Framework for comprehensive management of the strategic information systems planning process in a changing environment

Field: Business, Management and Accounting (Social Sciences)

Strategic information systems planning (below SISP) is one of the most important IT processes and must be best adapted to the context in which it is implemented. This means that it must be consistent with the properties of the internal environment, especially with other management practices, as well as with the external business and IT environment. The SISP process is adapted to the context by the SISP meta-planning process, which consists of three phases: context analysis, process design and success evaluation. The meta-planning process is also very important to the success of SISP and its growth of maturity over time.

The SISP process consists of two phases, whose processes should be continuously executed: plan development and plan implementation management. The aim of plan development is to analyse the existing situation and, based on the results, to identify IT strategic objectives, a future enterprise architecture and IT projects that can adequately meet business objectives. The purpose of the implementation phase is to successfully carry out the strategic IT plan. Since a planning horizon lasts from two to five years, the implementation should be continuously controlled and the strategic IT plan (and its artefacts) updated according to changes that have occurred during this time.

From the above, it appears that SISP is a very complex process that is difficult to manage, as evidenced by numerous studies as well as our own practical experience. In particular, many problems arise in the implementation phase, which remains neglected in existing SISP approaches and research studies. Since the successful design and execution of plan implementation management processes is clearly associated with a higher SISP success, this is the main focus of this thesis.

Therefore, the main purpose of the thesis was to analyse the factors which, according to the literature, impact SISP success, and to construct a comprehensive SISP framework that will enable appropriate management of SISP in both phases. The most important parts of the developed SISP framework are definitions of the SISP meta-planning process and implementation phase processes, whose execution has a positive effect on SISP success. A very important achievement is also the integration of an enterprise architecture (below EA) approach into a SISP framework. Since SISP process improvement requires periodic measurement of its success, we also developed a multidimensional model of SISP success.

Thus, the core of the thesis presents a framework for comprehensive management of the SISP process in a changing environment, which contains three contributions to the science. The first contribution is a comprehensive review of factors that impacts SISP success. Collected SISP success factors represent a good practice that can be utilized in implementing or improving the SISP process, regardless of the approach adopted. A broader definition of SISP, which covers both SISP phases, and an SISP method represent the second contribution. A core component of the framework is this SISP method, which is also the key contribution of this thesis. The method encompasses definitions of the SISP meta-planning process, as well as processes of plan development and implementation, which are linked together through various events. The SISP method is also integrated with an enterprise architecture approach. The integration is meaningful due to their overlapping activities and artefacts. An important element of integration is a common repository of the enterprise, which consists of several interconnected repositories. From the perspective of the field studied, the most important repositories are those of strategic planning and enterprise architecture. Models of SISP success evaluation and of IS contribution to business performance evaluation are also important parts of the SISP method. These models are used in the SISP meta-planning process.

Statistical analysis confirmed that the more comprehensive the execution of all the SISP processes from the proposed SISP method, the higher the SISP success, and in turn, the higher the contribution of IS to business performance. This demonstrates additional scientific value of the proposed SISP framework (contribution to the science). The data for statistical analysis were gathered with a survey on IT management. The central part of the survey was dedicated to the SISP and EA fields. The questionnaire was sent to 1000 of the largest Slovenian companies and 100 government institutions, being addressed to the CIO’s of these organizations. We received 95 fully completed questionnaires (response rate: 8.6%).

The proposed SISP framework has already been partially tested in several organizations with which we were involved as consultants in establishing the SISP process and developing a strategic IT plan. The IT and business management confirmed the usefulness of the SISP framework and its artefacts in a variety of management activities as well as in external audits.