1. What are the four main points of IT strategic planning?
a) Improve management’s understanding of IT and Limitations
b) Assess current performance
c) Identify capacity and human resource requirements
d) Clarify the level of investment required
2. Explain the difference between in-house and sourcing IT strategy
In-house strategy are systems developed with the help of consulting companies or vendors
in-house WHILES sourcing are systems developed by a third party or vendor. There are a
number of sourcing strategy, onshore, offshoring.
3. What are the main types of sourcing?
ONSHORE & OFFSHORE
4. What are the possible reasons why a high percentage of IT projects are abandoned
1. The IT strategy was changed to cloud
2. The project may not be completed on time
3. Change in business strategy
4. Change in technology
5. Define business strategy and IT strategy
Business Strategy sets the overall direction for the business. / refers to the decisions taken
and the actions undertaken by a business to achieve the larger vison WHILES IT strategy defines
what information, information systems, and IT architecture are required to support the business and
how the infrastructure and services are to be delivered./ are the comprehensive plan that outlines how
technology should be used to meet IT and business goals OR Business strategy refers to the plan of
action that a company takes to achieve its goals and objectives. On the other hand, IT strategy is a
plan that outlines how a company's information technology infrastructure will support its overall
business strategy.
6. What is the goal of IT business alignment?
a. The goal of IT business alignment is to ensure that IT strategy is aligned with organizational
strategy. This is important because IT can create business value and support the strategic vision
of the organization. To deliver full value, three objectives must be met: delivering value, risk
management, and resource management.
7. Why must IT strategic planning be revisited on a regular basics?
IT strategic planning must be revisited on a regular basis because organizational goals change
over time. It is not sufficient to develop a long-term IT strategy and not reexamine the strategy
on a regular basis. IT planning is an ongoing process. The IT planning process results in a
formal IT strategy or a re-assessment each year or each quarter of the existing portfolio of IT
resources.
8. Describe the committee that usually constructs the IT strategy planning process who is
involved in this committee, what are the major tasks of this committee, on what is the
committee committee’s success dependent on?
The committee responsible for conducting the IT strategic planning process is the corporate
steering committee. This committee is composed of managers and staff from various
organizational units, and its major tasks include direction setting, rationing, structuring,
staffing, communication, and evaluating. The success of this committee is dependent on the
establishment of IT governance, which directs the policies regarding IT alignment with
organizational goals and allocation of resources.
The committee's success is also dependent on the ability to objectively identify the most
desirable investments despite intense, highly political competition among organizational units.
The committee's approval for funding falls into two categories: critical projects and
infrastructure that are necessary for the organization to stay in business, and less-critical items
such as new projects, maintenance, or upgrades of existing systems.
The success of the committee in obtaining approval for these projects is largely dependent on
communicating the gravity of the problems to decision-makers
OR
The corporate steering committee is responsible for conducting the IT strategic planning
process, this committee comprises of managers, staff from various sections of the organization.
The major tasks of the committee include, setting direction, rationing, structuring, staffing,
communication and evaluation.
The success of this committee is dependent on the establishment of the IT governance which
directs the policies regarding IT alignment with the goal of the organization and allocation of
resources.
9. What is the focus of IT strategy?
The focus of IT strategy is to align IT with business strategy to create differentiating
capabilities that set a company apart from its competitors. IT planning helps put the company
in a position to positively disrupt how they operate, their business models, and even their
industry.
10. Describe the IT strategic planning process ****Apostle is yet to send simplified version
11. Describe the project portfolio, Describe the applications portfolio, when are these portfolios
developed?
The project portfolio lists major resource projects, including infrastructure, application services,
data services, and security services that are consistent with the long-range plan
The applications portfolio is a list of major, approved IS projects that are also consistent with the
long-range plan
12. What tools and methodologies are available to assist in the IT strategic planning process? How
are these methods used to help the organization
a. Business Service Management: This approach links IT key performance indicators (KPIs)
to business goals to determine the impact on the business. KPIs are metrics that measure
the actual performance of critical aspects of IT against predefined business goals.
b. Business Systems Planning Model: This top-down approach starts with business strategies
and deals with two main building blocks - business processes and data classes - which
become the basis of an information architecture.
c. IT Steering Committee: This committee is responsible for identifying potentially beneficial
IT services, performing cost-benefit analyses, and subjecting the list of potential projects to
resource-allocation analysis.
d. Scorecard is a business management concept that transforms both financial and
nonfinancial data into a detailed roadmap that helps the company measure performance
These methods are used to help organizations by:
i. Ensuring IT and business units are working towards the same goals.
ii. Aligning IT strategy with organizational strategy to ensure that IS priorities, decisions,
and projects are consistent with the needs of the entire business.
iii. Building differentiating capabilities that set the company apart from its competitors. 4.
Facilitating proactive, rather than reactive, responses to potential user and customer
problems.
iv. Providing real-time dashboards for tracking KPIs at the executive, functional business
areas, services, and operations levels.
v. Developing the information architecture and identifying applications that support
business strategies.
13. What is resource allocation what are the two types of funding requests
Resource allocation consists of developing the plans for hardware, software, data
communications and networks, facilities, personnel, and financial resources needed to execute
the master development plan, as defined in the requirements analysis.
Critical projects and infrastructure funding requests that are necessary for the organization to
stay in business, such as purchasing or upgrading hardware if the network, disk drives, or the
processor on the main computer are approaching capacity limits.
Less-critical items funding requests , such as new projects, maintenance or upgrades of
existing systems, and infrastructure to support these systems and future needs.