Information Systems

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• Information Systems
• and
• Strategic Planning

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Learning Objectives

• To understand
• what a Management Information System is
• what role a Management Information System plays
  within an organisation
• strategy and strategic planning
• what Strategic Management is

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The MIS Question ?

• Question What is a Management Information System
  ?
• Answer The basic concept of a management
  information system is that of a system that
  provides, to all levels of management,
  information that is accurate, relevant and timely
  for the support of the process of management.

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The MIS Triangle
Policy on priorities, objective setting
monitoring.
Budget policies, MIS needs and master plans.
BOARD
Budget advice equipment options for MIS needs.
New service needs nomination of project
benefits.
USER
IS
Needs, system problems, choice of design
project control.
Options of project design, costs benefits of
proposals.
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Information Management

• Information management depends on the following
• Governance Governance or information politics,
  is used not only to exercise authority but is an
  art for achieving corporate consensus. It guides
  how individuals and groups cooperate to achieve
  business objectives.
• Business Plan Alignment IT business plans must
  be congruent with the organizations business
  plan or the worth of the IT plan will always be
  suspect.

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Management Information Systems

• Within organizations today the most valuable
  commodity they possess is information.
• A management information system is a valuable
  resource to the entire organisation.
• A management information system should be used by
  everyone within the organisation if they have the
  need.

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What is a Strategy ?
Question What is a Strategy? Strategy is a
broad based formula for how business is going to
compete, what its goals should be, and what
policies will be needed to carry out those goals.
The essence of formulating competitive strategy
is relating a company to its environment, M. E.
Porter, (1980 ) Strategic decisions are
concerned with The scope of an
organizations activities The matching of an
organizations activities to its environment
The matching of an organizations activities to
its resource capability The allocation and
reallocation of major resources in an
organisation The values, expectations and
goals of those influencing strategy The
direction in which the organisation will move in
the long term. G. Johnson K Scholes, (1989)
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Strategy

• Strategy is the pattern of resource allocation
  decisions made throughout an organisation. These
  encapsulate both desired goals and beliefs about
  what are acceptable and, most critically,
  unacceptable means for achieving them.
• (Robson,97)
• Therefore, it is always possible to see what an
  organisations strategy is by inspection of the
  whole of what is does.

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Types of Strategy
Corporate Strategy
Information Systems Strategy
What systems does the business need
? What systems can provide competitive
advantages ?
What businesses are we in ? What
objectives and performance are we pursuing?
Business Strategy
Information Technology Strategy
What technology policies do we need
? How should we manage the
technology ?
What product-market position are we
pursuing ? What goals must we meet ?
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Corporate Strategy

• Provides the framework for the business style
  that reflects the business strategy and
  influences the business strategy in terms of
• Outsourcing
• Diversification
• Scale
• Scope
• Deals with the entire organisation. (Robson,97)

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Business Strategy

• Business strategy is the intent of the business,
  that is, the way the business wishes to go.
• It deals with a single business unit, i.e. a unit
  within the organisation
• Porter (1985) classified business strategies as
  either cost leadership or differentiation of
  products and may encompass an entire market or be
  focused on a particular part of it.

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Strategic Management

• Question What is Strategic Management ?
• Strategic management is a systematic approach to
  a major and increasingly important responsibility
  for general management to position and relate the
  firm to its environment in a way which will
  assure its continued success and make it secure
  from surprises. H. I. Ansoff,
  (1984), Implanting Strategic Management,
  Prentice-Hall.
• Strategic management is a stream of decisions
  and actions which leads to the development of an
  effective strategy or strategies to help achieve
  corporate objectives.
  W F Gleck
  L R Jaunch, (1984), Business Policy and Strategic
  Management, Prentice-Hall.
• Strategic management is the decision process
  that aligns the organizations internal
  capability with the opportunities and threats it
  faces in its environment. A J Rowe et al,
  (1989), Strategic Management, Addison-Wesley.

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Strategic Management

• Deriving and describing the strategy
• Applicable to all organisations large or small
• Includes the entire organisation
• Looks past the day-to-day running of the company
• Focuses on the long-term prospects and
  development.

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Elements of Strategic Management(Robson,97)
Formulation of strategy itself
Often referred to as tactics
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ANALYSIS

• What is occurring or will occur in the business
  environment and what will be its effect on the
  organisation. Changes will be economic, social,
  technological and competitive.
• Resources - physical, financial skills available
  in order to determine strengths and weaknesses of
  organisation.
• Culture or organisation, management style, power
  of individuals and groups.

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STRATEGIC CHOICE

• Generates number of possible strategies, evaluate
  and select.
• STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION
• deployment of resources, analysis and
  implementation of changes needed in
  organisational structure.
• The strategy must be a product of what the people
  involved want the organisation to be, to do and
  to achieve.

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What Is the Difference Between Strategic Planning
and Strategic Management?

• 1. Strategic planning is focused on making
  optimal strategy decisions, while strategic
  management is focused on producing strategic
  results new markets, new products and/or new
  technologies. To paraphrase Peter Drucker,
  strategic planning is management by plans, while
  strategic management is management by results.2.
  Strategic planning is an analytical process,
  while strategic management is an organizational
  action process.3. Strategic planning is focused
  on business, economic and technological
  variables. Strategic management broadens the
  focus to include psychological, sociological and
  political variables. Thus, strategic planning is
  about choosing things to do, while strategic
  management is about choosing things to do and
  also about the people who will do them.4.
  Strategic management consists of formulating
  strategies, designing the firm's capability,
  managing implementation of strategies and
  capabilities.

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Strategic Planning Process

• This is not a linear activity
• Definition
• The process of developing and maintaining
  consistency between the organisations objectives
  and resources and its changing opportunities.
• Aims to define and document an approach to doing
  business that leads to satisfactory profits and
  growth. (Robson,97)

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Model of Strategic Planning Process
Mission
Goals
Strategies
Policies
Decisions
Actions
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Summary
This lecture has given descriptions of Management
Information System and the role a Management
Information System plays within an
organisation. Also strategy, strategic management
and strategic planning have been covered.