Information Systems in the
Organization
Basic IT Organizational Structure
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
1
Infrastructure Management
People
System Administration
• Organization
• Motivation
• Acquiring Resources
• Maintaining Existing
Resources
• IT Security
Technology
• Hardware
• Software
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
2
Emerging Issues
Steve Andriole, If I Only Knew 7 Things, Datamation, July 8,2004
Regulatory Trends: Internet taxation,
privacy, intellectual property.
 Interoperability: Web services,
interoperability.
 Supply Chain: Wal-mart end to end, Dell
no inventory, dynamic pricing, RFID
 Architecture: Thin client/fat client, super
servers, distributed processing, standards

MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
3
Emerging Issues (cont.)
Steve Andriole, If I Only Knew 7 Things, Datamation, July 8,2004
Sourcing: Outsourcing, IT “utilities”,
partnering
 Infrastructure: Will the Internet survive,
security, viruses, spam, etc.
 Emerging Technologies: Wireless, AI,
RFID, etc.

MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
4
People
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
5
It is Not All About
Technology
Traditional IT
 Centralized control
 Resource restrictions
 Formal
methodologies and
discipline
 Careful planning
 Administrative
support
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
New IT
 Distributed control
 Resource expansion
 Few methodologies
and unrestricted
access
 Rapid development
 Strategic impact
09/12/97
6
Requirements for Successful
IT
Well understood vision
 Single team approach
 Business financial justifications
 Internal marketing
 Reengineering skills
 Political awareness and support

MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
7
Roles
Steering Committee
 CIO
 Manager
 Project Manager
 Analyst
 Programmer
 Systems Programmer
 User

MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
8
Organization
Centralized:
Single IT
structure
Decentralized
IT organizations
in divisions
Consolidation of
functions
Career paths for IS
professionals
Information control
Economies of
scale
Closeness to local
problems
Responsiveness
to operational
requirements
User ownership of
costs and
problems
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
Distributed
IT units with joint
reporting
Separation of IS
and user
functions
Identification of
corporate data
and functions
User ownership of
user
applications
9
Typical IS Organization
Steering Committee
CIO
Development
Network
Architecture
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
Operations
Data
Administration
09/12/97
10
Relationship with Users
Formal - user agreements and
contracts
 Utility - IS supplies standard
information resources
 Vendor - IS promotes solutions in
competition with outside competitors
 Partner - IS and users share common
goals and rewards

MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
11
Consultants/Contractors
Access to new ideas and standards
 Access to additional resources
 Change agent who can own
responsibility
 Managing the relationship

MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
12
Ongoing Operations
Operations management
•
•
•
•
Job scheduling
Error management
Security management
Help desk
Change Control
• Planned
• Emergency
Access and permissions
• Supported
• Permitted
• Prohibited
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
13
CIO, July 15, 1998
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
14
Critical Questions
for IT
How does IT influence the customer
experience?
Does IT enable or retard growth?
Does IT favorably affect
productivity?
Does IT advance organizational
innovation and learning?
How well is IS run?
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
15
IT Goals

Early

Mid

Current
Cost Savings and
Control
Alignment with
Organization Goals
Integration Into the
Business
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
16
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
17
Three Rules to
Remember
Don't commit to any technology until
after it has crossed the chasm.
 Use normal rules of engagement when
dealing with enabling technology kings
and princes and application companies
of any size.
 Wherever there is an enablingtechnology gorilla, get on that
bandwagon and no other.

MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
18
Developing Architecture
Objectives: Define business functions
 Business: Analyze service level
expectations
 IT: Determine requirements
 Technology: Specifications and design
 Detailed Requirements: Product
selection
 System: Install new system
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
components

19
Business Objectives
Increase Revenue
Reduce Cost
Identify those business functions that
will use the infrastructure and how IT
will promote their business objectives.
In business terms. Technical
excellence is not enough!
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
20
Business Expectations
Suggested measures
At the highest level, an IT organization
should be tracking a number of key
ratios and indicators.
[These should be reported on in terms of
current value, trends, and rate of
change]
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
21
Service Level Objectives
Typically service levels are negotiated with users
or management and carefully tracked.
Network availability
99.8%
Mean time to hardware failure
1 mo
Mean time to software failure
1 month
Mean time to respond
10 min
Performance
95% < 2 sec
Mean throughput
64 Kbps
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
22
Total Cost of Ownership
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
23
TCO
A standardized environment costs less to
install and maintain than a heterogeneous one.
Electronic software distribution ensures
consistent software installation and eliminates
the need to physically install software on each
computer.
Use remote systems management tools to
move software and data to and from laptops,as
well as to store backup images of users' hard
disks.
Use automated technical support tools to
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
reduce support personnel
staff.
24
TCO
Consider replacing personal computers with
"thin clients" such as network computers.
Client/server technology offers another take
on TCO, without the need to invest in network
computers.
Use automated network management and
monitoring systems to reduce the infrastructure
costs of WANs.
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
25
IT Requirements
Standards
 Logical Topology

Centralization, distribution, separation and
duplication of the appropriate components

Management Strategy
Primary and secondary control points, definition
of responsibilities

Security Policies and Strategies
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
26
Network Architecture:
Universal Goals
Interoperability: work with other users
 Scalability: ability to expand
 Flexibility: ability to add or move users
 Security: keep outsiders out
 Central Control: manage from one
place

MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
27
Detailed Requirements
LAN technologies and boundaries
 Internetworking technologies
 WAN access strategies
 Server operating systems and
middleware
 Product restrictions and capabilities

MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
28
System Acquisition and
Installation

Acquisition Strategy
Make or buy

Installation
Direct, phased, pilot, parallel

Training and Evaluation
Centralized or distributed
Mandatory or voluntary
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
29
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
30
Incremental vs Radical Change:
TQM vs Reengineering
Incremental:
Focus on processes to eliminate, rather
than correct problems.
Radical:
Focus on inputs and outputs to
completely revise the methods
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
40
TQM
Total Quality Management
• Goals
• Measures
• Root Causes
Total quality management is a cultural
change designed to take advantage of
the desire of individual workers to do a
better job.
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
41
TQM
W. Edwards Deming & Joseph Juran
A philosophy, not a business practice
Incremental Process Change
 Control what you measure
 Empower employees
 Prevent rather than correct defects

MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
42
Reengineering
The fundamental rethinking and radical
redesign of business processes to achieve
dramatic improvements in critical
contemporary measures of performance such
as cost, quality, service and speed.
• Customers: knowledgable and demanding
• Competition: continuously increasing
• Change: constant
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
43
Reengineering

Redesign
Find new ways to accomplish business goals

Retool
Create the (IT) systems needed to support
the new design

Reorchestrate
Bring about the organizational changes
needed to support the new system.
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
44
Principles of Business Process
Reengineering
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Combines jobs
Empowers employees
Natural and parallel pocess steps
Multiple versions of processes
Work done where most appropriate
Minimal controls, checks and non-value added
work
Reduce extermal contacts and increase alliances
Single point of customer contact
Hybrid centralized/decentralized organization
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
45
Increment vs Radical
Radical
Incremental
Change
Abrupt, volatile
Gradual, constant
Effects
Immediate
Long term, subtle
Involvement
Few champions Culture
Investment
Orientation
High initial, less Low initial, high
ongoing
ongoing
Technology
People
Focus
Profits
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
Processes
09/12/97
46
Issues
•
•
•
•
Nurturing creativity and employee
participation
Planning strategic information systems
BPR is major surgery that fails up to 7580% of the time
IT changes the ethical environment
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
47
Organization
MIS09/12/97Ch 18: Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
09/12/97
48