Strategy and Information Systems
Traditionally business organizations are divided into three levels. These are operational, management and strategic levels. They exist in nearly all businesses irrespective of their size or sector of operations, although in small companies some levels may converge.
At the operational level decisions are made to ensure smooth running of operational processes or day-to-day business. At this level it is necessary to oversee that resources are used efficiently, inventory is up to date, production levels are as planned, etc. Decision making at this level requires information almost entirely internal to the company, although it may be extremely detailed and real-time.
Information for decision making at management level has a typical time-frame ranging from weeks to several month or a year. Middle management usually controls medium term scheduling, forecasting and budgeting operations. These rely on internal as well as occasional external information. For instance, setting the quarterly budget requires the knowledge of current expenditure as well as external pricing information.
Traditionally business organizations are divided into three levels. These are operational, management and strategic levels. They exist in nearly all businesses irrespective of their size or sector of operations, although in small companies some levels may converge.
At the operational level decisions are made to ensure smooth running of operational processes or day-to-day business. At this level it is necessary to oversee that resources are used efficiently, inventory is up to date, production levels are as planned, etc. Decision making at this level requires information almost entirely internal to the company, although it may be extremely detailed and real-time. Information for decision making at management level has a typical time-frame ranging from weeks to several month or a year. Middle management usually controls medium term scheduling, forecasting and budgeting operations. These rely on internal as well as occasional external information. For instance, setting the quarterly budget requires the knowledge of current expenditure as well as external pricing information.
Senior management will focus on general, or strategic , issues related to overall business development in the long term. At this level decisions tend to relate to issues with long term such as restructuring, major financial investments and other strategic undertakings related to company’s future rather than present. Information necessary for decision making at this level is comprehensively gathered not only from the internal sources of the company itself, but also involves external information, such as data related to economic situation or sectors as a whole.
Businesses that heavily rely on information develop an information strategy to establish how to manage information for business advantage and to comply with government regulations. An Information Strategy is a planning document usually created at the strategic level by the Chief Information Officer (CIO), possibly together with a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and IT manager.
An information strategy is developed to support the overall business strategy of an organization and explains how information should be captured, processed, used and disposed of throughout its life cycle. Although the structure of an information strategy varies from business to business, there are some common areas included in most information strategy.
Businesses that heavily rely on information develop an information strategy to establish how to manage information for business advantage and to comply with government regulations. An Information Strategy is a planning document usually created at the strategic level by the Chief Information Officer (CIO), possibly together with a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and IT manager. An information strategy is developed to support the overall business strategy of an organization and explains how information should be captured, processed, used and disposed of throughout its life cycle. Although the structure of an information strategy varies from business to business, there are some common areas included in most information strategy.
To provide specific guidelines to their employees, contractors, trading partners and other external stakeholder on the processing, storage and communication of various types of information, business firms usually create an information policy document. This document is extremely important when an organization handles security sensitive data or is subject to government guidelines related to information processing. It defines sensitivity levels of information and lists who has access to each level. The aim of the information policy is to make sure that information assets of a company are appropriately protected from threats.
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق