ASAD (2)

• Strategic planning process


  Process of identifying long-term organizational goals, strategies, and resources
• Strategic planning


  • Starts with a mission statement
  • Reflects the vision, purpose, and values
  • Critical success factor: high-priority objective
• SWOT analysis


  Examines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats<|>Examines technical, human, and financial resources
• SWOT analysis


  • Figure 2-1
  • Figure 2-2
• Role of IT department in strategic planning

  Careful project planning<|>Supports overall business strategy and operational needs<|>Scope is well-defined and clearly stated<|>Goals are realistic, and tied to specific statements, assumptions, constraints, factors, and other inputs
• Strategic planning tools


  • Microsoft Word and Excel
  • CASE tools
  • Mind maps
  • Balanced scorecards
  • Gap analysis
• Business case


  Justification for a proposal<|>Comprehensive and easy to understand<|>Describe the project clearly, provide justification to proceed, and estimate financial impact
• Questions answered in a business case

  • Why are we doing this project?
  • How much will it cost and how long will it take?
  • Are there any risks involved?
  • How will we measure success?
  • What alternatives exist?
• Systems requests


  Formal way of asking for IT support<|>Stronger controls<|>More information<|>Better performance<|>Improved service<|>More support for new products and services
• Systems requests

  • Figure 2-4
• Factors affecting systems projects

  Internal and external factors
• Factors affecting systems projects

  • Figure 2-6
• Processing systems requests


  Systems review committee or a computer resources committee<|>Streamline the request process<|>Ensure consistency<|>Easy to understand<|>Include clear instructions<|>Indicate required supporting documents<|>Submitted electronically
• Systems request form

  • Figure 2-10
• Systems request tools


  Used to help manage workflow<|>Broader viewpoint enables a committee to establish priorities more effectively<|>One person's bias is less likely to affect decisions<|>Action on requests must wait until committee meets<|>Members might favor projects requested by their own departments
• Assessing request feasibility


  Initial fact-finding<|>Studying organizational charts<|>Performing interviews<|>Reviewing current documentation<|>Observing operations<|>Surveying users
• Feasibility study

  • Figure 2-11
• Operational feasibility


  Proposed system will be used effectively after it has been developed<|>Can be affected by organizational culture<|>Cannot be accurately measured but requires careful study
• Economic feasibility


  Projected benefits of a proposed system out-weigh total cost of ownership (TCO)<|>Determination of TCO requires cost analysis
• TCO cost factors


  • People, including IT staff and users
  • Hardware and equipment
  • Software
  • Formal and informal training
  • Licenses and fees
  • Consulting expenses and facility costs
  • Estimated cost of not developing or postponing
• Costs and benefits


  Tangible costs are measured in dollars<|>Intangible costs can significantly affect organizational performance<|>Tangible benefits can result from a decrease in expenses or an increase in revenues<|>Intangible benefits are important to the company despite the inability to measure them in dollars
• Technical feasibility


  Technical resources required to develop and operate the system
• Technical feasibility questions


  • Does the company have the necessary hardware, software, and network resources?
  • Does the company have the required technical expertise?
  • Does the proposed platform have sufficient capacity for future needs?
  • Will a prototype be required?
• Schedule feasibility


  Project implemented in an acceptable time frame<|>Interaction between time and costs<|>Can the company or the IT team control the factors that affect schedule feasibility?<|>Has management established a firm timetable?<|>What conditions must be met to ensure schedule feasibility?
• Questions analysts should ask

  1. Does the company have the necessary hardware, software, and network resources?

  2. Does the company have the required technical expertise?

  3. Does the proposed platform have sufficient capacity for future needs?

  4. Will a prototype be required?
• Schedule feasibility


  • Project implemented in an acceptable time frame
• Interaction between time and costs

  Additional schedule feasibility issues
• Issues to consider for schedule feasibility

  1. Can the company or the IT team control the factors that affect schedule feasibility?

  2. Has management established a firm timetable?

  3. What conditions must be satisfied?

  4. Will an accelerated schedule pose any risks?

  5. Will project management techniques be available?
• Dynamic priorities


  • Changes can cause request priorities to change
• Factors that affect priority

  • Will the proposed system reduce costs?
  • Will the system increase revenue?
  • Will the systems project result in more information or produce better results?
  • Will the system serve customers better?
  • Will the system serve the organization better?
• Other factors to consider for setting priorities

  1. Can the project be implemented in a reasonable time period?

  2. Are the necessary financial, human, and technical resources available?
• Discretionary projects


  Projects where management has a choice in implementing them
• Nondiscretionary projects


  No choice, many are predictable (e.g. annual updates to payroll, tax percentages, quarterly changes)
• Planning the preliminary investigation

  1. Meet with key managers, users, and IT staff to describe the project, explain responsibilities, answer questions, and invite comments

  2. Focus on improvements and enhancements, not problems
• Six main steps in a typical preliminary investigation
• Model of a preliminary investigation. Notice the importance of fact-finding in each of the four areas.
• Step 1: understand the problem or opportunity


  1. Develop a business profile that describes current business processes and functions

  2. Understand how modifications will affect business operations and other information systems

  3. Identify the departments, users, and business processes involved

  4. Consider using a fishbone diagram
• Step 2: define the project scope and constraints


  1. Define specific boundaries, or extent, of the project

  2. Create a list with must do, should do, could do, and won't do sections

  3. Avoid project creep

  4. Identify constraints
• Examples of various types of constraints
• Step 3: perform fact-finding

  1. Gather data about project usability, costs, benefits, and schedules

  2. Analyze organization charts

  3. Conduct interviews

  4. Review documentation

  5. Observe operations

  6. Conduct a user survey

  7. Analyze the data