set of
associated major initiatives that must be undertaken to
achieve these objectives
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OUTPUTS OF THE DIRECTIONSETTING PROCESS
Information Resources Plans
Strategic IS plan – contains a set of longer-term objectives
that represent measurable movement toward the
information vision and technology architecture and a set of
associated major initiatives that must be undertaken to
achieve these objectives
Operational IS plan – is a precise set of shorter-term goals
and associated projects that will be executed by the IS
department and by business managers in support of the
strategic IS plan
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THE PROCESS OF
SETTING DIRECTION
 Assessment
 Vision
 Strategic Planning
 Operational Planning
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Figure 14.1 The Information Resources
Planning Process
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THE PROCESS OF
SETTING DIRECTION
 Strategic Planning –
the process of
constructing a viable fit
between the organization’s
objectives and resources
and its changing market
and technological
opportunities
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Figure 14.1 The Information Resources
Planning Process
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THE PROCESS OF
SETTING DIRECTION
 Operational Planning –
lays out the major actions
the organization needs to
carry out in the shorter
term to activate its
strategic initiatives
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Figure 14.1 The Information Resources
Planning Process
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THE PROCESS OF SETTING
DIRECTION
Traditional Planning in the IS Organization
 Needs-based IS planning or project-oriented
IS planning:



Bottom-up, immediate approach to information
resources planning
Used when a specific, urgent business need called
for a new system
Emphasis on project planning rather than overall
organizational planning
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ASSESSING CURRENT
INFORMATION RESOURCES
Measuring IS Use and Attitudes
 Information resources assessment:

Must measure current levels of information
resources use within the organization and compare
it to a set of standards
 Standards can come from:




Past performance
Technical benchmarks
Industry norms
“Best of class” estimates from other companies
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ASSESSING CURRENT
INFORMATION RESOURCES
Reviewing the IS Organizational Mission
 IS mission statement:


Should set forth the fundamental rationale (or
reason to exist) for activities of the IS department
Can vary substantially from one organization to
another
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Reviewing the IS Organizational Mission
Example IS Mission Statement
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Figure 14.3 IS-Prepared Mission Statement
Example
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ASSESSING CURRENT
INFORMATION RESOURCES
Assessing Performance versus Goals
 Traditional goal:

Reduce cost by increasing operating efficiencies
 Scope of IS goals has expanded to include:


Systems to assist in decision making
Ways to help with competitive advantage
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Assessing Performance versus Goals
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Table 14.1 Objectives for the IS Department
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CREATING AN INFORMATION
VISION
Information Vision:

Represents how senior management wants
information to be used and managed in the future

Starts with speculation on how the business’s
competitive environment will change and how the
company should take advantage of it

Business vision is specified and written

Implications for information use are outlined
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DESIGNING THE ARCHITECTURE
IT architecture – specifies how the technological and
human assets and the IS organization should be deployed
in the future to meet the information vision
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DESIGNING THE ARCHITECTURE
Components of Architecture
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Figure 14.5 Elements of an Information
Technology Architecture
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THE STRATEGIC IS PLAN
Strategic IS Plan – statement of the major objectives and
initiatives that the IS organization and business managers
must accomplish over some time period in order to:
• move toward the information vision
• fit the business strategic plan
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THE STRATEGIC IS PLAN
The Strategic IS Planning Process
The planning process includes:

Setting objectives

Conducting internal and external analyses

Establishing strategic initiatives
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THE STRATEGIC IS PLAN
Tools for Identifying IT Strategic Opportunities
 Critical success factors
 Analysis of Competitive Forces
 Value Chain Analysis
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Value Chain Analysis
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Figure 14.11 Strategic Information Systems
Opportunities in the Value Chain
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THE OPERATIONAL IS PLAN
 After the strategic plan, initiatives must be:
 Identified
 Translated into a set of defined IS projects
with:




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Precise expected results
Due dates
Priorities
Responsibilities
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THE OPERATIONAL IS PLAN
The Long-Term Operational IS Plan
 Developed for a 3-to-5 year time period
 Focuses on project definition, selection, and
prioritization
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THE OPERATIONAL IS PLAN
The Long-Term Operational IS Plan
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Table 14.2 IS Long-Range Operational Plan
Project Portfolio
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THE OPERATIONAL IS PLAN
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Table 14.3 Sample 2004 Operational IS Plan
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THE OPERATIONAL IS PLAN
The Short-Term Operational IS Plan
 Developed for a 1-year time period
 Focuses on specific tasks to be completed on
projects that are currently underway or ready
to be started
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GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE
PLANNING
1. Early clarification of the purpose of the
planning process
2. Planning effort should be iterative
3. Plan should reflect realistic expectations
4. Process of setting expectations should involve
business management
5. Plans should integrate all applications of IT
6. Plan will take into consideration the barriers
and constraints facing all organizations
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BENEFITS OF INFORMATION
RESOURCES PLANNING
 Better IS resource allocation
 Communicating with top management
 Helping vendors
 Creating a context for decisions
 Achieving integration and decentralization
 Evaluating options
 Meeting expectations of management
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ROLES IN THE INFORMATION
RESOURCES PLANNING PROCESS
Role of the Business Manager
 Active participation
 Accept most of responsibility for identifying
specific projects that contribute to vision
 Stay involved in planning and system
development activities
 Regularly provide feedback and necessary
input
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ROLES IN THE INFORMATION
RESOURCES PLANNING PROCESS
Role of the IS Professional
 Act more in consulting and planning role
 Help business managers understand how their
ideas for competitive advantage can get built
into a new information system
 Create a project plan
 Combine technical and organizational skills
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