Optimizing IT Implementation by Using the Enterprise Architecture Approach (EA)

Businesses world-wide are faced with similar challenges including changing business conditions, shrinking profit margins, and competitive pressures. An organization is affected daily by the vast amounts of information received and stored from both external and internal environments. This information when not organized or standardized in a strategic manner, leads to the fragmentation of this same information. In turn, this fragmentation negatively affects an organization’s productivity, competitive advantage and thus its profitability. This chapter discusses the importance of developing a system that not only works in support of, but hand-in-hand with the specific needs of a given business. Through the discussion of its main characteristics and its implementation, it will be shown that the Enterprise Architecture Approach (EA) meets this specific need, as it provides the “blue-prints” to strategically organize information.

Strategic Capital Capacity and Capability Management of IS/IT

As IS/IT are technology enablers in the creation and delivery of the value, it is contended that all the core processes enabled by its technology should be aligned through the “ways and means” and the “what and how” value is added through the IT enabled processes. The management and implementation of the IT is dependant on the capacity and capability of the firm, and these are human and organizational based, that ultimately defines the firm’s competency affecting successful implementation and utilization of the IS/IT. This chapter proposes a “capacity and capability” model based on the management of technology approach (the management of its Technoware, Humanware, Inforware and Orgaware) and its technology capabilities approach to manage its human, information and organization capitals critical to the successful IS/IT implementation and utilization. The “capacity and capability” model is the base of the integrated strategic capability driven implementation model that is contended to address the key implementation issues in a more integrated and comprehensive way. The capability and capacity management of the IS/IT is contended to better address the utilization success based on the inter-twined THIO that addresses the human and organizational issues as compared to the traditional approach of having the MIS resources.

Fuzzy Modelling for Integrated Strategic Planning for Information Systems and Business Process Design

Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) has been a continuing top concern for IS/IT management, since the mid 1980’s. Responding to the increasing interest in SISP, researchers have developed a large number of SISP methodologies and models. However, when organisations embark on planning for their information systems, they face difficulties and usually fail to gain the expected benefits. Strategic alignment and the identification of the business areas where the IT contribution is strategically important for the organisation are the most difficult problems in SISP. None of the existing SISP methodologies and models offers a complete solution. The approach presented in this chapter, utilises a Fuzzy Cognitive Map in order to align strategic objectives with IS opportunities that exist at the level of business processes. This chapter exemplifies fuzzy cognitive mapping in SISP, and illustrates how the strategic alignment between the business and IT domains can be realised.

Examining the Approach Used for Information Technology Investment Decisions by Practitioners Responsible for IT Planning in Namibia

Despite the technological progress made by organisations in Namibia, the impact of IT has not been studied. The existing definition of IT is not comprehensive enough to include all relevant IT expenditures. No return calculations are made, though managers are showing growing concern at the increasing IT costs. The purpose of this article is to determine what organisations in Namibia use as basis for investing in IT. In interviews with six organisations in Namibia, it was determined how they define and manage their investment in IT. Some conclusions can be drawn, the first being that organisations need to look at their definition of IT to include all aspects of IT like communication systems, maintenance, etc. the second implication is that somebody must be appointed to take responsibility for managing the IT investment.

Developing an E-Government Roadmap for Developing Countries

Developing countries, opting to pursue services-oriented economies, have invested in information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance their competitiveness in the global environment. This has called for improved management in both public and private sectors and as a consequence governments, some of which have undertaken public sector reform, now seem ready to embrace e-Government. However, experience even in developed countries has shown that incorporating e-Government practices is not a sure means of attaining desired goals. This paper examines the position of Vietnam, as it becomes a member of WTO in implementing E-Government. Some E-Government initiatives taken are identified and an IT roadmap is recommended as a means of achieving a successful transformation. This roadmap emphasizes a holistic approach to analyze existing performance gaps and identify E-Government opportunities for Vietnam.

Planning and Control and the Use of Information Technology in Mental Healthcare Organizations

Demand for mental healthcare increases. Simultaneously, the need for more patient oriented processes increases and the market develops towards more competition among providers and organizations. As a result of these developments, mental healthcare organizations are becoming more aware of efficiency and effectiveness. Often, they choose to transform to more process oriented organizations, which require changes in planning and control systems and information technology (IT). However, little is known about the required planning and control systems and IT for mental healthcare.

IT Portfolio Management

This chapter is intended primarily for managers who are preparing to implement portfolio management concepts in an organization and students of IT Project Management courses at the Masters level, who wish to understand the difference between Project and Portfolio Management. As IT Governance is gaining importance, the IT department should not be surprised if they are given a mandate from the senior management to implement a Governance framework. Portfolio Management principles are the foundations of building an effective governance. While there is literature available discussing portfolio management at the conceptual level, there is not enough available which translates these concepts into tactical implementation. This could be because implementation differs between organizations and there is no one size fits all solution. However, practitioners can benefit from discussing implementation approaches that can be tailored to suit individual needs. This chapter shows one of the many ways to implement a portfolio management framework.

The Interplay of Strategic Management and Information Technology

The authors trace historical developments in the fields of information technology (IT) and strategic management. IT’s evolution from the mainframe era to the Internet era has been accompanied by a shift in the strategic emphasis of IT. In the early days, IT’s contribution to the organization was largely information provision, monitoring and control. Current research at the intersection of IT and strategic management increasingly highlights the impact of IT in terms of informing strategic decisions and enabling information flow vis-à-vis all manner of organizational processes. We believe these fields are ripe for research focusing on their complementary impact on organizational performance.

CEO/CIO Communication and the Strategic Grid Dimensions

McFarlan’s strategic grid postulated that the impact of existing information systems and impact of the portfolio of planned information systems constitute two dimensions on which the chief executive officer and chief information officer could assess their information technology. But what predicts their agreement on those impacts? Mutual understanding between an organization’s CEO and CIO is an important factor in the organization’s efforts to gain the greatest value from information technology, a factor that communications theory predicts, moreover, can be the product of greater communication frequency and channel richness. This research used a postal survey of 202 pairs of CEOs and CIOs to investigate the effect of such frequency and channel richness on CEO/CIO mutual understanding of the impact of existing information systems and of the impact of the portfolio of planned information systems. More frequent communication between the executives predicted mutual understanding about the current and future impacts of IT. However, the use of richer channels did not predict mutual understanding about the current impact, but did predict it about the future impact when the extent to which the organization relied on IT to support future projects was used as a covariate. Moreover, the finding that CEOs and CIOs perceived e-mail to be a richer communication channel than telephone was an unexpected outcome of the research. From a research perspective, the study extended theory about communication frequency, media richness, mutual understanding, and the impact of IT in organizations. It also provided additional validation of existing instruments that can be used to help future researchers of communications and IT. It provided direction for CEOs and CIOs who may be interested in increasing their mutual understanding of the impact of IT, improving their relationship with each other, and thus improving their planning of new information systems.

An Information Technology Planning Framework for an Industry Cluster

Strategic IS planning (SISP) has been found to be a key issue of concern for management across organizations in various industries. However, most SISP studies have been conducted in the context of large, for-profit organizations but not at the industry level. An industry approach to SISP has been found to be most effective in Singapore to develop the IT capabilities of each industry. This chapter introduces a framework for planning of information technologies (IT) for the industry cluster. More specifically, the different stages in planning and executing an industry scale IT project for supply chain management are discussed here based on an example from Singapore. This generic framework proposed can be used in any industry where IT plays a strategic role for industry transformation.