Chapter 14 Planning Information Systems

Management Information Systems, 4th Edition 1

Chapter 14Planning Information Systems


Learning Objectives• Describe different approaches to business planning in

general and IS planning in particular

• Explain how IS planning methods evolved

• Outline how IS planning should be carried out

• Argue the importance of integrating IS planning into overall organizational planning

• Appreciate the many complex factors faced by IS planners


Why Plan?

• What is Planning?

– An IS plan is a statement of how management foresees its ISs in the future

– IS plan includes:

• Activities planner believes will help achieve goals

• Program for monitoring real-world progress

• Means for implementing changes in the plan


Business Planning

• Managers must have an idea about:

– What position their organization currently holds in the market

– What position they want their organization to hold in the market

– How they can help get their organization where they want it to be


• Elements of business planning:

– Defining an organization’s goals and objectives

– Determining the resources needed to attain those objectives

– Creating the policies that will govern the acquisition, use, and distribution of those resources

– Providing for any changes in objectives that may be needed along the way

Business Planning (Cont.)


Business Planning


Approaches to Planning

• Top-down Planning

– Focuses on organizational goals first, then on the needs of business units

• Bottom-up Planning

– Focuses on needs of business units first, then on organizational goals


Approaches to Planning (Cont.)


Approaches to Planning (Cont.)


Planning by Critical Success Factors

• Executives define critical success factors first so planning can address resources to support those factors

– Critical success factor: issues identified as critically important to business success


Planning by Critical Success Factors (Cont.)


InformationSystems Planning


• Key elements of an IS Plan

– Corporate mission statement

– Vision for IT within organization

– IS strategic and tactical plans

– Operations plan to achieve mission and vision

– Budget to ensure resources are available

InformationSystems Planning (Cont.)




Prerequisites for Information Systems Planning


• The corporate mission statement details the purpose of the organization and its overall goals

• IS mission statement outlines the purpose of ISs in the organization

The Corporate and IS Mission Statements




The IT Vision

• IS managers’ wish list to contribute to goals of the organization

– Hardware

– Software

– Communications



• Strategic and Tactical IS Planning

– IS strategic plan details what is to be achieved

– IS tactical plan describes how goals will be met and by when

• Objectives

• How

• When




Important Factors in IS Tactical Planning

• Flexibility

• Compatibility

• Connectivity

• Scalability

• Standardization

• Hardware-software equivalence

• Total Cost of Ownership


Hardware Planning


IS Planning Initiatives• Four groups of people who initiate new or

improved ISs from different perspectives

– Management

– Line managers

– Users

– IS professionals


IS Planning Activities


Dealing with Legacy Systems• Signs of a legacy system

– Lacks useful features that newer systems of its type offer

– Too slow relative to similar, newer systems

– Incompatibility with newer systems with which it is interfaced

– Operating costs of the system is significantly higher than a newer system for the same business objectives


• Questions to ask about legacy systems:

– How significant is the value that the legacy system provides the business?

– Is the system capable, or can it be made capable, of being interoperable and integrated with other systems?

– Do other systems depend on it for data?

– How high is the cost of operating the system?

Dealing with Legacy Systems (Cont.)


• Choices for dealing with legacy systems:

– Leave them as is

– Retire them

• Adopting or developing a totally new system

– Migrate them

• Using large parts of it to build a new system or

• Integrating parts into another system

• Retain functionality of original system

Dealing with Legacy Systems (Cont.)


The Champion

• High-ranking officer who commands sufficient political clout to include IS in planning

• Most effective champions are not IS professionals


The Champion (Cont.)

• A successful champion is a leader who can:

– Promote the vision of IT in the organization

– Inspire top management and subordinates alike

– Remove barriers to realizing vision

– Focus on both short-term and long-term objectives

– Be a torchbearer for making change happen

– Drive accountability to lowest organizational level


The Systems Analyst asan Agent of Change


• Planning almost always deals with change, which people tend to resist

• Systems analysts must convince users that the new system will help them in their work

– Explain how a new system will improve business performance

– Train individuals in the use of the new system

The Systems Analyst asan Agent of Change (Cont.)


Ethical and Societal Issues Codes of Ethics for IS Professionals

• IS professionals can find themselves in situations where the interests of different constituencies collide

• Many organizations do not provide adequate guidelines for resolving conflicts of interest


Ethical and Societal Issues Codes of Ethics for IS Professionals

• IS organizations with codes of ethics– Association of Computing Machinery

– Data Processing Management

– International Federation for Information Processing

– British Computer Society

– Canadian Information Processing Society

– Institute for Certification of Computer Professionals


Summary

• There are different approached to business planning as well as IS planning

• IS planning methods have evolved over time

• IS planning should be integrated into overall organizational planning

• There are complex factors faced by IS planners

Chapter 14 Planning Information Systems

Documents

bebusiness planning

elements of business

critical success factors

tactical plansoperations

achievedis tactical

futureis plan

plannerswhy plan

important factors