|




  







 


  







  


 




 
 
 

  


!"#! $ 
%
&
 ' 

# 
 Chapter 1
‡ This lecture / chapter traces the growing importance
of information systems management and presents a
conceptual model to show the key areas, how they fit
together, and the principal issues for CIOs in each
area
‡ It sets up the context for the book:
± First by describing today¶s business organizational and
technical environment
± Second by describing a framework for viewing the work of
the IS organization; and
± Third by describing an IS organization¶s evolution from 1985
to present

‡ MeadWestvaco, described from the mid-1980s to the

present, is a case example of how these areas are
being implemented in an IS organization
2
 Today¶s Lecture
‡ Introduction
‡ A Little History
‡ The Organizational Environment
± External Business Environment
± Internal Organizational Environment
± Goals of the New Work Environment
‡ The Technology Environment
± Hardware Trends
± Software Trends
± Data Trends
± Communication Trends

 Today¶s Lecture cont.

‡ The Mission of Information Systems

‡ A Simple Model
‡ A Better Model
± The Technologies
± The Users
± Systems Development and Delivery
± IS Management

‡ Organization of this Unit / Book

‡ Case example ± MeadWestvaco Corporation
m
 Introduction
‡ (Finally) Information Technology (IT) -computers
and telecommunications - is having the kind of
revolutionary, restructuring impact that has been
expected and promised for years

‡ Rapid advances in speed and capacity +

pervasiveness of Internet, wireless, portable
devices etc. = making major changes in the way
we live and work
‡ µGo Back¶ ± 5, 10, 15 years
5
 Introduction cont.
‡ Due to the growth and pervasiveness of IT,
organizations are operating in a different environment
from just a few years ago
‡ Themes this unit emphasizes:
± Globalization
‡ The world seems to be getting smaller
‡ Backlash ± local needs Vs. µstandard¶
‡ Jobs to stay µlocal¶
‡ IS executives need µbalancing act¶
± E-enablement
‡ Internet has become a hub for conducting business
‡ Interconnectivity plus!
± Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Management
‡ Between people
‡ Out of people¶s heads and into µlasting¶ things e.g. systems,
policies and procedures etc. 
 Introduction cont.
‡ Management of Information Systems
±  Major Trends
1. Governance of IT = a collaborative effort from IS
executives and all other members of Senior
Management
2. Role of IS is shifting from application delivery to
system integration and infrastructure development
. Outsourcing ± total / selective
‡ Developing and managing contracts and relationships

 Introduction cont.
‡ Historically, managing IT has been the job
of µtechnical managers¶

‡ NOW = increasingly becoming an important

part of the responsibilities of:
± Senior executives
± Line managers
± Employees at all levels of an organization

8
 The µKey¶ (What¶s it all about?)

|
 is configured into 


that help manage 
  to
improve    


9
 A Little History
‡ U.S. passed from the industrial era to the
information era as early as 195

± The number of U.S. employees whose jobs were

primarily to handle information surpassed the
number of industrial workers

‡ In the late ¶50s / µ0s IT to support

³information work´ = largely non-existent
(except telephone)
± Information work = mostly done in general offices
without much support from technology
‡ People factories?
10
11
 A Little History cont.
‡
0s = it all µstarted¶ with many of the
foundations of IT today invented and costs
starting to fall
± Typewriters, fax, µsmaller¶ computers

‡ 1980s = number of US information workers

surpassed the number in all other sectors
(>50%)

12
 A Little History cont.
‡ Information Technology:
± Initially used to perform existing information
work more quickly and efficiently
± Then = used to manage work better
± Now = well into the rd stage of technology
assimilation
‡ IT makes pervasive changes in the structure and
operation of:
± Work
± Business practices
± Organizations
± Industries
± The µGlobal Economy¶ (=enabler?)
1
The Organizational Environment

‡ The way IT is used depends on the

environment surrounding the organization
that uses it

‡ Simultaneously, technological advances

affect the way IT is used

1m
The Organizational Environment cont.

‡ The External Organizational Environment

± IT allows information to move faster, thus increasing
the speed at which events take place and the pace
at which individuals and organizations respond to
events.
± The Internet Economy
‡ B2C, B2B etc.
‡ IT is a major underpinning of the way the µold¶ and
µnew¶ worlds interface

15
The Organizational Environment cont.
‡ The External Organizational Environment cont.
± Global Marketplace
‡ The entire world has become the marketplace
‡ The Internet allows companies to work globally
‡ Globalization is a µtwo way street¶
‡ Internet allows small firms to have a global reach
‡ Business environment is now global, but local tastes
still matter

1
The Organizational Environment cont.
‡ The External Organizational Environment cont.
± Business Ecosystems
± Decapitalization
‡ Tangible items, such as capital, equipment and
buildings were the tenets of power in the industrial
age
‡ Today = power of µintangibles¶ such as ideas and
knowledge
± Managing talent = as important as e.g. managing finance

The Organizational Environment cont.

‡ The External Organizational Environment cont.

± Faster Business Cycles

‡ Rely on IT

± Accountability and Transparency

‡ Rise and fall of dot-coms probably should have been expected
± Many business plans could not make $$$
‡ Debacle in Telco and business shenanigans have shaken
investor confidence
± Call for greater transparency of corporate operations and greater
accountability of corporate officers
± IT will play a significant role in implementing the ensuing
regulations and fostering transparency
18
The Organizational Environment cont.
‡ The External Organizational Environment cont.
‡ Rising Societal Risks of IT
± IT has negatively affected millions of people
» Network shutdowns
» Computer viruses
» Identity theft
» Email scams
» Movement of white collar jobs offshore

± Led to increasing calls for Government regulation

and for vendors and corporations to take action
19
The Organizational Environment cont.
‡ The Internal Organizational Environment
The work environment is also changing, and the art of
managing people is undergoing significant shifts

± From Supply-Push to Demand-Pull

‡ µOld¶
± Companies did their best to figure out what customers wanted
± Organized to build a supply of products or services and then
µpush¶ them out to end customers on stores shelves, in catalogs
etc.
‡ µNew¶ (Internet)
± Allows much closer and µone-to-one¶ contact between customer
and seller
± Offer customers the components of a product/service then the
customer creates their own version by µpulling¶ what they want
20
The Organizational Environment cont.
‡ The Internal Organizational Environment cont.
± Self- Service
‡ ATMs = early example

‡ 1990s saw an increase in systems that let

consumers access corporate computer systems to:
± Learn about products
± Purchase products
± Inquire about orders
± Communicate and µdo business¶ with the firm

‡ Now = heaps e.g. FedEx parcel tracking

21
The Organizational Environment cont.
‡ The Internal Organizational Environment cont.
± Real-Time Working
‡ Sales people have up-to-the-minute information
about customers
‡ Knowing e.g. inventory and cash levels as the are
NOW ± not as they were a week or a month ago
‡ Being able to reach someone when you need them
± Instant messaging?

± Team-Based Working
‡ Working together on projects

± Anytime, Anyplace Information Work 22

The Organizational Environment cont.
‡ The Internal Organizational Environment cont.

± Outsourcing and Strategic Alliances

‡ To become more competitive, organizations are
examining types of work that should be done
internally or externally by others
‡ Ranges from a simple contract for services to a
long-term strategic alliance
‡ The thinking is: We should focus on what we do best
and outsource the other functions to people who
specialize in them

± Note = not µnew¶ (especially in non-IT)

± Also = some µbacklash¶
2
The Organizational Environment cont.
‡ The Internal Organizational Environment cont.
± The Demise of Hierarchy
‡ Traditional hierarchical structure groups, several
people performing the same type of work, overseen
by a supervisor
± No longer the most appropriate in factories or offices

‡ Hierarchical structures cannot cope with rapid

change
± Communications up and down the chain of command takes
too much time for today¶s environment

‡ IT enables team-based organizational structures by

facilitating rapid and far-flung communication
‡ Note: = some of the time. Still has its place in many
organizations 2m
Goals of the New Work Environment
‡ Leverage Knowledge Globally
± Tap tacit knowledge by fostering sharing and
supporting sharing through technology
± Note: driving force is culture!
 Happens through organizational pull (people
needing help) rather than organizational push
which overloads people with information

‡ Organize for Complexity

25
Goals of the New Work Environment cont.

‡ Work Electronically
± Taking advantage of the Internet and networks in
general = rd major goal of enterprises today
‡ Requires different organizing principles, management tenets,
compensation schemes, structure etc.
‡ Changes how organizations interact with others including
customers
± The microchip moved power within companies.
Bandwidth moves power all the way to consumers
± Will increase exponentially as bandwidth capability
increases and costs decrease
‡ Handle Continuous and Discontinuous Change
± Fits and starts 2
 The Technology Environment
IT enables advances in organizational performance.
‡ Hardware Trends
± ¶50s ± ¶0s + - Batch processing predominant; on-line systems
emerged later
± Mid ¶
0s processing power began to move out of the central site
(at the insistence of users!)
± 1980s: Advent of personal computers
± Client-Server computing: ³Client´ machine user interfaces with
³Server´ on the network holding the data and applications
± Major current development = hand-held devices, wireless etc.
± Further distribution beyond organizational boundaries to
suppliers, customers etc.

|
|


& 



(
‡ Software Trends
1. In 190s = Improve the productivity of in-house
programmers who created transaction processing
systems
Ä µProblem¶ = memory $
2. Later, programming issues:
‡ First = Modular and structured programming
techniques
‡ Then = Life cycle development methodologies and
software engineering
Ä Goal = Introduction of rigorous project
management techniques 28
|
|


& 



(
‡ Software Trends cont.
. Prototyping: quick development of a mock-up
m. Purchasing software became viable
alternative to in-house development
5. Paying attention to applications other than
transaction processing
‡ Decision support systems (DSS), report
generation, database inquiry
. End users develop their own systems
29
|
|


& 



(
‡ Software Trends cont.

. Push for µopen systems¶

‡ Purchasers were tired of being ³locked in´ to proprietary
software (or hardware)
8. 1990s ± trend towards Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) e.g. SAP, PeopleSoft
‡ DANGER : BEWARE
‡ Expensive and troublesome, especially for companies
wanting to modify the ERP software to fit their µunique¶
processes
‡ A fundamental organizational change!

0
|
|


& 



(
‡ Software Trends cont.
9. Like hardware, software is migrating to be network
centric.
‡ Web front ends to empower employees rather than replacing
legacy systems
‡ Looming change = move to Web Services ± packages of
code that each perform a specific function and have a URL
- e.g FedEx parcel tracking, MacAfee's¶ virus updates
‡ The significance of Web Services is that it moves software
and programming to being truly network centric ± the
network becomes the heart of the system, linking all Web
Services

1
|
|


& 



(

‡ Data Trends
Ä At first = File management
‡ Organizational techniques for files that served
individual applications

Ä Then = Corporate databases

‡ Serving several applications
‡ Led to concept of establishing a data
administration function

2
|
|


& 



(
‡ Data Trends cont.

Ä ¶
0s = focus on Technical solutions
‡ Database management systems
‡ Dictionary/directory
‡ Specification and format
‡ Now = Data definitions: information about
relationships among systems, sources and
uses of data, and time cycle requirements

Ä First 20 years: techniques to manage data

in a centralized environment

|
|


& 



(
‡ Data Trends cont.
‡ Late ¶
0s / early ¶80s = mth generation languages
and PCs:
Ä Employees directly access corporate data
Ä Users ³demanded it´!

‡ Also = Distributing data from data resources to

information resources
Ä Data management organizes internal facts into data
record format
Ä Information management focuses on concepts
‡ Contains a much richer universe of digitized media including
voice, graphics, animation and photographs (digitized media)
m
|
|


& 



(
‡ Data Trends cont.
‡ Managing this expanded array of information
resources requires new technologies
Ä Data warehousing
‡ Stores huge amounts of historical (not µlive¶) data from systems
such as retailers Point-Of-Sale systems
Ä Data mining
‡ Uses advanced statistical techniques to explore data
warehouses looking for previously unknown relationships in
data e.g which customers are the most profitable

‡ Knowledge management (intellectual capital)

Ä µNew¶ ± The µHoly Grail¶?

‡ Web has broadened µdata¶ to mean µcontent¶

Ä Text, graphics, animation, maps, photos, video etc.
‡ Now µtightly¶ controlled Vs. early proliferation 5
|
|


& 



(
‡ Data Trends cont.
‡ Two major data issues are now facing CIOs:

1. Security ± protecting data from those who should

not see it
2. Privacy ± safeguarding the personal data of
employees, customers etc.

‡ Regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley in the U.S.

now require company officers to verify their financial
data
- The processes that handle financial data are automated =
need to document and ensure the accuracy of these
processes

|
|


& 



(
‡ Communications Trends
‡ Final core technology = Telecommunications.
‡ This area has (is?) experienced enormous
change and is now taking µcentre stage¶
‡ Early use = online and time-sharing systems
‡ Then = interest in both public and private (intra-
company) data networks blossomed
‡ Internet = changed everything!
‡ Today the Internet¶s protocol has become the
worldwide standard for LANs and WANs
- Will also soon be the µstandard¶ for voice


|
|


& 



(
‡ Communications Trends cont.
‡ Telecom opened up new uses of IS so it became an
integral component of IS management
Ä Communications-based information systems link
organizations to their suppliers and customers

Ä Explosion of wireless
‡ 2nd generation, instant messaging, Wi-Fi, rd generation
(G)
‡ Doesn¶t just enable mobility = changes how people
communicate, how they live and how they work

Ä EXCITING TIMES!!!
8
The Mission of Information Systems
‡ Early days: ³paperwork factories´ to pay employees, bill
customers, ship products etc.
± Objectives of information systems defined by productivity
measures
‡ Later = MIS era: produced reports for ³management by
exception´ for all levels of management
‡ Today = Improve the performance of people in
organizations through the use of information technology

‡ Improving organizational performance is accomplished by

the people and groups that comprise the organization
± One resource for this improvement is IT

9
The Mission of Information Systems

|
  
  &










)  
  



  




m0
 A Simple Model (Fig. 1-2)

In the early days of Information

Systems, the µtranslation¶ between IT
and users was performed almost
entirely by systems analysts

m1
m2
Systems Professionals Bridging the
Technology Gap (Fig. 1-)
‡ Over the last 50 years technology has become increasingly
complex and powerful
‡ Users have become increasingly sophisticated
‡ Information systems are now viewed as µproducts¶ and
users have become µcustomers¶

‡ More specialization is required of systems

professionals to bridge this wider gap

m
mm
 Users Bridging the Technology
Gap (Fig. 1-m)
‡ Technology has become sophisticated enough to
be used by many employees and consumers
‡ Today, some of the technology is truly user-
friendly, and some applications such as Web page
development, database mining and spreadsheet
manipulation, are handled by non-IT staff
‡ Transaction systems, however, are still
µdeveloped¶ by professional developers, either
inside or outside the firm
m5
m
 Why talk about the µTechnology Gap¶?
‡ The main point of this discussion is that
technology is getting more complex, applications
are becoming more sophisticated, and users are
participating more heavily in the development of
applications
‡ The net result is that management of the
process is becoming more complex and difficult
as its importance increases

 A Better Model (Fig 1-)

‡ Expanding the simple model gives us more
guidance into managerial principles and tasks
‡ We suggest a model with four principal
elements:
1. A set of technologies that represent the IT infrastructure
installed and managed by the IS department
2. A set of users who need to use IT to improve their job
performance
. A delivery mechanism for developing , delivering and
installing applications
m. Executive leadership to manage the entire process of
applying the technology to achieve organizational objectives
and goals
m8
A Framework for IS
Management

m9
 1. The Technologies
‡ Several forces contribute to the increased importance
and complexity of IT:
1. Growth in capacity + reduction in cost & size
2. Merging of previously separate technologies of computers,
telephones/telecom/cable TV, office equipment and consumer
electronics
. Ability to store and handle multiple forms of data

‡ Information systems now fill major roles in

management reporting, problem solving and analysis,
office support, customer service and communications

50
 2. The Users

  * 

 *

Note: the distinction between manager and worker is blurring!

51
. System Development and Delivery
‡ Systems development and delivery bridge the gap
between technology and users
‡ Systems for procedure-based (clerical) activities
differ from systems for knowledge based
information work (managerial)

‡ Systems are built based on technology resources.

Three main categories (essential technologies):
1. Hardware and software
2. Telecommunications
. Information resources

‡ Management of these is called infrastructure

management
52
 m. IS Management
‡ Chief Information Officer (CIO)
± Must be high enough in the enterprise to influence
organizational goals
± Must have enough credibility to lead the
harnessing of technology to pursue those goals

‡ Must work with all the other CXOs

± IT has become too important to be left to one
individual

‡ Executive team must work together to govern

it and leverage it well
5
 A Better Model - Summary
‡ This model has four major components:
1. The technology ± which provides the electronic
and information infrastructure
2. Information workers who use IT to accomplish
their work goals
. System development and delivery ± which
brings the technology and users together
m. The management of the IS function
‡ Overall responsibility = to harness IT to improve the
performance of the people and the organization

5m
A Better Model

55
Organization of this Book/Unit

‡ Part I - Leadership
‡ Part II - Technologies
‡ Part III - Delivery
‡ Part IV - Supporting work
‡ Part V - Looking ahead

5
 Organization of this Book/Unit cont.

‡ Part I ± Leadership
± Chapters 2 - m
± Deals with the strategic issues that are the
responsibility of the top systems executive ± CIO
± Chapter 2 = evolution of the IS function and the
CIO¶s job
± Chapter  = strategic uses of IT
± Chapter m = IS planning

 Organization of this Book/Unit cont.

‡ Part II ± Technologies
± Chapters 5 ± 8
± Deals with the management of the essential
information technologies
± Distributed systems architecture
± Building and managing telecommunications
± Managing corporate information resources
± Managing day-to-day operations

58
 Organization of this Book/Unit cont.

‡ Part III ± Delivery

± Chapters 9 and 10
± Deal with developing and delivering systems
± Chapter 9 = describes:
‡ The evolution of systems development, tools and
approaches
‡ The trend towards system integration, and
‡ The growth of Internet-based development
± Chapter 10 = discusses important issues in
managing system development and delivery

59
 Organization of this Book/Unit cont.

‡ Part IV - Supporting work

± Chapters 11 ± 1
± Discuss different types of systems that support
knowledge work
± Chapter 11 looks at using IT to support decision
making
± Chapter 12 discusses systems that support
collaborative work
± Chapter 1 looks at supporting knowledge work

0
 Organization of this Book/Unit cont.

‡ Part V - Looking ahead

± Chapter 1m
± Looks at the future

1
Case Example: MeadWestvaco Corporation

2
Case Example: MeadWestvaco Corporation


Case Example: MeadWestvaco Corporation

m
Case Example: MeadWestvaco Corporation

5
Case Example: MeadWestvaco Corporation


Case Example: MeadWestvaco Corporation

Case Example: MeadWestvaco Corporation

8
Case Example: MeadWestvaco Corporation

9
Case Example: MeadWestvaco Corporation

0
 A µFinal Thought¶

 





 
& &
!



 

!





 &


+
,  
-