The document discusses key challenges in managing information systems (IS) assets and outlines best practices. It identifies the four main IS assets that must be managed: human resources, organizational data, physical infrastructure, and applications portfolio. It provides guidance on developing policies and procedures for training staff, maintaining the network and hardware, evaluating software applications, and measuring IS performance. The overall message is that IS leadership plays a critical role in aligning technology with business goals and requires a strategic approach to managing all organizational IT assets.

1. MANAGING THE INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
K. Adisesha
K. Adisesha

2.  Rapid technological change
 Exploding applications and data
 Growth in business management
understanding of technology
 Frequent external shocks
THE CHALLENGES FACING
IS LEADERSHIP
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3.  IS leadership must manage these
organizational assets:
 Human resources
 Organizational data
 Physical infrastructure
 Applications portfolio
MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
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4.  Provide specialized IT
training for IS
professionals and others
MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
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Developing Human Resources
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5. MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
4Figure 15.1 Selected IS Management
Positions (1 of 3)
Possible IS Management Positions
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6. MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
5Figure 15.1 Selected IS Management
Positions (2 of 3)
Possible IS Management Positions
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7. MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
6Figure 15.1 Selected IS Management
Positions (3 of 3)
Possible IS Management Positions
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8.  Develop policies and
procedures to manage
an IT system’s physical
assets – computer
hardware and networks
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AN IS ORGANIZATON
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Improving the Physical Infrastructure
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9.  Infrastructure management issues addressed
in policy statements:
1. Location
2. The workstation
3. Supported operating systems
4. Redundancy
5. Supported communications protocols
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AN IS ORGANIZATON
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Improving the Physical Infrastructure
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10.  Infrastructure management issues addressed
in policy statements (cont.):
6. Bandwidth
7. Response time on the network
8. Security versus ease of access
9. Breadth of network access
10. Access to external data services
MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
Improving the Physical Infrastructure
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11.  Most companies cannot operate without
software applications – they are critical assets
 Just as physical infrastructure, software
portfolio needs managed as an asset
MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
Managing the Applications Portfolio
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12.  A company must know:
 What software it owns
 Where it is located
 What it does
 How effective it is
 What condition it is in
MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
Managing the Applications Portfolio
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13.  Policies and guidelines must exist for the
development and maintenance of IS
applications
 Maintenance should be treated as an activity
necessary to preserve an asset’s value
MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
Managing the Applications Portfolio
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14.  Application portfolio policies must address:
1. Assumed user
2. Application location
3. Process-driven or data-driven design
4. Evaluation criteria for new applications systems
MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
Managing the Applications Portfolio
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15.  Process-Driven Design
 Collects, manipulates,
and stores only data
needed to operate a
particular process
 Most often used in the
past
 Data-Driven Design
 Concentrates on all
data needed and
collects into database
 Each application
accesses common
database for needed
information
Managing the Applications Portfolio
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MANAGING THE ASSETS IN
AN IS ORGANIZATON
K. Adisesha

16.  Ten key issues:
1. Developing effective change management system
2. Ethical use of IT
3. Agreeing upon the role of the IS organization
4. Selecting effective IS leadership
5. Creating an active partnership with business managers
6. Determining an outsourcing strategy
7. Designing an equitable financing system
8. Deploying global information systems
9. Designing an appropriate IS organization and governance
system
10. Ensuring regular performance measurement
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
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17. IS organization:
 Role is continually changing
 Needs a mission statement
 Must be future-oriented while fulfilling today’s
requirements
 Must be aligned closely with business activities
1. Agreeing Upon the Role of the IS Organization
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
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18. IS organization is expected to:
 Demonstrate business understanding and maintain close
communication with business managers
 Respond quickly to changing business needs
 Help reengineer business processes to be more customer responsive
 Ensure business can participate in e-commerce
 Keep final customer in mind
 Build systems that provide direct customer benefit
 Help business managers make better decisions with information
 Use IT for competitive advantage
 Help business integrate IT
1. Agreeing Upon the Role of the IS Organization
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
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19. IS organization is also expected to:
 Be steward of organization’s IT resources
 Deploy IT resources throughout the organization
 Facilitate productive use of resources
 Lead development of information vision and IT architecture
 Communicate vision and architecture
 Maintain managerial control over important information resources
 Administer corporate data
 Make current and new IT available at lowest possible cost
 Help business managers know and use technology
 Develop partnership with business managers to exploit technology
1. Agreeing Upon the Role of the IS Organization
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
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20. Chief Information Officer (CIO):
 A member of executive management team
 Needs mix of business and technical knowledge
 Guides and unifies entire organization’s IT resources
 Masters understanding of business, products, vendors, sales
channels, customers, and competition
 Recognize IT advantages and where to apply
 Hires good people and delegates
 Works with executive management team to achieve
competitive advantage
2. Selecting Effective IS Leadership
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
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21. Senior IS Management Issues:
 Improving data and IT planning, especially linking IS to the business
 Gaining business value through IT
 Facilitating organizational learning about and through IT
 Refining the IS unit’s role and position
 Guiding systems development by business managers
 Managing organizational data as an asset
 Measuring IS effectiveness
 Integrating information technologies
 Developing systems personnel
2. Selecting Effective IS Leadership
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
K. Adisesha

22. 3. Creating an Active Partnership with Business Managers
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Partnership – a critical strategy based on sustaining a
long-term relationship between IS and business
management
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23. IS steering committee or advisory board used to:
 Ensure frequent interaction
 Set priorities
 Check progress
 Allocate scarce resources
 Communicate concerns
 Provide education
 Develop shared responsibility
3. Creating an Active Partnership with Business Managers
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
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24. 4. Determining an Outsourcing Strategy
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Outsourcing – hired outside services to perform some of a
company’s IS operations
Application service providers (ASPs) – provide total
systems to organizations, ranging from competitive
intelligence systems to broad ERP applications
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25. Outsourcing:
 Allows an organization to pay only for what it uses
 Trend might relate to the position of the CIO
 Popular, largely due to:
 Fast pace of technological change
 Dissatisfaction and costs related to past in-house services
 Must be both a remedy for service failures or costs and
a strategic choice
 Should not be used for strategic information systems
with security or privacy issues
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
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26. Key factors in selecting an outsourcing vendor:
 Vendor reputation
 Quality of service
 Flexible pricing
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
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27. 5. Designing an Equitable Financing System
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Typical measures used to track IT costs:
 Total IT budget as percentage of total organization
revenues or income
 Total IT budget as percentage of total organization
budget
 IS personnel costs as percentage of total organization
professional personnel salaries and wages
 Ratio of hardware and software costs to IS personnel
costs
 Costs for IT hardware and software per managerial or
knowledge worker
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28. 5. Designing an Equitable Financing System
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Why is it hard to measure IT costs?
 Some IT costs are hidden
 No relationship to benefits included in
these measures
 Benefits may happen after development
costs occur
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Measuring Benefits
 No simple way to measure value
added benefits of IT
 Can track IS performance measures
over time
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Controlling IS Costs
 Use IS organization’s budget
 Divide costs:
 Personnel
 Equipment and software
 Outside services
 Overhead
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31. 30
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Chargeback Systems
IS chargeback process – places control of IS spending
with business managers, and is used to better understand
true costs
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32. 5. Designing an Equitable Financing System
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Why use a chargeback system?
 Assign costs to those who consume
 Control wasteful use of IT resources
 Overcome belief that IT costs unnecessarily high
 Provide incentives using subsidy
 Change IS to be more business driven
 Encourage managers to be knowledgeable
consumers
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33. 5. Designing an Equitable Financing System
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Successful chargeback systems must be:
 Understandable
 Timely
 Controllable
 Accountable
 Clearly linked to benefits
 Consistent with IS and organizational goals
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34. 6. Deploying Global Information Systems
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Region and country issues influencing
global IT management:
1. Country telecommunications infrastructures
2. Legal and security considerations
3. Language and culture
4. Time zone differences
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35. 6. Deploying Global Information Systems
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Key trends of global outsourcing:
 Offshore development centers – permanent offshore
presence
 Near-shore sourcing – outsourcing to countries close to
home and overlapping time zones
 Multisourcing – relying on multiple service providers in
a number of companies, based on price and skills
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36. 6. Deploying Global Information Systems
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Global team manager traits:
 Multiculturalist
 E-facilitator
 Recognition promoter
 Internationalist
 Traveler
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37. 7. Designing an Appropriate IS Organization
and Governance System
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
Figure 15.8 Classic IS Organization
Structure
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38. 7. Designing an Appropriate IS Organization
and Governance System
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
 Types of IS Organizational Design:
 Centralized – IS applications and resources housed,
managed, and controlled centrally
 Decentralized – business units have complete control of
their own IS resources
 Federal – attempt to achieve benefits of both centralized
and decentralized
 Customized – mixed design in large enterprises where
each division determines best design for that division
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39. 38Figure 15.9 Common Designs for
the IS Organization
Centralized Decentralized Federal Customized
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40. 7. Designing an Appropriate IS Organization
and Governance System
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
 Organization design depends on:
 How rest of business is organized
 Type of customer markets, products, and
geographical spread
 Role of IT within the organization
 Reporting level of most senior IS leader
 Types of technologies managed by IS organization
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41. 40Figure 15.10 Four Types of IS
Governance Mechanisms
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42. 8. Ensuring Regular Performance Measurement
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
 Necessary for internal customers to regularly
evaluate IS organization
 Need to show if promised cost savings are
realized
 Required:
 Agreement on measurable criteria
 Metrics to judge work quality
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43. 8. Ensuring Regular Performance Measurement
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
 IS Evaluation Criteria
 Meeting business objectives
 Responding rapidly and economically to new needs
 Expanding business or services
 Developing an architecture and plan
 Operating reliable and efficient technology resources
 Focusing on the customer
 Providing quality IS staff
 Reducing size of backlog
 Satisfying users
 Adopting new technologies
Figure 15.11 IS Evaluation Criteria
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44. 8. Ensuring Regular Performance Measurement
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISSUES
 Other measures to evaluate IS performance:
 Service level agreements with internal business units
can be used to evaluate IS performance
 Annual surveys for each major system
 User satisfaction surveys
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45. MANAGING THE INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
END
THANK YOU
K. Adisesha