IS Strategy and Governance

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2010:

Students who are enrolled in the two year 200 point Master of Information Systems must have completed 50 points of study to enrol in this subject.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study and reasonable steps will be made to enhance a student’s participation in the University’s programs. Students who feel their disability may impact upon their active and safe participation in a subject are encouraged to discuss this with the relevant subject coordinator and the Disability Liaison Unit.

Strategic IS management is an increasingly important management activity as organizations realize that appropriate use (or misuse) of information and information technology can have significant effects on their competitive position. Using case studies from practice, this subject discusses the major approaches to formulating and implementing IS strategic plans. Topics include: IS strategy and its connection to business strategy and business models; theoretical and practical approaches to formulating IS strategy; enterprise architecture as strategy; IS governance; implementation as related to the content and context of IS strategy; and evaluating the success of an IS strategy.

Upon completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• recognize the strategic potential and impact of information and knowledge management systems;
• identify the potential of different technologies in different contexts in giving strategic advantage;
• recognize the management issues which need to be addressed in harnessing this potential;
• be able to address leadership and team-building issues in maturing organizational ability to manage IT;
• recognize the global potential to the company from the new information technologies;
• determine means of managing value for money from information technology/e-business investments;
• play a significant role in strategic information management within their company and with partner organizations, and/or on behalf of clients.

There are no prescribed texts for this subject. However, a book of readings will be provided and frequent reference will be made to:

• Weill, P. and Ross, J. IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results, Harvard Business School Press 2004.
• Ross, J.W., Weill, P. and Robertson, D.C. Enterprise Architecture as Strategy, Creating a Foundation for Business Execution, Harvard Business School Press 2006.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.