Planning for Business Change

1
Planning for Business Change

• Louis A. Le Blanc

2
Organizational Planning
Planning is deciding what to do before you do it.
Strategic business and IS planning lays the
foundation needed for long-term success and
survival. Organizations and their managers
conduct an organizational planning process.
3
The Organizational Planning Process Involves

• Evaluating what they have accomplished and the
  resources they have acquired
• Analyzing the environment
• Anticipating future developments
• Deciding on what goals they want to achieve
• Deciding what action to take to achieve the goals

4
A Plan
A plan is a result of this planning process. It
formally articulates the actions we feel are
necessary to achieve our goals. Thus, a plan is
a basis for action.
5
Planning Terminology

• Mission
• Goals
• Objectives
• Strategies

• Tactics
• Policies
• Rules Procedures

6
Mission
A statement of the basic purposes for which the
organization exists.
7
Goals
Broad statements of the ends the organization
intends to accomplish in order to fulfill its
mission.
8
Objectives
Are specific, measurable targets for
the accomplishment of goals.
9
Strategies
Are general approaches that show how goals should
be achieved.
10
Tactics
Are specific guides to actions that
will implement established strategies.
11
Policies
Are general guidelines that direct and constrain
decision making within an organization.
12
Rules Procedures
Are specific statements that direct and constrain
decision making in accordance with the
organizations policies.
13
Types of Planning
Planning is typically discussed in terms of the
level of planning and the planning time frame.

• Strategic Planning
• Tactical Planning
• Operational Planning
• Long Range Planning
• Short Range Planning

14
Strategic Planning
Deals with the development of an organization's
mission, goals, strategies, and policies.
15
Tactical Planning
Involves the design of tactics, the setting of
objectives, and the development of procedures,
rules, schedules, and budgets.
16
Operational Planning
Planning on a short-term basis to implement and
control day-to-day operations.
17
Long-Range Planning
Involves looking three to five years (or more)
into the future. Many organizations have a
planning process that reviews and modifies their
long-range plans on a regular basis, such as
six months to a year.
18
Short-Range Planning
Can range from daily, weekly, or monthly
planning to a one year or two year time frame.
19
Role of Information Systems Planning
Information systems planning are an important
component of organizational planning. IT plays
a vital role in the efficiency of a companys
operations, the effectiveness of managerial
decision making, and the success of an
organizations strategic initiatives.
20
Role of Information Systems Planning continued
Managing IT requires a planning process that is
part of the strategic, tactical and operational
planning of the organization.
21
Strategic Information Systems Planning
Four objectives of strategic information
system planning include

• Business Alignment
• Competitive Alignment
• Resource Management
• Technology Architecture

22
Business Alignment
Aligning investment in information technology
with a companys business vision and strategic
business goals.
23
Competitive Advantage
Exploiting information technology to create
innovative and strategic business information
systems for competitive advantage.
24
Resource Management
Developing plans for the efficient and effective
management of a companys information system
resources, including IS personnel, hardware,
software, data, and network resources.
25
Technology Architecture
Developing technology policies and designing an
information technology architecture for the
organization.
26
The Information Technology Architecture
IT architecture created by the strategic planning
process includes the following major components

• Technology Platform
• Data Resources
• Application Portfolio
• IT Organizations

27
Technology Platform
Computer systems, system and application
software, and telecom networks providing a
computing and communications infrastructure, or
platform, that supports the use of information
technology in business.
28
Data Resources
Many types of operational and specialized
databases, including data warehouses, analytical
databases, and external data banks store and
provide data and information for business
processes and managerial decision support.
29
Application Portfolio
Business application of IT are designed as a
diversified portfolio of information systems that
support key business functions as well as
cross-functional business processes. Such a
portfolio should include support for
interorganizational business linkages, managerial
decision making, end user computing and
collaboration, and strategic initiatives for
competitive advantages
30
IT Organization
The organizational structure of the IS function
within a company, and the distribution of IS
specialists among corporate headquarters and
business units can be designed or redesigned to
meet the changing strategies of a business. The
form of the IT organization depends on the
managerial philosophy, business vision, and
business/IT strategies formulated during the
strategic planning process.
31
Tactical Systems Planning

• Specific assessment of an organizations current
  and projected information requirements
• Requirements are then subdivided into individual
  project proposals for the development of new or
  improved information systems

32
Tactical Systems Planning continued

• Projects are then evaluated, ranked, and fitted
  into a multi-year development plan
• Resource allocation plans are developed to
  specify the hardware, software, and personnel
  resources, telecom facilities, and financial
  commitments needed to implement the master
  development plan

33
Operational Systems Planning

• Preparation of annual operating budgets
• Planning for individual information systems
  development projects

34
Project IS Planning

• Involves the development of plans, procedures,
  and schedules for an individual IS development
  project
• Techniques for project planning include GANT
  chart, CPM and PERT

35
Information Systems Planning Methodologies
Many organizations have found that they need to
use a formal IS planning process to ensure that
all important planning activities and products
are accomplished/produced. This methodology
specifies how an organization can translate its
strategic goals into a detailed IS development
plan to achieve those goals.
36
Popular Methodologies

• Business Systems Planning (BSP)
• Critical Success Factors (CSF)

37
Business Systems Planning
BSP is a structured approach that assists
an organization in developing information systems
plans to satisfy its short and long-term
information requirements.
38
BSP Objectives

• Translate the business mission, strategies,
  objectives and structure into an IS mission,
  strategy, objectives, etc..
• Determine IS priorities and allocate resources to
  high-return projects that support business goals
• Plan long-lived IS based on enduring business
  processes

39
The BSP Approach
One of the basic premises of BSP methodology is
top-down planning and bottom-up implementation.
40
Top-Down Planning

• Requires top executives lay out the strategic
  mission and objectives of the organization to a
  study team composed of managers and IS
  specialists
• A study team systematically interviews managers
  throughout the organization to determine how
  these objectives are implemented in the basic
  functions (marketing) and processes (order entry)

41
Top Down Planning continued

• The team examines the types or classes of data
  needed to support these basic processes
• The team designs an information architecture that
  defines the relationships between classes of data
  and the business process.

42
Bottom Up Implementation

• Involves the application development activities
  that are performed by end users and IS
  professionals (e.g., demand deposit processing)
• Each application should serve a business function
  that support the mission and objectives of the
  organization (e.g.., order entry)

43
Critical Success Factors
The critical success factors approach for IS
planning is based on the premise that the
information requirements of an organization
should be determined by its critical success
factors. These are key areas where
successful performance will ensure the success of
the organization and attainment of its goals.
44
Goals of CSFs
IS are designed to continually measure
performance in each CSF and report this
information to management, such as

• Earnings per share
• Market share
• ROI
• New Product Success

45
Planning for Competitive Advantage
The emphasis is on planning information systems
that will improve the firms performance and
competitive position. Four models can be used in
the strategic planning process to help generate
ideas for the strategic use of IT.
46
Strategic Planning Models

• Competitive Forces Competitors, customers,
  suppliers, new entrants, and substitutes
• Competitive Strategies Cost leadership,
  differentiation, and differentiation
• Value chain Adding value to a product

47
Strategic Thrusts
Adds growth by acquisitions and alliances with
other organizations. SWOT (Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis
is used to evaluate the impact that each possible
strategic thrust or target can have on the
business.
48
Reach and Range Analysis
A reach and range planning framework is used to
determine how to position the information
technology capabilities within the organization.
49
Reach Range

• Reach Refers to the types of business
  stake- holders and locations that can be
  linked to a firms hardware, software and
  database resources
• Range Refers to the types of information
  and processing that can be shared through
  computers and networks

50
The Scenario Approach
The scenario approach is a technique used by
managers to make planning easier, more accurate,
and more relevant to the real world. In this
approach, managers and planners create scenarios
of what a business will be like in the future,
and the role that IT can play in those future
scenarios.
51
Computer-Aided Planning Tools
Computer-aided planning tools help ease the
burden of information systems planning. PC Prism
is used to define a environment (strategic,
tactical, etc..) and planning structures such as
CSFs, organizational units, processes, data
structures, etc. The result is an enterprise
model of the business that defines the structures
and relationships of business process and data
elements, etc.