1. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.1 Information Systems Planning 11

2. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.2 Table 11.1 Owens Corning Reorients Its Operations

3. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.3 Table 11.1 Owens Corning Reorients Its Operations CUSTOMER Building supply companies and contractors that purchase building materials from Owens Corning

4. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.4 Table 11.1 Owens Corning Reorients Its Operations PRODUCT Reengineered work systems that are more responsive to market needs

5. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.5 Table 11.1 Owens Corning Reorients Its Operations BUSINESS PROCESS Major steps: Create a vision for how company operations should change Select SAP R/3 as the approach for improving information systems Create a large project team at headquarters Analyze how to use SAP Install SAP on computers Train people to use it Use SAP in practice Rationale: Replace multiple, incompatible information systems with an integrated information system that makes it possible to serve customers more effectively.

6. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.6 Table 11.1 Owens Corning Reorients Its Operations PARTICIPANTS Project team consisting of half business professionals and half IS professionals Users who were trained and then used the new information system INFORMATION Company strategy Project goals Details of business operations Selected options for using SAP TECHNOLOGY SAP R/3 software package Computers and other hardware

7. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.7 Table 11.2 Planning Questions for Information Syatems WHO? Strategic level What are the responsibilities of the IS department and the user departments? Which vendors will perform major functions that are outsourced? Project level Who will work on each project? Who will decide how the business process should operate? Who will manage and support the system after it is in operation? WHAT? Strategic level What are the major things that the IS department must do so that the firm can accomplish its goals? Project level What specific capabilities are required in the information system? What will be the individual steps in each project? WHEN? Strategic level What are the major completion dates that the firm can rely upon? Project level When will the individual steps in each project be completed?

8. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.8 Table 11.2 Planning Questions for Information Syatems HOW? Strategic level What technology will be used to do the work? What technology must be available so that the work can be done well? What capabilities must the firm have to compete in the future? Project level How will system development techniques be used to produce the desired results? How will the IS department and user departments work together on the project? DESIRED RESULTS? Strategic level How will business processes change in terms of detailed operation and controllable results? Project level What will be the deliverable results from each step in each project?

9. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.9 Figure 11.1 The information system plan as part of the business plan

10. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.10 Box 11.1 Roles of information system professionals in building and maintaining information systems Large system development projects involve many roles such as the following. Project managers Application programmers Systems analysts Programmer-analysts Technical writers Computer operators Database administrators System managers Systems programmers User support staffs

11. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.11 Figure 11.3 Strategic alignment of business and IT

12. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.12 Table 11.3 Centralization Verseus Decentralization HARDWARE CONFIGURATION Highly centralized- Central computer, remote terminals Intermediate- Distributed network linking local data centers Highly decentralized- Independent local data centers, personal computers DATA LOCATION Highly centralized- Centralized database Intermediate- Central database plus local databases Highly decentralized- Local databases HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CHOICES Highly centralized- Central decisions Intermediate- Central guidelines, local choices Highly decentralized- Local choices OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL Highly centralized- Central information systems group Intermediate- Central services, system ownership by user departments Highly decentralized- User departments ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATION OF IS STAFF Highly centralized-Central IS group Intermediate- Highly technical IS roles affiliated with central group, less technical roles in user organization Highly decentralized- Most IS roles affiliated with user organization (except infrastructure and planning)

13. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.13 Figure 11.4 Immediate degree of distributed processing

14. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.14 Table 11.4 Commonly Cited Differences between IS Professionals and Typical Users PROFESSlONAL ORIENTATION IS staff: Allegiance to profession User department: Allegiance to firm LANGUAGE IS staff: Language of computers User department: Language of business INTERESTS AND RECOGNITION IS staff: Technical elegance User department:Practical solutions produced quickly PROJECT GOALS IS staff: Long-term maintenance User department: Practical solutions produced quickly WORK STYLE AND CONTENT IS staff: Analytical work related to computers User department: Work through people

15. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.15 Figure 11.5 Typical elements of IT infrastructure

16. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.16 Table 11.5 Business and IT Maxims for a Hypothetical Chain of Hardware Stores BUSINESS MAXIMS Cost focus: Low cost retailer for consumers Value differentiation perceived by customer: Low prices supported by reasonably good service. Reliable availability of medium to low priced hardware and building supplies. Major distrubutor for particular suppliers and brands. Flexibility and agility: Stay focused in hardware market, expand slowly into related products for kitchens and gardens. Detect and exploit trendy new products. Growth: Gradually expand across the United States and Canada. Grow revenues using targeted discounts to bring back customers for repeat purchases. Human Resources: Staff stores with people who enjoy home remodeling projects. Maintain pleasant work environment but assume high turnover in store personnel due to relatively low salaries. Management orientation: Maximize ability to satisfy needs of local markets. Support stores with standardized systems and information, but permit local autonomy in decision making. Share information about hot products and trends.

17. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.17 Table 11.5 Business and IT Maxims for a Hypothetical Chain of Hardware Stores IT MAXIMS Expectations for IT investments: IT investments provide common infrastructure and systems to minimize these concerns for the local stores. Data access and use: All sales data available to central purchasing nightly. Local access to local customer and prospect list, plus corporate access for data mining and analysis. Hardware and software resources: Support consistent, automatic processing of repetitive transactions. Standardize on minimum number of platforms to minimize cost of support. Communications capabilities and services: Support nightly consolidation of daily sales transactions to help identify product and pricing trends. Support EDI to minimize transaction costs. Architecture and standards approach: Control IT architecture and standards centrally to minimize cost.

18. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.18 Figure 11.6 American and French electrical plugs

19. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.19 Table 11.6 IS Costs That Are Easy to Overlook INITIATION Costs easily assigned to a project: Salary and overhead for IS staff Cost of communication and travel related to the project Consulting fees (if any) Costs that are easy to overlook: Salary and overhead of user staff and management involved in the analysis Other work that is displaced in favor of work on the project DEVELOPMENT Costs easily assigned to a project: Salary and overhead for IS staff Equipment purchase and installation costs Purchase (if any) of system or application software Costs that are easy to overlook: Salary and overhead of user staff and management involved in the analysis Site modifications such as wiring offices

20. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.20 Table 11.6 IS Costs That Are Easy to Overlook IMPLEMENTATION Costs easily assigned to a project: Salary and overhead for IS staff and trainers Cost of communication and travel related to the project Costs that are easy to overlook: Salary and overhead of user staff and management involved in the implementation Disruption of work during implementation process Salary of users during training and initial usage OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE Costs easily assigned to a project: Salary and overhead for IS staff Software license fees (if any) Deprecitation of hardware Costs that are easy to overlook: Salary and overhead of user staff and management involved with system maintenance activities

21. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.21 Figure 11.7 Estimated benefit and cost streams

22. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.22 Figure 11.8 Possible boundary between user and IS departments

23. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.23 Figure 11.9 Why is it hard to develop the right system?

24. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.24 Figure 11.10 Gantt chart

25. ©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 11.25 Table 11.7 Common Problems Encountered by Analysts Interviewing Users MISSING VIEWPOINTS Typical cause: Users unwilling or unable to participate Stakeholders who are not invited to participate Preventive action: Make involvement of key users a condition for doing the project Include all groups affected by the system SUPERFICIAL INFORMATION Typical cause: Lack of preparation by the analyst User’s assumption that only minor changes are possible Preventive action: Learn about the business setting, prepare before the interview Don’t just ask for the user’s wish list; understand the reason for the user’s problem rather than just the suggested solution DISTORTED INFORMATION Typical cause: User responses based on user aims other than the system, such as political position in the organization Analyst misunderstanding or biasing the user’s response Preventive action: Obtain multiple viewpoints to confirm data and conclusions Be sure users know the purpose of the interview Learn about the business setting Prepare before the interview