You were invited by the university president to prepare an IS plan for the university, discuss what are the steps in order to expedite the implementation of the IS Plan.
In creating IS plan for the university there are many things to tackled and talked about .Some of these are we should analyze positive and negative effect of the plan , understand the role of ISP , know the risk management of the plan ,how to implement those plan .
Planning for information systems, as for any other system, begins with the identification of needs. In order to be effective, development of any type of computer-based system should be a response to need--whether at the transaction processing level or at the more complex information and support systems levels. Such planning for information systems is much like strategic planning in management. Objectives, priorities, and authorization for information systems projects need to be formalized. The systems development plan should identify specific projects slated for the future, priorities for each project and for resources, general procedures, and constraints for each application area. The plan must be specific enough to enable understanding of each application and to know where it stands in the order of development. Also the plan should be flexible so that priorities can be adjusted if necessary. King (King, 1995) in his recent article has argued that a strategic capability architecture - a flexible and continuously improving infrastructure of organizational capabilities – is the primary basis for a company's sustainable competitive advantage. He has emphasized the need for continuously updating and improving the strategic capabilities architecture. SISP is the analysis of a corporation’s information and processes using business information models together with the evaluation of risk, current needs and requirements. The result is an action plan showing the desired course of events necessary to align information use and needs with the strategic direction of the company (Battaglia, 1991). The same article emphasizes the need to note that SISP is a management function and not a technical one. This is consistent with the earlier distinction between the older data processing views and the modern strategic importance view of Information Systems. SISP thus is used to identify the best targets for purchasing and installing new management information systems and help an organization maximize the return on its information technology investment. A portfolio of computer-based applications is identified that will assist an organization in executing its business plans and realize its business goals. There is a growing realization that the application of information technology (IT) to a firm’s strategic activities has been one of the most common and effective ways to improve business performance.
This paper reviews the existing methodologies for SISP in an attempt to answer the critical question: how to move ahead and further improve the effectiveness of strategic planning for information-based enterprises? In particular, we examine their capacity for driving the development of corporate information systems ensuing the planning, and their potential to support economic evaluations of information systems investments.
The Perspective of Strategic Information Systems Planning
In order to put the planning for strategic information systems in perspective, the evolution of information systems according to the three-era model of John Ward, et al.(1990) is pertinent.According to this model there are three distinct, albeit overlapping, eras of information systems, dating back to the 60’s. The relationship over time of the three eras of information systems isshown in table 1:
business strategy, enable the business -business driven.
Strategic Information Systems Planning Methodologies
The task of strategic information systems planning is difficult and often time organizations do not know how to do it. Strategic information systems planning is a major change for organizations, from planning for information systems based on users’ demands to those based on business strategy. Also strategic information systems planning changes the planning characteristics in major ways. For example, the time horizon for planning changes from 1 year to 3 years or more and development plans are driven by current and future business needs rather than incremental user needs. Increase in the time horizon is a factor which results in poor response from the top management to the strategic information systems planning process as it is difficult to hold their attention for such a long period. Other questions associated with strategic information systems planning are related to the scope of the planning study, the focus of the planning exercise – corporate organization vs. strategic business unit, number of studies and their sequence, choosing a strategic information systems planning methodology or developing one if none is suitable, targets of planning process and deliverables. Because of the complexity of the strategic information systems planning process and uniqueness of each organization, there is no one best way to tackle it. Vitale, et al. (1986) classify SISP methodologies into two categories: impact and alignment. Impact methodologies help create and justify new uses of IT, while the methodologies in the “alignment”
Characteristics of a Quality ISP
A quality ISP must exhibit five distinct characteristics before it is useful. These five are presented in the table that follows.
Characteristic
Description
Timely
The ISP must be timely. An ISP that is created long after it is needed is useless. In almost all cases, it makes no sense to take longer to plan work than to perform the work planned.
Useable
The ISP must be useable. It must be so for all the projects as well as for each project. The ISP should exist in sections that once adopted can be parceled out to project managers and immediately started.
Maintainable
The ISP must be maintainable. New business opportunities, new computers, business mergers, etc. all affect the ISP. The ISP must support quick changes to the estimates, technologies employed, and possibly even to the fundamental project sequences. Once these changes are accomplished, the new ISP should be just a few computer program executions away.
Quality
While the ISP must be a quality product, no ISP is ever perfect on the first try. As the ISP is executed, the metrics employed to derive the individual project estimates become refined as a consequence of new hardware technologies, code generators, techniques, or faster working staff. As these changes occur, their effects should be installable into the data that supports ISP computation. In short, the ISP is a living document. It should be updated with every technology event, and certainly no less often than quarterly.
Reproducible
The ISP must be reproducible. That is, when its development activities are performed by any other staff, the ISP produced should essentially be the same. The ISP should not significantly vary by staff assigned.
Whenever a proposal for the development of an ISP is created it must be assessed against these five characteristics. If any fail or not addressed in an optimum way, the entire set of funds for the development of an ISP is risked.
Risk management
Risk management can therefore be considered the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events[1] or to maximize the realization of opportunities. Risks can come from uncertainty in financial markets, project failures, legal liabilities, credit risk, accidents, natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate attacks from an adversary. Several risk management standards have been developed including the Project Management Institute, the National Institute of Science and Technology, actuarial societies, and ISO standards.[2][3] Methods, definitions and goals vary widely according to whether the risk management method is in the context of project management, security, engineering, industrial processes, financial portfolios, actuarial assessments, or public health and safety.
The strategies to manage risk include transferring the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk.
Certain aspects of many of the risk management standards have come under criticism for having no measurable improvement on risk even though the confidence in estimates and decisions increase.
Create a risk-management plan
Select appropriate controls or countermeasures to measure each risk. Risk mitigation needs to be approved by the appropriate level of management. For example, a risk concerning the image of the organization should have top management decision behind it whereas IT management would have the authority to decide on computer virus risks.
The risk management plan should propose applicable and effective security controls for managing the risks. For example, an observed high risk of computer viruses could be mitigated by acquiring and implementing antivirus software. A good risk management plan should contain a schedule for control implementation and responsible persons for those actions.
According to ISO/IEC 27001, the stage immediately after completion of the Risk Assessment phase consists of preparing a Risk Treatment Plan, which should document the decisions about how each of the identified risks should be handled. Mitigation of risks often means selection of security controls, which should be documented in a Statement of Applicability, which identifies which particular control objectives and controls from the standard have been selected, and why.
Method
For the most part, these methods consist of the following elements, performed, more or less, in the following order.
identify, characterize, and assess threats
assess the vulnerability of critical assets to specific threats
determine the risk (i.e. the expected consequences of specific types of attacks on specific assets)
identify ways to reduce those risks
prioritize risk reduction measures based on a strategy
Principles of risk management
The International Organization for Standardization identifies the following principles of risk management:[4]
Risk management should...
create value.
be an integral part of organizational processes.
be part of decision making.
explicitly address uncertainty.
be systematic and structured.
be based on the best available information.
be tailored.
take into account human factors.
be transparent and inclusive.
be dynamic, iterative and responsive to change.
be capable of continual improvement and enhancement
Risk management and business continuity
Risk management is simply a practice of systematically selecting cost effective approaches for minimising the effect of threat realization to the organization. All risks can never be fully avoided or mitigated simply because of financial and practical limitations. Therefore all organizations have to accept some level of residual risks.
Whereas risk management tends to be preemptive, business continuity planning (BCP) was invented to deal with the consequences of realised residual risks. The necessity to have BCP in place arises because even very unlikely events will occur if given enough time. Risk management and BCP are often mistakenly seen as rivals or overlapping practices. In fact these processes are so tightly tied together that such separation seems artificial. For example, the risk management process creates important inputs for the BCP (assets, impact assessments, cost estimates etc). Risk management also proposes applicable controls for the observed risks. Therefore, risk management covers several areas that are vital for the BCP process. However, the BCP process goes beyond risk management's preemptive approach and moves on from the assumption that the disaster will realize at some point.
What are the phases and steps in information system development?
· Planning,
· Analysis
· Design
· Development
· Testing
· Deployment
· Maintenance
Planning
Planning is a process for accomplishing purpose. It is blue print of business growth and a road map of development. It helps in deciding objectives both in quantitative and qualitative terms. It is setting of goals on the basis of objectives and keeping in view the resources.
What should a plan be?
A plan should be a realistic view of the expectations. Depending upon the activities, a plan can be long range, intermediate range or short range. It is the framework within which it must operate. For management seeking external support, the plan is the most important document and key to growth. Preparation of a comprehensive plan will not guarantee success, but lack of a sound plan will almost certainly ensure failure.
Purpose of Plan
Just as no two organizations are alike, so also their plans. It is therefore important to prepare a plan keeping in view the necessities of the enterprise. A plan is an important aspect of business. It serves the following three critical functions:
Helps management to clarify, focus, and research their business's or project's development and prospects.
Provides a considered and logical framework within which a business can develop and pursue business strategies over the next three to five years.
Offers a benchmark against which actual performance can be measured and reviewed.
Importance of the planning Process
A plan can play a vital role in helping to avoid mistakes or recognize hidden opportunities. Preparing a satisfactory plan of the organization is essential. The planning process enables management to understand more clearly what they want to achieve, and how and when they can do it.
A well-prepared business plan demonstrates that the managers know the business and that they have thought through its development in terms of products, management, finances, and most importantly, markets and competition.
Planning helps in forecasting the future, makes the future visible to some extent. It bridges between where we are and where we want to go. Planning is looking ahead.
Analysis
Business analysis as a discipline has a heavy overlap with requirements analysis sometimes also called requirements engineering, but focuses on identifying the changes to an organization that are required for it to achieve strategic goals. These changes include changes to strategies, structures, policies, processes, and information systems.
Examples of business analysis include:
Enterprise analysis or company analysis
focuses on understanding the needs of the business as a whole, its strategic direction, and identifying initiatives that will allow a business to meet those strategic goals.
Requirements planning and management
involves planning the requirements development process, determining which requirements are the highest priority for implementation, and managing change.
Requirements elicitation
describes techniques for collecting requirements from stakeholders in a project.
Requirements analysis
describes how to develop and specify requirements in enough detail to allow them to be successfully implemented by a project team.
Requirements communication
describes techniques for ensuring that stakeholders have a shared understanding of the requirements and how they will be implemented.
Solution assessment and validation
describes how the business analyst can verify the correctness of a proposed solution, how to support the implementation of a solution, and how to assess possible shortcomings in the implementation.
Design
The design concepts provide the software designer with a foundation from which more sophisticated methods can be applied. A set of fundamental design concepts has evolved. They are:
1.Abstraction - Abstraction is the process or result of generalization by reducing the information content of a concept or an observable phenomenon, typically in order to retain only information which is relevant for a particular purpose.
2.Refinement - It is the process of elaboration. A hierarchy is developed by decomposing a macroscopic statement of function in a stepwise fashion until programming language statements are reached. In each step, one or several instructions of a given program are decomposed into more detailed instructions. Abstraction and Refinement are complementary concepts.
3.Modularity - Software architecture is divided into components called modules.
4.Software Architecture - It refers to the overall structure of the software and the ways in which that structure provides conceptual integrity for a system. A software architecture is the development work product that gives the highest return on investment with respect to quality, schedule and cost.
5.Control Hierarchy - A program structure that represent the organization of a program components and implies a hierarchy of control.
6.Structural Partitioning - The program structure can be divided both horizontally and vertically. Horizontal partitions define separate branches of modular hierarchy for each major program function. Vertical partitioning suggests that control and work should be distributed top down in the program structure.
7.Data Structure - It is a representation of the logical relationship among individual elements of data.
8.Software Procedure - It focuses on the processing of each modules individually
9.Information Hiding - Modules should be specified and designed so that information contained within a module is inaccessible to other modules that have no need for such information.
Design considerations
There are many aspects to consider in the design of a piece of software. The importance of each should reflect the goals the software is trying to achieve. Some of these aspects are:
Compatibility - The software is able to operate with other products that are designed for interoperability with another product. For example, a piece of software may be backward-compatible with an older version of itself.
Extensibility - New capabilities can be added to the software without major changes to the underlying architecture.
Fault-tolerance - The software is resistant to and able to recover from component failure.
Maintainability - The software can be restored to a specified condition within a specified period of time. For example, antivirus software may include the ability to periodically receive virus definition updates in order to maintain the software's effectiveness.
Modularity - the resulting software comprises well defined, independent components. That leads to better maintainability. The components could be then implemented and tested in isolation before being integrated to form a desired software system. This allows division of work in a software development project.
Packaging - Printed material such as the box and manuals should match the style designated for the target market and should enhance usability. All compatibility information should be visible on the outside of the package. All components required for use should be included in the package or specified as a requirement on the outside of the package.
Reliability - The software is able to perform a required function under stated conditions for a specified period of time.
Reusability - the modular components designed should capture the essence of the functionality expected out of them and no more or less. This single-minded purpose renders the components reusable wherever there are similar needs in other designs.
Robustness - The software is able to operate under stress or tolerate unpredictable or invalid input. For example, it can be designed with a resilience to low memory conditions.
Security - The software is able to withstand hostile acts and influences.
Usability - The software user interface must be intuitive (and often aesthetically pleasing) to its target user/audience. Default values for the parameters must be chosen so that they are a good choice for the majority of the users. In many cases,
online help should be included and also carefully designed.
Development
Software development is the set of activities that results in software products. Software development may include research, new development, modification, reuse, re-engineering, maintenance, or any other activities that result in software products.[1] Especially the first phase in the software development process may involve many departments, including marketing, engineering, research and development and general management.[2]
The term software development may also refer to computer programming, the process of writing and maintaining the source code.
Testing
Software Testing can also be stated as the process of validating and verifying that a software program/application/product:
meets the business and technical requirements that guided its design and development;
works as expected; and
can be implemented with the same characteristics.
Software Testing, depending on the testing method employed, can be implemented at any time in the development process. However, most of the test effort occurs after the requirements have been defined and the coding process has been completed. As such, the methodology of the test is governed by the Software Development methodology adopted.
Testing can never completely identify all the defects within software. Instead, it furnishes a criticism or comparison that compares the state and behavior of the product against oracles—principles or mechanisms by which someone might recognize a problem. These oracles may include (but are not limited to) specifications, contracts[2], comparable products, past versions of the same product, inferences about intended or expected purpose, user or customer expectations, relevant standards, applicable laws, or other criteria.
Every software product has a target audience. For example, the audience for video game software is completely different from banking software. Therefore, when an organization develops or otherwise invests in a software product, it can assess whether the software product will be acceptable to its end users, its target audience, its purchasers, and other stakeholders. Software testing is the process of attempting to make this assessment.
A study conducted by NIST in 2002 reports that software bugs cost the U.S. economy $59.5 billion annually. More than a third of this cost could be avoided if better software testing was performed.
Deployment activities
Release
The release activity follows from the completed development process. It includes all the operations to prepare a system for assembly and transfer to the customer site. Therefore, it must determine the resources required to operate at the customer site and collect information for carrying out subsequent activities of deployment process.
Install and activate
Activation is the activity of starting up the executable component of software. For simple system, it involves establishing some form of command for execution. For complex systems, it should make all the supporting systems ready to use.
In larger software deployments, the working copy of the software might be installed on a production server in a production environment. Other versions of the deployed software may be installed in a test environment, development environment and disaster recovery environment.
Deactivate
Deactivation is the inverse of activation, and refers to shutting down any executing components of a system. Deactivation is often required to perform other deployment activities, e.g., a software system may need to be deactivated before an update can be performed. The practice of removing infrequently used or obsolete systems from service is often referred to as application retirement or application decommissioning.
Adapt
The adaptation activity is also a process to modify a software system that has been previously installed. It differs from updating in that adaptations are initiated by local events such as changing the environment of customer site, while updating is mostly started from remote software producer.
Update
The update process replaces an earlier version of all or part of a software system with a newer release.
Built-In
Mechanisms for installing updates are built into some software systems. Automation of these update processes ranges from fully automatic to user initiated and controlled. Norton Internet Security is an example of a system with a semi-automatic method for retrieving and installing updates to both the antivirus definitions and other components of the system. Other software products provide query mechanisms for determining when updates are available.
Version tracking
Version tracking systems help the user find and install updates to software systems installed on PCs and local networks.
· Web based version tracking systems notify the user when updates are available for software systems installed on a local system. For example: VersionTracker Pro checks software versions on a user's computer and then queries its database to see if any updates are available.
· Local version tracking system notifies the user when updates are available for software systems installed on a local system. For example: Software Catalog stores version and other information for each software package installed on a local system. One click of a button launches a browser window to the upgrade web page for the application, including auto-filling of the user name and password for sites that require a login.
· Browser based version tracking systems notify the user when updates are available for software packages installed on a local system. For example: wfx-Versions is a Firefox extension which helps the user find the current version number of any program listed on the web.
Uninstall
Uninstallation is the inverse of installation. It is a remove of a system that is no longer required. It also involves some reconfiguration of other software systems in order to remove the uninstalled system’s files and dependencies. This is not to be confused with the term "deinstall" which is not actually a word.
Retire
Ultimately, a software system is marked as obsolete and support by the producers is withdrawn. It is the end of the life cycle of a software product.
Maintenance
This international standard[1] describes the 6 software maintenance processes as:
The implementation processes contains software preparation and transition activities, such as the conception and creation of the maintenance plan, the preparation for handling problems identified during development, and the follow-up on product configuration management.
The problem and modification analysis process, which is executed once the application has become the responsibility of the maintenance group. The maintenance programmer must analyze each request, confirm it (by reproducing the situation) and check its validity, investigate it and propose a solution, document the request and the solution proposal, and, finally, obtain all the required authorizations to apply the modifications.
The process considering the implementation of the modification itself.
The process acceptance of the modification, by checking it with the individual who submitted the request in order to make sure the modification provided a solution.
The migration process (platform migration, for example) is exceptional, and is not part of daily maintenance tasks. If the software must be ported to another platform without any change in functionality, this process will be used and a maintenance project team is likely to be assigned to this task.
Finally, the last maintenance process, also an event which does not occur on a daily basis, is the retirement of a piece of software.
There are a number of processes, activities and practices that are unique to maintainers, for example:
Transition: a controlled and coordinated sequence of activities during which a system is transferred progressively from the developer to the maintainer;
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and specialized (domain-specific) maintenance contracts negotiated by maintainers;
Modification Request and Problem Report Help Desk: a problem-handling process used by maintainers to prioritize, documents and route the requests they receive;
Modification Request acceptance/rejection: modification request work over a certain size/effort/complexity may be rejected by maintainers and rerouted to a developer.
Some steps in successful implementing IS
Step 1. Define what should be IS be implemented, what it should accomplish, and how to accomplish this goal, including an explanation of the terms” and “functional status.”
Step 2. Evaluate the IS and their limitations.
Step 3. Identify the communications operating issues.
Step 4. Define data requirements.
Step 5. Identify promising emerging technologies.
Step 6. Decide what data should be shared, with whom, and when.
Step 7. Decide who should operate, use, and maintain the system.
Steps 8. Identify potential participants involved
Step 9. Consider cost and funding issues.
This would help to expedite the implementation of the IS Plan. It shows the analazation the effect of implamented plan .What is its function,limitation,requirement and the people who handle the plan implamented.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_maintenance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_deployment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_planning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_analysis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_design
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_debvelopment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_management
My blog:
http://gleizelle.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
MIS2(assugnment 5)
In the spectrum of organizational change, which is the most radical type of change: automation, rationalization of procedures, business reengineering, or paradigm shifts?
In the world of organization, firms, businesses nowadays organizational change is not new for them because of the fast changing environment they tend to plan for the future in the survival and development of their organization . But because of rapid change in environment this it is hard for them to manipulate plan There are hundred of strategies but it is hard for them to choice the right strategic plan to equip for the survival of their organization.
Leaders and managers continually make efforts to accomplish successful and significant change -- it's inherent in their jobs. Some are very good at this effort (probably more than we realize), while others continually struggle and fail. That's often the difference between people who thrive in their roles and those that get shuttled around from job to job, ultimately settling into a role where they're frustrated and ineffective. There are many schools with educational programs about organizations, business, leadership and management. Unfortunately, there still are not enough schools with programs about how to analyze organizations, identify critically important priorities to address (such as systemic problems or exciting visions for change) and then undertake successful and significant change to address those priorities. This Library topic aims to improve that situation.
Managing Organizational Change
It is important to have a change in the organization. In addition, such change should be successful and must contribute towards the success of the organization. The main objective of this paper is to characterize the prevalence of the change process in organizations and understand what occurs during organizational change...
Managing Organizational Change
Organizational change is an ongoing process in order to bring the organizational systems and processes in line with the factors prevailing in the external and internal environment of the organization. The forces of organizational change include internal and external forces. Organization Development OD refers to the framework consisting of planned-change...
The major decisions
Instead of grasping for the latest technique, I suggest instead that organizations should go through a formal decision-making process that has four major components:
Levels, goals and strategies
Measurement system
Sequence of steps
Implementation and organizational change
The levels of organizational change
Perhaps the most difficult decision to make is at what "level" to start. There are four levels of organizational change:
shaping and anticipating the future (level 1)
defining what business(es) to be in and their "core competencies” (level 2)
reengineering processes (level 3)
incrementally improving processes (level 4)
First let's describe these levels, and then under what circumstances a business should use them.
Level 1-[b] shaping and anticipating the future[/b]
At this level, organizations start out with few assumptions about the business itself, what it is "good" at, and what the future will be like.
Management generates alternate "scenarios" of the future, defines opportunities based on these possible futures, assesses its strengths and weaknesses in these scenarios changes its mission, measurement system etc. More information on this is in the next article, "Moving from the Future to your Strategy."
Level 2[b] - defining what business(es) to be in and their "Core Competencies[/b]
Many attempts at strategic planning start at this level, either assuming that 1) the future will be like the past or at least predictable; 2) the future is embodied in the CEO's "vision for the future"; or 3) management doesn't know where else to start; 4) management is too afraid to start at level 1 because of the changes needed to really meet future requirements; or 5) the only mandate they have is to refine what mission already exists.
After a mission has been defined and a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis is completed, an organization can then define its measures, goals, strategies, etc. More information on this is in the next article, "Moving from the Future to your Strategy."
Level 3[b] - Reengineering (Structurally Changing) Your Processes[/b]
Either as an aftermath or consequence of level one or two work or as an independent action, level three work focuses on fundamentally changing how work is accomplished. Rather than focus on modest improvements, reengineering focuses on making major structural changes to everyday with the goal of substantially improving productivity, efficiency, quality or customer satisfaction. To read more about level 3 organizational changes, please see "A Tale of Three Villages."
Level 4- Incrementally Changing your Processes
Level 4 organizational changes are focusing in making many small changes to existing work processes. Oftentimes organizations put in considerable effort into getting every employee focused on making these small changes, often with considerable effect. Unfortunately, making improvements on how a buggy whip for horse-drawn carriages is made will rarely come up with the idea that buggy whips are no longer necessary because cars have been invented. To read more about level 4 organizational changes and how it compares to level 3, please see "A Tale of Three Villages.
The Measurement System
Without measures of success, the organization does not know if it has succeeded in its efforts. Someone once said, “What gets measured gets improved.” Someone else said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
For more information on measurement systems and their place in organizational change, please see the "Balanced Scorecard" article, along with a number of articles where employee surveys are used.
Implementation and Organizational Change
The success of any organizational change effort can be summed into an equation:
Success = Measurement X Method X Control X Focused Persistence X Consensus
Like any equation with multiplication, a high value of one variable can compensate for lower levels on other variables. Also like any equation with multiplication, if one variable equals 0, the result is zero.
But in this assignment we are asked that in the spectrum of organizational change which is the radical type or the root of this changes ,is it automation ,rationalization of procedures, business reengineering, or paradigm. Before we could answer that question we should define these words:
Automation
Automation refers to the use of computers and other automated machinery for the execution of business-related tasks. Automated machinery may range from simple sensing devices to robots and other sophisticated equipment. Automation of operations may encompass the automation of a single operation or the automation of an entire factory.
There are many different reasons to automate. Increased productivity is normally the major reason for many companies desiring a competitive advantage. Automation also offers low operational variability. Variability is directly related to quality and productivity. Other reasons to automate include the presence of a hazardous working environment and the high cost of human labor. Some businesses automate processes in order to reduce production time, increase manufacturing flexibility, reduce costs, eliminate human error, or make up for a labor shortage. Decisions associated with automation are usually concerned with some or all of these economic and social considerations.
For small business owners, weighing the pros and cons of automation can be a daunting task. But consultants contend that it is an issue that should not be put off. "We are creating a new ball game," wrote Perry Pascarella in Industry Week. "Failure to take a strategic look at where the organization wants to go and then capitalizing on the new technologies available will hand death-dealing advantages to competitors—traditional and unexpected ones."
Types of Automation
Although automation can play a major role in increasing productivity and reducing costs in service industries—as in the example of a retail store that installs bar code scanners in its checkout lanes—automation is most prevalent in manufacturing industries. In recent years, the manufacturing field has witnessed the development of major automation alternatives. Some of these types of automation include:
Information technology (IT)
Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)
Numerically controlled (NC) equipment
Robots
Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS)
Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)
Rationalization of procedures
Rationalization of procedures causes the organization to examine its standard operating procedures, eliminate those no longer needed, and make the organization more efficient. It's a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say!
Both types of change cause some disruption, but it's usually manageable and relatively accepted by the people.
Business process reengineering
Business process reengineering (BPR) is, in computer science and management, an approach aiming at improvements by means of elevating efficiency and effectiveness of the business process that exist within and across organizations. The key to BPR is for organizations to look at their business processes from a "clean slate" perspective and determine how they can best construct these processes to improve how they conduct business.
Business process reengineering (BPR) began as a private sector technique to help organizations fundamentally rethink how they do their work in order to dramatically improve customer service, cut operational costs, and become world-class competitors. A key stimulus for reengineering has been the continuing development and deployment of sophisticated information systems and networks. Leading organizations are becoming bolder in using this technology to support innovative business processes, rather than refining current ways of doing work.
Reengineering guidance and relationship of Mission and Work Processes to Information Technology.
Business process reengineering is one approach for redesigning the way work is done to better support the organization's mission and reduce costs. Reengineering starts with a high-level assessment of the organization's mission, strategic goals, and customer needs. Basic questions are asked, such as "Does our mission need to be redefined? Are our strategic goals aligned with our mission? Who are our customers?" An organization may find that it is operating on questionable assumptions, particularly in terms of the wants and needs of its customers. Only after the organization rethinks what it should be doing, does it go on to decide how best to do it.[1]
Within the framework of this basic assessment of mission and goals, reengineering focuses on the organization's business processes--the steps and procedures that govern how resources are used to create products and services that meet the needs of particular customers or markets. As a structured ordering of work steps across time and place, a business process can be decomposed into specific activities, measured, modeled, and improved. It can also be completely redesigned or eliminated altogether. Reengineering identifies, analyzes, and redesigns an organization's core business processes with the aim of achieving dramatic improvements in critical performance measures, such as cost, quality, service, and speed.[1]
Reengineering recognizes that an organization's business processes are usually fragmented into subprocesses and tasks that are carried out by several specialized functional areas within the organization. Often, no one is responsible for the overall performance of the entire process. Reengineering maintains that optimizing the performance of subprocesses can result in some benefits, but cannot yield dramatic improvements if the process itself is fundamentally inefficient and outmoded. For that reason, reengineering focuses on redesigning the process as a whole in order to achieve the greatest possible benefits to the organization and their customers. This drive for realizing dramatic improvements by fundamentally rethinking how the organization's work should be done distinguishes reengineering from process improvement efforts that focus on functional or incremental improvement.[1]
Paradigm Shift
paradigm shift, as a change in a fundamental model of events, has since become widely applied to many other realms of human experience as well, even though Kuhn himself restricted the use of the term to the hard sciences. According to Kuhn, "A paradigm is what members of a scientific community, and they alone, share." (The Essential Tension, 1977). Unlike a normal scientist, Kuhn held, "a student in the humanities has constantly before him a number of competing and incommensurable solutions to these problems, solutions that he must ultimately examine for himself." (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions). Once a paradigm shift is complete, a scientist cannot, for example, posit the possibility that miasma causes disease or that ether carries light. In contrast, a critic in the Humanities can choose to adopt a 19th-century theory of poetics, for instance
In conclusion, for millions of years we have been evolving and will continue to do so. Change is difficult. Human Beings resist change; however, the process has been set in motion long ago and we will continue to co-create our own experience. Kuhn states that "awareness is prerequisite to all acceptable changes of theory" (p. 67). It all begins in the mind of the person. What we perceive, whether normal or metanormal, conscious or unconscious, are subject to the limitations and distortions produced by our inherited and socially conditional nature. However, we are not restricted by this for we can change. We are moving at an accelerated rate of speed and our state of consciousness is transforming and transcending. Many are awakening as our conscious awareness expands.
. For example, the introduction of the personal computer and the internet have impacted both personal and business environments, and is a catalyst for a Paradigm Shift. We are shifting from a mechanistic, manufacturing, industrial society to an organic, service based, information centered society, and increases in technology will continue to impact globally. Change is inevitable. It's the only true constant.
With all those type of change for me the redical type or the root of theis changes is the paradigm shift because paradigm shift is define as evolutionary changes of life . Change is inevitable .Continue discovering new change for the satisfactory of self because people has no contentment . That’s why other changes had discover for helping the fast changing environment.
http://www.taketheleap.com/define.html
http://www.santarosa.edu/~ssarkar/cs66fl06/ch14notes.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm_shift
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_reengineering
http://managementhelp.org/org_chng/org_chng.htm#anchor515854
Visit my blog:
http://gleizelle.blogspot.com/
In the world of organization, firms, businesses nowadays organizational change is not new for them because of the fast changing environment they tend to plan for the future in the survival and development of their organization . But because of rapid change in environment this it is hard for them to manipulate plan There are hundred of strategies but it is hard for them to choice the right strategic plan to equip for the survival of their organization.
Leaders and managers continually make efforts to accomplish successful and significant change -- it's inherent in their jobs. Some are very good at this effort (probably more than we realize), while others continually struggle and fail. That's often the difference between people who thrive in their roles and those that get shuttled around from job to job, ultimately settling into a role where they're frustrated and ineffective. There are many schools with educational programs about organizations, business, leadership and management. Unfortunately, there still are not enough schools with programs about how to analyze organizations, identify critically important priorities to address (such as systemic problems or exciting visions for change) and then undertake successful and significant change to address those priorities. This Library topic aims to improve that situation.
Managing Organizational Change
It is important to have a change in the organization. In addition, such change should be successful and must contribute towards the success of the organization. The main objective of this paper is to characterize the prevalence of the change process in organizations and understand what occurs during organizational change...
Managing Organizational Change
Organizational change is an ongoing process in order to bring the organizational systems and processes in line with the factors prevailing in the external and internal environment of the organization. The forces of organizational change include internal and external forces. Organization Development OD refers to the framework consisting of planned-change...
The major decisions
Instead of grasping for the latest technique, I suggest instead that organizations should go through a formal decision-making process that has four major components:
Levels, goals and strategies
Measurement system
Sequence of steps
Implementation and organizational change
The levels of organizational change
Perhaps the most difficult decision to make is at what "level" to start. There are four levels of organizational change:
shaping and anticipating the future (level 1)
defining what business(es) to be in and their "core competencies” (level 2)
reengineering processes (level 3)
incrementally improving processes (level 4)
First let's describe these levels, and then under what circumstances a business should use them.
Level 1-[b] shaping and anticipating the future[/b]
At this level, organizations start out with few assumptions about the business itself, what it is "good" at, and what the future will be like.
Management generates alternate "scenarios" of the future, defines opportunities based on these possible futures, assesses its strengths and weaknesses in these scenarios changes its mission, measurement system etc. More information on this is in the next article, "Moving from the Future to your Strategy."
Level 2[b] - defining what business(es) to be in and their "Core Competencies[/b]
Many attempts at strategic planning start at this level, either assuming that 1) the future will be like the past or at least predictable; 2) the future is embodied in the CEO's "vision for the future"; or 3) management doesn't know where else to start; 4) management is too afraid to start at level 1 because of the changes needed to really meet future requirements; or 5) the only mandate they have is to refine what mission already exists.
After a mission has been defined and a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis is completed, an organization can then define its measures, goals, strategies, etc. More information on this is in the next article, "Moving from the Future to your Strategy."
Level 3[b] - Reengineering (Structurally Changing) Your Processes[/b]
Either as an aftermath or consequence of level one or two work or as an independent action, level three work focuses on fundamentally changing how work is accomplished. Rather than focus on modest improvements, reengineering focuses on making major structural changes to everyday with the goal of substantially improving productivity, efficiency, quality or customer satisfaction. To read more about level 3 organizational changes, please see "A Tale of Three Villages."
Level 4- Incrementally Changing your Processes
Level 4 organizational changes are focusing in making many small changes to existing work processes. Oftentimes organizations put in considerable effort into getting every employee focused on making these small changes, often with considerable effect. Unfortunately, making improvements on how a buggy whip for horse-drawn carriages is made will rarely come up with the idea that buggy whips are no longer necessary because cars have been invented. To read more about level 4 organizational changes and how it compares to level 3, please see "A Tale of Three Villages.
The Measurement System
Without measures of success, the organization does not know if it has succeeded in its efforts. Someone once said, “What gets measured gets improved.” Someone else said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
For more information on measurement systems and their place in organizational change, please see the "Balanced Scorecard" article, along with a number of articles where employee surveys are used.
Implementation and Organizational Change
The success of any organizational change effort can be summed into an equation:
Success = Measurement X Method X Control X Focused Persistence X Consensus
Like any equation with multiplication, a high value of one variable can compensate for lower levels on other variables. Also like any equation with multiplication, if one variable equals 0, the result is zero.
But in this assignment we are asked that in the spectrum of organizational change which is the radical type or the root of this changes ,is it automation ,rationalization of procedures, business reengineering, or paradigm. Before we could answer that question we should define these words:
Automation
Automation refers to the use of computers and other automated machinery for the execution of business-related tasks. Automated machinery may range from simple sensing devices to robots and other sophisticated equipment. Automation of operations may encompass the automation of a single operation or the automation of an entire factory.
There are many different reasons to automate. Increased productivity is normally the major reason for many companies desiring a competitive advantage. Automation also offers low operational variability. Variability is directly related to quality and productivity. Other reasons to automate include the presence of a hazardous working environment and the high cost of human labor. Some businesses automate processes in order to reduce production time, increase manufacturing flexibility, reduce costs, eliminate human error, or make up for a labor shortage. Decisions associated with automation are usually concerned with some or all of these economic and social considerations.
For small business owners, weighing the pros and cons of automation can be a daunting task. But consultants contend that it is an issue that should not be put off. "We are creating a new ball game," wrote Perry Pascarella in Industry Week. "Failure to take a strategic look at where the organization wants to go and then capitalizing on the new technologies available will hand death-dealing advantages to competitors—traditional and unexpected ones."
Types of Automation
Although automation can play a major role in increasing productivity and reducing costs in service industries—as in the example of a retail store that installs bar code scanners in its checkout lanes—automation is most prevalent in manufacturing industries. In recent years, the manufacturing field has witnessed the development of major automation alternatives. Some of these types of automation include:
Information technology (IT)
Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)
Numerically controlled (NC) equipment
Robots
Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS)
Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)
Rationalization of procedures
Rationalization of procedures causes the organization to examine its standard operating procedures, eliminate those no longer needed, and make the organization more efficient. It's a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say!
Both types of change cause some disruption, but it's usually manageable and relatively accepted by the people.
Business process reengineering
Business process reengineering (BPR) is, in computer science and management, an approach aiming at improvements by means of elevating efficiency and effectiveness of the business process that exist within and across organizations. The key to BPR is for organizations to look at their business processes from a "clean slate" perspective and determine how they can best construct these processes to improve how they conduct business.
Business process reengineering (BPR) began as a private sector technique to help organizations fundamentally rethink how they do their work in order to dramatically improve customer service, cut operational costs, and become world-class competitors. A key stimulus for reengineering has been the continuing development and deployment of sophisticated information systems and networks. Leading organizations are becoming bolder in using this technology to support innovative business processes, rather than refining current ways of doing work.
Reengineering guidance and relationship of Mission and Work Processes to Information Technology.
Business process reengineering is one approach for redesigning the way work is done to better support the organization's mission and reduce costs. Reengineering starts with a high-level assessment of the organization's mission, strategic goals, and customer needs. Basic questions are asked, such as "Does our mission need to be redefined? Are our strategic goals aligned with our mission? Who are our customers?" An organization may find that it is operating on questionable assumptions, particularly in terms of the wants and needs of its customers. Only after the organization rethinks what it should be doing, does it go on to decide how best to do it.[1]
Within the framework of this basic assessment of mission and goals, reengineering focuses on the organization's business processes--the steps and procedures that govern how resources are used to create products and services that meet the needs of particular customers or markets. As a structured ordering of work steps across time and place, a business process can be decomposed into specific activities, measured, modeled, and improved. It can also be completely redesigned or eliminated altogether. Reengineering identifies, analyzes, and redesigns an organization's core business processes with the aim of achieving dramatic improvements in critical performance measures, such as cost, quality, service, and speed.[1]
Reengineering recognizes that an organization's business processes are usually fragmented into subprocesses and tasks that are carried out by several specialized functional areas within the organization. Often, no one is responsible for the overall performance of the entire process. Reengineering maintains that optimizing the performance of subprocesses can result in some benefits, but cannot yield dramatic improvements if the process itself is fundamentally inefficient and outmoded. For that reason, reengineering focuses on redesigning the process as a whole in order to achieve the greatest possible benefits to the organization and their customers. This drive for realizing dramatic improvements by fundamentally rethinking how the organization's work should be done distinguishes reengineering from process improvement efforts that focus on functional or incremental improvement.[1]
Paradigm Shift
paradigm shift, as a change in a fundamental model of events, has since become widely applied to many other realms of human experience as well, even though Kuhn himself restricted the use of the term to the hard sciences. According to Kuhn, "A paradigm is what members of a scientific community, and they alone, share." (The Essential Tension, 1977). Unlike a normal scientist, Kuhn held, "a student in the humanities has constantly before him a number of competing and incommensurable solutions to these problems, solutions that he must ultimately examine for himself." (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions). Once a paradigm shift is complete, a scientist cannot, for example, posit the possibility that miasma causes disease or that ether carries light. In contrast, a critic in the Humanities can choose to adopt a 19th-century theory of poetics, for instance
In conclusion, for millions of years we have been evolving and will continue to do so. Change is difficult. Human Beings resist change; however, the process has been set in motion long ago and we will continue to co-create our own experience. Kuhn states that "awareness is prerequisite to all acceptable changes of theory" (p. 67). It all begins in the mind of the person. What we perceive, whether normal or metanormal, conscious or unconscious, are subject to the limitations and distortions produced by our inherited and socially conditional nature. However, we are not restricted by this for we can change. We are moving at an accelerated rate of speed and our state of consciousness is transforming and transcending. Many are awakening as our conscious awareness expands.
. For example, the introduction of the personal computer and the internet have impacted both personal and business environments, and is a catalyst for a Paradigm Shift. We are shifting from a mechanistic, manufacturing, industrial society to an organic, service based, information centered society, and increases in technology will continue to impact globally. Change is inevitable. It's the only true constant.
With all those type of change for me the redical type or the root of theis changes is the paradigm shift because paradigm shift is define as evolutionary changes of life . Change is inevitable .Continue discovering new change for the satisfactory of self because people has no contentment . That’s why other changes had discover for helping the fast changing environment.
http://www.taketheleap.com/define.html
http://www.santarosa.edu/~ssarkar/cs66fl06/ch14notes.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm_shift
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_reengineering
http://managementhelp.org/org_chng/org_chng.htm#anchor515854
Visit my blog:
http://gleizelle.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Assignment 3(MIS2)
What are the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration of IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan? note: you are required to interview an IS professional/s for your answer
In this assignment ,we are instruct to interview an IS professional and users while working on an IS plan.We should distinguish two most frequently experienced causes of frustration of these people. Before we determine IS professional and user’s frustration ,lets define frustration .
As I have thought frustration is common emotions of people who feel disappointed with their goals specially those people who work .They feel this emotion when they desires weren’t good for the improvement of the business their into. Frustration also of individual in this life ,when we feel the failure of our desire which we really insist. Let define more about frustration by Wikipedia:
Frustration
emotional response to opposition. Related to anger and disappointment, it arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of individual will. The greater the obstruction, and the greater the will, the more the frustration is likely to be. Causes of frustration may be internal or external. In people, internal frustration may arise from challenges in fulfilling personal goals and desires, instinctual drives and needs, or dealing with perceived deficiencies, such as a lack of confidence or fear of social situations. Conflict can also be an internal source of frustration; when one has competing goals that interfere with one another, it can create cognitive dissonance. External causes of frustration involve conditions outside an individual, such as a blocked road or a difficult task. While coping with frustration, some individuals may engage in passive-aggressive behavior, making it difficult to identify the original cause(s) of their frustration, as the responses are indirect. A more direct, and common response, is a propensity towards aggression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frustration
Frustration is also common to IS professional in making IS plan .We have learn that IS plan is a process for developing a strategy and plans for aligning information systems with the business strategies of an organization. This is why most IS professional encounter frustration .In some ways IS professional didn’t meet their needs when they implemented there is plans ,some are not enough support by the management of the company since IS is not the boss of the company but the brain for the success.
In our company that we have interviewed the EMCOR and the GH Depot …they have discuss to us some of their frustration regarding there |IS plan for the company . Some of these are :
Lack of Support
-In GH depot since their boss is the one who made the decision making of the company ,some of the plans of their IS doesn’t have the authority to be implemented ,Though it is good for the company but if in the management ,it doesn’t. IS doesn’t have the authority to implement .
Resistant to Change
IS could be frustrated in making IS plan when the one who will used on his plans will resist to change. When the doesn’t want to be trained on using a new system .
Less Budget
It can be flustered the IS professional if the company doesn’t have the budget to help the IS in making the IS plan of the company. How can they make a good strategy for the business if the company doesn’t have good budget in the IS planning.
IS Plan Failure
When the IS plan has to be stop and start again a new one. This may frustrate everyone in the company not only IS professional but also the owner of the company. With a long time planning a IS plan for the strategies of the business plan of the company yet it just stop ,it can cause a big trouble since company give the good budget for IS yet it stop.
|IS plan didn’t meet Business needs
It can also frustrate the IS when their plans didn’t meet the business need of the company. It may turn as useless for the company. IT can make the IS to do it again the IS plan or else IS professional will turn out in the company.
Monday, November 30, 2009
MIS2 (assignment2)
What should be the nature of the relationship between the business plan and the IS plan?
For the passed time of our discussion we have discussed about plan , a strategic plans for our self for the future , we had learned also about why we should do these, how we could imply these plans.
Planning is important not only for us in our self but also for the company , businesses , firms etc for the future achievements of the organizations. They have business plans and some of these businesses has a Information system plan(IS plan) for the better service of the company .For us to know more about the nature of the these two (Business plan and IS plan ) lets discuss their destinction.
Business Plan
A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals.
The business goals may be defined for for-profit or for non-profit organizations. For-profit business plans typically focus on financial goals, such as profit or creation of wealth. Non-profit and government agency business plans tend to focus on organizational mission which is the basis for their governmental status or their non-profit, tax-exempt status, respectively—although non-profits may also focus on optimizing revenue. In non-profit organizations, creative tensions may develop in the effort to balance mission with "margin" (or revenue). Business plans may also target changes in perception and branding by the customer, client, tax-payer, or larger community. A business plan having changes in perception and branding as its primary goals is called a marketing plan
Business planning is a management-directed process of identifying long-term goals for a business or business segment, and formulating realistic strategies for reaching those goals. Through planning, management decides what objectives to pursue during a future period, and what actions to undertake to achieve those objectives. Plans may be broad and encompass the entire enterprise, like a plan to double corporate profits, or they may concentrate on certain functional domains, such as information technology planning. Business planning may also entail developing contingency plans of what to do if some goals prove unattainable along the way or of how the business would survive a crisis, e.g., data center failure, natural disaster, and so forth.
Successful business planning requires concentrated time and effort in a systematic approach to answer three basic questions:
- Where is the business enterprise today?
- Where does management want to be in the future?
- How can the business accomplish this?
In answering the first question management assesses the present situation and its implications for future developments. Through planning, management concerns itself with the future implications of current decisions it is about to make, and considers how these decisions limit the scope of future actions. The second question anticipates future profitability and market conditions, and leads management to determine pragmatic objectives and goals. Finally, management outlines a course of action and analyzes the financial implications of those actions. Often management will specify measurable outcomes along the way that will demonstrate whether the business is progressing toward the goals as planned. From an array of alternatives, management distills a broad set of interrelated choices to form its long-term strategy. It is in the annual budgeting process that management develops detailed, short-term plans that guide the day-to-day activities meant to attain the objectives and goals.
PURPOSE AND FUNCTION OF PLANNING
Effective planning enables management to craft its own future, at least to some degree, rather than merely reacting to external events without a coherent motivating force for corporate actions. Management sets objectives and charts a course of action so as to be proactive rather than reactive to the dynamics of the business environment. The assumption, of course, is that through its continuous guidance management can enhance the future state of the business.
PLANNING CONCEPTS
Business planning is a systematic and formalized approach to accomplishing the planning, coordinating, and control responsibilities of management. It involves the development and application of: long-range objectives for the enterprise; specific goals to be attained; long-range profits plans stated in broad terms; adequate directions for formulating annual, detailed budgets, defining responsibility centers, and establishing control mechanisms; and evaluative methods and procedures for making changes when necessary.
Implicit in the process are the following concepts:
- The process must be realistic, flexible, and continuous.
- Management plays a critical role in the long-term success of a business.
- Management must have vision and good business judgment in order to plan for, manipulate, and control, in large measure, the relevant variables that affect business performance.
- The process must follow the basic scientific principles of investigation, analysis, and systematic decision making.
- Profit-planning and control principles and procedures are applied to all phases of the operations of the business.
- Planning is a total systems approach, integrating all the functional and operational aspects of the business.
- Wide participation of all levels of management is fundamental to effective planning.
- Planning has a unique relationship to accounting which collects, books, analyzes, and distributes data necessary for the process.
- Planning is a broad concept that includes the integration of numerous managerial approaches and techniques such as sales fore-casting, capital budgeting, cash flow analysis, inventory control, and time and motion studies.
A business plan, then, incorporates management objectives, effective communications, participative management, dynamic control, continuous feedback, responsibility account .
Information System plan
A information System plan is a a process for developing a strategy and plans for aligning information systems with the business strategies of an organization.
The systems planning function of the life cycle seeks to identify and prioritize those technologies and applications that will return the most value to the business. Synonyms include strategic systems planning and Information resource management.
Study the Business Mission
Although many businesses haven't formally documented their mission, they all have one. If information systems are to truly return value to the business, they need to directly address that mission. Thus, the first phase of systems planning is to study the business mission.
Ideally, the scope of the phase should be the entire business. For some companies, that is much too large. consequently, the scope might be reduced to a more manageable level-a division, a plant, or some other significant operating unit. For other companies, the scope of the phase is limited by the level of top management support received. Top executives of the organization must be willing to participate in the development of any strategic plan.
Planning analysts are specially trained information systems planning professionals. Their job is similar to that of systems analysts; however, they must be even more business-oriented that? the average systems analyst. Planning analysts must be familiar with the planning methodology to be used and the deliverables to be produced. They require a unique blend of skills and experiences, including business management, systems analysis and design, data management, and networking.
Many IS shops have difficulty finding the correct mix of these skills. Particularly, IS professionals tend to be either too applications-oriented, too database-oriented, or too network-oriented. In this case, the business usually hires management consultants to serve as the planning analysts. These consultants are widely available through IS consulting firms (e.g., Ernst & Young, James Martin & Associates, or IBM)
The input to this phase is the business mission, as "discovered" through interviews and group sessions with system owners. The business mission Is usually defined in terms of customers, products and services, material resources, human resources, geographic operating locations, management structures and philosophy, corporate goals and objectives, unavoidable business constraints, critical business success factors, and other management-oriented criteria.
The key deliverable is business plans. Hopefully, those plans already exist; this phase merely translates them into terms or formats that are useful to the system owners and planning analysts in subsequent planning phases. (All too often, that plan does not exist!)
Based on the findings of this phase, the planning effort could be canceled due to a lack of management commitment or funding. It Is more likely, however, that the project will continue to the next phase-possibly with a reduced business scope.
My analysis about the question “What should be the nature of the relationship between the business plan and the IS?” is that IS plan is an important thing in business planning now a days .And this starts with the evolvement of the businesses .For now many organizations prefer to have a Information system and in that this component would help them to make an business plan of their company.
IS exist to support the needs of the business area . Without this connection, information technology can be a solution in search of a problem and business goals may not take into account new IS capabilities. As planning processes mature over time, business planning and IS planning should align to meet the same goals. Any endeavor that seeks to improve the organization must take into account all the tools available and deliver an integrated solution. Even today, it is rare to find a business initiative that doesn’t contain an IS component that must be coordinated with organizational, human resource, and procedural components.
IT planning occurs in a framework of other types of planning . IS Strategic planning, IRM planning, business planning and tactical planning are all closely related. In addition to plans, there are enterprise and IS Architectures design documents used to optimize information systems and IS investments. They create a model to ensure the choice of technologies has the greatest long-term value and benefit to the organization. The following chart shows how each of these elements relates to the state organization hierarchy, business and IS domains, and to each other.
Real estate organizations are globally undergoing dramatic changes and shifts in their underlying operating models — a direct result of extensive M&A activity, expansion of product offerings, geographic expansion and an increasingly transparent and global economy. The trend of outsourcing key business processes to emerging service providers adds additional complexity, resulting in increasingly sophisticated IT demand
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan
http://newton.uor.edu/Courses/SysAnaDes/planning.html
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Bre-Cap/Business-Planning.htmll
file:///C:/Documents%20andSettings/Sunshine/Desktop/What_is_information_system_plan.htm
Thursday, November 19, 2009
MIS2(assugnment 1)
Think about yourself worthy to be called as IT professional, how do you see yourself 10 years from now, what are your strategies to get there?
Being an IT professional is seems so easy but then if we analyze a worthy IT professional is really a hard task to do to be in line with them . If we think of it the responsibility ,the knowledge ,the commitment should be equip to us to be one of those IT professional. The experience on the field is one of the necessary thing to develop our skills and imply knowledge but these thing are useless if we don’t have plan t be build up for the future responsibilities.
If we think , we can’t deny that many of us when we graduate , we end working on the company not related to our course or even related but then it is not cool work that is attainable with our degree .And these is all because we fail to plan or we call it plan to fail .In other we just go with the flow .It is hard to accept but it is true ,I even can’t deny that .
Lovely that this assignment is made, a good way for us to think, analyze our damn selves for planning for the future. I’m thankful these kind of assignment is brought to our class for me to understand why I am here and analyze what should be my purpose and who should be me tomorrow , my plans for how to get my goal in life.
For me to be worthy professional I should have my strategic plans as w e have learned in our class discussion. Before I reveal my strategic plans we should learn much about strategic plan. What ?For what? How? Why? is a strategic planning
In doing strategic plans most companies hope to be successful and survive need to develop there long-term strategic plan with specific goals and objectives that relate to the customers' needs and the company's competitors. In today's difficult economic climate, organizations do not have the resources to function aimlessly without direction. And these is hard most of them plan for short term since nowadays climate change is fast changing.
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ), PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological), STEER analysis (Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors), and EPISTEL (Environment, Political, Informatic, Social, Technological, Economic and Legal).
Strategic planning is the formal consideration of an organization's future course. All strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions:
1. "What do we do?"
2. "For whom do we do it?"
3. "How do we excel?"
In business strategic planning, the third question is better phrased "How can we beat or avoid competition?".
In many organizations, this is viewed as a process for determining where an organization is going over the next year or more -typically 3 to 5 years, although some extend their vision to 20 years.
In order to determine where it is going, the organization needs to know exactly where it stands, then determine where it wants to go and how it will get there. The resulting document is called the "strategic plan."
It is also true that strategic planning may be a tool for effectively plotting the direction of a company; however, strategic planning itself cannot foretell exactly how the market will evolve and what issues will surface in the coming days in order to plan your organizational strategy. Therefore, strategic innovation and tinkering with the 'strategic plan' have to be a cornerstone strategy for an organization to survive the turbulent business climate.
These are some of my guide in planning my future
Effective Life Plan
Effective Life Plan• Step 1
What is important to you? Is it a job, is it a family, is it education, status? Write down what is important to you for you to be happy in life.
• Step 2
Who is important to you? Write down a list of people who are important to you. Your spouse, your parents, your friends, etc.
• Step 3
How do you want the important people to in your life to remember you when you are not around? Next to each person, write down what you want them to remember about you when you are not around.
• Step 4
What do you want to have accomplished in one year, five years, ten years or even twenty years? Setting goals ensures that there is a set of milestones. It’s up to you to create the path to get there.
• Step 5
Break your goals into smaller steps to celebrate small victories along the way. I like to write down my goals and then create a little “how to” plan to get there. For example, I would like to get a degree. To get there, I plan to attend two courses a semester until I achieve my goal. This means, I will achieve my goal in XX years or by XX date.
• Step 6
Continue to evaluate your plan. No plans are set in stone. If your goals in life change, make your plan flexible to change with it. After all, it’s your life.
Effective Plan to be employedThe application
Try not to fill out the application at the workplace take it home or if you cannot fill it out away from the job site.
Make sure that the application does not have errors or omissions. List your most important traits that are relevant to the job you are attempting to gain. Do not use your any device such as your BlackBerry or IPods; focus all your energies in this job application.
Remember people are watching you
The interview
Beforehand, practice your interview with a close friend, it sounds stupid but acting or “perception” is as significant as reality.
Former president, Ronald Reagan was a professional and wonderful actor. His acting skills actually changed the world! Recall- “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Dude, make sure you don’t use the word DUDE. Or any word that makes you looks “unprofessional” such as LIKE (out of context), YOU KNOW and especially the word BRO! No terms of endearment – sweetheart, baby, honey, ECT…
Always look and act professional……
Things You'll Need:
• Suit/tie
• "Thank you attitude"
• Dress Business or do not go
• Be positive
• Attention to detail
Plan to be a worth employee1. Step 1
NEVER SAY "IT'S NOT MY JOB." Every job that you have the knowledge (or potential knowledge) to do can be your job. No boss wants to hear negativity from their employees - those are usually the first ones to go in a layoff. If you don't know how to do something, either figure it out if you can or ask someone who does. Go above the call of duty and extend yourself. Your employer will see you as far more than a team player.
2. Step 2
PUT YOUR HOURS IN. No employer likes paying someone for hours they haven't worked. If you are 15 minutes late every day, that works out to be over 50 hours every year they are paying you to not be there. Now add it all up if you take extended breaks, lunches, play games on the computer, and check out early. Work they hours that they pay you to work.
3. Step 3
DRESS FOR SUCCESS. You should dress at the top of the category for your job title. In other words, if your employer says "dress casual" is the attire for the office, you should dress the best you are able to on your budget. You can think of it as dressing for the job you WANT, not just the job you HAVE.
4. Step 4
SEEK ADDITIONAL TRAINING. A valued employee is one that is always looking for ways to improve himself and his workplace. Ask your boss for classes that would be appropriate for you to further your career. Discuss your goals with her, and make plans for your future with that organization. This will show your employer that you want to grow with the company and that you're there for the long term.
How to have own Business• Step1
First, brainstorm ideas about what you want to do. Think of things that interest you and your hobbies. Whether it is a thrift store, selling crafts, a video rental store or selling cars there is always a need for everything. Pick out something that you have a lot of knowledge with.
• Step 2
Research to see if you would make profit in that line of business. Some businesses are unsuccessful because there is not a high demand of the items owners are trying to sell in that area. Read books and search the internet to find out if there is a high demand in the business that you want to open.
• Step 3
Start small. Starting your business in your house may be your best option because you aren’t paying any renting fees. Your business may expand and you then can think about finding a building for your business. It doesn’t make sense to pay rent on a building which only holds a few items.
• Step 4
Advertise locally. You have the opportunity to advertise in newspapers, on bulletin boards, handing out flyers and on craigslist. The more people that know about your business the more business you will get and more sales you will make.
High Demand CareersThe Facts
1. When a career is in high demand, the employers will offer a higher pay and sometimes even a bonus for people who join the field. There are many websites available online which offer information on which careers are in high demand, which ones will be in high demand and also which careers will have little or no openings. These statistics will remain the same for a long period of time. Sometimes a career won't be in demand because there are already so many people working in that field. A person will go to school to practice in that field, but finding work will be hard, if not impossible.
Time Frame
2. A High demand career will stay open for a number of years. However, these high demand careers are subject to change at least every 10 years. The reason these job openings change is because a lot of people will educate themselves in the field because they know it is in high demand and will then seek out employment. Eventually the jobs that were once widely available will become hard to land. Other jobs will then be in high demand and seeking future employees. The government keeps up with these statistics so one can find out what will be available long before the time has come.
Benefits
3. There are benefits of choosing a job that is high in demand. Certain employers will hire a person who isn't fully educated in the field because they are very desperate for employees. The employers will then allow their employees to train on the job. Some employers will even pay for the person to further educate them self in the field, while working for their company. If the employer offers to pay for education, they will have you sign a contract stating that you will stay with the employer for a certain number of years.
As stated earlier, when a career is high in demand the pay will rise a great deal. The reason companies raise the pay for high demand careers, is to attract people to that field. They will offer better health insurance plans as well.
Risk Factors
4. There are not too many risk factors involved when you are choosing a career that is high in demand. The one risk factor that does tend to happen at times is a change in pay. When a job is in demand and offering high pay, it will attract a lot of people to the field. Eventually there will be so many people interested in the field that the career is no longer high in demand. They aren't looking hard for employees. Finding people to work for their company will become very easy, so they will then drop the pay of their current employees.
Companies will drop the pay for people who aren't high up on the scale, because they can be easily replaced. However, if you have been with the company a long time, your pay will remain the same or may possibly increase.
Features
5. A high demand career is a smart choice for someone who is looking to make good money and find employment easily. If a person sees that a career will be in high demand within the next couple of years, it is a good idea to get educated in that field. When you have a good background in the field and it is in high demand, you can guarantee that you will be making a very good salary.
If a person is one of the first people to get into a career that is in high demand, by the time the jobs have filled up, they will be in great standing with their company and won't have to worry about pay drop or loss of employment.
Choosing a career that is in high demand is a great idea for anyone. If someone has decided to take a job that is high in demand, they will want to keep up with the statistics of that field and always educated themselves further to ensure a happy, wealthy future.
MY PLANS 
As I have research about these assignment I have learned guidance in my goal and I have establish my plans 10 years from now…
1st – I should graduate my IT course by next year .In that I should study hard and give more time for my studies for me to start my new life after school.
2nd – If I graduate I will find job that is related to IT that could enhance my skills on my course .We all now that IT people are in demand so there’s many applicants in a company .I’ll work hard to be employed .In that I could enhance my capabilities and learned much about my field. Because I know that not only in school we get knowledge but also in the fields we are into .I should work only 1 year only .
3rd- In that If could be qualified to work as a manager that handles people in the big IT company ,Ill grab it .In that time I’ll be more productive to be promote and earn much money .Ill equip myself in e businesses as my part time job.
4th- If I have earned much money ,I will build a small business .An internet café that is owned by my parents to help my family and to make them more productive .
5th –I’ll go to school again to have my masteral to learn more for me to build IT business in the Philippines.
6th-I could finally have time for my happiness in this life and buy things not only me but my family..Ihope I could follow these plans ..So help me God
References:
http://www.ehow.com/about_4567515_high-demand-careers.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5582232_successfully-start-own-business.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5593773_land-job-over-other-applicants.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5599838_create-effective-life-plan.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_planning
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