Impact of Organization Problems (Fl) on
Implementation Problems (F2)
To be considered for implementation, a strategic information systems plan must be
based on top management's perspective and charter of the world [45] or top management
will not authorize implementation. The plan must therefore assess organizational
goals and strategies. The failure to consider these goals and strategies sufficiently (item
no. 9 under Fl in Table 2), the Information Systems Department's objectives (no. 2
in Fl), and its current applications portfolio (no. 1 in Fl) will cause top management
to doubt that the plan is consistent with its needs and expectations (no. 15 in F2).
Indeed, the plan's insufficient attention to business goals and strategy may suggest to
top management that information systems management is unaware of critical business
issues (while the plan's excessive attention to data models and dataflow diagrams
might suggest to top management that information systems management is preoccu-
pied with technology). Top management may, therefore, refrain from supporting the
plan's implementation (no. 16 in F2).
The failure to involve users (no. 13 in Fl) will inspire them to doubt that the plan
will meet their current, urgent needs. Thus, they will refrain from supporting the
implementation (no. 20 in F2) of the plan's applications and press instead for other
applications.
The failure to consider the organization's goals and objectives sufficiently (no. 9 in
Fl), the current applications portfolio (no. 1 in Fl), and other characteristics of the
organization (such as its anticipated growth or shrinkage—no. 35 in Fl) can cause the
final document to be not very useful (no. 41 in F2) because it will require further
analysis (no. 19 in F2) later on to permit implementation of the applications in the
plan. The methodology's insufficient consideration of organizational goals and strategies
(no. 9 in Fl) will require excessive top management involvement (no. 33 in F2)
to compensate for the methodology's shortcoming in quickly eliciting these goals and
objectives.