It is quite difficult to answer the question because when searched in the internet using the keywords, the exact answers are hard to find. However, I found a related study which I hope can answer the problem.
The said research is entitled Differences in Stage of Integration between Business Planning and Information System Planning according to value configurations by Petter Gottschalk and Hans Solli-Sæther of Norwegian School of Management BI, Sandvika, Norway. It is concerned with how stages of integration between strategic business and IS planning are related to different value configurations and eras of IS growth. The aim of the study is to investigate how and Information System planning is integrated with business planning.
Integration between Information System planning and business planning is considered to play a significant impact on the extent of information systems involvement to organizational performance. It is an important enabler of business-IS alignment. The content analysis of IS plans is conducted to identify stages of integration. The companies were also classified according to value configurations and eras of IS growth.
The word planning is used in the literature in many and various meanings: as future thinking, as controlling the future, as decision making, as integrated decision making, and as a formalized procedure to produce an articulated result, in the form of an integrated system of decisions (Mintzberg 1994). In this paper, a planning approach is defined as strategic decision making through a rational process that allows managers to formulate and document strategies. The aim of this study was not to do process research, but rather to investigate how IS planning (ISP) is integrated with business planning (BP).
Business planning is usually conducted when starting a new organization or a new major venture, for example, new product, service or program. Essentially, a business plan is a combination of a marketing plan, strategic plan, operational/management plan and a financial plan. Far more important than the plan document, is the planning process itself.
Business planning usually includes a thorough examination of the idea for a new product/service, if there's really a market for it, who the competitors are, how the idea is uniquely positioned to be competitive and noticeable, how the idea will be produced to a product/service, how much it will cost, how it will be promoted, what overall goals must be accomplished, how the development and ongoing operations will be managed and what resources are needed (including money). As noted above, a business plan is a combination of a marketing plan, financial plan, strategic plan and a operational/management plan. Here are a variety of perspectives. (McNamara, 1998-2007)
The information systems plan is the plan by which databases and information systems of the enterprise are accomplished in a timely manner. A key facility through which the ISP obtains its Adata@ is the meta data repository. The domain of the meta data repository is set forth in Figure 1, and, as seen through Figure 1, persons through their role within an organization perform functions in the accomplishment of enterprise missions, they have information needs. These information needs reflect the state of certain enterprise resources such as finance, people, and products that are known to the enterprises. The states are created through business information systems and databases.
The information systems plan project determines the sequence for implementing specific information systems. The goal of the strategy is to deliver the most valuable business information at the earliest time possible in the most cost-effective manner.
The end product of the information systems project is an information systems plan (ISP). Once deployed, the information systems department can implement the plan with confidence that they are doing the correct information systems project at the right time and in the right sequence. The focus of the ISP is not one information system but the entire suite of information systems for the enterprise. Once developed, each identified information system is seen in context with all other information systems within the enterprise.
IT projects are accomplished within distinct development environments. The two most common are: discrete project and release. The discrete project environment is typified by completely encapsulated projects accomplished through a water-fall methodology.
In release environments, there are a number of different projects underway by different organizations and staff of varying skill levels. Once a large number of projects are underway, the ability of the enterprise to know about and manage all the different projects degrades rapidly. That is because the project management environment has been transformed from discrete encapsulated projects into a continuous flow process of product or functionality improvements that are released on a set time schedule. Figure 3 illustrates the continuous flow process environment that supports releases. The continuous flow process environment is characterized by:
• Multiple, concurrent, but differently scheduled projects against the same enterprise resource
• Single projects that affect multiple enterprise resources
• Projects that develop completely new capabilities, or changes to existing capabilities within enterprise resources
Value configuration can be defined as an organization of activities, resources, and technologies, in order to create firm level competitive advantage. Our assumption is that there exist three basic value creation logics. Based on this assumption, this paper discusses differences in stages of integration between businesses and IS planning according to companies’ value configurations, and attempts to relate these differences to eras of IS growth.
Today many companies make large investments in information systems (IS) (Earl and Feeny 1994). Yet executives often question the business-IS alignment, namely whether these investments support their strategic objectives or whether opportunities to exploit IS for competitive advantage are being overlooked (Henderson and Venkatraman 1993).
There are both enablers and inhibitors of business-IS alignment (Luftman, Papp et al. 1999) and one area considered important for improved alignment is integration of strategic business and IS planning (Teo and Ang 1999).
Strategic alignment is said to be present when:
i) business strategies are enabled, supported, and stimulated by information strategies (Broadbent and Weill 1993);
ii) the goals and activities of the business are in harmony with the information systems that support them (Woolfe 1993);
iii) information systems support organizational goals and activities at every level (Lederer and Mendelow 1989); and
iv) choices within content and process dimensions of IS planning are mutually supportive and the two dimensions themselves are harmonized in a manner that is consistent with competitive strategy (Das, Zahra et al. 1991).
Integration between business planning and information systems planning is one important enabler of business-IS alignment (Teo and King 1997; Luftman, Papp et al. 1999; Teo and Ang 1999). Teo and King (1997) found a significant positive relationship between the level of business and IS planning integration and the extent of information systems contribution to organizational performance.
King and Teo (1997) have suggested a stages of integration model for the evolution of integration between strategic business and IS planning. The first stage is a separate planning with administrative integration characterized by the integration mechanisms such as a technically oriented and non-strategic role of the IS function. The second is a one-way linked planning with sequential integration characterized by integration mechanisms such as performance criteria of business strategy contribution. The third is a two-way linked planning with reciprocal integration such as frequent IS executive participation in business planning. The fourth is joint planning with full integration.
Nolan’s (1973) theory, perhaps the best-known and most widely cited model of IS evolution of in organizations, provides an insight into the way IS evolves in organizations and offers IS management the possibility of managing this complex phenomenon. The model describing the theory does not appear in the literature as a single model, but rather as a number of versions of the same model, which have evolved over time (Khandelwal and Ferguson 1999). For example, the model has been expanded in the form of three S-curves, each curve describing an era, with a discontinuity between the preceding and the following eras. The three eras are identified as data processing (DP) era, information technology (IT) era, and network (NW) era. These eras are themselves subdivided into three phases each as shown in Table 3. The curves represent both the growth of the IS and the organization’s learning experience as IS progresses through these eras. Each era is characterized by a period of evolution, followed by a period of stability, ending with a period of discontinuity before the start of the next era. The discontinuity is more a revolution rather than an evolutionary transition. For example, the transition from DP era to IT era is characterized by technological discontinuities in the form of personal computers, data communication networks, and robotics, while the transition from IT era to NW era is characterized by business discontinuities in the form of strategic alliances with customers and suppliers, access to external data, and outsourcing.
Typically, value chains transform input into output (products) using a long-linked technology. Scale and capacity utilization are key cost drivers. For each basic activity in the business value system the effort of IS is to improve products and production processes. Information systems are developed to support the activities in the value chain: accounting systems, production planning and control systems, marketing and sales systems. A typical example of administrative integration between BP and ISP was the plan for a food producer: IT can assist business processes in realizing and exploiting solutions for value creation. Value chains belong to the IT era as indicated by their technology use and stage of planning integration.
Value shops rely on an intensive technology to solve a customer or client problem. Selection, combination, and order of application of resources and activities vary according to the problem at hand. The development and use of IS, such as diagnostics, simulations, project management tools, and collaborative technologies, is first of all to support or assist the solution of unique problems. A typical example of administrative integration between BP and ISP was the plan S for a municipal health and social sector: Our goal is for all health personnel to use IT as help in medical and administrative
matters better than before. Value shops belong to the DP era as indicated by their technology use and stage of planning integration.
Value networks rely on a mediating technology to link clients or customers who are or wish to be interdependent. The mediating technology facilitates exchange relationships among customers distributed in time and space. Technology development is basically a support activity, but technology may as well be core business in this value configuration. The growing convergence of telecommunications, computing and production technology is of special relevance for value networks. Development and use of IS might be to obtain operational efficiency and cost minimization, as well as to create new integrated
services or products. A typical example of reciprocal/full integration between BP and ISP was the plan AG for a telecommunication company: Business puts heavy demands on IT, as IT contributes heavily to new business. Value networks belong to the IT network era as physical and electronic networks converge towards each other.
References:
Gottschalk, Petter and Hans Solli-Sæther. “Differences in Stage of Integration between Business Planning and Information System Planning according to value configurations.”
http://managementhelp.org/plan_dec/bus_plan/bus_plan.htm
http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/5262
The said research is entitled Differences in Stage of Integration between Business Planning and Information System Planning according to value configurations by Petter Gottschalk and Hans Solli-Sæther of Norwegian School of Management BI, Sandvika, Norway. It is concerned with how stages of integration between strategic business and IS planning are related to different value configurations and eras of IS growth. The aim of the study is to investigate how and Information System planning is integrated with business planning.
Integration between Information System planning and business planning is considered to play a significant impact on the extent of information systems involvement to organizational performance. It is an important enabler of business-IS alignment. The content analysis of IS plans is conducted to identify stages of integration. The companies were also classified according to value configurations and eras of IS growth.
The word planning is used in the literature in many and various meanings: as future thinking, as controlling the future, as decision making, as integrated decision making, and as a formalized procedure to produce an articulated result, in the form of an integrated system of decisions (Mintzberg 1994). In this paper, a planning approach is defined as strategic decision making through a rational process that allows managers to formulate and document strategies. The aim of this study was not to do process research, but rather to investigate how IS planning (ISP) is integrated with business planning (BP).
Business planning is usually conducted when starting a new organization or a new major venture, for example, new product, service or program. Essentially, a business plan is a combination of a marketing plan, strategic plan, operational/management plan and a financial plan. Far more important than the plan document, is the planning process itself.
Business planning usually includes a thorough examination of the idea for a new product/service, if there's really a market for it, who the competitors are, how the idea is uniquely positioned to be competitive and noticeable, how the idea will be produced to a product/service, how much it will cost, how it will be promoted, what overall goals must be accomplished, how the development and ongoing operations will be managed and what resources are needed (including money). As noted above, a business plan is a combination of a marketing plan, financial plan, strategic plan and a operational/management plan. Here are a variety of perspectives. (McNamara, 1998-2007)
The information systems plan is the plan by which databases and information systems of the enterprise are accomplished in a timely manner. A key facility through which the ISP obtains its Adata@ is the meta data repository. The domain of the meta data repository is set forth in Figure 1, and, as seen through Figure 1, persons through their role within an organization perform functions in the accomplishment of enterprise missions, they have information needs. These information needs reflect the state of certain enterprise resources such as finance, people, and products that are known to the enterprises. The states are created through business information systems and databases.
The information systems plan project determines the sequence for implementing specific information systems. The goal of the strategy is to deliver the most valuable business information at the earliest time possible in the most cost-effective manner.
The end product of the information systems project is an information systems plan (ISP). Once deployed, the information systems department can implement the plan with confidence that they are doing the correct information systems project at the right time and in the right sequence. The focus of the ISP is not one information system but the entire suite of information systems for the enterprise. Once developed, each identified information system is seen in context with all other information systems within the enterprise.
IT projects are accomplished within distinct development environments. The two most common are: discrete project and release. The discrete project environment is typified by completely encapsulated projects accomplished through a water-fall methodology.
In release environments, there are a number of different projects underway by different organizations and staff of varying skill levels. Once a large number of projects are underway, the ability of the enterprise to know about and manage all the different projects degrades rapidly. That is because the project management environment has been transformed from discrete encapsulated projects into a continuous flow process of product or functionality improvements that are released on a set time schedule. Figure 3 illustrates the continuous flow process environment that supports releases. The continuous flow process environment is characterized by:
• Multiple, concurrent, but differently scheduled projects against the same enterprise resource
• Single projects that affect multiple enterprise resources
• Projects that develop completely new capabilities, or changes to existing capabilities within enterprise resources
Value configuration can be defined as an organization of activities, resources, and technologies, in order to create firm level competitive advantage. Our assumption is that there exist three basic value creation logics. Based on this assumption, this paper discusses differences in stages of integration between businesses and IS planning according to companies’ value configurations, and attempts to relate these differences to eras of IS growth.
Today many companies make large investments in information systems (IS) (Earl and Feeny 1994). Yet executives often question the business-IS alignment, namely whether these investments support their strategic objectives or whether opportunities to exploit IS for competitive advantage are being overlooked (Henderson and Venkatraman 1993).
There are both enablers and inhibitors of business-IS alignment (Luftman, Papp et al. 1999) and one area considered important for improved alignment is integration of strategic business and IS planning (Teo and Ang 1999).
Strategic alignment is said to be present when:
i) business strategies are enabled, supported, and stimulated by information strategies (Broadbent and Weill 1993);
ii) the goals and activities of the business are in harmony with the information systems that support them (Woolfe 1993);
iii) information systems support organizational goals and activities at every level (Lederer and Mendelow 1989); and
iv) choices within content and process dimensions of IS planning are mutually supportive and the two dimensions themselves are harmonized in a manner that is consistent with competitive strategy (Das, Zahra et al. 1991).
Integration between business planning and information systems planning is one important enabler of business-IS alignment (Teo and King 1997; Luftman, Papp et al. 1999; Teo and Ang 1999). Teo and King (1997) found a significant positive relationship between the level of business and IS planning integration and the extent of information systems contribution to organizational performance.
King and Teo (1997) have suggested a stages of integration model for the evolution of integration between strategic business and IS planning. The first stage is a separate planning with administrative integration characterized by the integration mechanisms such as a technically oriented and non-strategic role of the IS function. The second is a one-way linked planning with sequential integration characterized by integration mechanisms such as performance criteria of business strategy contribution. The third is a two-way linked planning with reciprocal integration such as frequent IS executive participation in business planning. The fourth is joint planning with full integration.
Nolan’s (1973) theory, perhaps the best-known and most widely cited model of IS evolution of in organizations, provides an insight into the way IS evolves in organizations and offers IS management the possibility of managing this complex phenomenon. The model describing the theory does not appear in the literature as a single model, but rather as a number of versions of the same model, which have evolved over time (Khandelwal and Ferguson 1999). For example, the model has been expanded in the form of three S-curves, each curve describing an era, with a discontinuity between the preceding and the following eras. The three eras are identified as data processing (DP) era, information technology (IT) era, and network (NW) era. These eras are themselves subdivided into three phases each as shown in Table 3. The curves represent both the growth of the IS and the organization’s learning experience as IS progresses through these eras. Each era is characterized by a period of evolution, followed by a period of stability, ending with a period of discontinuity before the start of the next era. The discontinuity is more a revolution rather than an evolutionary transition. For example, the transition from DP era to IT era is characterized by technological discontinuities in the form of personal computers, data communication networks, and robotics, while the transition from IT era to NW era is characterized by business discontinuities in the form of strategic alliances with customers and suppliers, access to external data, and outsourcing.
Typically, value chains transform input into output (products) using a long-linked technology. Scale and capacity utilization are key cost drivers. For each basic activity in the business value system the effort of IS is to improve products and production processes. Information systems are developed to support the activities in the value chain: accounting systems, production planning and control systems, marketing and sales systems. A typical example of administrative integration between BP and ISP was the plan for a food producer: IT can assist business processes in realizing and exploiting solutions for value creation. Value chains belong to the IT era as indicated by their technology use and stage of planning integration.
Value shops rely on an intensive technology to solve a customer or client problem. Selection, combination, and order of application of resources and activities vary according to the problem at hand. The development and use of IS, such as diagnostics, simulations, project management tools, and collaborative technologies, is first of all to support or assist the solution of unique problems. A typical example of administrative integration between BP and ISP was the plan S for a municipal health and social sector: Our goal is for all health personnel to use IT as help in medical and administrative
matters better than before. Value shops belong to the DP era as indicated by their technology use and stage of planning integration.
Value networks rely on a mediating technology to link clients or customers who are or wish to be interdependent. The mediating technology facilitates exchange relationships among customers distributed in time and space. Technology development is basically a support activity, but technology may as well be core business in this value configuration. The growing convergence of telecommunications, computing and production technology is of special relevance for value networks. Development and use of IS might be to obtain operational efficiency and cost minimization, as well as to create new integrated
services or products. A typical example of reciprocal/full integration between BP and ISP was the plan AG for a telecommunication company: Business puts heavy demands on IT, as IT contributes heavily to new business. Value networks belong to the IT network era as physical and electronic networks converge towards each other.
References:
Gottschalk, Petter and Hans Solli-Sæther. “Differences in Stage of Integration between Business Planning and Information System Planning according to value configurations.”
http://managementhelp.org/plan_dec/bus_plan/bus_plan.htm
http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/5262
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