Managing and Using Information Systems:

A Strategic Approach – Sixth Edition

Keri Pearlson, Carol Saunders,

and Dennis Galletta

© Copyright 2016
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 Chapter 6
Architecture and
Infrastructure
 Mohawk Paper
• What did Mohawk paper see as an opportunity?
• What did they do?
• What was the result?

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3

 From Vision to
Implementation
• Architecture translates strategy into infrastructure
• Home architect develops a blueprint of a proposed
house—based on customer
• Business architect develops a blueprint of a company’s
proposed systems—based on strategy
• This “blueprint” is used for translating business strategy
into a plan for IS.
• The IT infrastructure is everything that supports the
flow and processing of information (hardware, software,
data, and networks).

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 4

 From abstract to concrete
– building vs. IT
Building

Owner’s Architect’s Builder’s

Vision Plans Implementation

Abstract Concrete

Strategy Architecture Infrastructure

Information
Technology
 The Manager’s Role
• Must understand what to expect from IT
architecture and infrastructure.
• Must clearly communicate business vision.
• May need to modify the plans if IT cannot
realistically support them.
• Manager MUST be involved in the decision making
process.

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 6

 From Strategy to
Architecture
• Manager starts out with a strategy.
• Strategy is used to develop more specific goals
• Business requirements must be determined for each
goal so the architect knows what IS must accomplish.

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7

 Example

•Strategy: Be a customer-oriented company

• Goal: 30-day money back guarantee
• Business Requirement: ability to track purchases
• Business Requirement: ability to track problems
• Goal: Answer email questions within 6 hours
• Business Requirement: Ability to handle the volume

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 8

From Business Requirements to Architecture

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 9

 The Example Continues

• Business Requirement: Ability to track

purchases
• Architectural Requirement:
• Database that can handle all details of more than a 30-day
history

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 10

 From Architecture to
Infrastructure

• Adds more detail to the architectural plan.

• actual hardware, software, data, and networking
• Components need coherent combination

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 11

From Architecture to Infrastructure

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 12

 The Example Continues
 Architectural Requirement: Database that can
handle all details of more than a 30-day history
 Functional Specification: be able to hold 150,000
customer records, 30 fields; be able to insert 200 records
per hour
 Hardware specification: 3 gigaherz Core 2 Duo Server
 Hardware specification: half terabyte RAID level 3 hard
drive array
 Software specification: Apache operating system
 Software specification: My SQL database
 Data protocol: IP (internet protocol)

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 13

A Framework for the Translation

• Considerations for moving from strategy to

architecture to infrastructure:
• Hardware – physical components
• Software – programs
• Network – software and hardware
• Data – utmost concern: data quantity & format
• What-who-where is a useful framework

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 14

 Information systems analysis framework.
Component What Who Where
Hardware What hardware does Who manages it? Where is it
the organization have? Who uses it? located? Where is
Who owns it? it used?

Software What software does Who manages it? Where is it

the organization have? Who uses it? located? Where is
Who owns it? it used?

Network What networking does Who manages it? Where is it

the organization have? Who uses it? located? Where is
Who owns it? it used?

Data What data does the Who manages it? Where is it

organization have? Who uses it? located? Where is
Who owns it? it used?
Figure 6.3 Infrastructure and architecture analysis framework with sample questions.
 Common IT Architecture
Configurations
• Centralized architecture – All purchases, support,
and management from data center
• Decentralized architecture – uses multiple servers
perhaps in different locations
• Service-Oriented architecture – uses small chunks
of functionality to build applications quickly.
• Example: e-commerce shopping cart
• Software-Defined architecture – instantly
reconfigures under load or surplus

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 17

 Software-Defined
Architecture
• Birdbath example: Thanks to the Oprah Winfrey show,
sales went from 10 per month to 80,000.
• Increased sales seen as an attack with static system
• Adaptive system warns other parts of sales fluctuations,
preventing lost sales
• Famous Coffee Shop example:
• WiFi shares lines with production systems; problems in one
can be shunted to another
• Also, coffee bean automatic reordering; spot market
purchasing
• High potential for decreasing costs

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 18

 New Technologies
• Peer to peer architecture: Allows networked computers
to share resources without a central server
• Wireless (mobile) infrastructure: allows communication
without laying wires
• Web-based architecture: places information on web
servers connected to the Internet
• Cloud-based architecture: places both data and
processing methods on servers on the Internet,
accessible anywhere
• Capacity-on-demand: enables firms to make available
more processing capacity or storage when needed
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 19
 Architectural Principles
Fundamental beliefs about how the architecture should function

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 20

 Enterprise Architecture
(EA)
• The “blueprint” for all IS and interrelationships in the
firm
• Four key elements:
• Core business processes
• Shared data
• Linking and automation technologies
• Customer groups
• One example is TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture
Foundation)
• Methodology and set of resources for developing an EA
• Specifications are public
• Business and IT leaders develop EA together
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 21
 Virtualization and Cloud
Computing
• Cloud computing refers to:
• Resources that are available “on the Internet”
• No software for the organization to develop or install (only
web browser)
• No data for the organization to store (it stays somewhere in
the Internet “cloud”)
• The provider keeps and safeguards programs and data
• This is “infrastructure as a service” (IaaS)
• Also available is SaaS (Software as a service)
• And there is also PaaS (Platform as a service)
• Utility Computing: Pay only for what you use (like
power, lights) Source: Computerworld Aug 4, 2008
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 22
 Examples of Systems
Provided in the “Cloud?”
• Just some examples
• Word processing; spreadsheeting; email (Google Docs: $50
per user annually)
• Buying/selling Financial services (Salesforce.com)
• Email (Gmail, Hotmail)
• Social networking (Facebook)
• Business networking (LinkedIn)
• Music (iTunes)
• Storage (Amazon’s Simple Storage Service—S3)
• A server (Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud—EC2)

Source: Computerworld Aug 4, 2008 and CRN website

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 23
 Assessing Strategic
Timeframe
• Varies from industry to industry
• Level of commitment to fixed resources
• Maturity of the industry
• Cyclicality
• Barriers to entry
• Also varies from firm to firm
• Management’s reliance on IT
• Rate of advances affecting the IT management counts on

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 24

 Assessing Adaptability
• Guidelines for planning adaptable IT architecture
and infrastructure
• Plan for applications and systems that are independent
and loosely coupled
• Set clear boundaries between infrastructure components
• When designing a network architecture, provide access to
all users when it makes sense to do so

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 25

 Assessing Scalability
• Scalability refers to how well a component can
adapt to increased or decreased demand
• Needs are determined by:
• Projections of growth
• How architecture must support growth
• What happens if growth is much higher than projected
• What happens if there is no growth

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 26

 Other Assessments
• Standardization – Common, shared standards are
easy to plug in
• Maintainability – Can the infrastructure be
maintained?
• Security – Decentralized architecture is more
difficult to secure

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 27

 Assessing Financial Issues

• Quantify expected return on investment

• Can be difficult to quantify
• Steps
• Quantify costs
• Determine life cycles of components
• Quantify benefits
• Quantify risks
• Consider ongoing dollar costs and benefits

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 28

Managing and Using Information Systems:
A Strategic Approach – Sixth Edition

Keri Pearlson, Carol Saunders,

and Dennis Galletta

© Copyright 2016
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.