CHOICE OF INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
Factors that influence Nature of IT
Decision
•The choice of IT makes a qualitative diff in the decision
making process & hence Wrong choice of IT would kill a
good MIS design.
• IT decision is a technical decision rather than the
financial decision
•Organisation & its infrastructural arrangement of the
offices, warehouse, factories, & the customer
• How IT affects the people, the processes & productivity
of the organization
• The work culture & people culture also a critical
decision input for any IT decision
• IT choice is governed by the requirement of the
mission critical application of the org
• IT choice is influenced by technology forecast &
business forecast
• The choice of IT is a strategic decision making for long
term impact on the effectiveness of the firm
STRATEGIC DECISION
Technical Financial
Issues Implications
Business Needs
CONFIGURATION DESIGN
• System configuration such as architecture, RDBMS,
communication tech, storage media, operating system
are also strategic to the success of the MIS
– Data type
– Data Volume
– Storage capacity
– I/O operations
– Data Sharing
– Process Speed
– RDBMS & 4GL
– Query processing
– Interface & gateways
– security & Integrity
– Comm. Protocol
– Languages & packages
EVALUATION
The selection criteria for Evaluation would have diff
dimensions to be satisfied simultaneously.
These dimensions are as follows;
1. Technical Evaluation
2. Operational Feasibility
3. Financial Consideration
Technical Evaluation;
• TE deals with the testing parameters, such as data transfer needs,
the response level, connectivity of the diff H/W platforms,
degree of over all system performance
Starts with literature study of the product & then conducting
brain storming session with the vendors specialists.
Benchmarking is done for couple of key parameters to test the vendor’s
claims
Based on these certain norms are developed, which is used to select
system configuration required to meet information Processing needs of
the org
Then performance related issues such as reliability, dependability,
security, integrity are evaluated.
Finally information technology is evaluated based on scalability,
upgradability, & expandability with the growth of the business.
Operational Feasibility
• Operation evaluation considers the people & business
processes – related issues & whether the systems & the
procedures of the org are complementary & conducive
– The caliber, competence, the knowledge of the people
– Organization not providing people support to
implement technology successfully.
– System & procedure currently operating in the
company may make IT inefficient
• If the environment does not support the new technology it
is prudent to choose the next best technology.
Financial Evaluation
• All business investments are evaluate in terms of ROI or certain pay back period
& also judged based on budget constraints
• IT investments are intangible & are difficult to quantify in monetary terms
• Investment is evaluated based on value of information it gives on an incremental
scale
• WRT budget constraints, advisable to examine the possibility of scaling the
hardware & software options. Scaling can be done on two scales
– Horizontal expansion
• Memory, disk, terminals etc configured for present needs & then expanded later
– Vertical expansion
• System integration, backward & forward, concentrating on mission critical
applications
• In all matters the total decision is to be taken first & then can be broken down
into components based on budget.
IT Implementation Plan
Implementation of the technology is a complex
task & needs detailed & Careful planning for
successful implementation. It is necessary to
prepare a plan of implementation;
Site Preparation
System development plan
IT installation schedule
Recruitment & Training of computer
personnel
Training of the Users
Investment plan
• Site preparation
– Prepare the site for the physical installation of the hardware
– Modern IT needs site preparation at the user’s end ass well for
the convenience & ease of the operation
– Site preparation takes away 10 -12% of investment
• System Development site
– Generally prepared while assessing hardware & software needs
– It prioritize the various steps in the implementation
• Information technology installation schedule
– Schedule gives item wise details of hardware arrival & its
installation, testing & acceptance
– Also considers key issue like data conversion, switching over
from old system to new system, rewriting program
• Recruitment & training of IT personnel
– Need manpower having specific skills responsible for
effective implementation
– As tech changes it is necessary to upgrade the skills of the
manpower by providing a need based training.
• Training of users
– For effective use of IT, end user must be well trained
– With proper training user can become a knowledge worker
• Investment plan
– When all the facets of the IT are ready, monetary
implications of such an implementation can be worked out
– Since IT is a strategic, at the most it can be deferred but
cannot be curtailed.