A2 ICT

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A2 ICT
Module 5
14.1 Policy and Strategy Issues
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
What is the difference between a policy and a
strategy?
A strategy is devised at the relevant level of
management and is a long-term plan of change and
improvement for an organisation.
STRATEGY
A policy is a document written to structure and
outline the strategy to those that it affects and
to those who must implement it.
POLICY
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
What is the purpose of policies and strategies?
Policies and standards ensure that processes,
procedures and deliverables are consistent and
meet the needs of the business, while complying
with current legislation. Policies should be
clearly communicated through all levels of an
organisation detailing who is responsible for
each policy and what onus that places on
individuals employed by the organisation.
http//www.ogc.gov.uk/sdtoolkit/Reference/document
ation/p23_policies.html
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
What is the purpose of policies and strategies?
Information is a resource, but one that has
completely different properties from other
resources such as raw materials or stock. For one
thing, it is not depleted when it used. For
another, it is difficult and usually undesirable
to keep exclusive ownership of information. It is
usually regarded as a shared resource within a
company. The challenge for management is to
formulate an information management policy that
will help them manage computing resources in an
effective and profitable way, and maximise the
benefits of information.
Heathcote A Level ICT Chapter 52 page 288
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
What strategic elements should a policy contain?
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Hardware and software choices
Consistency with business priorities
Centralisation or decentralisation?
Different user needs
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Consistency with business priorities
A companys information system strategy should be
linked to its business plan. This does not always
happen.
One way to ensure that is is linked it to use the
critical success factors (CSF) approach. This
means that senior managers have to identify the
companys primary goals and what things must go
right for the company to succeed.
They then have to identify measures of
performance for each of the CSFs to make sure the
information systems are in place to collect and
use this information.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Consistency with business priorities
Example of CSF from the Learning and Skills
Development Agency
From their report on Key Skills Support
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Consistency with business priorities
A part of the measures of performance section
for CSF 1
Each section is further broken down into review
questions for checking the implementation of the
policy
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Centralisation or decentralisation?
In a centralised system, the ISD has
responsibility for planning and control of
processing, maintenance of hardware and software
and development of new computerised information
systems.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Centralisation or decentralisation?
This has the advantage of providing a central
pool of expertise and better control over what
hardware and software is purchased.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Centralisation or decentralisation?
Arrows away from the ISD show the flow of
information and equipment towards all other
departments from the central point.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Centralisation or decentralisation?
Arrows towards the ISD show the flow of requests
for information and equipment from all other
departments to the central point.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Centralisation or decentralisation?
In a decentralised system, there is no ISD, so
responsibility for planning and control of
processing, maintenance of hardware and software
and development of new computerised information
systems falls to each individual department.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Centralisation or decentralisation?
Arrows between each department show possible
requests for information and equipment sharing /
advice. The trend in large organisations is
towards this type of model.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Centralisation or decentralisation?
The advantages of this system are that it allows
users in the individual departments to develop
their own applications and it lessens the
dependence on a central ISD. It may also be
faster to sort out problems.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Centralisation or decentralisation?
MANAGEMENT
Management could monitor the information systems
situation centrally, agreeing to requests for
hardware / software purchases, etc.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Different user needs
A medium to large business using computers will
have a huge range of different types of users,
each with their own requirements.
For instance, those circled in red will interact
directly with the computer system itself. Others
are called end-users.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Different user needs
Users at all levels of the organisations
information system (transaction, knowledge work
and management support) will have different
needs.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Different user needs
However, all users require that software is easy
to use and has enough features to help them get
their jobs done as efficiently as possible.
They would also like hardware that is
sufficiently powerful to run the software without
frustrating delays.
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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Hardware and software choices

• Advantages of centralised control include
• All hardware within company will be compatible
  and can be linked in company-wide network
• Purchasing power increased if high volume
• Better deals on maintenance contracts
• Employees will not have to learn new systems if
  they move to another department

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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Hardware and software choices

• Training simplified for people using the same
  software from many departments
• Site licences can be purchased for software
• Better control over unlicensed software
• Data can be exchanged more easily between similar
  types of computer.
• Using different types of computer (PC, Mac)
  creates problems since most software is not
  cross-platform.

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14.1 - Policy and Strategy Issues
STRATEGIC PLANNING ISSUES
Hardware and software choices
What are the issues with choice of hardware and
software?

• Upgrading issues should the whole organisation
  be upgraded or one department at a time? Will
  this cause compatibility problems?
• Legacy systems old but still working reliably.
  Should they be replaced with new systems?
• Future proofing hardware and software purchases
  may be impossible
• Emulation software could work with a new system
  but it may not run 100 of the software.