Information System Plan

Management Information System

Management Information System 1

 Planning for Information System
• The complexity of the information resources
environment suggests that planning is vital to
success.
• The plan describes the structure and content of
the information system and how it is to be
developed.
• The organization’s strategic plan should be the
basis for the MIS strategic plan.
• The overall responsibility of IS planning is the
responsibility of Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Management Information System 2
 Approaches to organizing and supervising the
information system planning effort
• Planning staff within information systems
functions (planning specialists)
• Ad hoc planning groups within information
systems
• Planning group with representatives from
various functions

Management Information System 3

 Review of plan
• Master plan is reviewed by the steering
committee which comprises of executives from
major functional areas and is executives.
• The committee also periodically reviews progress
against the plan.
• The master plan is integrated in the
organizational plan by top management after
review and approval.
• Information system policies and procedures are
defined.
Management Information System 4
 Content of Master development plan/ Information
System plan/ Information Resource plan

• The master plan has two components:- a long-range

plan and a short-range plan. The long-range plan
provides general guidelines for direction and the short-
range plan provides a basis for specific accountability
as to operational and financial performance. It consists
of the following subheadings:-

– Information system goals, objectives, and architecture

– Inventory of current capabilities
– Forecast of developments against the plan
– The specific plan

Management Information System 5

 Master plan
Information system goals, Objectives, and
architecture
– Organizational goals, objectives, and strategies
– External environment (industry, government
regulations, customers, and suppliers)
– Internal organizational constraints such as
management philosophy
– Assumptions about business risks and potential
consequences
– Overall goals, objectives, and strategy for the
information system
– Architecture of the information system
Management Information System 6
 Master plan
• Current capabilities
– Inventory of
• Hardware
• Software (System software, DBMS, etc)
• Application systems (classified on the basis of functional systems,
organizational strategy, maintenance need)
– Analysis of
• Expense
• Hardware utilization
• Software utilization
• Personnel utilization (further classification such as job, skill,
functional area)
– Status of projects in progress
– Assessment of strengths and weaknesses

Management Information System 7

 Master plan
• Forecast of developments Affecting plan
– Hardware and software technological availabilities
should be forecasted with expected impact on
existing IS
– Methodology changes should be forecasted
– Environmental developments such as government
regulations, tax laws and competitors affecting IS
should be stated

Management Information System 8

 Master plan
• Specific plan
– Hardware acquisition schedule
– Purchased software schedule
• System Software
• Applications software
– Application development schedule
– Software maintenance and conversion schedule
– Personnel resources required and schedule of hiring
and training
– Financial resources required by object of expenditure

Management Information System 9

 Maintenance of master plan
• IS plan requires updation

– Changing organizational setup

– Changes in technology
– Changing needs of system
– Internal events
– Progress of new systems
– External events

Management Information System 10

Information system growth models
• The NOLAN stage model
The organization must go through each stage of growth before it can progress to the next
one, thus giving an insight to planning regarding the stage of an IS
Stages of Information system growth

Stages of growth Description

Initiation Early use
Expansion Experimentation, rising cost
Formalization Organizational controls
Maturity Integration of applications

Management Information System 11

NOLAN stage model
 NOLAN six stage model
Stage Level of control or slack
I Low control. Some slack. No planning

II Greater slack due to encouraged use, integration and lack of

planning
III High controls, planning given importance

IV Use of databases for integration

V Slack due to focus on strategically important systems

VI Application portfolio complete and matches organizational

objectives
NOLAN six stage model

Transition point
 NOLAN alternative model
Due to technological changes the growth curve
shifts as follows

Technology
Shift
 Assumptions of NOLAN model
• Organizational learning
• Stages cannot be skipped
• Other than the natural process, these
processes can be planned, coordinated, and
managed to move through the stages
effectively and efficiently
 Advantages and disadvantages of
NOLAN model
• Advantages
– Evolutionist model as it focuses on development

• Disadvantages
– Lack of specificity as it does not define the
mechanism for change
 Three stage model of the planning process

• It clarifies the generic planning activities, the order of

activities, and the alternative techniques and methodologies
that apply
Organizational
Strategic planning information
Resource Allocation
requirements
analysis

Strategy set Business system Comparative cost/

transformation planning benefit

Strategy Grid Critical success Portfolio approach

factors Chargeout
Strategic fit
Ends/ means Steering committee
Derivation from
analysis ranking
organizational
plan
 Strategic planning stage
• McFarlan-McKenney Strategic Grid
Strategic impact of planned application development portfolio
LOW HIGH

Strategic Support Turnaround

impact of
existing
operating
applications

Factory Strategic

HIGH
 Strategic fit

• Each organization has a culture which

reinforces values, norms, and beliefs about
the organization. Goals, objectives, and
strategy for information systems should fit
with the culture in order to avoid high
resistance and high risk of failure.
 Strategy Set Transformation
• Explicate the organization’s strategy set
– Delineate the organization structure for users
– Identify goals of claimants
– Identify organizational goals and strategies for each claimant group
• Validate the organizational goals from management
• Transform organizational strategy set into the information
system strategy set
– Identify IS objectives for each organizational strategy
– Identify IS constraints from organizational strategy
– Identify IS design strategy based on organizational attributes
 Analysis of Organizational information requirements

• Information requirements are required at the

organizational level for information system
planning, identifying applications, and
planning an information architecture.
• More detailed information requirements are
required for detailed design of applications.
 Quiz
1. The end users for Transaction processing systems are used by
a. Middle management
b. Operational staff
2. Which of the following is not a primary function of management
a. Planning d. Controlling
b. Organizing e. Scheduling
c. Directing
3. Which of the following is not a component of MIS
a. Users d. Customer
b. Input and output devices
c. Software / Procedures
4. Which of the following is the correct sequence for three stage model of planning process
a. Strategic planning >> Organizational information requirement analysis >> resource allocation
b. Organizational information requirement analysis >> Strategic planning >> resource allocation
c. Resource allocation >> Strategic planning >> Organizational information requirement analysis
5. McFarlan-McKenney Strategic Grid helps make strategic decisions for the organization
a. True
b. False
6. The master plan includes the following plan
a. Long-range plan
b. Short-range plan
c. Both long-range and short-range
7. Which of the following considers the time factor for cost
a. Net Present Value
b. Internal rate of return
c. Portfolio or Risk Management
8. The specific plan, in the master plan contains plans about
a. Department wise details
b. Details for the whole IS
9. Which stage shows the highest growth in the Nolan four stage model
a. I c. III
b. II d. IV
10. The Master development plan and Information resource Plan the same.
a. True
b. False