Information Systems Planning

Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

Opening Case: Kmart

Issue: whether & how extending ebusiness capabilities would revive the companys competitive position The IT initiatives must be based on planning issues

Aligning information systems with business strategy Deciding what projects to do, etc.
Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

The Process of Information System Planning

Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

What Is an Information Systems Plan?

Information systems planning should be an integral part of business planning

Business planning the process of identifying the firms goals, objectives, and priorities + developing action plans for accomplishing them. Information systems planning the part of business planning concerned with developing the firms information systems resources
Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

Challenges in Business Planning

Foreseeing and assessing opportunities Assuring consistency with organizational plans and objectives Building systems Maintaining information system performance Collaborating with IT professionals
Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

Principles for IS Planning

Support the firms business strategy with appropriate technical architecture Evaluate technology as a component of a larger system Recognize life cycle costs, not just acquisition costs

Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

Design information systems to be maintainable Recognize the human side of technology use Support and control the technical system

Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

Planning Role of the IS and User Departments

The IS department is responsible for producing the IS plan in conjunction with the user departments

Chief information officer (CIO)

Leads the IS function, and is responsible for making sure that the IS plan supports the firm's business plan
Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

User roles in IS planning roles:

Sponsors senior managers who make sure resources are allocated for building and maintaining the system Champions individuals that recognize the importance of an IS, and exert effort to make sure that others share that recognition IS steering committees make sure that the IS reflects business priorities
Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

Allocating Resources Between New and Old ISs

Maintaining existing ISs and supporting users

User support projects Enhancements Bug fixes

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New development, infrastructure, and other projects

Major new applications projects IT infrastructure Research projects

Pilot project

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Project Roles of IT Professionals

Project managers Application programmers System analysts Programmeranalyst Technical writers

Computer operators Database administrators System managers System programmers User support staff
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Strategic Alignment of Business and IT

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Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

Figure 11.3

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Consistency With Business Priorities

Critical success factors (CSF) the

Identify the firms primary mission and the objectives that determine satisfactory overall performance Executives identify a relatively small number of CSFs
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Reengineering and Downsizing

Business process reengineering (BPR) the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance

Difficult and risky

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Downsizing improve process efficiency by reducing the number of people involved in the process Alter Information Systems
2002 Prentice Hall

Enterprise-wide and Interorganizational Systems

Interorganizational systems reflect the customer and supplier aspects of the integration issues addressed by ERP systems

Integration between ERP packages and supply chain management

Virtual organizations major aspects of core processes are outsourced to companies that specialize in these areas
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Information System Architecture

The basic blueprint showing how the firms data processing systems, networks, and data are integrated Must incorporate legacy systems

Old, and often obsolete systems that are still in use

Computing platform

The basic types of computers, operating system, and network

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Centralization vs. Decentralization

Location of hardware and data

Corporate headquarters Regional processing centers Site processing centers Department processors Work group processors Individual workstations
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Standards, ownership, and guidelines for action Position of the IS staff

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Describing a Business-driven Infrastructure Figure 11.5

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Outsourcing

A long-standing practice in IS departments Application service provider (ASP)

Operate a firms application on remote servers on a WAN Advantage: the firm no longer needs to install and maintain the software Disadvantage: the firm has less control over the application, and may have difficulty transferring to another ASP if needed
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International Issues

Technical incompatibilities Social and political issues Telecommunication issues

Transborder data flow

Economic issues

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Selecting Systems to Invest In

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Alter Information Systems 2002 Prentice Hall

Cost/Benefit Analysis

The process of evaluating proposed projects by comparing estimated benefits and costs Key issues:

Tangible and intangible benefits Tendency to understate costs Timing of costs and benefits
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Risks

Desired benefits are not achieved The project is late and/or over budget The systems technical performance is inadequate User acceptance is low Shifting priorities reduce the projects importance, etc.
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Financial Comparisons

Some common criteria used for comparing and ranking projects:

Net present value (NPV) Internal rate of return (IRR) Payback

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Project Management Issues

Division of labor between the IS department and users Keeping the project on schedule

Goals, deliverables, schedules Challenges in information system projects

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Systems Analysis Revisited

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Information Sources for Analyzing Systems

Interviews Inputs, outputs, and documentation of existing systems On-site observation Questionnaires Benchmarking

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