TOPIC: Determining the High-Level Direction of Information Systems

1. TOPIC:Determining the High-Level Direction of Information Systems Name: Bernard Nderitu Mwangi

2. Table of Contents • OBJECTIVES • INTRODUCTION • MISSION • VISION • STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES • STRATEGIES • INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND BUSINESS GOALS • COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE • INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE • CONCLUSION • REFERENCES

3. OBJECTIVES • To understand the planning of Information Systems projects based on the business direction. • To understand the prioritization of Information Systems projects is critical to the running of a business. • To understand how Information Systems can assist a company to meet its objectives.

4. INTRODUCTION • “The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American physician, professor • Need to plan for Information Systems projects based on their relevance to the business direction .

5. MISSION • It is a statement of why the information systems group exists, what purpose and function it provides for the company.

6. VISION • Concise statement of where you want to go, what you aspire to be.

7. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES • how you are going to achieve the vision and mission.

8. STRATEGIES • It is important to clearly state the strategies in the strategic plan; it can save the information systems group from many emotional arguments and political battles throughout the year. • An example of a strategy that if not stated, can cause emotional arguments is the use of packaged versus custom software.

9. PACKAGED VS CUSTOM SOFTWARE

10. INFORMATION SYSTEMS & BUSINESS GOALS • There are many ways information systems can assist the business such as: • Provide unique product • Reduce product development time • Allow the delivery of customized services • Open new channels and market niches • Produce higher-quality results • Fill product positioning gaps • Block channel access • Increase buyer switching costs

11. An example of Information systems and the business strategies • They fall under the following: • Provide superior product availability worldwide. • Deliver outstanding customer service and support. • Rapidly pursue targeted growth opportunities. • Create high value differentiated products for growth. • Be the best cost producer. • Manage the business globally. • Maintain an environment where people want to work.

12. COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE • For a complex environment with many different components to work together, it is necessary to have agreed upon a common computing architecture. • Update this architecture on an ongoing basis with technology advances and changes and start with the business operating vision in building the computing architecture rather than just focusing on the technology itself.

14. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE • Agree upon the information architecture in advance. • unless there is a business need to migrate the information to the centre of the circle, it is best that it remain close to the site level. • It is helpful to develop a grid and identify what information systems group is responsible for what information and who uses certain information

16. CONCLUSION • Planning of technical projects should be based on the business requirement they serve. • It is beneficial to have guidelines to give the criteria for prioritization of projects to eliminate the frustration that can be caused when certain projects are rejected. • The article justifies the need for the continued alignment between information systems and Business.

17. References • Chapter 5, p.95-142 in Cassidy, A. (1998) A practical guide to information systems strategic planning