(1) the organization's strategic business objectives are identified; (2) the business processes critical to achieving the strategic business objectives are identified; (3) priorities are assigned to the strategic business objectives and, as a consequence, to the critical business process; (4) the information necessary to support the critical business processes is defined; (5) infonnation linkages among business processes are identified; and (6) a plan for a modular ms development, implementation, and evolution is developed.
Organizations can have a variety of strategic business objectives for achieving economic advantage in the marketplace. Their objective might be producing high- quality products, being the low-cost supplier, providing excellent service, or being a leader in the application of new technology. To assure that resources are obtained and used effectively and efficiently in the accomplishment of the organization's objec- tives, managers need timely, accurate information to better understand and monitor operations. They also need information on how well the strategic business objectives are being met. It is necessary for the EIS staff to understand the organization's strategic business objectives, because the design of the EIS is driven by these objectives. Allowing the analysts to sit in on strategic planning sessions is one way to help facilitate the understanding of the objectives. Some firms, however, may not want analysts to attend these sessions. A workable altemative is to have a representative of the strategic planning committee meet with the analysts to communicate the infonnation needed for the design of the Eis. In order to realize a strategic business objective, the business processes related to the accomplishment of the objective must be identified. These processes may cut across functional areas. For example, if the strategic business objective is to be a high-quality producer, then product design, engineering, purchasing, production, and quality control processes are critical to achieving this objective. Determining the related business processes is not always easy or straightforward. There are differences of opinion as to what the key related processes are. This is a natural outcome, given the differences in individuals' current position and experi- ences, limited efforts by most organizations in the past to identify the processes, and the potential ramifications of a process being identified as being critical. Despite the difficulties, the outcome should be a better understanding of what drives the business.