Three Decades of Research on Strategic Information System Plan Development

Strategic information system planning (SISP), including aligning business and IS/IT strategies, has been the conventional wisdom known for decades to academics and practitioners. Since the 1980s, many tools and models have been developed to facilitate strategic information system planning and implementation. These are development processes that define a set of steps for SISP or approaches that facilitate part of the SISP process. This article employs a systematic review approach and starts with a search of 2730 papers in nine top-ranked scientific databases. After an in-depth study of these papers, a final set of 85 studies is retrieved that focus directly on SISP development. We use this final set of papers to compare the steps proposed in different processes and the relevant approaches for each step. Additionally, an in-depth analysis of development processes has produced a generic seven-phase framework covering activities introduced in the literature. These seven phases are: initiation, business analysis, IS/IT analysis, strategy formulation, portfolio planning, implementation, and evaluation. The paper also classifies approaches that facilitate SISP and concludes with recommendations for practitioners and researchers

Organisational Change in the Third Sector and Implications for Organisational Networks

This paper reports an action research study in which we explore the problems of organisational change within a large non-profit organisation – a so-called “third sector” – organisation. We focus on the mutual interaction of an organisational change initiative and the motivation of the workforce. We review the nature of the social service delivery sector, of which the focal organisation is a part, and develop, in the context of this study, an analogy with the class of systems described as organisational networks. We argue that the findings from this study may be expected to have application in organisational change within organisational networks, generally

Model of Big Data Failure: Review of Information System Failure

In the new age of information technology, big data has grown to be the prominent phenomena. As information technology evolves, organizations have begun to adopt big data and apply it as a tool throughout their decision-making processes. Research on big data has grown in the past years however mainly from a technical stance and there is a void in business related cases. This thesis fills the gap in the research by addressing big data challenges and failure cases. The Technology-Organization-Environment framework was applied to carry out a literature review on trends in Business Intelligence and Knowledge management information system failures. A review of extant literature was carried out using a collection of leading information system journals. Academic papers and articles on big data, Business Intelligence, Decision Support Systems, and Knowledge Management systems were studied from both failure and success aspects in order to build a model for big data failure. I continue and delineate the contribution of the Information System failure literature as it is the principal dynamics behind technology-organization-environment framework. The gathered literature was then categorised and a failure model was developed from the identified critical failure points. The failure constructs were further categorized, defined, and tabulated into a contextual diagram. The developed model and table were designed to act as comprehensive starting point and as general guidance for academics, CIOs or other system stakeholders to facilitate decision-making in big data adoption process by measuring the effect of technological, organizational, and environmental variables with perceived benefits, dissatisfaction and discontinued use.siirretty Doriast

A critical approach to the development of a framework to support the evaluation of information strategies in UK Higher Education Institutions

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the University of LutonThe objective of this thesis has been to develop a framework to support the evaluation of information strategies of UK higher education institutions (REIs). For this study the theoretical and empirical literature was extensively reviewed and four substantial pieces of empirical research were conducted. These included action research CAR), two pieces of ethnographic research, and a case study. The AR analysed problems encountered with a Student Records System at a UK university and identified both immediate and deeper causes for these problems. Ethnography I involved the researcher's participation in the information strategy development process at the same university: This included consideration of the development processes adopted and also the way that decisions were taken. Ethnography II consisted of participant observation at a range of workshops and conferences organised by the Joint Information Systems Committee on information strategy development at UK REIs. These provided a broad picture of information strategy development procedures being adopted across these HEls. The case study investigated in detail the implementation of an information strategy at a university different from that examined in AR and Ethnography I. These empirical investigations all included in-depth interviews. In total 117 people of various levels and backgrounds involved in information strategies and associated information systems within UK HEIs were interviewed. Key findings from the empirical research were: Many HErs in the process of developing an information strate!:,,),, or about to do so, were not fully sure how this should be achieved nor the extent of the likely benefits. Most HEIs implementing information strategies were using top-down directed system approaches, leaving little room for more inclusive bottom-up emergent planning. Information strategies need to be developed and evaluated using strongly human-centred methods, primarily because it became apparent that the successful functioning of such a strategy is dependent on the motivation and competencies of the people who create and use the information. Investigations into aspects of information strategy development and implementation need to focus on people's perceptions of the situation rather than seeking an objective truth independent of the participants. This reflects a Kantian perspective of knowledge. Overall, the empirical findings supported the use of a Critical Systems Thinking approach in the evaluation of information strategies at higher education institutions. The development of the evaluative framework, the main objective of the thesis, took place in two phases: developing the framework based on the literature review and revising the framework from the empirical research investigations involving a process of critical iteration. The first phase identified a range of elements associated with an HErs information strategy, and for each element highlighted the relevant theoretical andlor empirical literature that bears on the issues being addressed. In particular, the framework is strongly influenced by insights drawn from the work of three key social theorists: Kant, Habermas and Foucault. In addition, the framework includes 'guidelines for evaluation', where these are more practical questions to ask and areas to investigate when evaluating a given element ofthe strategy. The second phase took the framework through a series of reflections and revisions based on the findings from the empirical investigations. In each case, insights were gained that related to the use or applicability ofthe framework. By combining the findings from the theoretical and empirical literature with those from the empirical research, the final framework, which is believed to have filled a gap in the theoretical literature, aims to encompass the complexity of information strategy development and implementation within HEIs. The framework reflects a human-centred and Critical Systems Thinking approach, and is designed to allow potential evaluators to identify underlying causes for the success or failure of an information strategy that is implemented at an HEI

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Antecedents and consequences of Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) success: a South Korean perspective

This thesis explores antecedents of Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP), successful outcomes of SISP and the organisational impact of successful SISP in the South Korean context. Since information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) are now an essential requirement supporting all aspects of business operations, the need for SISP is important for achieving success with IT investments and implementation. SISP helps identify organisational resources as well as considers the environmental, economic and organisational requirements for successful IT investment and implementation. SISP was introduced by Lederer and Sethi (1988), Lederer and Salmela (1996) and Salmela et al. (2000) as planning for the selection and implemention of IT in organisations, with the aim of achieving alignment of IS objectives with business objectives to sustain a competitive advantage from IT investments. Earlier studies on SISP have individually explored management issues, participation and communication of business and IT stakeholders, impact of environmental factors and SISP resources in relation to SISP success. However, to date, there has been a dearth of research that has explored SISP success factors for improving successful outcomes and the impact of SISP success in organisations. Further, earlier studies on SISP are generally from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and Taiwan. Although the penetration of IT in South Korean organisations is high, to date there is no study on SISP in the South Korean context. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between SISP success factors for successful outcomes and the impact of SISP success in South Korean organisations. Since none of the earlier studies on SISP were undertaken in the context of South Korea, a qualitative research via interviews, with four business managers and four IT managers in South Korean organisations, was undertaken to establish if success factors of SISP identified from literature, were applicable in the South Korean context prior to the development of hypotheses and the conceptual model. The research model was constructed based on a literature analysis, interview findings and resulting hypotheses. A survey of 317 large organisations in South Korea that used SISP for IT investment and implementation was undertaken to understand SISP success factors, outcomes and the organisational impact of SISP in this context. The survey data was analysed utilising a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique, and the analysis of data confirmed 15 of 19 hypotheses. Research findings suggest that SISP success factors in the South Korean context include top management participation and support, effective communication and knowledge sharing between business and IT stakeholders, the impact of internal and external environment, adequate resources for SISP and inclusion of IS vendors in the SISP process. Successful outcomes of SISP from this study are IS planning effectiveness and business and IT alignment. The impact of SISP successful outcomes includes the following: organisational capabilities of recombining and reconfiguring overall business and IT processes, resources and structures; IS competencies for improving the ability and role of IS function and the potential impact of IT; and IT infrastructure flexibility in responding to internal and external changes, situations and trends. This study makes an original contribution to theory and practice through its development and validation of a research model for measuring the relationship between antecedents and the impact of SISP success on organisational outcomes. It adds to SISP literature by showing the relationship between SISP success factors, successful outcomes of SISP and the impact of SISP outcomes in organisations. Furthermore, practitioners will be able to use the findings from this study to successfully implement SISP for positive organisational impact. This study is from large organisations in the South Korean context. It offers a basis for researchers to explore further the relationship between SISP success factors, outcomes and impact on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and in other contexts. It also provides a starting point for practitioners including IT vendors to explore further the reason at the SISP level in South Korean organisations

An "impressionist" ethnography of risk in the development of corporate information infrastructure.

In recent years, a significant body of literature has emerged on the subject of information infrastructure (II) within the IS field. Nevertheless, issues of risk in the development of II have seldom been addressed. This dissertation addresses this important gap by drawing on recent contributions to sociological theories of risk to study the relationship between risk, culture and the occurrence of danger in the development of IT as corporate information infrastructure (CII). The thesis is established on findings from an ethnographic study of risk in the development of II with a multinational banking corporation. This thesis makes several key contributions to the field of IS, firstly to the understanding of risk in the development of II. Secondly, to theory development in IS risk research through the novel integration of sociological theories of risk into a theoretical model for the analysis of risk, culture, and danger in the development of ICT. A further contribution to IS research is achieved through the adoption of the impressionist autoethnographic approach, as a novel means of narrative construction within IS research

Unravelling methodologies: a theory building approach

Problem solving methodologies in IS are numerous, varied in objectives and scope, and commonly suffer consequences of deviation and rejection. This research investigates the essence of methodologies in order to understand and to address these consequences. In this thesis, methodologies are treated in a broad sense in order to arrive at a generalisable solution. An integrated research framework was constructed to pursue the solution. The framework is based on my adopted ontological, epistemological and methodological assumptions. The research is considered as an interpretivist single case study using qualitative research methods. A holistic Information Security Methodology was selected for in-depth study. Data were collected from various sources, but primarily from focus groups using 18 participants representing 11 organisations. Data were also collected from the developer of the methodology and two other organisations who were implementing it. Data analysis was based on a grounded approach to arrive at a substantive theory representing a conception of an ideal methodology as perceived by these practitioners. The use of the Hermeneutic circle and the purposely constructed Interrogative Framework were the essential tools for analysis. This conception is believed to hold some of the key factors for reducing the common problems of deviation and rejection of methodologies. The proposed theory is the main contribution of this research, which can be used as a foundation theory to construct and evaluate methodologies. The theory also has been used to propose extensions to existing theories. The core theory consists of basic elements and attributes. Other constructs were also developed to be used as contexts to the theory. In totality these findings provide a rich sphere to examine and understand methodologies