Feature
Ikumi Miyagi, CGEIT, CRISC,
is the chief executive officer(CEO) of K.K. AStar and KK
AStar Institute.
Hiroshi Monden, CISA, CIA,
CRMA, is an internal auditorof a public corporation.
Mitsuko Azuma, CISA, isa business consultant, with
13 years of experience inoperational and IT strategy,organizational development
and change management.
Reiso Kimura, CISA, CIA, is
CEO and founder of DreamIT Research LLC, CEO of
Esperanto Co. Ltd., andmanaging director of theInnovation Fusion Societyof Japan.
Masatoshi Aramaki, CISA,
CRISC, CIA, is a businessconsultant advising on IT
governance, internal control
and information security.
Kan Hara, CISA, CPA, is anindependent accounting andtechnology professional.
Takashi Ishijima, Ph.D., CPA,
is professor of accounting at
the Hosei Business Schoolof Innovation Management(Toyko, Japan).

Do you havesomethingto say about
this article?
Visit the Journal
pages of the ISACA
web site (www.isaca.
org/journal), find thearticle, and choose
the Comments tab toshare your thoughts.

「ビジネスイニシアチブとITソリューション
の連携」に関するレポート

Align Business Initiatives and IT Solutions
Collaboration Is Critical for Effective IT GovernanceManagement should bear in mind that
information sources and IT strategy should belinked with the needs of the user. That strategy
should be based on efficient business processes
and compatible with effective IT processes.
A methodology is needed to establish effective
IT governance based on the business process
and to disseminate integrated IT governancethroughout the organization effectively.
To construct effective information systems,
it is essential to involve relevant members frommanagement all the way through to field workers,
beginning with the planning stage, and to
generate agreement among staff by sharing
and acknowledging their information, interestsand challenges.
ALIGNING BUSINESS AND IT—A MANAGEMENTCHALLENGE
In recent years, the alignment of IT with planningand deployment of the business strategy has
become increasingly important for corporate
management in light of IT’s contribution tobusiness development.
However, the 2013 Cisco Global IT Impact
Survey shows that business leaders andother non-IT teams roll out new applications
without engaging IT (76 percent) and that IT

professionals are brought into the planning anddeployment process late (38 percent),1 whichindicates that IT introduction planning is notconsidered as important as business planning,
even now (figure 1).
These situations are quite similar in Japan.
The 2012 Japan Users Association of Information
Systems (JUAS) survey indicates that among the
primary tips for successful business innovation areclose communication between the IT department
and management, or other head office divisions,and understanding of the business process acrossrelevant divisions to reach total optimization forthe organization (figure 2).2
Under these circumstances, alignment ofbusiness process with IT remains a big challenge
for organizations.
According to a survey of 10 large or mediumsized vendors and clients by Information
Technology Promotion Agency, Japan, (IPA),
the top three challenges they face on theupper process are ambiguous role sharing andorganizational structure, incompleteness or low
quality of the requirements definition, and a gap
between the business strategy/planning and therequired systemization (figures 3 and 4).3, 4
The insufficient involvement of management
and relevant business divisions, particularly the

Figure 1—2013 Cisco Global IT Impact Survey/IT and Business Alignment
IT and Business
Alignment

Reality: IT-Business Alignment Needs Further Improvement

WORK AROUND IT

76%

Go directly to the article:of IT said business leaders and othernon-IT teams roll out new applications
without engaging IT either“all the time” or “sometimes.”

LATE ENGAGEMENT

38%
of IT professionals are brought
into the planning anddeployment process late.

Engagement does not equate alignment of business and IT planning.
Source: Cisco. Reprinted with permission.

22

ISACA JOURNAL VOLUME 4, 2014

Figure 2—Tips to Lead Projects to Success
0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

39.2

Close communication between IT department and management
Close communication between IT department and otherhead office divisions

25.6

15.8

22.2

IT staff to manage evolutional project of business model/process

8.6

9.5

Institutional power and influence of IT division

7.0

9.9

Experience and knowledge to manage evolutional projectof business model/process

4.1
2.3

Competency as an overall information center(competence in data analyzing or hypothesis planning)

2.0

Understanding of cutting-edge (advanced) technology

1.2
2.7
3.6

9.9

Internal or external circumstance of comfortable IT(circumstance for availability support for PC, tablet, etc.)

4.0

50.0
10.5

18.7

Understanding of the business process across the relevant divisions
on the basis of total optimization for the organization

40.0

60.0
9.3

13.4
16.5

16.2
13.0
7.3

13.0

IT knowledge as integral part for providing products and services

1.0
1.1
3.0

Others

0.5
0.5
0.0

3.4 4.7

� Rank 1 (n=957)
� Rank 2 (n-943)
� Rank 3 (n=908)

Source: Japan Users Association of Information Systems. Reprinted with permission.

operation leaders and planning staff, other than system users,
can be derived from these results.
In IT projects, as a matter of fact, there is a tendency
by project managers to define the scope of management
involvement on the users’ division or the system’s
division directly related to the system’s development,leaving management and other indirectly related divisions
insufficiently involved.
On the upper or hyper-upper process of an IT project, theorganizational and progressive involvement by management andthe business divisions is essential to preserve the alignment of
the business process with IT, which could eventually optimize
the effect brought about by the introduction of IT.
MODEL CASE AND EVALUATION FOR EFFECTIVE IT GOVERNANCE
In Japan, more than 70 percent of IT projects are recognized
as failed projects. Two major causes are:• Common project goals are not identified clearly so projectstakeholders and all project members cannot share thesame focus.

• Management intentions are not defined in the first phase of
the IT project.
A potential solution for these issues is collaborative
discussion with stakeholders based on the following models tounderstand all stakeholders’ intentions for the project:
1. Business model—Usually, each stakeholder has slightly
different expectation for certain IT projects. It is necessary
to correspond those intentions with the objects of theIT project. Clear goal setting is the first step to success.
The goal then leads to strategies. Strategies break down
to business objectives, which achieve strategies. Businessobjectives break down to abilities, which achieve businessobjectives. Strategies are differentiator factors fromcompetitors. Business objectives are internal objectives
to achieve strategies. Activities are actions or capabilities
to achieve business objectives. This model ensures thatstakeholders clearly understand what business initiatives
are expected to be achieved.
2. Business process model—Organizations must define ideal
business processes to achieve the business model. The ideal
ISACA JOURNAL VOLUME 4, 201423

Figure 3—Categories and Number of Issues for Each Phase
Business
Strategy/
Business
Planning
121Categories
Gap between business strategy or plan and required systemization2

Ambiguous priority order of requirements to deal with

8

3

Insufficient understanding of user's requirements

5

4

Ambiguous role sharing and organizational structure

4

5

IT
Orientation
10

IT Planning IT Requirement
2

Total
22
10
5

10

13

Insufficient review of the business products or services

9

3

6

Ambiguous objective of project

7

3

4

14

7

Insufficient information of contracts or estimates

3

13

3

19

8

Insufficient business knowledge, experience and skill

3

6

7

16

9

Ambiguous vision of organization

2

10

Ambiguous specification of existing systems

1

11

Introduction of new technology and services

1

12

Insufficient review of development policy and planning

7

7

13

Insufficient management of project

3

3

14

Insufficient review of cost and effect

3

3

15

Incompleteness or low quality of the requirement definition

26

26

16

Ambiguous conditions to complete requirement definition

6

6

17

Inadequate risk management

1

1

Total

29

46

13

40
12

2
1

2
1

54

60

Source: Information Technology Promotion Agency, Japan. Reprinted with permission.

business process might be different from current businessprocesses. “As-is” describes the current business process,and “to-be” describes the ideal business process. Optimized
business processes must be created from a goal-centric
perspective as to-be.
3. IT solution model—This is the ideal solution overview tosupport the ideal business process. The business processcontains not only tasks that are executed manually, but alsotasks that should be supported by an IT solution to obtainan effective result (figure 5).5This methodology defines the procedure to create thosemodels with stakeholders based on collaborative discussion
among each layer’s stakeholders, including members ofmanagement who define strategies; middle managers who
define business objectives; and experts and leaders who define
activities as as-is, to-be and return on investment (ROI).
24

ISACA JOURNAL VOLUME 4, 2014

This collaborative discussion must take place as aworkshop facilitated by an individual who is familiar withthe methodology. It is effective when used to generateconsensus among all stakeholders and create metrics. Thismethod has been used effectively in industries ranging fromtelecommunications, to automotive original equipment
manufacturing (OEM) and high-tech.
During the workshop, strategies, business objectives andabilities are organized based on importance and priority. The
workshop must be facilitated to forge agreement among all
participants based on proper information sharing and effective
discussions. Figure 6 illustrates an example of the output of
the workshop.
As a result, all stakeholders recognize that the achievementof the abilities gives good impact to strategies.
Figure 7 illustrates how the effects of the project can be
estimated in the workshop.

Figure 4—Categories and Number of Issues for Each Phase
0

5

10

15

20

25

30

IT Orientation

IT Planning35

40

Gap between business strategy or plan and required presentation
Ambiguous priority order of requirements to deal with
Insufficient understanding of user’s requirements
Ambiguous sharing and organizational structure
Insufficient review of the business products or services
Ambiguous objective of project
Insufficient information of contracts or activities
Insufficient business knowledge, experience and skill
Ambiguous vision of organization
Ambiguous specification of existing systems
Introduction of new technology and services
Insufficient review of development policy and planning
Insufficient management of project
Insufficient review of cost and effect
Incompleteness or low quality of the requirement definition
Ambiguous conditions to complete requirement definition
Inadequate risk management
Business Strategy/Business Planning

IT Requirement

Source: Information Technology Promotion Agency, Japan. Reprinted with permission.

Figure 5—Total Optimization for Business Process and IT Based on Strategy

BusinessDefinition

Strategy

Business Model

Business
Objects

Required
Abilities

Business Processes

Human
Solution
IT Solution

Process Model
Proper IT Solutions Office Tool

IT Tools

SCM
Work Flow Management
ERP
CRM

Source: Dream IT Research LLC; “Proper Project Plan Creation Methodology, SUSD,” Science of Success of IT Project. Reprinted with permission.
ISACA JOURNAL VOLUME 4, 201425

Figure 6—Example of Workshop Output

Strategies

Business Objects

Lowest Price

Activities
Internal Collaboration

Reduce lead timeof development.

Shortest Timeto Market

Real-time AccessStandardize
business process.

XXX

XXX
XXX

XXX
XXX

XXX

XXX

XXX

XXX

XXX

XXX
XXX
XXX
XXX

XXX

Source: Dream IT Research LLC; “Proper Project Plan Creation Methodology, SUSD,” Science of Success of IT Project. Reprinted with permission.

Figure 7—Concept of ROI Analysis

Strategies

Business Objects

Lowest Price

Reduce lead timeof development.

Shortest Timeto Market

Standardize
business process.

XXX
XXX
XXX

Issues

As-is

Real-time AccessWrong docs referred

No docs control

Docs value

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX

Hard to find bottleneck

Manual works

Process monitor

XXX

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

Long time to find docs

Manual works

Enterprise search

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX

YYY

ZZZ

XXX
XXX
XXX

XXX

XXX

XXX

XXX
XXX

Gap=ROI

Activities
Internal Collaboration

XXX
XXX

Calculate ROI
for eachstrategy.

What strategies are improved?
How much?

To-beSource: Dream IT Research LLC; “Proper Project Plan Creation Methodology, SUSD,” Science of Success of IT Project. Reprinted with permission.

26

ISACA JOURNAL VOLUME 4, 2014• Learn more about and collaborate on governance ofenterprise IT (GEIT) in the Knowledge Center.

www.isaca.org/topicgovernance-of-enterprise-it
Each ability defined in the workshop must be achieved toreach the goal. This means the abilities have not been realized
because of some issue(s). Current business processes that
include issues are called as-is. Those issues must be removed
via process change or new IT solutions. Then, the ideal, to-beprocess is created.
A gap between as-is and to-be items exists. Gap analysis isexecuted by:• Identifying issues that prevent execution of the abilities.
Some issues may be already known/recognized. First,
identify the cause of the issue, then identify the as-is itemthat is causing the issue, and finally define the to-be items toremedy the cause.

• Identifying which strategies have a positive effect on
closing the gap between the as-is and to-be items and thenestimating the effect (i.e., shorten time, reduce cost,
increase revenue)• Calculating the effects for each strategy based on the resultsof the gap analysis
As a result, business goals can be properly mapped toprocesses and solutions. An integrated business, process
and IT solution model is created. Every project member canrecognize the project’s big picture, any current issues, as-is
and to-be items, and expected effects through the workshop
and its deliverables.
The solution for the second cause, “management intentions
are not defined in the first phase of IT the project,” isillustrated in figure 8.
The workshop is developed to establish mutual
understanding between management and lower-level teammembers. The goal of the workshop is to get agreement
among all stakeholders.
All defined items are scored and prioritized and sorted byimportance of agreement among all participants. The intentionsof each participant are shown as points and visualized to
expedite understanding of other people’s intentions. Information

Figure 8—Method to Establish Agreement Among All Layers

Procedure
Sessions
Strategies
Business
Objectives
Activities
Issues, Cause,
As-is, To-be,
ROI

Participants

Result of each session
must be conveyed to next
participants by previous
session members.

UpperManagement
Executives

Managers
Leaders,
Experts,
Specialists
Leaders,
Experts,
Specialists

Source: Dream IT Research LLC; “Proper Project Plan Creation Methodology, SUSD,” Science of Success of IT Project. Reprinted with permission.
ISACA JOURNAL VOLUME 4, 201427

sharing and compromises are completed during the workshop.
Points and visualized images not only expedite understanding,but also help to sort out items.
The workshop is split into three sessions: the strategy
session, the business objectives session and the ability session.
At the end of each session, the results and an overview of thatsession are described to participants of the next session by
current participants of the previous session. Participants of
the next session can ask questions and engage in discussion
until all team members come to an agreement.
Each step of the workshop procedure is designed tounderstand other participants’ background and intentions andto arrive at a consensus.
The results of the workshop include:• Goals are clearly set with discussion of each stakeholder’sintentions and removal of any misunderstandings. Gaps
between stakeholders are adjusted. The risk of change
requests and errors in development processes is drasticallyreduced.
• ROI and key performance indicators (KPI) are clearly
defined in the project planning phase, which helps toevaluate the effect of the project after deployment.
• Investment in the project can be fully optimized. Only
valuable IT solutions are implemented and only the mostefficient processes defined.
Workshop support materials include templates, tools andother resources designed to execute a productive, efficient
workshop to ensure consensus among all stakeholders.
CONCLUSION
By promoting involvement of management layers at each levelof the business sector, it is possible to overcome management
challenges related to alignment of business and IT.
In some IT projects, it is effective to proceed consciouslywith the involvement of other departments that senior
management and project managers are not managing
directly. When utilizing this methodology, it will increase theeffectiveness and consistency with the strategy developed in
the project-planning phase. In any project, from the individual
project to organizationwide endeavors, it is essential toconnect each process with the organizational strategy.
ENDNOTESCisco, The 2013 Cisco Global IT Impact Survey, www.cisco.
com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns1015/Cisco_IT_Impact_
Survey_Results_2013.pdf
2Japan Users Association of Information Systems (JUAS), The
19th Corporate IT Trend Survey, 2012
1

28

ISACA JOURNAL VOLUME 4, 2014I nformation Technology Promotion Agency, Japan,“Corporate Challenges and Countermeasures for High
Quality on the Hyper-upper Process—Survey Report in
Respect of the Improvement of the Precise Review on
the Hyper-upper Process,” March 2013. The author has
translated to English from original contents (Japanese). In
any case of mistranslation, the original is correct.
4
Ibid.
5
Dream IT Research LLC, “Proper Project Plan Creation
Methodology, SUSD,” Science of Success of IT Project3

ADVANCE YOUR
ROLE AND
YOUR GOALS.
EMBRACE ISACA’SWORLD-CLASSTRAINING.
Register today at www.isaca.org/onlinelearning-jv4

Upcoming Webinars:

What DevOps Means for Risk Management
Thursday, 24 July 2014

EMEA Regional Webinar
Wednesday, 30 July 2014

Latin Regional Webinar
Wednesday, 6 August 2014

Does Increasing Use of Mobile Devices
Necessarily Increase Risk?
Thursday, 14 August 2014

Women in Business

Thursday, 21 August 2014

Spotlight Webinar
Thursday, 28 August 2014

Upcoming Virtual Conference:
Mobile Security

Wednesday, 17 September 2014