14.

1 – Policy and Strategy Issues

What is the difference between a ‘policy’ and a ‘strategy’?

A strategy is devised at the relevant

level of management and is a long-term
STRATEGY plan of change and improvement for an
organisation.

A policy is a document written to

structure and outline the strategy to
POLICY those that it affects and to those who
must implement it.
What is the purpose of policies and strategies?

“Policies and standards ensure that processes, procedures and deliverables are
consistent and meet the needs of the business, while complying with current
legislation. Policies should be clearly communicated through all levels of an
organisation detailing who is responsible for each policy and what onus that
places on individuals employed by the organisation.”

http://www.ogc.gov.uk/sdtoolkit/Reference/documentation/p23_policies.html
What is the purpose of policies and strategies?

“’Information’ is a resource, but one that has completely different properties

from other resources such as raw materials or stock. For one thing, it is not
depleted when it used. For another, it is difficult and usually undesirable to
keep exclusive ownership of information. It is usually regarded as a shared
resource within a company.
The challenge for management is to formulate an information management
policy that will help them manage computing resources in an effective and
profitable way, and maximise the benefits of information.”

Heathcote – ‘A Level ICT’ – Chapter 52 – page 288

What strategic elements should a policy contain?

STRATEGIC
PLANNING
ISSUES

Consistency with Hardware and

business priorities software choices

Centralisation or
Different user needs
decentralisation?
 STRATEGIC
Consistency with
PLANNING business priorities
ISSUES

A company’s information system strategy should be linked to its business

plan. This does not always happen.

One way to ensure that is is linked it to use the critical success factors
(CSF) approach. This means that senior managers have to identify the
company’s primary goals and what things must go right for the company to
succeed.

They then have to identify measures of performance for each of the CSFs
to make sure the information systems are in place to collect and use this
information.
 STRATEGIC
Consistency with
PLANNING business priorities
ISSUES
Example of CSF from
the Learning and
Skills Development
Agency

From their report on

Key Skills Support
 STRATEGIC
Consistency with
PLANNING business priorities
ISSUES
A part of the
‘measures of
performance’ section
for CSF 1

Each section is further

broken down into
review questions for
checking the
implementation of the
policy
 STRATEGIC
Centralisation or
PLANNING decentralisation?
ISSUES

Other
Centralised Department
Information
Systems
Department
Other
Department
In a centralised system, the ISD has responsibility
for planning and control of processing,
maintenance of hardware and software and Other
development of new computerised information Department
systems.
 STRATEGIC
Centralisation or
PLANNING decentralisation?
ISSUES

Other
Centralised Department
Information
Systems
Department
Other
Department

This has the advantage of providing a central

pool of expertise and better control over what
Other
hardware and software is purchased.
Department
 STRATEGIC
Centralisation or
PLANNING decentralisation?
ISSUES

Other
Centralised Department
Information
Systems
Department
Other
Department

Arrows away from the ISD show the flow of

information and equipment towards all other
Other
departments from the central point.
Department
 STRATEGIC
Centralisation or
PLANNING decentralisation?
ISSUES

Other
Centralised Department
Information
Systems
Department
Other
Department

Arrows towards the ISD show the flow of

requests for information and equipment from
Other
all other departments to the central point.
Department
 STRATEGIC
Centralisation or
PLANNING decentralisation?
ISSUES
Other
Other Department
Department

Other
In a decentralised system, there is no ISD, so Department
responsibility for planning and control of processing,
maintenance of hardware and software and development
of new computerised information systems falls to each
individual department.
 STRATEGIC
Centralisation or
PLANNING decentralisation?
ISSUES
Other
Other Department
Department

Other
Department
Arrows between each department show possible requests
for information and equipment sharing / advice. The
trend in large organisations is towards this type of
model.
 STRATEGIC
Centralisation or
PLANNING decentralisation?
ISSUES
Other
Other Department
Department

Other
The advantages of this system are that it allows users in Department
the individual departments to develop their own
applications and it lessens the dependence on a central
ISD. It may also be faster to sort out problems.
STRATEGIC
Centralisation or
PLANNING decentralisation?
ISSUES
Other
Other Department
Department

Other
Department
MANAGEMEN
T
Management could monitor the information systems
situation centrally, agreeing to requests for hardware /
software purchases, etc.
 STRATEGIC
PLANNING Different user needs
ISSUES
A medium to large business
using computers will have a
huge range of different types of
users, each with their own
requirements.

For instance, those circled in

red will interact directly with
the computer system itself.
Others are called ‘end-users’.
 STRATEGIC
PLANNING Different user needs
ISSUES

M anagem ent
M a n a g e rs In f o r m a tio n
S y s te m s
In f o r m a tio n K n o w le d g e W o r k
w o rk e rs S y s te m s

P r o d u c tio n D a ta P r o c e s s in g /
w o rk e rs T r a n s a c tio n P r o c e s s in g
S y s te m s

Users at all levels of the organisations information system (transaction, knowledge

work and management support) will have different needs.
 STRATEGIC
PLANNING Different user needs
ISSUES
However, all users require that
software is easy to use and has
enough features to help them
get their jobs done as
efficiently as possible.

They would also like hardware

that is sufficiently powerful to
run the software without
frustrating delays.
 STRATEGIC
Hardware and
PLANNING software choices
ISSUES

Advantages of centralised control include:

•All hardware within company will be compatible and can be
linked in company-wide network;
•Purchasing power increased if high volume;
•Better deals on maintenance contracts;
•Employees will not have to learn new systems if they move to
another department;
 STRATEGIC
Hardware and
PLANNING software choices
ISSUES
•Training simplified for people using the same software from
many departments;
•Site licences can be purchased for software;
•Better control over unlicensed software;
•Data can be exchanged more easily between similar types of
computer.
Using different types of computer (PC, Mac) creates problems
since most software is not cross-platform.
 STRATEGIC
Hardware and
PLANNING software choices
ISSUES
What are the issues with choice of hardware and software?

•Upgrading issues – should the whole organisation be upgraded or one

department at a time? Will this cause compatibility problems?
•Legacy systems – old but still working reliably. Should they be replaced with
new systems?
•Future proofing hardware and software purchases may be impossible
•Emulation software could work with a new system but it may not run 100% of
the software.