Developing an IS plan pose the biggest and most serious challenge to IT or IS managers all over the world. It requires knowledge and skills that will make sure that the organization’s vision, mission, and goals will be reflected in the plan. Managers need to see to it that the IS plan they develop will be of good use to the company and bring the company’s business forward. Many IT or IS managers make mistakes along the way and these mistakes often lead to inefficiency and cost the company millions. While expenses cannot be avoided when developing an IS plan, additional and unnecessary expenses can be minimized, if not totally eliminated.
The first major challenge in developing an IS plan is management. There are several aspects of management that pose a challenge to IT/IS managers. The first one is integration. This involves managing the enterprise’s resources and connecting the different organizational levels. It is a challenge to properly manage the enterprise’s resources. This requires a lot of decision-making skills. IT/IS managers need to know how to allocate the company’s resources properly so that there will be minimal or no loss at all. The company’s resources include everything from the workers to the management to the hardware or equipment and etc. When developing an IS plan, all of these resources need to be considered because it is only if they are used properly will the IS plan work harmoniously in the company. IT/IS managers has to know how to weigh certain decisions regarding resource management so that it will not result in excessive or disproportionate resource allocation. The second aspect of management that also poses a challenge to managers is connecting the different organizational levels. Organizations are not flat or one-dimensional. All organizations are hierarchical, from the executives to the ordinary workers. You can envision it as a pyramid of increasing order. The challenge here now is how to interconnect the top-most level with the lower levels and the lower levels to the top-most levels. Each level must be involved in the IS plan in one way or another and it depends on the plan how much these levels are involved in it. No level must be left out because every one of them comprises the whole the organization. It is a challenge to be able to interconnect these different organizational levels so that they can work together as a firm and stable structure to keep the business going. Connecting the organizational levels is also costly since it requires a lot of resources. This is related to managing the company’s resources.
Another aspect of management that poses a challenge to IT/IS managers is sustaining the competitive advantage. Like I mentioned earlier, to gain competitive advantage is one of the purposes of the IS plan. It may be a bit easier to see to that for a definite period of time but it is definitely challenging to keep up the advantage for the whole life of the company. IT/IS managers need to make sure that the IS plan is able to evolve or is flexible to ensure long-term profits.
Information systems plan is like a strategic plan in management. Therefore, it is where objectives, priorities, and authorization for information systems projects need to be formalized. It serves the purpose of identifying specific projects slated for the future, priorities for each project and for resources, general procedures, and constraints for each application area. An information system planning organizes the company’s prospects for the future concerning their information systems. IS planning is the point where the company’s core business operation is merged with technology to produce better output and boost performance. However, this view of IS planning is an already fading notion as this is no longer true nowadays.
IS planning is treated only as a back-room operation that supports an organization’s everyday tasks. But in modern corporations, IS planning is a very integral and critical part of the organization because it serves a very important purpose. The IS plan is no longer constrained within the company’s technology-oriented operations but it now also encompasses decision making, knowledge support, as well as management. So you see, IS planning is no longer a so-called “support” but it is now the central part of an organization. The modern view of IS planning is that it is not only a means of reducing cost but it is a means of adding value. The information systems plan must cater to the strategic demands of organizations, for example, serving the business, pursuing opportunities, and as well as meeting their data processing needs.
Another purpose of the IS plan could be strategic or competitive advantage. Since large-scale and small-scale corporations alike are constantly competing with each other, they would only want to have a certain advantage over the others. In most cases, the IS plan holds the key to that advantage. Assuming that in a company that has an under-developed or no IS plan at all, it is projected to complete a certain transaction in four working days. Now, in a company with a well-developed IS plan it takes only one or two days to complete the same transaction. Naturally, clients would prefer the company with the shorter processing time than the one that takes longer. Coupled with this, the company with the well-developed IS plan has faster turnover than the under-developed one. This means more business and profit in a shorter time span. In the business world, this is considered as a significant gain over the others.
According to Gorman, a quality information systems plan must exhibit five distinct characteristics before it could serve its purpose in the organization. These are: (1) timely, (2) usable, (3) maintainable, (4) quality, and (5) reproducible. A timely IS plan means that it can be conceived in a significantly shorter time than actually doing the work that needs to be done. There is no point in creating an IS plan if the problem to be addressed is long over. The second quality, usable, means that an IS plan can exist in sections that can be distributed to project managers so that each section can be started. In my understanding, this means that the IS plan must be modularized or broken down into more manageable pieces so that more work can be done in a span of time. An IS plan must also be maintainable, which means that the IS plan is able to accommodate any changes or modifications conveniently. I think this is a very important quality that an IS plan must possess because it is not practical to remodel and rework the whole system just to accommodate a few modifications. Such an approach would probably cost the company millions and thus it is not a cost-effective development of the IS plan. An IS plan must also be of good quality. No IS plan is perfect in the first try, however, it should still be of adequate efficiency and still be useable in the organization. The last quality that Gorman listed is reproducible. Reproducible means that the output of the IS plan should still be the same no matter who the user of the system will be. In short, it should be consistent. It is only after these characteristics of the IS plan are secured will the IS plan actually be able to serve its purpose in the company.
In any case, an information systems plan not only serves as a support to a company but it also serves as a guide or an outline of the company’s projected activities and more specifically, for their information environment. To ensure the success of the organization, the IS plan must work closely with the organization’s business plan. It should have the same goals and objectives as the business plan because success cannot be achieved if efforts are not united towards a common goal.
There are also challenges in Information Strategic Planning. Here are some as I found in the net that tells the challenges in strategic planning in developing countries. First is data. Finding data is a real challenge because there is available statistics is far below those available in developing countries. Most companies try to keep any financial information and consider them secrets. It is not possible to know the demand in last year of a certain product or service. People are not used to market research and they don’t want to talk to the marketing people. Next are employees. Most employees and managers are not aware about the value of strategic planning and they may consider it waste of time and something that is applicable in developed countries. Followed by owner. Many owners of successful companies believe they don’t need to do strategic planning and they do not know that their success will go one day when there are more competitors or there are changes in the market. Then the manager’s selection. Most company’s managers in developing countries are experts in the technical process of the organization but they are not well educated in management and thus they want to focus on what they know and neglect what they do not know. Accordingly, strategic management does not fall in their area of interest. Then the qualitative analysis. Strategic planning needs a lot of forecasting and qualitative analysis besides the quantitative analysis. Many technical managers are used to neither the qualitative analysis nor the forecasting. The phrase “I am the manager”. The strategy shows a guide for decisions, so, an employee may, sometimes, tell the senior manager that his decision is against the company strategy. Thus the manager avoid having a strategy to keep his freedom to decide whatever he likes. “Analysis” versus “Intuition”. Most people do not think that a manager should do analysis or have done for him they think that some people are talented to take the right decision without doing many calculations or having subordinates make a study for them. The common challenge is the Implementation. To get every manager follow the same strategy is not an easy task. The Investors. Having a clear strategic plan and clear goals for the future (other than increasing sales of the current products) does not affect the stock price because most of the investors do not care about those issues. And lastly, the security. Most managers feel that everything is a secret and obviously they think that no one else should know the strategy and thus no one else should make a study for our strategic plan….and there is no strategy. Maintaining the strategic plan is also a challenge in any sectors of any businesses. Strategic planning, the what and the why of planning, is often overlooked by organizations who concentrate on tactical planning, the how of planning. The resultant business plan is overwhelmed by tactical initiatives and pet projects. Alignment with a strategy to attain the organization’s goals is achieved by accident. Strategic planning is often seen as unnecessary or at times, not even contemplated in an environment benign to the organization, e.g. high levels of market growth or monopoly situations. In my experience, a strategic plan based on basic critical thinking is a precursor to developing a competitive advantage where often none has previously been seen. Flexibility is also a challenge of a business. Not all businesses do have a strategic plan. Like small scale businesses. And mostly strategic plan is a short term planning only. That is because of changing environment. Since we all know that strategic plan can’t be implemented because there is a change, so it’s a challenge to an IT professional who does the research to make his/her research or plan to be useful. The other challenge is the uncertainty. Strategic planning helps a business evaluate market opportunities. To do this effectively, the process includes collecting and analyzing information about the business environment, understanding internal strengths, and developing a set of 'key assumptions'. Optimal strategies are designed based on all of these factors. As the environment changes, so should our plans. One way to assess whether it is time to conduct a new strategic planning process is to check your list of 'key assumptions' on an annual basis to see if anything has changed. The other one is the cost. Big industries and businesses don’t have the problem of cost in regards of improvement in their business. But in small scale business, cost is a great factor. With all the activities that make up running a business, setting priorities in the context of a plan is important. Without a plan, the limited resources of a growing business will tend to be scattered in many directions, netting results that take longer and cost more. The other challenge also is the organization dynamics. An effective planning process will help to get people talking, and ensure that the business owner/CEO benefits from the ideas of his/her team. A good process is designed to build confidence, support and commitment among all involved. Even if only a limited group is included in the process, the completion of a strategic plan provides a great opportunity to communicate the company's direction and core values to employees. The use of an outside facilitator can greatly enhance the effectiveness of a planning process and keep the process on track. There is often a strong tendency of those participating to focus the discussions on today's problems. An outside facilitator can help to broaden thinking and make sure that new ideas and directions are generated.
The steps use in designing an IS Plan for the University
1. Present a background study of the current status of the Universities IS - Here i would present information about the university's current strengths and weaknesses with regards to its ICT, Finance, Management, current systems, Human Resource and other units of the organization that would affect the proposed ISP, Enough to show a perspective view as to where my proposed IS plan would dwell.
2. state the mission/goal of the new IS plan - The mission Goal of the IS plan should be inclined with the University's original statement,
3. Identify the Objectives of the IS plan
4. Identify ISP models that would serve as the platform for the proposed ISP - Exixting ISP models from outside sources are good starting point to boost the development of the proposed IS plan.
5. Identify components of the proposed IS plan
ISP must be timely, useable, maintainable, able to be iterated into a quality product, and reproducible. IT organizations, once they have completed their initial set of databases and business information systems will find themselves transformed from a project to a release environment.
The continuous flow environment then becomes the only viable alternative for moving the enterprise forward. It is precisely because of the release environment that enterprise-wide information systems plans that can be created, evolved, and maintained are essential.
Create the mission model, the mission model, generally shorter than 30 pages presents end-result characterizations of the essential raison of the enterprise. Develop a high-level data model
The high-level data model is an Entity Relationship diagram created to meet the data needs of the mission descriptions. No attributes or keys are created. Create the resource life cycles (RLC) and their nodes. Resources are drawn from both the mission descriptions and the high level data model. Resources and their life cycles are the names, descriptions and life cycles of the critical assets of the enterprise, which, when exercised achieve one or more aspect of the missions. Allocate precedence vectors among RLC nodes. Tied together into a enablement network, the resulting resource life cycle network forms a framework of enterprise that represent an order and set of inter-resource relationships. Allocate existing information systems and databases to the RLC nodes. The resource life cycle network presents business information systems and databases can be attached. Allocate standard work break down structures (WBS) to each RLC node. Detailed planning of the A difference projects. Load resources into each WBS node, once the resources are determined; these are loaded into the project management entities of the data repository, that is, metrics, project, work plan and deliverables. Schedule the RLC nodes through project management package facilities. The entire suite of projects is then scheduled on an enterprise-wide basis. Produce and review of the ISP. The scheduled result is predicable: Too long, too costly, and too ambitious. Execute and adjust the ISP through time.
6. Design implementation goals
As gathering data is part of the development of IS plan, I would make sure that those data would include the problems found inside the university and its opportunities. I would like to develop an IS plan that would address those problems and solve it through its implementation while utilizing the full potential of the university in delivering its services. As our university is a state university, many opportunities may rise and utilizing this and using it up to the maximum benefit would greatly improve the university.
In expediting the implementation process of the IS plan, the first and foremost concern for this process is the willingness of the university for implementation. A huge resistance for the implementation of an IS plan would prove a huge risk and may cause the IS plan to fail or never implemented. It would greatly help if the IS plan is backed and supported by the top university officials so that other parts of the university or colleges would have minimal amount of resistance. The IS plan with the acknowledgment from the university would be implemented faster if the university itself knows of the IS plan so training and seminars are thereby held. The whole process of implementation would require much time and resources that focusing all efforts will be required for the implementation to go smoothly and immediately.
Expedite is to accelerate or speed up something. Having constructed an IS Plan should entail the details on how it is to be implemented in effective and efficient ways. Steps of which involves:
- Coordination with the personnel involve
- The workforces/people ware itself are the main element in carrying out the IS plan. They are the brain and core of the system. Without which, the plan would not be put into action. This entails people management with their particular function and responsibility.
* Assigning of responsibilities and setting timelines
- Distribution and allocating of task should be thoroughly thought out. Constructing a timetable or outline of what-must-be-done is very crucial for it will be the basis for monitoring means of how the plan is going.
* Utilization of resources
- It is of practical act to properly make use of all the resources available for the system. Analysis of the resources should be made. A university should look out for any source accessible. Overlooked resource could be a big lost for one’s organization.
* Monitoring of the growth of development
- To keep track with the project schedules must be observed. Any progress should be made recognize. Updates and improvements must also be identified and evaluated if it has been going well with what has been planned for the system.
*Assessments and revisions of plans
- It is an evaluation and comparison of the actual system implementation with the original ISP. Changes would not be inevitable and so as with what has been intended or planned for the ISP. In this phase, with what is good for the betterment, alteration or modification of the original plan is being done.
The things that must be considered:
Project Management
• How aggressive is the implementation plan, both in the timeline and volume of location rollout?
We must determine the strength in terms of time that is necessary for the implementation of the IS plan and even the location variable. Through these information we could come up to reasonable activities and deadlines.
• What level of effort will be needed to keep the plan on time and within budget?
We must also consider the cost that is needed in the implementation of the system. It must be in relation to the overall budget the the IS plan have and the amount that is alloted in the implementation stage. And as said earlier the implementation plan must be within the alloted time.
• Who in the organization can be temporarily reassigned to manage the implementation?
This is in terms of the personnels that are needed in the implementation of the system. Instead of deciding right away in hiring more employees for the activity. We must first check if some of the present persons in the organization is skilled enough and could be reassigned to manage the implementation of the system. This will not only lessen the cost of the activity but will also save the team time and effort in hiring new competent persons for the job.
• What previous experience do they have with IS software implementation or the current MIS of the
organization?
This is also in line with the employees that will be affected with the implementation of the IS plan. Their experiences must be noted for us to know how effective they can be in handling the implementation of the new IS.
• For what length of time will they be needed?
If the organization chooses to reassign employees or to hire contractual personnels for the Implementation of the system, the time that they are in need must be noted. This is important to make sure that their availability in the project is put into good use and to save the organization from wasting money from unneeded personnels.
• How strong are their troubleshooting (problem solving) skills?
Their skills in troubleshooting or problem solving must also ne put into consideration so that they will be assigned to a certain position where their skills will be maximized to the fullest and all the things that must be done will not be interrupted because of an incapable personnel.
We should determine the time to be allotted in order to complete the plan. With this we can utilize time management and other factors concerning schedules. Other than managing time we should also consider who will manage the plan and create planning teams that is capable in planning an IS. Project management must be properly supervised and development practices are also one most significant factor to be considered. We need to better understand the plan so that implementation won’t become more complicated. That is why such issues must be put into consideration.
Data Conversion
• What data, if any, will need to be transferred to the new system?
This is intended for organizations who have their previous system and want to replace it with a new one. All the data from the past system must be properly transferred to the new one. This requires skilled personnels that knows the previous system and persons that are also trained for the new system.
• What issues are involved with converting the data (i.e., lack of a standard way of calculating interest from one branch office to the next)?
To have the transfer of data precise. Issues involving these data must be put into consideration. This is based on the process that the system requires these data to undergo and this factor is mainly different from one organization to another. Its up to the hired personnel to identify there major involvements.
• What is the volume of data to be converted?
The volume of the data to be converted must also be put into consideration in order express it on an effective timeline.
• Given time, costs and percentage of error, would a manual or automated conversion, or a
combination of both be better?
Depending on the data that must be converted. The personnel assigned must be reasonable in choosing the type of process in converting the data. The factors that must be considered includes the time and the percentage of error that my occur in the conversion process
In creating an IS plan, whether this is for the university or a big organization, the group that designed the plan has its own resources to be interpreted in order for the user or the people involved in the plan knows what are those possible resources or data to know.
Training
• what basic training is necessary for the IT staff, and for the general staff?
After getting note about the abilities and the experiences that the personnel had from the past system the team must know the trainings that the personnel need to be competent in handling the new system.
• Are there any training prerequisites?
One training prerequisite could be that the personnel could only undergo the training if he had attended a certain training in the past, which makes sure that he has the ability to comprehend on the topics that the training will discuss.
• Who conducts the training?
This refers to the competent persons that will conduct the meeting. The success os the training is also dependent on how equipped the trainer is and how good he is.
• Is the training a structured class style format?
It must be sure that the training is structured in order to give the trainees a good view of the topics and would help them fully understand the concepts.
• Does a TOT (trainer of trainers) option exist?
It is also a good point where former trainees could be trainers in the future training activities. It could not only save the organization some money but will also ensure them that the trainer is capable because it is noted that he has undergone the same training before.
People is the basic equipment of an IS Plan. Since that they're the one's using the systems or they're the one involve in the plan. Since that they are the user or the client of the plan, it must be necessary that they have the knowledge about and how to deal with the change. Since we are talking about a plan, it is guaranteed that the we are dealing with change.
Training is also the most important factor to be considered. IT staffs that are properly trained will make the project easily done. They need to have knowledge in terms of managing data and IS plan implementation. One of the things that are essential to successful continuous improvement in order to expedite implementation of IS plan are strongly matters on the people involve around the plan.
Before the implementation of the IS plan takes place, we must already have our plan for the implementation. It is important to plan so that we can prepare and to make it much easier for us to handle the inevitable and unexpected issues that would come up during the process. That is why we are required to plan not only for the implementation of an IS plan but for our future as well.
The strategic considerations including what product to get behind, what market to target, by what means, to what ends. An evolution of company innovation through flexible response to market trends. Plus the operational result of the business strategy, including order fulfilment, product creation, after sales service, customer acquisition and retention.
According to wikipedia:
The Information System consists of four parts which include: procedures, software, hardware, and information or data, which are essentially the same. There are various types of information systems, for example: transaction processing systems, office systems, decision support systems, knowledge management systems, database management systems, and office information systems. Critical to most information systems are information technologies, which are typically designed to enable humans to perform tasks for which the human brain is not well suited, such as: handling large amounts of information, performing complex calculations, and controlling many simultaneous processes.
Information Systems have a number of different areas of work:
Information systems strategy
Information systems management
Information systems development
Information systems security
Information systems iteration
There are a wide variety of career paths in the information systems discipline. "Workers with specialized technical knowledge and strong communications skills will have the best prospects. With management skills and an understanding of business practices and principles will have excellent opportunities, as companies are increasingly looking to technology to drive their revenue."
An information system is a collection of interrelated components that collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to complete a business task.
Information Systems are Important because of the following; Crucial to success of modern business organization. Constantly being developed to make business more competitive and Impact productivity and profits.
System is a collection of interrelated components that function together to achieve some outcome. Information systems outcome is the solution to a business problem. Information systems, subsystems, and components interact with and include hardware, software, inputs, outputs, data, people, and procedures. Problem solving means looking into business problem in great detail, completely understanding problem, and choosing best solution. Information system development is much more than writing programs
Strategic planning must be align with the business plan. Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ) and PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis involving Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors. According to other source, strategic plan is a document used by an organization to align its organization and budget structure with organizational priorities, missions, and objectives. It is also a process of comprehensive, integrative program planning that considers, at a minimum, the future of current decisions, overall policy, organizational development, and links to operational plans. And according to the project management club, strategic planning is a basic document for planning of different projects of the programmed and their sub-projects. It is based on the content of the Financing Memorandum (FM) and the Monitoring and Evaluation Matrix attached to the Financing Proposal and translates the two documents into detailed operational terms. A satisfactory strategic plan must be realistic and attainable so as to allow managers and entrepreneurs to think strategically and act operationally. In align with that, strategic plan must be reliable and suitable for the need of the company. Failure to secure top management commitment for carrying out the final plan frequently in almost all major projects, it may be on school or other situations like in business.
We are very vigilant and optimistic when we are just starting to accomplish our plan. The eagerness, focus, attention and other characters needed for a good start is always present. But a good stand doesn’t always end up with a good end. Generally most people have difficulties in finishing what they have started. We have the tendency to feel tired at the finishing part of our project. There are a lot of reasons behind this. With regards to IS planning, this may happen because of the lack of a good IS manager or team leader. The whole success of a plan generally lies in the hand of the team leader whose crucial responsibilities arise when everything is not going right. Another reason why we have difficulty in finishing what we have started is the lack of support.
“Planning is everything. Plans are nothing”, that is according to Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke. For my understanding about the quote, for me it means that we can really plan for anything. We can directly create or have our planning for ourselves. But in the end, after we have decided the planning, in the end, we can’t really have the activities to do the plan. Like for example here in USEP. Every professional professors and teachers here do have their conference and meeting about the strategic planning for the school, but once it was been designed or talked properly, at the end of the discussion and after the technical paper was made, there are still no implementation for it. The words and discussions are being taken for granted. Meaning, the planning was still useless since it was not been implemented properly.
Planning an IS plan can somehow complex. If I were to think of steps in order to expedite the implementation of IS plan to ensure that something takes place or dealt with more quickly than usual I would rather take into consideration some factors.
There is no information system plan is perfect the first try. It is our task to improve them and make sure that the IS plan is working towards the same goal as the organization’s business plan. To overcome the challenges that we may face, we have to be equipped with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills. If we can overcome them, then we can come up with a well-developed IS plan that will serve its purpose in the company for a long time
Source:
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/files/48230_file_94.pdf
http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/5262
http://www.clarionmag.com/cmag/v3/informationsystemsplanning.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_systems_discipline
The first major challenge in developing an IS plan is management. There are several aspects of management that pose a challenge to IT/IS managers. The first one is integration. This involves managing the enterprise’s resources and connecting the different organizational levels. It is a challenge to properly manage the enterprise’s resources. This requires a lot of decision-making skills. IT/IS managers need to know how to allocate the company’s resources properly so that there will be minimal or no loss at all. The company’s resources include everything from the workers to the management to the hardware or equipment and etc. When developing an IS plan, all of these resources need to be considered because it is only if they are used properly will the IS plan work harmoniously in the company. IT/IS managers has to know how to weigh certain decisions regarding resource management so that it will not result in excessive or disproportionate resource allocation. The second aspect of management that also poses a challenge to managers is connecting the different organizational levels. Organizations are not flat or one-dimensional. All organizations are hierarchical, from the executives to the ordinary workers. You can envision it as a pyramid of increasing order. The challenge here now is how to interconnect the top-most level with the lower levels and the lower levels to the top-most levels. Each level must be involved in the IS plan in one way or another and it depends on the plan how much these levels are involved in it. No level must be left out because every one of them comprises the whole the organization. It is a challenge to be able to interconnect these different organizational levels so that they can work together as a firm and stable structure to keep the business going. Connecting the organizational levels is also costly since it requires a lot of resources. This is related to managing the company’s resources.
Another aspect of management that poses a challenge to IT/IS managers is sustaining the competitive advantage. Like I mentioned earlier, to gain competitive advantage is one of the purposes of the IS plan. It may be a bit easier to see to that for a definite period of time but it is definitely challenging to keep up the advantage for the whole life of the company. IT/IS managers need to make sure that the IS plan is able to evolve or is flexible to ensure long-term profits.
Information systems plan is like a strategic plan in management. Therefore, it is where objectives, priorities, and authorization for information systems projects need to be formalized. It serves the purpose of identifying specific projects slated for the future, priorities for each project and for resources, general procedures, and constraints for each application area. An information system planning organizes the company’s prospects for the future concerning their information systems. IS planning is the point where the company’s core business operation is merged with technology to produce better output and boost performance. However, this view of IS planning is an already fading notion as this is no longer true nowadays.
IS planning is treated only as a back-room operation that supports an organization’s everyday tasks. But in modern corporations, IS planning is a very integral and critical part of the organization because it serves a very important purpose. The IS plan is no longer constrained within the company’s technology-oriented operations but it now also encompasses decision making, knowledge support, as well as management. So you see, IS planning is no longer a so-called “support” but it is now the central part of an organization. The modern view of IS planning is that it is not only a means of reducing cost but it is a means of adding value. The information systems plan must cater to the strategic demands of organizations, for example, serving the business, pursuing opportunities, and as well as meeting their data processing needs.
Another purpose of the IS plan could be strategic or competitive advantage. Since large-scale and small-scale corporations alike are constantly competing with each other, they would only want to have a certain advantage over the others. In most cases, the IS plan holds the key to that advantage. Assuming that in a company that has an under-developed or no IS plan at all, it is projected to complete a certain transaction in four working days. Now, in a company with a well-developed IS plan it takes only one or two days to complete the same transaction. Naturally, clients would prefer the company with the shorter processing time than the one that takes longer. Coupled with this, the company with the well-developed IS plan has faster turnover than the under-developed one. This means more business and profit in a shorter time span. In the business world, this is considered as a significant gain over the others.
According to Gorman, a quality information systems plan must exhibit five distinct characteristics before it could serve its purpose in the organization. These are: (1) timely, (2) usable, (3) maintainable, (4) quality, and (5) reproducible. A timely IS plan means that it can be conceived in a significantly shorter time than actually doing the work that needs to be done. There is no point in creating an IS plan if the problem to be addressed is long over. The second quality, usable, means that an IS plan can exist in sections that can be distributed to project managers so that each section can be started. In my understanding, this means that the IS plan must be modularized or broken down into more manageable pieces so that more work can be done in a span of time. An IS plan must also be maintainable, which means that the IS plan is able to accommodate any changes or modifications conveniently. I think this is a very important quality that an IS plan must possess because it is not practical to remodel and rework the whole system just to accommodate a few modifications. Such an approach would probably cost the company millions and thus it is not a cost-effective development of the IS plan. An IS plan must also be of good quality. No IS plan is perfect in the first try, however, it should still be of adequate efficiency and still be useable in the organization. The last quality that Gorman listed is reproducible. Reproducible means that the output of the IS plan should still be the same no matter who the user of the system will be. In short, it should be consistent. It is only after these characteristics of the IS plan are secured will the IS plan actually be able to serve its purpose in the company.
In any case, an information systems plan not only serves as a support to a company but it also serves as a guide or an outline of the company’s projected activities and more specifically, for their information environment. To ensure the success of the organization, the IS plan must work closely with the organization’s business plan. It should have the same goals and objectives as the business plan because success cannot be achieved if efforts are not united towards a common goal.
There are also challenges in Information Strategic Planning. Here are some as I found in the net that tells the challenges in strategic planning in developing countries. First is data. Finding data is a real challenge because there is available statistics is far below those available in developing countries. Most companies try to keep any financial information and consider them secrets. It is not possible to know the demand in last year of a certain product or service. People are not used to market research and they don’t want to talk to the marketing people. Next are employees. Most employees and managers are not aware about the value of strategic planning and they may consider it waste of time and something that is applicable in developed countries. Followed by owner. Many owners of successful companies believe they don’t need to do strategic planning and they do not know that their success will go one day when there are more competitors or there are changes in the market. Then the manager’s selection. Most company’s managers in developing countries are experts in the technical process of the organization but they are not well educated in management and thus they want to focus on what they know and neglect what they do not know. Accordingly, strategic management does not fall in their area of interest. Then the qualitative analysis. Strategic planning needs a lot of forecasting and qualitative analysis besides the quantitative analysis. Many technical managers are used to neither the qualitative analysis nor the forecasting. The phrase “I am the manager”. The strategy shows a guide for decisions, so, an employee may, sometimes, tell the senior manager that his decision is against the company strategy. Thus the manager avoid having a strategy to keep his freedom to decide whatever he likes. “Analysis” versus “Intuition”. Most people do not think that a manager should do analysis or have done for him they think that some people are talented to take the right decision without doing many calculations or having subordinates make a study for them. The common challenge is the Implementation. To get every manager follow the same strategy is not an easy task. The Investors. Having a clear strategic plan and clear goals for the future (other than increasing sales of the current products) does not affect the stock price because most of the investors do not care about those issues. And lastly, the security. Most managers feel that everything is a secret and obviously they think that no one else should know the strategy and thus no one else should make a study for our strategic plan….and there is no strategy. Maintaining the strategic plan is also a challenge in any sectors of any businesses. Strategic planning, the what and the why of planning, is often overlooked by organizations who concentrate on tactical planning, the how of planning. The resultant business plan is overwhelmed by tactical initiatives and pet projects. Alignment with a strategy to attain the organization’s goals is achieved by accident. Strategic planning is often seen as unnecessary or at times, not even contemplated in an environment benign to the organization, e.g. high levels of market growth or monopoly situations. In my experience, a strategic plan based on basic critical thinking is a precursor to developing a competitive advantage where often none has previously been seen. Flexibility is also a challenge of a business. Not all businesses do have a strategic plan. Like small scale businesses. And mostly strategic plan is a short term planning only. That is because of changing environment. Since we all know that strategic plan can’t be implemented because there is a change, so it’s a challenge to an IT professional who does the research to make his/her research or plan to be useful. The other challenge is the uncertainty. Strategic planning helps a business evaluate market opportunities. To do this effectively, the process includes collecting and analyzing information about the business environment, understanding internal strengths, and developing a set of 'key assumptions'. Optimal strategies are designed based on all of these factors. As the environment changes, so should our plans. One way to assess whether it is time to conduct a new strategic planning process is to check your list of 'key assumptions' on an annual basis to see if anything has changed. The other one is the cost. Big industries and businesses don’t have the problem of cost in regards of improvement in their business. But in small scale business, cost is a great factor. With all the activities that make up running a business, setting priorities in the context of a plan is important. Without a plan, the limited resources of a growing business will tend to be scattered in many directions, netting results that take longer and cost more. The other challenge also is the organization dynamics. An effective planning process will help to get people talking, and ensure that the business owner/CEO benefits from the ideas of his/her team. A good process is designed to build confidence, support and commitment among all involved. Even if only a limited group is included in the process, the completion of a strategic plan provides a great opportunity to communicate the company's direction and core values to employees. The use of an outside facilitator can greatly enhance the effectiveness of a planning process and keep the process on track. There is often a strong tendency of those participating to focus the discussions on today's problems. An outside facilitator can help to broaden thinking and make sure that new ideas and directions are generated.
The steps use in designing an IS Plan for the University
1. Present a background study of the current status of the Universities IS - Here i would present information about the university's current strengths and weaknesses with regards to its ICT, Finance, Management, current systems, Human Resource and other units of the organization that would affect the proposed ISP, Enough to show a perspective view as to where my proposed IS plan would dwell.
2. state the mission/goal of the new IS plan - The mission Goal of the IS plan should be inclined with the University's original statement,
3. Identify the Objectives of the IS plan
4. Identify ISP models that would serve as the platform for the proposed ISP - Exixting ISP models from outside sources are good starting point to boost the development of the proposed IS plan.
5. Identify components of the proposed IS plan
ISP must be timely, useable, maintainable, able to be iterated into a quality product, and reproducible. IT organizations, once they have completed their initial set of databases and business information systems will find themselves transformed from a project to a release environment.
The continuous flow environment then becomes the only viable alternative for moving the enterprise forward. It is precisely because of the release environment that enterprise-wide information systems plans that can be created, evolved, and maintained are essential.
Create the mission model, the mission model, generally shorter than 30 pages presents end-result characterizations of the essential raison of the enterprise. Develop a high-level data model
The high-level data model is an Entity Relationship diagram created to meet the data needs of the mission descriptions. No attributes or keys are created. Create the resource life cycles (RLC) and their nodes. Resources are drawn from both the mission descriptions and the high level data model. Resources and their life cycles are the names, descriptions and life cycles of the critical assets of the enterprise, which, when exercised achieve one or more aspect of the missions. Allocate precedence vectors among RLC nodes. Tied together into a enablement network, the resulting resource life cycle network forms a framework of enterprise that represent an order and set of inter-resource relationships. Allocate existing information systems and databases to the RLC nodes. The resource life cycle network presents business information systems and databases can be attached. Allocate standard work break down structures (WBS) to each RLC node. Detailed planning of the A difference projects. Load resources into each WBS node, once the resources are determined; these are loaded into the project management entities of the data repository, that is, metrics, project, work plan and deliverables. Schedule the RLC nodes through project management package facilities. The entire suite of projects is then scheduled on an enterprise-wide basis. Produce and review of the ISP. The scheduled result is predicable: Too long, too costly, and too ambitious. Execute and adjust the ISP through time.
6. Design implementation goals
As gathering data is part of the development of IS plan, I would make sure that those data would include the problems found inside the university and its opportunities. I would like to develop an IS plan that would address those problems and solve it through its implementation while utilizing the full potential of the university in delivering its services. As our university is a state university, many opportunities may rise and utilizing this and using it up to the maximum benefit would greatly improve the university.
In expediting the implementation process of the IS plan, the first and foremost concern for this process is the willingness of the university for implementation. A huge resistance for the implementation of an IS plan would prove a huge risk and may cause the IS plan to fail or never implemented. It would greatly help if the IS plan is backed and supported by the top university officials so that other parts of the university or colleges would have minimal amount of resistance. The IS plan with the acknowledgment from the university would be implemented faster if the university itself knows of the IS plan so training and seminars are thereby held. The whole process of implementation would require much time and resources that focusing all efforts will be required for the implementation to go smoothly and immediately.
Expedite is to accelerate or speed up something. Having constructed an IS Plan should entail the details on how it is to be implemented in effective and efficient ways. Steps of which involves:
- Coordination with the personnel involve
- The workforces/people ware itself are the main element in carrying out the IS plan. They are the brain and core of the system. Without which, the plan would not be put into action. This entails people management with their particular function and responsibility.
* Assigning of responsibilities and setting timelines
- Distribution and allocating of task should be thoroughly thought out. Constructing a timetable or outline of what-must-be-done is very crucial for it will be the basis for monitoring means of how the plan is going.
* Utilization of resources
- It is of practical act to properly make use of all the resources available for the system. Analysis of the resources should be made. A university should look out for any source accessible. Overlooked resource could be a big lost for one’s organization.
* Monitoring of the growth of development
- To keep track with the project schedules must be observed. Any progress should be made recognize. Updates and improvements must also be identified and evaluated if it has been going well with what has been planned for the system.
*Assessments and revisions of plans
- It is an evaluation and comparison of the actual system implementation with the original ISP. Changes would not be inevitable and so as with what has been intended or planned for the ISP. In this phase, with what is good for the betterment, alteration or modification of the original plan is being done.
The things that must be considered:
Project Management
• How aggressive is the implementation plan, both in the timeline and volume of location rollout?
We must determine the strength in terms of time that is necessary for the implementation of the IS plan and even the location variable. Through these information we could come up to reasonable activities and deadlines.
• What level of effort will be needed to keep the plan on time and within budget?
We must also consider the cost that is needed in the implementation of the system. It must be in relation to the overall budget the the IS plan have and the amount that is alloted in the implementation stage. And as said earlier the implementation plan must be within the alloted time.
• Who in the organization can be temporarily reassigned to manage the implementation?
This is in terms of the personnels that are needed in the implementation of the system. Instead of deciding right away in hiring more employees for the activity. We must first check if some of the present persons in the organization is skilled enough and could be reassigned to manage the implementation of the system. This will not only lessen the cost of the activity but will also save the team time and effort in hiring new competent persons for the job.
• What previous experience do they have with IS software implementation or the current MIS of the
organization?
This is also in line with the employees that will be affected with the implementation of the IS plan. Their experiences must be noted for us to know how effective they can be in handling the implementation of the new IS.
• For what length of time will they be needed?
If the organization chooses to reassign employees or to hire contractual personnels for the Implementation of the system, the time that they are in need must be noted. This is important to make sure that their availability in the project is put into good use and to save the organization from wasting money from unneeded personnels.
• How strong are their troubleshooting (problem solving) skills?
Their skills in troubleshooting or problem solving must also ne put into consideration so that they will be assigned to a certain position where their skills will be maximized to the fullest and all the things that must be done will not be interrupted because of an incapable personnel.
We should determine the time to be allotted in order to complete the plan. With this we can utilize time management and other factors concerning schedules. Other than managing time we should also consider who will manage the plan and create planning teams that is capable in planning an IS. Project management must be properly supervised and development practices are also one most significant factor to be considered. We need to better understand the plan so that implementation won’t become more complicated. That is why such issues must be put into consideration.
Data Conversion
• What data, if any, will need to be transferred to the new system?
This is intended for organizations who have their previous system and want to replace it with a new one. All the data from the past system must be properly transferred to the new one. This requires skilled personnels that knows the previous system and persons that are also trained for the new system.
• What issues are involved with converting the data (i.e., lack of a standard way of calculating interest from one branch office to the next)?
To have the transfer of data precise. Issues involving these data must be put into consideration. This is based on the process that the system requires these data to undergo and this factor is mainly different from one organization to another. Its up to the hired personnel to identify there major involvements.
• What is the volume of data to be converted?
The volume of the data to be converted must also be put into consideration in order express it on an effective timeline.
• Given time, costs and percentage of error, would a manual or automated conversion, or a
combination of both be better?
Depending on the data that must be converted. The personnel assigned must be reasonable in choosing the type of process in converting the data. The factors that must be considered includes the time and the percentage of error that my occur in the conversion process
In creating an IS plan, whether this is for the university or a big organization, the group that designed the plan has its own resources to be interpreted in order for the user or the people involved in the plan knows what are those possible resources or data to know.
Training
• what basic training is necessary for the IT staff, and for the general staff?
After getting note about the abilities and the experiences that the personnel had from the past system the team must know the trainings that the personnel need to be competent in handling the new system.
• Are there any training prerequisites?
One training prerequisite could be that the personnel could only undergo the training if he had attended a certain training in the past, which makes sure that he has the ability to comprehend on the topics that the training will discuss.
• Who conducts the training?
This refers to the competent persons that will conduct the meeting. The success os the training is also dependent on how equipped the trainer is and how good he is.
• Is the training a structured class style format?
It must be sure that the training is structured in order to give the trainees a good view of the topics and would help them fully understand the concepts.
• Does a TOT (trainer of trainers) option exist?
It is also a good point where former trainees could be trainers in the future training activities. It could not only save the organization some money but will also ensure them that the trainer is capable because it is noted that he has undergone the same training before.
People is the basic equipment of an IS Plan. Since that they're the one's using the systems or they're the one involve in the plan. Since that they are the user or the client of the plan, it must be necessary that they have the knowledge about and how to deal with the change. Since we are talking about a plan, it is guaranteed that the we are dealing with change.
Training is also the most important factor to be considered. IT staffs that are properly trained will make the project easily done. They need to have knowledge in terms of managing data and IS plan implementation. One of the things that are essential to successful continuous improvement in order to expedite implementation of IS plan are strongly matters on the people involve around the plan.
Before the implementation of the IS plan takes place, we must already have our plan for the implementation. It is important to plan so that we can prepare and to make it much easier for us to handle the inevitable and unexpected issues that would come up during the process. That is why we are required to plan not only for the implementation of an IS plan but for our future as well.
The strategic considerations including what product to get behind, what market to target, by what means, to what ends. An evolution of company innovation through flexible response to market trends. Plus the operational result of the business strategy, including order fulfilment, product creation, after sales service, customer acquisition and retention.
According to wikipedia:
The Information System consists of four parts which include: procedures, software, hardware, and information or data, which are essentially the same. There are various types of information systems, for example: transaction processing systems, office systems, decision support systems, knowledge management systems, database management systems, and office information systems. Critical to most information systems are information technologies, which are typically designed to enable humans to perform tasks for which the human brain is not well suited, such as: handling large amounts of information, performing complex calculations, and controlling many simultaneous processes.
Information Systems have a number of different areas of work:
Information systems strategy
Information systems management
Information systems development
Information systems security
Information systems iteration
There are a wide variety of career paths in the information systems discipline. "Workers with specialized technical knowledge and strong communications skills will have the best prospects. With management skills and an understanding of business practices and principles will have excellent opportunities, as companies are increasingly looking to technology to drive their revenue."
An information system is a collection of interrelated components that collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to complete a business task.
Information Systems are Important because of the following; Crucial to success of modern business organization. Constantly being developed to make business more competitive and Impact productivity and profits.
System is a collection of interrelated components that function together to achieve some outcome. Information systems outcome is the solution to a business problem. Information systems, subsystems, and components interact with and include hardware, software, inputs, outputs, data, people, and procedures. Problem solving means looking into business problem in great detail, completely understanding problem, and choosing best solution. Information system development is much more than writing programs
Strategic planning must be align with the business plan. Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ) and PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis involving Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors. According to other source, strategic plan is a document used by an organization to align its organization and budget structure with organizational priorities, missions, and objectives. It is also a process of comprehensive, integrative program planning that considers, at a minimum, the future of current decisions, overall policy, organizational development, and links to operational plans. And according to the project management club, strategic planning is a basic document for planning of different projects of the programmed and their sub-projects. It is based on the content of the Financing Memorandum (FM) and the Monitoring and Evaluation Matrix attached to the Financing Proposal and translates the two documents into detailed operational terms. A satisfactory strategic plan must be realistic and attainable so as to allow managers and entrepreneurs to think strategically and act operationally. In align with that, strategic plan must be reliable and suitable for the need of the company. Failure to secure top management commitment for carrying out the final plan frequently in almost all major projects, it may be on school or other situations like in business.
We are very vigilant and optimistic when we are just starting to accomplish our plan. The eagerness, focus, attention and other characters needed for a good start is always present. But a good stand doesn’t always end up with a good end. Generally most people have difficulties in finishing what they have started. We have the tendency to feel tired at the finishing part of our project. There are a lot of reasons behind this. With regards to IS planning, this may happen because of the lack of a good IS manager or team leader. The whole success of a plan generally lies in the hand of the team leader whose crucial responsibilities arise when everything is not going right. Another reason why we have difficulty in finishing what we have started is the lack of support.
“Planning is everything. Plans are nothing”, that is according to Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke. For my understanding about the quote, for me it means that we can really plan for anything. We can directly create or have our planning for ourselves. But in the end, after we have decided the planning, in the end, we can’t really have the activities to do the plan. Like for example here in USEP. Every professional professors and teachers here do have their conference and meeting about the strategic planning for the school, but once it was been designed or talked properly, at the end of the discussion and after the technical paper was made, there are still no implementation for it. The words and discussions are being taken for granted. Meaning, the planning was still useless since it was not been implemented properly.
Planning an IS plan can somehow complex. If I were to think of steps in order to expedite the implementation of IS plan to ensure that something takes place or dealt with more quickly than usual I would rather take into consideration some factors.
There is no information system plan is perfect the first try. It is our task to improve them and make sure that the IS plan is working towards the same goal as the organization’s business plan. To overcome the challenges that we may face, we have to be equipped with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills. If we can overcome them, then we can come up with a well-developed IS plan that will serve its purpose in the company for a long time
Source:
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/files/48230_file_94.pdf
http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/5262
http://www.clarionmag.com/cmag/v3/informationsystemsplanning.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_systems_discipline
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