MIS 744IS Planning & Strategy

Session 1 Introduction to the course

August 2004

Agenda

• Introductions to you and me

• Introduction to the course– Objectives– Mode of instruction– Cases– Project– Evaluation– Session 2 and 3 deliverables

Notes

• Span industrial—information ages– Born at the peak of US dominance of world

production– Beginning of the “information age” – First motorized vehicles on the Peffers farm– Electricity a few years before; therefore running water– Forge in the background– Telephone just ½ mile away. Binary system long=two

cranks; short ½ crank. 8 households for each line. Connection among lines using plugboard

My background

• New College of Florida BA History

• Purdue University PHD MIS

Research

– Business impacts of IT investments– Adoption of IT– IS Planning

• Improved applicable methods for IS planning

– Research about research• Collaboration among researchers• The future of IS research outlets

– Ranked as one of the 100 most productive IS researchers in the world

JITTA founder and

editor in chief

Now, how about you?

• Mutual introductions

Course objectives

• What is this course about?

Course Objectives

• Investigate importance of IT to the success of the organization.

• Understand strategic IT and business models that impact strategic decisions about IT investments

• Understand IS planning & evaluation issues• Understand mgmt of IT org and IT sourcing• Make individual contribution to IT knowledge

Some issues

• IS Planning—what systems to build?• IS Planning—how much to spend?• Sourcing—who should build IS and operate them?• Evaluating IS—how much value does it add to the firm?• Understanding IS risks• IS development methods and risks• Managing IS projects• IT security and risks• E-commerce• Competing with information• Managing emerging technologies

The purpose of IT

• Mainframe era

• PC era

• Network computing

• What next?

I: The Mainframe Era (1950s-70s)

• Computing was centralized • Computing was very expensive• Information access was primitive (batch, dumb

terminals)• IT considered a budgeted expense (project by

project)• Automation of back-office operations• Management Information Systems (management

reports)

II: The PC Era (late 1970s and 1980s)

• Personal computing on employee’s desktops• Decentralization of organizational computing• Increase of organizational computing power• Untrained IT-users take back control of Information

applications• Decision support systems, e.g., spreadsheet models

for decision making• Recognition of strategic value of IT

III: Network Computing (1990s to Present)

• Availability of high bandwidth computer networks

• Information sharing inside and outside the firm

• New strategic opportunities for using IT• Client-server computing model / IT

architecture• Global networks• End to end supply chain integration

IV: Mobile Computing ??

(near future)

Our Interest

• Our interest in the strategic management of IT

• Can the use of IT result in better returns [or other objectives] for the firm?

• Can a knowledge of how to manage IT resources improve our own professional value?

Cases

• Nine major cases– Cases put the concepts into context– Help us to deal with the concepts in a context

of ambiguity– Bring our own experience to bear on the

issues. Learn by analogy.

Case Preparation

• Study the case in advance• Prepare position statement on the case and

email to me in advance of the class.• Your unique analysis of the case; not a case

summary– Important issue, problem, or question in the case– Material facts. Your findings.– Analysis. Draw inferences from what the case says.

Make assumptions– Recommendation—what should be (should have

been) done?– Brief, note form, outline, bullet points

Case discussion

• Discuss case as an executive committee.

• Walk through a discussion of – What is the issue or problem?– What are the material facts– Analysis– Recommendations

Project

• An investigation of some unique aspect of IT management in which you make a contribution to knowledge.– Case study about how managers dealt with an IT

problem in the format of an article for a professional or executive journal

– Analysis of a specific IT problem related to your organization in the form of a policy memorandum.

– Pilot implementation of an IT management method, e.g., for IS planning, requirements determination, evaluation, risk assessment, sourcing, etc.

Project Deliverables

• Project ideas—Sept 13– Project ideation workshop

• Project proposal—September 20– Title, description of issue or problem, setting,

method, nature of outcomes expected

• Presentations– Proposal and progress—Oct 11– Final (everyone)—Dec 6

• Report—Dec 6

Outcomes

• The nature of graduate study

• Static vs volatile disciplines

Evaluation

• Preparation and participation: 25%

• Project evaluation: 25%

• Exam: 25%

• Highest score of prep, project, exam: 25%

• Marking– See syllabus, p. 5

• Grades assigned based on class ranking

Session 2 deliverables

• Session 2—hard copy to me in class– 2 project ideas– Discussion notes on day-two readings

Questions to think about with Day-Two Readings

• What is strategy?• What is the strategy of the firm?• What is IT strategy?• What is the strategic question in Moore? How might you

find the answer?• What is the strategic question in Day? How might you

find the answer?• What is the strategic question in Kim and Mauborgne?

How might you find the answer?• What are some problems that you might expect in

establishing the firm’s strategy?• What kind of problems might you expect in establishing

the IT strategy for the firm?

Schedule Change

• Library briefing – On research resources– Meet

• September 13 at 7 pm• Pioche Room, first floor, down hallway labeled

Collaborative Learning Center• Bring your student IDs• This will require some shifting of the calendar.

Discussion of our day-two readings will spill over into the next week, but we’ll start discussing them on the 13th if we have time.

MS in IS Reception

• Thursday, Sept 2

• 5:30 pm

• MSU 201

• Bring along a colleague interested in the MS program