Managing Information Technology

524 Part IV • The Information Management System

department’s operational objectives for the prior year are
compared against actual performance metrics. The reasons
for the shortfalls can be assessed, and this information can
be used as input to later steps in the information resources
planning process and to set specific operational objectives
for the following year.

Creating an Information Vision

After assessing the current use and management of
an organization’s information resources, the shared
business and IS leadership expectations of how informa-
tion will be used in the future should be specified.
Developing a vision requires both an understanding of
the future direction of the business and an understanding
of the role information can best play in enabling the
business strategy.

Aninformation visionis a written expression of

the desired future about how information will be

used and managed in the organization.

An example might be useful to explain the process.
A small printing company in Atlanta was taken over by
new management as the result of an acquisition. During
three off-site, full-day discussion sessions that were held to
create a new vision and direction for the overall company,
a task force developed a set of basic specifications and fun-
damental propositions about the company in the future,
which led to new business strategy decisions.
Senior managers and IS leaders then reviewed these
business priorities along with the new business vision.
After several sessions, they jointly arrived at a shared
vision for information resources in the company, as stated
below:

• Business managers will know how to use informa-
  tion to make decisions and how to use the capabili-
  ties of our information resources effectively.


• Each business unit and functional department will
  manage its information resources within an overall
  IT architecture.


• All existing business support processes (e.g., pur-
  chase order processing) will be automated (with
  business rules) to free up time of critical human
  resources.


• All internal customers (employees) will have desktop
  tools with easy access to internal and external net-
  works (the Internet) for research and communications.


• Our corporate network will be able to service a large
  number of remote nodes (to be able to send and receive
  large files from external customers) at high speed.
  
  
  • User demand on our information system each year
    will experience:
    
    
    1. Medium growth in transaction volume on exist-
       ing common systems.
    
    
    2. High growth in ad hoc requests for information
       on all shared and personal systems.
    
    
    3. High growth in transaction volume from new
       applications on shared and personal systems.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • The order fulfillment cycle (for external customers)
    will be supported by an integrated, comprehensive,
    and accurate database.
    Taken together, these statements specify how senior man-
    agement wants information to be used and managed in the
    future. The architectural decisions on how to deploy the
    company’s data, software, people, and other IS assets are
    not yet specified. That is the next step.
  
  
  
  

Designing the IT Architecture

Like the information vision, the IT architecture is an ideal

view of the future state of the organization’s information

resources. This architecture specifies how the technologi-

cal resources (i.e., hardware, software, networks, data) and

human assets (i.e., personnel) of the IS organization should

be organized to support the firm’s operating model and the

information vision.

An IT architecture model proposed by Ross (2003)

has four IT architecture stages of “maturity” that have differ-

ent strategic implications for the business (see Figure 12.5).

The definition and value that each of the four IT architec-

tures brings to the business can be summarized as follows:

1. Application Silo Architecture—The architecture
   consists of individual applications serving individual
   processes or business units. This architecture is good
   for local innovation and support but impedes cross-
   unit initiatives and reporting.


2. Standardized Technology Architecture—This
   architecture ties the enterprise together using applica-
   tions that are standardized and integrated, for example,
   by implementing modules of an ERP. This architecture
   stage is supported by centralizing most IT resources.


3. Rationalized Data and Process Architecture—
   Building on the standardized technology, organiza-
   tions can develop tight standards to optimize their most
   important processes (e.g., supply chain) and the data
   that support them. This standardized architecture
   requires significant technical effort and organizational
   change management since it removes variability in
   core processes and “locks them down.” However,
   when accomplished, this architecture positions the