Information Systems in Digital Age

CSIT-217

MODULE -IV
B U I L D I N G I N F O R M AT I O N S Y S T E M S I N T H E D I G I T A L F I R M
 Planning

Planning may be defined as selecting the best course of action

in anticipation of future trends so that the desired result may
be achieved. It must be stressed that the desired result takes
first priority and the course of action chosen is the means to
realize the goal.
Planning at various organizational level
 Planning at various organizational level

Strategic planning
• Strategic planning refers to the process of determining the major
goals of the organization and the Policies and strategies for
obtaining and using resources to achieve those goals. Strategic
Intermediate Planning:
planning is the concern of top management.
• Intermediate planning refers to the process of determining the
contributions that subunits can make with allocated resources. This
type of Planning is the concern of middle management.
Operational planning :
• Operational planning is the process of determining how specific
tasks can best be accomplished on time with available resources.
This type of planning is the responsibility of lower management. It
must be performed in support of the strategic and intermediate
plans.
 Types of plan
Plan

Functional Plans with varied Plans with

Area Plans frequency of Use time horizon

Short –
Marketin Standing Single-
range
g plan plan use plan
plan

Productio Long
Policies Budget
n Plan rang plan

Financial Procedur
Program
Plan es

Human
Resource Rules Project
plan
 Planning Process

Setting Objectives
• A water purifier company sets the objective to sell 4,00,00 units
next year, which is double the current sales.
Developing Planning Premises
• The company has set the objective based on the government data
about poor water quality.
Identifying Alternative Courses of Action
• The company has many alternatives like reducing price,
increasing advertising and promotion, after sale service etc.
Evaluating Alternative Course of Action
• The company will evaluate all the alternatives and check its pros
and cons.
 Planning Process

Selecting One Best Alternative

• The company selects more T.V advertisements and online
marketing with great after sales service.
Implementing the Plan
• The company hires salesman on a large scale, creates T.V
advertisement, and starts online marketing activities and set up
service workshops.
Follow Up Action
• A proper feedback mechanism was developed by the company
throughout its retail chain so that the actual customer response,
revenue collection, employee response, etc. could be known.
 Approaches of Planning

Top Down
 A top-down planning approach to planning is often associated with highly

centralized decision making. large-scale investments.

Bottom Up
 The bottom-up perspective involves people at the lowest levels of the

organizational hierarchy and/or those who are most directly involved in

the delivery of the organization's products and services, and they
establish their goals and plans.

Planning through CSF

 Top down Vs Bottom Up planning

To p Down Bottom Up
Organizational Level CEO, Board of directors People closest to product,
service and customer.
Role of organizational As the plan moves down Units develop goals and plan
unit the hierarchy, units move up the hierarchy, they
determine actions needed are evaluated and adjusted
to support the plan for accuracy and feasibility

Specificity of Plan Begins broad becomes Begins specific and

more specific as it moves fragmented becomes
down the hierarchy. cohesive and integrated as it
moves up the hierarchy,
Potential advantage Plans are driven by more Those closest to customer,
knowledgeable top-level and the operating system,
managers. provide focus of the plan.
 Planning through CSF

The Critical Success Factor method, can augment strategic

planning efforts by illuminating an organization’s present
situation and potential future.
Critical Success Factor Hierarchy
 Sources- Critical Success Factors (CSF)

Critical Success Factors (CSF) arise from five important sources or areas
that influence an organization.
Industry Critical Competitive Environmental Management/ Temporary
Success Factors Strategy and Factors Critical Strategic Critical Success
(CSF). Industry Success Factors Critical Success Factors (CSF)
• For instance, a Position CSF. (CSF) Factors (CSF) • Temporary
chemical • Available means • These political, • This could factors are
company and capabilities economic, social include the way linked to short-
demands specific and the current and your term situations.
technology and a position technological organization For example the
clothing generates CFS factors create chooses to organization
producer CSFs for every position and may consider
absolutely company. The market itself, recruiting during
requires cotton. organization and whether it's expansion.
should consider a high-volume,
these very low-cost
seriously. producer, or a
low-volume,
high-cost one.
 Identifying and developing CSFs
Create a team
• The team members should include top level people to have senior level buy-in.
Sometime consultants can also be a part of the team.
Idea generation
• Ideas about the CSF’s should be gathered from all corners of the organization.
Use multiple frameworks to examine the key elements of your long-term goals.
• OAS statement: OAS is an acronym for “Objective, Advantage, Scope.”
• SWOT analysis
• Strategic Plan-(mission, vision, priorities, rollout plan, Hold people accountable,
Review)
Determine
• Change which
agendafactors are key in achieving your long-term organizational plan.
Implement your company-wide strategic plan with your critical success factors in mind.
Communicating Your Critical Success Factors
Tracking Your Critical Success Factors
• Determine a way to see if you’re hitting your critical success factors.
• Establish a champion for each CSF.
• Track each CSF regularly.
 IT & IS Planning

The strategic IT plan should reflect the relevance of

technology to each of the organization’s strategic business
goals.
It should outline changes that the organization will need to
make to its information and communications infrastructure.
 IT & IS Planning

IT planning has three components:

IT leadership IT strategic
IT governance
development planning.

IT is embedded in
different departments
IT governance defines
IT leadership of the Organization, and
the processes,
development defines IT is central to the
components, structures,
who will lead and drive operating success of the
and participants for
IT strategies to a Organization, it is best
making decisions
successful conclusion. if there is a single IT
regarding the use of IT
strategic plan for the
entire Organization.
 IT & IS Planning

The plan should include:

• A list of all the technology applications needed to carry out each of
the organization’s strategic goals, objectives, initiatives or
innovative business models/operations efficiently, cost-effectively
and securely.
• Updates to the existing information and communications
infrastructure that will be needed to support the identified
technology applications.
• Business and operational priorities, including a roadmap for
technology projects that delineates the resources required for each
project.
• Continuing education and talent management initiatives that will be
designed to ensure consistency of IT skills and delivery of
customer-focused tech support.
•
 Phases of IT planning

Identify Goals
• You should have a clearly defined end destination.

Account For Innovation

• Get a sense of where your industry or technology is headed in the next few years.

Identify Stages And Arrange Priorities

• Identify the incremental stages for your roadmap and arrange them in order of priority.

Cost Analysis And Review

• Calculate your estimated costs and revisit your stages and priorities. Check the feasibility.

Timelines
• Plan for the best and prepare for the worst.

Assign Personnel
• Assign team members to the various stages outlined in phase 3.
 Information Technology Architecture

An information technology architecture is a detailed

description of the various information-processing assets needed
to meet business objectives, the rules that govern them, and the
information associated with them. It focuses on three basic tiers
within the organization.
• Server - generally hardware, this level provides the basic
computing power for the entire organization and is typically
centrally located.
• Middleware - generally software, this level sits on top of the
server level and provides the infrastructure necessary to keep
the hardware running and the information flowing.
• Client - A combination of hardware and software, this level
provides the capabilities accessible by a user and allows them
to access the information a business has available.
 Key benefits of an IT architecture?

It will help to insure interoperability inside and outside ITB and

the Department.

It's a way to inform developers of Department directions.

It will help in making planning, development and purchase

decisions.
It will be useful in aligning information technology providers for
the Department.
It is a way to communicate direction (and changes) both inside
and outside ITB.

It will reduce the maintenance and support requirements.

It will help in planning migration to new technologies.

 Centralized IT architecture

In a centralized IT architecture, all users/ computer systems/

equipments are connected to a central server that stores
complete network data and user information.
Centralized IT architecture - Characteristics

Centralized Dependent
Ubiquitous
control failure of
synced data.
mechanism components.
Centralized IT architecture - Advantages

Easy to physically secure.

A client has a dedicated system.

Dedicated resources (memory, CPU cores, etc)

More cost efficient for small systems up to a
certain limit
Quick updates are possible – Only one machine to
update.
Easy detachment of a node from the system.
Centralized IT architecture - Disadvantages

Highly dependent on the network connectivity

No graceful degradation of system – abrupt failure of the

entire system

Less possibility of data backup. If the server node fails and

there is no backup, you lose the data straight away

Difficult server maintenance – There is only one server node

and due to availability reasons, it is inefficient and
unprofessional to take the server down for maintenance.
 Decentralized IT Architecture

In decentralized systems, every node makes its own decision.

The final behavior of the system is the aggregate of the
decisions of the individual nodes.
 Decentralized IT Architecture -Characteristics

Lack of a global Multiple central Multiple

clock: Every node units dependent
is independent of (Computers/Node failure of
each other. s/Servers): components:
Decentralized IT Architecture-Advantages

Minimal problem of performance bottlenecks

occurring

High availability –

More autonomy and control over resources

 Decentralized IT Architecture-Disadvantages

No chain of command to perform certain tasks

No regulatory oversight

Difficult to maintain

Difficult to assign tasks

 Distributed IT Architecture

 A distributed system is a system which consists of several

servers, a cluster of servers be it backend, messaging or
database running together to perform one single task.
 Distributed IT Architecture - Characteristics

Independent failure
Concurrency of
of components: In a
components: Nodes Lack of a global
distributed system,
apply consensus Control
nodes fail
protocols to agree on mechanism: All
independently without
same nodes maintain their
having a significant
values/transactions/co own clock.
effect on the entire
mmands/logs.
system
Distributed IT Architecture - Advantages

Servers in data centres are distributed geographically, nearer

to the end-user, across continents, further reducing the latency
of the app.

Several servers running together distribute the load amongst

them reducing the latency of the app.

Low latency than centralized system – Distributed systems

have low latency because of high geographical spread, hence
leading to less time to get a response
 Distributed IT Architecture - Disadvantages

Difficult to achieve consensus

Conventional way of logging events by absolute time

they occur is not possible here
Reasons of Resistance in IT implementation

Perpetuation of ideas, the tendency to go on with present thoughts although

the situation has changed.

Cannibalization costs, changes which bring success to the project but may
bring losses to others, so it requires some sort of sacrifice.

Past failures

Different interest level among employees and management.

Fast and complex environmental changes, which do not allow a proper

situation analysis.
When there is a negative relationship between implementation climate and
change values and organisational values, resistance and opposition to
change will result.

Lack of necessary capabilities to implement change

 BPR

Business process re-engineering is the radical redesign

of business processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in critical aspects like quality, output,
cost, service, and speed. Business process
reengineering (BPR) aims at cutting down enterprise
costs and process redundancies on a very huge scale.
 BPR - process

Identify the necessity for change:

Ensure top management’s commitment and support:

Communicate the necessity for change with employees:

Develop process objectives:

Form a reengineering team:

Determine the scope and scale of the project and develop a project schedule:

Designate the processes to be reengineered:

Analysis and understanding of current processes:

 BPR - process

Design Design the new processes:

Take Take advantage of IT:

Include collaborators such as suppliers and freight forwarders in

Include the reengineering initiative:

Pilot Pilot the new processes:

Train employees who have relevance with the redesigned

Train processes:

Implement Implement the new processes:

Monitor and Monitor and improve the new processes constantly:

improve
 Change Management

Change management is the people side of BPR

and modernization.
• Change management focuses on staff, management and
anyone effected by change (new roles, new ways of doing
things, etc.) to ensure readiness for change and enabling and
empowering the behaviors to move forward with the changes
and embrace moving forward with change.
 Change Management with BPR

Business Process Reengineering implementation often leads

to fundamental changes within an organization's structure
and management process.
 Change Management Process

Preparing for the change

Preparing • Assessing the scope of the change
• Assessing the readiness of the organization
• Acquire project resources and measuring the strength of the change
process
• Asses the change sponsors and develop the sponsorship model
Managing change
Managing • Develop a change management plan
• Take action and implement plan

Reinforcing the change

Reinforcing • Collect and analyze the feedback
• Diagnose gaps and manage resistance
• Implement corrective actions and celebrate success
 Human Side of the BPR

The potential impacts of change on

employees are significant:

• On the positive side, change can provide a wealth of

opportunities for growth and development;
• On the negative side, there can be substantial costs to
negotiate new relationships, skills and patterns of activity
 Human Side of the BPR

Employees’ attitudes towards the reengineering should be identified and reasons

for resistance should be assessed the threatening nature of BPR should be
recognized
Employees should understand the need for change, employee participation in the
reengineering process is crucial and communication should be improved at all
organizational levels.
Making employees feel they are part of the reengineering process can improve
employee moral and soothe the negative feelings.
Assigning the most talented and strongest employees to the reengineering effort
will have positive effect on performance and increase the radical redesign of
business processes.
Clear, honest and frequent communication is also important for successful BPR
implementation
 System development life cycle- Overview

System: A collection of components organized to accomplish a

specific function or a set of function.

There should be some characteristics present in all systems. Some

of them are:
• Central objective
• Components of a system
• Organization
• Interaction
• Interdependence
• Integration
 System development life cycle- Overview
System Components, Environment And Boundaries

Components Environment Boundaries:

Input The environment is the super The system boundary define
Transforming/ Processing system within the system the sphere of its influence
operates. This is the source and control.
Output
of external elements.
Control
Feedback
 System Development Life Cycle

The system development life cycle is a structure

sequence of phases for implementing an
information system.
The life cycle of software typically includes a
number of following phases:
• Initial investigation/ Recognition of need
• Feasibility Study
• Analysis
• Design
• Development
• Implementation
• Maintenance
 System Development Life Cycle

Initial Investigation: This phase involves initial investigation and survey and should result in
a clear statement of the scope and objective of the system.
Feasibility Study:- A feasibility study is conducted to see whether the required system is
workable.
Analysis:- The analysis phase is a detailed study of the existing system, it’s features and
problems.
Design:- Design is the phase when the “What the system is to do” is converted into “ How
the system shall do it.”
Development:- It is the phase where the detailed design is used to actually construct the
system. ( programming, all types of testing)

Implementation:- In this phase, users actually start using the system.

Maintenance:- On-going activities required for the system to operate smoothly is the
maintenance of the system.
 Prototyping

Prototyping is an approach based on an evolutionary view of software development

and having an impact on the development process as a whole.

Prototyping involves producing early working versions (prototypes) of the future

application system and experimenting with them.

Prototyping provides a communication basis for discussions among all the groups
involved in the development process, especially between users1 and developers.

Prototyping enables us to adopt an approach to software construction based on

experiment and experience.