business planning information system

Strategic Information System: Planning and Examples

A Strategic Information System (SIS) is a type of information system developed in response to corporate business initiatives. These systems play an integral role in an organization’s strategic planning, allowing it to gain a competitive advantage by effectively aggregating, processing, and managing data to inform decision-making.

Here are some key characteristics of SIS:

• Support for Decision Making:  SIS is specifically designed to support the decision-making process in an organization. It provides useful information to executives and managers who need data to make strategic decisions.
• Competitive Advantage:  SIS can give a company a competitive edge by providing unique and valuable insights. It can help identify opportunities and threats in the market, giving the company a strategic advantage over its competitors.
• Alignment with Strategy:  A strategic information system should be closely aligned with an organization’s business strategy. It should help in achieving the long-term goals and objectives of the company.
• High-level Management:  SIS is typically used by high-level management as it helps in strategic planning and decision-making.
• Integration of Data:  SIS can integrate data from various sources, both internal and external, to provide a holistic view of the organization’s performance and the market.

Strategic Control: Types | Examples | Systems

Strategic information system planning

Strategic Information System Planning (SISP) is the process of identifying a portfolio of computer-based applications that will assist an organization in executing its business plans and realizing its business goals. SISP is one of the most important IS practices, linking strategic business planning and IS planning.

The purpose of SISP is to ensure that technology and information systems are fully aligned with the strategic objectives and priorities of the organization. It involves analyzing the current state of the organization’s systems, defining the future state of these systems, and developing a plan to achieve this future state.

Here are the key steps often involved in SISP:

• Identification of Strategic Business Objectives:  The first step is to understand the business’s strategic goals. This involves discussions with senior leadership and analyzing the business’s strategic plan.
• Current Systems Assessment:  The organization’s existing information systems are evaluated to determine their effectiveness in meeting current and future business needs.
• Information Requirements Analysis:  The business’s information needs are analyzed. This step involves understanding what information is required, who needs it when they need it, and how it should be delivered.
• Gap Analysis:  The gap between the current state of the organization’s systems and the desired future state is identified.
• Development of the SISP:  The Strategic Information Systems Plan is developed, outlining the initiatives that will be taken to close the gap identified in the previous step.
• Implementation of the SISP:  The plan is put into action, often involving the acquisition of new systems, modification of existing systems, and changes to business processes.
• Review and Update:  The SISP is regularly reviewed and updated to ensure it remains aligned with the organization’s strategic objectives and to account for changes in technology and the business environment.

SISP can provide several benefits, including improved alignment between IT and business strategy, better communication and understanding between IT and business stakeholders, and a clear roadmap for developing and acquiring information systems.

Example of strategic information system planning

Let’s use the example of a manufacturing company implementing Strategic Information System Planning (SISP) to improve its operational efficiency and market competitiveness.

• Identification of Strategic Business Objectives:  The company’s strategic business objectives are to increase operational efficiency, reduce costs, and improve product quality to gain a larger market share.
• Current Systems Assessment:  The current information systems are assessed, and the company finds that its existing systems need to be updated, resulting in inefficiencies, high error rates, and a lack of real-time data for decision-making.
• Information Requirements Analysis:  The company determines that it needs real-time information on production, inventory, and sales data to improve decision-making. The organization also requires better quality control, forecasting, and strategic planning analytics.
• Gap Analysis:  There’s a significant gap between the company’s IT capabilities and needs. The outdated systems can’t provide real-time data or sophisticated analytics, and they’re not well integrated, leading to data silos and inefficiencies.
• Development of the SISP:  The company develops a Strategic Information Systems Plan to bridge the gap. This plan involves implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to integrate different business processes, a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for real-time production monitoring, and a Business Intelligence (BI) system for advanced analytics. The plan also includes data migration, system integration, staff training, and change management steps.
• Implementation of the SISP:  The company implements the SISP over a multi-year period, taking a phased approach to minimize disruption. The new systems are implemented, staff is trained, and changes are managed carefully to ensure a smooth transition.
• Review and Update:  Once the new systems are in place, they’re continually monitored to ensure they deliver the expected benefits. The SISP is also reviewed and updated regularly to accommodate changes in business strategy or technology trends.

In this scenario, the company has used SISP to align its IT systems with its strategic business objectives, giving it the tools it needs to achieve its goals of improved efficiency, cost reduction, and enhanced product quality. The company can now make real-time data-driven decisions, improve its production process, and understand market trends better with advanced analytics, thereby gaining a competitive advantage.

Strategic Alignment: Explained with Examples

Examples of strategic information system

Strategic Information Systems (SIS) help organizations gain a competitive advantage, improve performance, and achieve operational excellence. Here are a few examples of such systems:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems:  CRMs manage an organization’s interactions with current and potential customers. They use customer history data analysis to improve business relationships, focusing specifically on customer retention and driving sales growth. Salesforce and HubSpot are common examples of CRM systems.
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems:  ERPs are comprehensive systems that manage and integrate the organization’s major business processes. They can streamline processes, provide real-time reporting and analytics, and help increase efficiency and productivity. Common examples of ERP systems are SAP and Oracle.
• Supply Chain Management (SCM) Systems:  These systems manage the flow of goods, data, and finances related to a product or service from the initial procurement of raw materials to the delivery of the product at its final destination. SCM systems like Oracle SCM Cloud and SAP SCM can provide a strategic edge by enhancing the efficiency of the supply chain and reducing costs.
• Executive Information Systems (EIS):  EIS, also known as Executive Support Systems (ESS), provide various internal and external information to top executives and decision-makers, allowing them to track business performance and make strategic decisions. EIS platforms can pull data from numerous sources, offering a comprehensive view of business operations.
• Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics Systems:  These systems analyze business data to provide actionable insights, helping an organization make informed decisions. They allow for trend analysis, forecasting, and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs). Examples of these systems include Tableau, Power BI, and Looker.
• Knowledge Management Systems (KMS):  KMS help organizations capture, distribute, and effectively use their collective knowledge. They can enhance decision-making, foster innovation, and improve customer service. Examples include Atlassian Confluence and Microsoft SharePoint.

Remember, while these systems have strategic potential, their effectiveness depends on how well they align with the organization’s overall strategy and how well they’re implemented and used within the organization.

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A better way to drive your business

Managing the availability of supply to meet volatile demand has never been easy. Even before the unprecedented challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, synchronizing supply and demand was a perennial struggle for most businesses. In a survey of 54 senior executives, only about one in four believed that the processes of their companies balanced cross-functional trade-offs effectively or facilitated decision making to help the P&L of the full business.

That’s not because of a lack of effort. Most companies have made strides to strengthen their planning capabilities in recent years. Many have replaced their processes for sales and operations planning (S&OP) with the more sophisticated approach of integrated business planning (IBP), which shows great promise, a conclusion based on an in-depth view of the processes used by many leading companies around the world (see sidebar “Understanding IBP”). Assessments of more than 170 companies, collected over five years, provide insights into the value created by IBP implementations that work well—and the reasons many IBP implementations don’t.

Understanding IBP

Integrated business planning is a powerful process that could become central to how a company runs its business. It is one generation beyond sales and operations planning. Three essential differentiators add up to a unique business-steering capability:

• Full business scope. Beyond balancing sales and operations planning, integrated business planning (IBP) synchronizes all of a company’s mid- and long-term plans, including the management of revenues, product pipelines and portfolios, strategic projects and capital investments, inventory policies and deployment, procurement strategies, and joint capacity plans with external partners. It does this in all relevant parts of the organization, from the site level through regions and business units and often up to a corporate-level plan for the full business.
• Risk management, alongside strategy and performance reviews. Best-practice IBP uses scenario planning to drive decisions. In every stage of the process, there are varying degrees of confidence about how the future will play out—how much revenue is reasonably certain as a result of consistent consumption patterns, how much additional demand might emerge if certain events happen, and how much unusual or extreme occurrences might affect that additional demand. These layers are assessed against business targets, and options for mitigating actions and potential gap closures are evaluated and chosen.
• Real-time financials. To ensure consistency between volume-based planning and financial projections (that is, value-based planning), IBP promotes strong links between operational and financial planning. This helps to eliminate surprises that may otherwise become apparent only in quarterly or year-end reviews.

An effective IBP process consists of five essential building blocks: a business-backed design; high-quality process management, including inputs and outputs; accountability and performance management; the effective use of data, analytics, and technology; and specialized organizational roles and capabilities (Exhibit 1). Our research finds that mature IBP processes can significantly improve coordination and reduce the number of surprises. Compared with companies that lack a well-functioning IBP process, the average mature IBP practitioner realizes one or two additional percentage points in EBIT. Service levels are five to 20 percentage points higher. Freight costs and capital intensity are 10 to 15 percent lower—and customer delivery penalties and missed sales are 40 to 50 percent lower. IBP technology and process discipline can also make planners 10 to 20 percent more productive.

When IBP processes are set up correctly, they help companies to make and execute plans and to monitor, simulate, and adapt their strategic assumptions and choices to succeed in their markets. However, leaders must treat IBP not just as a planning-process upgrade but also as a company-wide business initiative (see sidebar “IBP in action” for a best-in-class example).

IBP in action

One global manufacturer set up its integrated business planning (IBP) system as the sole way it ran its entire business, creating a standardized, integrated process for strategic, tactical, and operational planning. Although the company had previously had a sales and operations planning (S&OP) process, it had been owned and led solely by the supply chain function. Beyond S&OP, the sales function forecast demand in aggregate dollar value at the category level and over short time horizons. Finance did its own projections of the quarterly P&L, and data from day-by-day execution fed back into S&OP only at the start of a new monthly cycle.

The CEO endorsed a new way of running regional P&Ls and rolling up plans to the global level. The company designed its IBP process so that all regional general managers owned the regional IBP by sponsoring the integrated decision cycles (following a global design) and by ensuring functional ownership of the decision meetings. At the global level, the COO served as tiebreaker whenever decisions—such as procurement strategies for global commodities, investments in new facilities for global product launches, or the reconfiguration of a product’s supply chain—cut across regional interests.

To enable IBP to deliver its impact, the company conducted a structured process assessment to evaluate the maturity of all inputs into IBP. It then set out to redesign, in detail, its processes for planning demand and supply, inventory strategies, parametrization, and target setting, so that IBP would work with best-practice inputs. To encourage collaboration, leaders also started to redefine the performance management system so that it included clear accountability for not only the metrics that each function controlled but also shared metrics. Finally, digital dashboards were developed to track and monitor the realization of benefits for individual functions, regional leaders, and the global IBP team.

A critical component of the IBP rollout was creating a company-wide awareness of its benefits and the leaders’ expectations for the quality of managers’ contributions and decision-making discipline. To educate and show commitment from the CEO down, this information was rolled out in a campaign of town halls and media communications to all employees. The company also set up a formal capability-building program for the leaders and participants in the IBP decision cycle.

Rolled out in every region, the new training helps people learn how to run an effective IBP cycle, to recognize the signs of good process management, and to internalize decision authority, thresholds, and escalation paths. Within a few months, the new process, led by a confident and motivated leadership team, enabled closer company-wide collaboration during tumultuous market conditions. That offset price inflation for materials (which adversely affected peers) and maintained the company’s EBITDA performance.

Our research shows that these high-maturity IBP examples are in the minority. In practice, few companies use the IBP process to support effective decision making (Exhibit 2). For two-thirds of the organizations in our data set, IBP meetings are periodic business reviews rather than an integral part of the continuous cycle of decisions and adjustments needed to keep organizations aligned with their strategic and tactical goals. Some companies delegate IBP to junior staff. The frequency of meetings averages one a month. That can make these processes especially ineffective—lacking either the senior-level participation for making consequential strategic decisions or the frequency for timely operational reactions.

Finally, most companies struggle to turn their plans into effective actions: critical metrics and responsibilities are not aligned across functions, so it’s hard to steer the business in a collaborative way. Who is responsible for the accuracy of forecasts? What steps will be taken to improve it? How about adherence to the plan? Are functions incentivized to hold excess inventory? Less than 10 percent of all companies have a performance management system that encourages the right behavior across the organization.

By contrast, at the most effective organizations, IBP meetings are all about decisions and their impact on the P&L—an impact enabled by focused metrics and incentives for collaboration. Relevant inputs (data, insights, and decision scenarios) are diligently prepared and syndicated before meetings to help decision makers make the right choices quickly and effectively. These companies support IBP by managing their short-term planning decisions prescriptively, specifying thresholds to distinguish changes immediately integrated into existing plans from day-to-day noise. Within such boundaries, real-time daily decisions are made in accordance with the objectives of the entire business, not siloed frontline functions. This responsive execution is tightly linked with the IBP process, so that the fact base is always up-to-date for the next planning iteration.

A better plan for IBP

In our experience, integrated business planning can help a business succeed in a sustainable way if three conditions are met. First, the process must be designed for the P&L owner, not individual functions in the business. Second, processes are built for purpose, not from generic best-practice templates. Finally, the people involved in the process have the authority, skills, and confidence to make relevant, consequential decisions.

Design for the P&L owner

IBP gives leaders a systematic opportunity to unlock P&L performance by coordinating strategies and tactics across traditional business functions. This doesn’t mean that IBP won’t function as a business review process, but it is more effective when focused on decisions in the interest of the whole business. An IBP process designed to help P&L owners make effective decisions as they run the company creates requirements different from those of a process owned by individual functions, such as supply chain or manufacturing.

One fundamental requirement is senior-level participation from all stakeholder functions and business areas, so that decisions can be made in every meeting. The design of the IBP cycle, including preparatory work preceding decision-making meetings, should help leaders make general decisions or resolve minor issues outside of formal milestone meetings. It should also focus the attention of P&L leaders on the most important and pressing issues. These goals can be achieved with disciplined approaches to evaluating the impact of decisions and with financial thresholds that determine what is brought to the attention of the P&L leader.

The aggregated output of the IBP process would be a full, risk-evaluated business plan covering a midterm planning horizon. This plan then becomes the only accepted and executed plan across the organization. The objective isn’t a single hard number. It is an accepted, unified view of which new products will come online and when, and how they will affect the performance of the overall portfolio. The plan will also take into account the variabilities and uncertainties of the business: demand expectations, how the company will respond to supply constraints, and so on. Layered risks and opportunities and aligned actions across stakeholders indicate how to execute the plan.

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Trade-offs arising from risks and opportunities in realizing revenues, margins, or cost objectives are determined by the P&L owner at the level where those trade-offs arise—local for local, global for global. To make this possible, data visible in real time and support for decision making in meetings are essential. This approach works best in companies with strong data governance processes and tools, which increase confidence in the objectivity of the IBP process and support for implementing the resulting decisions. In addition, senior leaders can demonstrate their commitment to the value and the standards of IBP by participating in the process, sponsoring capability-building efforts for the teams that contribute inputs to the IBP, and owning decisions and outcomes.

Fit-for-purpose process design and frequency

To make IBP a value-adding capability, the business will probably need to redesign its planning processes from a clean sheet.

First, clean sheeting IBP means that it should be considered and designed from the decision maker’s perspective. What information does a P&L owner need to make a decision on a given topic? What possible scenarios should that leader consider, and what would be their monetary and nonmonetary impact? The IBP process can standardize this information—for example, by summarizing it in templates so that the responsible parties know, up front, which data, analytics, and impact information to provide.

Second, essential inputs into IBP determine its quality. These inputs include consistency in the way planners use data, methods, and systems to make accurate forecasts, manage constraints, simulate scenarios, and close the loop from planning to the production shopfloor by optimizing schedules, monitoring adherence, and using incentives to manufacture according to plan.

Determining the frequency of the IBP cycle, and its timely integration with tactical execution processes, would also be part of this redesign. Big items—such as capacity investments and divestments, new-product introductions, and line extensions—should be reviewed regularly. Monthly reviews are typical, but a quarterly cadence may also be appropriate in situations with less frequent changes. Weekly iterations then optimize the plan in response to confirmed orders, short-term capacity constraints, or other unpredictable events. The bidirectional link between planning and execution must be strong, and investments in technology may be required to better connect them, so that they use the same data repository and have continuous-feedback loops.

Authorize consequential decision making

Finally, every IBP process step needs autonomous decision making for the problems in its scope, as well as a clear path to escalate, if necessary. The design of the process must therefore include decision-type authority, decision thresholds, and escalation paths. Capability-building interventions should support teams to ensure disciplined and effective decision making—and that means enforcing participation discipline, as well. The failure of a few key stakeholders to prioritize participation can undermine the whole process.

Decision-making autonomy is also relevant for short-term planning and execution. Success in tactical execution depends on how early a problem is identified and how quickly and effectively it is resolved. A good execution framework includes, for example, a classification of possible events, along with resolution guidelines based on root cause methodology. It should also specify the thresholds, in scope and scale of impact, for operational decision making and the escalation path if those thresholds are met.

Transforming supply chains: Do you have the skills to accelerate your capabilities?

In addition to guidelines for decision making, the cross-functional team in charge of executing the plan needs autonomy to decide on a course of action for events outside the original plan, as well as the authority to see those actions implemented. Clear integration points between tactical execution and the IBP process protect the latter’s focus on midterm decision making and help tactical teams execute in response to immediate market needs.

An opportunity, but no ‘silver bullet’

With all the elements described above, IBP has a solid foundation to create value for a business. But IBP is no silver bullet. To achieve a top-performing supply chain combining timely and complete customer service with optimal cost and capital expenditures, companies also need mature planning and fulfillment processes using advanced systems and tools. That would include robust planning discipline and a collaboration culture covering all time horizons with appropriate processes while integrating commercial, planning, manufacturing, logistics, and sourcing organizations at all relevant levels.

As more companies implement advanced planning systems and nerve centers , the typical monthly IBP frequency might no longer be appropriate. Some companies may need to spend more time on short-term execution by increasing the frequency of planning and replanning. Others may be able to retain a quarterly IBP process, along with a robust autonomous-planning or exception engine. Already, advanced planning systems not only direct the valuable time of experts to the most critical demand and supply imbalances but also aggregate and disaggregate large volumes of data on the back end. These targeted reactions are part of a critical learning mechanism for the supply chain.

Over time, with root cause analyses and cross-functional collaboration on systemic fixes, the supply chain’s nerve center can get smarter at executing plans, separating noise from real issues, and proactively managing deviations. All this can eventually shorten IBP cycles, without the risk of overreacting to noise, and give P&L owners real-time transparency into how their decisions might affect performance.

P&L owners thinking about upgrading their S&OP or IBP processes can’t rely on textbook checklists. Instead, they can assume leadership of IBP and help their organizations turn strategies and plans into effective actions. To do so, they must sponsor IBP as a cross-functional driver of business decisions, fed by thoughtfully designed processes and aligned decision rights, as well as a performance management and capability-building system that encourages the right behavior and learning mechanisms across the organization. As integrated planning matures, supported by appropriate technology and maturing supply chain–management practices, it could shorten decision times and accelerate its impact on the business.

Elena Dumitrescu is a senior knowledge expert in McKinsey’s Toronto office, Matt Jochim is a partner in the London office, and Ali Sankur is a senior expert and associate partner in the Chicago office, where Ketan Shah is a partner.

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Integrated planning: The key to agile enterprise performance management

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Table of contents

What is integrated planning, change as a given: the truth about plans, planning across the organization, the ultimate integrated planning solution.

• Need for real-time insights
• Integrated planning
• Agile and ready organizations
• Integrated planning drives better results

Integration is key to streamlined planning, budgeting, and forecasting. In order to adapt to today's quickly changing business conditions, you need an enterprise performance management solution that creates a single source of truth and delivers speed and agility to your planning process.

Did you know that 33 percent of critical information is delivered late?

The delay of critical information can cause a ripple effect that drives poor decision making and poor results. Today’s business simply cannot afford this type of cost in our customer-centric environment, where data is one of our most valuable assets. To stay ahead of the competition, businesses rely on a solution that can deliver acceleration, agility, and collaboration in every part of the organization.

Integrated planning ensures all parts of the organization are connected and planning is streamlined.

A must in the culture of “now.”

In virtually all industries, work has become more interactive and collaborative. More sharing is required, and more data is available than ever before. Success means integrating information across strategic and operational perspectives, as well as different functional and external sources.

Integrated planning mirrors the modern way we do business — it elevates the critical value of collaboration and cuts through data silos, driving more access to information and faster insights. Leaders use highly collaborative approaches to plan, budget, and forecast. Business planning requires accurate and complete data and buy-in across the entire organization, both from the top down and the bottom up. It sounds simple, but organizational silos are some of the biggest obstacles to accomplishing good work because they hinder critical decisions that strategically steer the business. And at the modern enterprise, silos are everywhere.

Integrated planning starts with a sophisticated planning platform that everyone in the organization can use, creating one source of truth. Data from diverse data sources such as ERPs, CRMs, and HRMs is unified, so users can access the information they need when they need it. Integrated planning helps ensure that plans, budgets, and forecasts are created with a holistic approach. Trends are easier to spot and quickly act on with more accurate and reliable plans. According to analysts at the Aberdeen Group , those organizations that champion data accessibility and collaboration between stakeholders promote organizational accountability and decrease time-to-decisions while increasing revenue. 1

The fact of the matter is that without effective communication, coordination, and collaboration between stakeholders, there is no way to improve organizational performance. 1

Bringing together people, data, and technology leaves organizations well-poised for optimal performance. Most importantly, integrated planning enables employees to be agile in responding to changing circumstances and able make the best decisions possible — all at the speed of modern business.

According to an Aberdeen study, 1 leaders who adopt enterprise performance management tools show a keen understanding of the importance of collaboration. They recognize that to make data driven decisions, they need to make all information accessible by integrating data and breaking down silos. Figure 1 shows steps taken by leaders to democratize data and drive more accurate forecasts.

Leaders put a high value on data integration and accessibility. They see the value of providing real-time data to decision makers and taking the guesswork out of forecasting. These strategies create comprehensive, actionable visibility into overall company performance and drive better results.

Gartner Predicts by 2020, at least 25 percent of large organizations will increase planning accuracy by integrating key operational planning processes with financial planning and analysis. 2

Do you have an integrated view of your data?

I do not feel confident in where to find comprehensive data, even for just my department

I have a good handle on my own departmental data (but only mine)

I have access to my data and that of other departments that impact my planning

IBM Planning Analytics helps Deutsche Bahn unite its global enterprise

Deutsche Bahn AG is a German railway company, and one of the largest IBM Planning Analytics customers with over 6,000 users worldwide. Deutsche Bahn uses IBM Planning Analytics to unite their wide-ranging operations across the globe, ensuring that the most accurate data is being used to create critical plans and forecasts that drive their business forward.

The truth about plans is that they always change. The goal of a dynamic, integrated planning approach is not to create a perfect, fixed plan. It’s to use all the resources available to create the most accurate, flexible and transparent plan possible, using a solution that does more than just plan — it analyzes data, reveals trends, and allows for real-time iteration.

Better, quicker access to data means faster and more informed decisions, laying the foundation for an organization to be agile and ready to pivot when changing business conditions demand.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “great, the finance team integrates all our plans, so we are off the hook,” think again. While we’d like to think that finance is the well-informed master of plans, miraculously weaving them together in perfect harmony and balance, that’s not always the case. In fact, it rarely is. Many, many finance teams rely on the manual collection of data into spreadsheets, which are often disconnected. Remember that much of an organization’s critical planning starts outside of finance and never gets communicated back up the chain or across the organization. There are simply too many top-down and bottom-up communication problems. Spreadsheets only complicate smooth communications. When a finance person is collecting and analyzing budget spreadsheets from across the organization, there is high risk for error in the process of combining and editing, causing confusion at the highest levels. Contradictory data can inhibit a clear picture of what is actually going on and identifying business drivers or detractors. Spreadsheets have proven over and over to be a highly imperfect yet highly common business practice.

With real-time access to data, companies take the guesswork out of planning, decreasing time involved in forecasting and increasing forecast accuracy. 3

Bye bye, silos. Hello, cross-functional planning.

A centralized, automated solution for performance data and planning allows coordination between different parts of the business and enables more streamlined, accurate plans. Leadership needs to understand what is truly driving the business — what causes increases and decreases in revenue or demand. At every level, access to a full range of data is critical to understanding how change (both internal and external) impacts the business. Though planning often starts with finance, other areas of the business can benefit from a dynamic planning solution as well. Let’s dive into a few use cases.

Supply chain planning

The term “operations” covers an enormous range of business activities. But one that’s almost universal is supply chain management. Supply chain planners are under constant pressure to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve margins. Unfortunately, too many of them lack visibility into data and are misaligned with other teams. One centralized tool can help connect operational tactics with financial plans to allocate resources more effectively in response to market opportunities or competitive threats. This helps planners avoid mismatched data across multiple spreadsheets and enables them to pivot in the case of supply chain disruptions.

“ Our managers all have quick, easy access to the latest operational data via detailed reports that help them make better-informed decisions to improve the efficiency of the entire supply chain. ”

- Homarjun Agrahari, Director, Advanced Analytics, FleetPride

Learn more about supply chain planning

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Workforce planning

A company is only as good its people. That’s why it’s so important to hire and retain the right talent. Alignment between HR, finance and operations is crucial to ensure that the right people are in the right roles at the right time in order to meet organizational demands. This is rarely a simple task and too often it involves manual spreadsheet-based processes. Ensuring that departmental staffing targets are in sync with broader organizational objectives requires high levels of planning integration.

“ Our business is based on people. IBM Analytics is helping us manage that critical asset much more efficiently and effectively than ever before. ”

- Nadia Bertoncini, Coordinator of Governance, Projects and HR Analytics for Latin America, Natura Cosméticos

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Sales planning

Misalignment between finance, marketing and sales could lead to investment in the wrong initiatives, missed opportunities and inaccurate revenue forecasts that can severely hinder sales growth. And in a fast-moving market, manual processes and siloed systems are detrimental to agility. Decisions that are based on outdated information can lead to misguided sales strategies and thus lost sales and lost revenue. It’s critical to unite data under one roof for one single view to boost sales and effectively manage sales people.

“ The sheer level of detail that IBM Planning Analytics provides is very impressive … We can calculate our sales and gross margins for each SKU in IBM Planning Analytics and generate insightful reports at the click of a button. As a result, senior managers can rapidly access the comprehensive information they need to make effective strategic decisions. ”

- Vince Mertens, Group Accounting and Consolidation Manager, Continental Foods

Learn more about sales planning

Marketing planning

Constantly changing customer preferences and rising customer expectations require marketers to interpret high volumes of data and respond appropriately. But siloed data systems give only a partial picture and hinder smart decision-making. In addition, marketing teams can be fragmented and often disconnected from sales. Siloed planning causes misalignment with overall marketing goals, driving misallocated spend on the wrong elements of the marketing mix. Manual, siloed processes reduce visibility into how marketing activities affect one another, how marketing and sales touches move a lead through the funnel and how marketing helps achieve overall financial and business goals.

“ We first needed a better handle on our sales data. With so many lines of business, channels, and franchisees, collecting and consolidating this information was something that we knew we could do better. ”

- Donald Neumann, Demand Manager, Grupo Boticário

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IT planning

With IT, you need a business case for every dollar spent. But balancing the IT needs of an entire organization with digital transformation objectives and constant technology innovation is no simple task, and often requires additional resources. That’s why it’s so important leverage a planning solution that keeps IT focused on the projects that matter, automates planning tasks, gives a clear view into resources available and helps measure ROI. It’s also critical to coordinate with both finance and human resources to ensure the right resources are provided for IT initiatives and projects.

“ A few years ago, my team probably spent around half their time just keeping everything running — now it’s around 10 percent. With the move to IBM Analytics in the IBM Cloud, we have 40 percent more time to focus on working with the business to add value. Instead of asking ‘how do I make it work?’ we ask ourselves ‘how do I make it better?’ It’s a quantum shift in mindset. ”

- Vimal Dev, Vice President – IT, Global Enterprise Applications Leader, Genpact

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Operations, sales, marketing, human resources and other departments and disciplines all have a need for fast, flexible planning and analysis. And all of them can use the same tools to provide insight and manage performance. When people in one part of the organization see how their decisions affect other parts of the organization, all of the activities will be better coordinated and drive better results. In fact, according to Aberdeen, leading organizations are those who align planning across departments at double the rate of laggards in areas like sales, marketing and finance.

Become a leader

With IBM Planning Analytics , you can break down silos and generate an integrated view of your departmental or organizational performance. The solution enables you to create more accurate forecasts, identify potential performance gaps before they occur and make resource allocation decisions quickly and intelligently. Using multidimensional modeling and scenario analysis, IBM Planning Analytics lets you drill down into your data to examine the ripple effects of alternative courses of action and understand how your decision will affect related areas of the organization and ultimately impact the bottom line.

Using what-if scenario analysis to make smarter decisions

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IBM Planning Analytics offers all areas of your business — finance, operations, HR, sales, marketing, operations, IT and more — the ability to solve problems today and respond to new challenges with agility tomorrow.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Information Systems Planning

• April 23, 2024

• Sourabh Hajela
• Executive Editor - CIO Strategies

This manual serves as an essential resource for managers looking to deploy effective and sustainable information systems, providing a clear, step-by-step planning guide. Excellent Read! (50 pgs)

This comprehensive manual provides health managers with an eight-step process for effectively planning and implementing information systems. It covers everything from initial system conceptualization to managing ongoing operations and scaling, emphasizing the importance of aligning technology solutions with delivery goals.

This Step-by-Step Guide to Information Systems Planning provides an essential framework for professionals developing and implementing technology systems across various industries. Designed to offer clear and actionable steps, it enables effective management and oversight of complex information system projects.

This guide to business information systems planning will help you understand:

• What is a business driven information system?
• How do we identify the business objectives for an information system?
• How to build a team to deliver an information system?
• How do we identify business requirements?
• How to identify, evaluate, and select an appropriate solution?
• How to pick the right vendor for the project?
• How to calculate system lifecycle costs?
• How to create an implementation plan?
• How to manage the implementation program?
• How do me measure success?

Today, robust information systems have become paramount. Organizations face the challenge of managing vast amounts of data, requiring systems that store and process information efficiently and align with strategic objectives and compliance standards.

Often, projects related to information systems suffer from inadequate initial planning, unclear objectives, and misalignment with broader organizational goals. These challenges can lead to systems that do not meet operational demands or fail to provide the scalability and flexibility needed for future growth.

Projects can quickly overrun budgets and timelines without a structured planning approach, leading to significant resource wastage. Stakeholders may find themselves locked into technology that does not adapt well to change, lacks necessary support, or becomes obsolete too quickly, compounding inefficiencies and stalling critical operational advancements.

This guide introduces an eight-step process tailored to navigate the complexities of planning and implementing information systems. Each step, from defining system requirements and selecting the right technology to vendor management and risk assessment, is designed to build a foundation that supports sustainable and scalable solutions. By following these structured steps, organizations can enhance their decision-making processes, optimize resource allocation, and ensure the implemented systems robustly support their strategic goals.

Adopting the methodologies outlined in this guide streamlines the planning and implementation phases and significantly reduces the risks associated with IT projects. Organizations are better positioned to leverage their information systems as strategic assets that drive growth, efficiency, and innovation in an increasingly digital world.

Main Contents

• Defining Project Outcomes and Objectives
• Assembling a Multidisciplinary Project Team
• Establishing System Requirements and Specifications
• Selecting Appropriate Technology Solutions and Vendors
• Managing Implementation and Assessing Project Risks

Key Takeaways

• Strategic Alignment: The guide emphasizes the importance of aligning the information system’s objectives with the organization's overall strategic goals, ensuring that the technology supports broader business operations.
• Comprehensive Planning: It outlines a detailed, step-by-step planning process that covers all critical aspects of system implementation, from initial concept to final execution, helping to mitigate common pitfalls that can derail projects.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Effective information system planning requires active involvement from various stakeholders across the organization. This guide details integrating diverse insights and needs into the planning process.
• Vendor Selection: Choosing the right vendors is crucial for the success of information systems projects. The guide provides criteria and strategies for evaluating and selecting technology providers that align with project needs and organizational values.
• Risk Management: It introduces a proactive approach to identifying, analyzing, and managing potential risks throughout the project lifecycle, vital for maintaining project scope, budget, and timelines.

This Step-by-Step Guide to Information Systems Planning is a robust resource for CIOs and IT leaders facing the intricate challenge of developing, maintaining, and expanding information systems within their organizations. These leaders can effectively address several common and complex issues by adhering to the detailed processes outlined in this guide.

• Enhance Alignment of IT with Business Objectives: The guide helps CIOs ensure that every aspect of their information system projects is aligned with the broader strategic goals of their organizations. By clearly defining outcomes and objectives, IT leaders can tailor their systems to support specific business needs, ensuring that IT initiatives drive the company's objectives.
• Standardize the Planning and Implementation Processes: The guide offers a standardized approach to managing information systems projects. A structured eight-step process helps CIOs systematically approach the acquisition, implementation, and management of IT resources, reducing variability and increasing the likelihood of project success.
• Optimize Resource Allocation: IT leaders can optimize human and financial resources by following the detailed steps for defining system requirements, selecting technology solutions, and managing vendor relationships. The guide provides strategies for evaluating and choosing the right technology solutions and vendors, ensuring investments are made in resources that provide the best value and support for organizational needs.
• Improve Risk Management: The guide includes comprehensive risk assessment and management strategies, allowing CIOs to identify potential risks early in the planning phase. By proactively understanding and managing these risks, IT leaders can mitigate factors derailing projects, such as scope creep, budget overruns, and technology mismatches.
• Facilitate Effective Stakeholder Engagement and Communication: Effective communication and stakeholder engagement are critical for the success of any IT project. This guide emphasizes the importance of involving all relevant stakeholders from the outset, ensuring that the system meets the diverse needs across the organization. It also helps build consensus and foster an environment where stakeholder concerns and suggestions are promptly addressed.
• Sustain and Scale IT Infrastructure Efficiently: The final steps of the guide focus on the sustainability and scalability of the implemented systems. For CIOs, this means establishing practices that ensure the system can evolve in response to changing organizational demands and technological advancements. The guide provides a blueprint for scaling operations efficiently and maintaining the system's effectiveness over its lifecycle.
• Leverage Practical Tools for Implementation: This guide not only theorizes best practices but also offers practical tools such as checklists, templates, and examples that CIOs can adapt for their specific context. These tools help translate strategic plans into actionable tasks, making the complex IT management process more manageable and concrete.

In conclusion, by incorporating the methodologies and tools from this Step-by-Step Guide to Information Systems Planning, CIOs and IT leaders can significantly enhance their IT projects' effectiveness, efficiency, and alignment. This supports the organization's operational needs and contributes strategically to its success and competitiveness in the market. This structured approach to information systems planning can make all the difference between delivering a system that drives business value and vaporware. MUST Read!

Don’t Miss These Related References:

• e-Book: A Step-by-Step Guide to IT Systems Strategy

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, critical success factors of strategic information systems planning: a delphi approach.

ISSN : 0368-492X

Article publication date: 31 January 2022

Issue publication date: 19 May 2023

Strategic information systems planning (SISP) has been identified as a key strategy underpinning an effective utilization of information systems (IS) to achieve the core objectives of an organization. This study aims at identifying, ranking and prioritizing factors that IS and business executives consider critical for the success of IS projects.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a qualitative research approach with a 3-round Delphi process to get experts' opinions on critical success factors (CSFs) necessary for successful SISP. A forty-two panel of experts was selected using defined criteria. Quantitative analyses of the data were performed using Kendall's coefficient of concordance and chi-square to obtain a consensus among the experts.

The findings revealed the top managers' understanding of strategic priorities, aligning IS strategies with the organizational strategic plan and availability of internal resources to deliver IS services as the first three key CSFs of SISP. Other highly ranked CSFs were the management's understanding of the role of IS and the need to educate top management on the importance of IT in supporting the business strategy.

Originality/value

The CSFs factors obtained in this study would lay a foundation for future research and could be incorporated into a new theoretical model of IS planning.

• Strategic information systems planning
• Delphi method
• Critical success factors
• Information systems
• IT/Business alignment
• Planning analysis
• Planning capabilities
• Cooperation
• IT resources

Yaokumah, W. , Omane-Antwi, B.B. and Asante-Offei, K.O. (2023), "Critical success factors of strategic information systems planning: a Delphi approach", Kybernetes , Vol. 52 No. 6, pp. 1999-2017. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-05-2021-0370

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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• Business strategy |
• 7 strategic planning models, plus 8 fra ...

7 strategic planning models, plus 8 frameworks to help you get started

Strategic planning is vital in defining where your business is going in the next three to five years. With the right strategic planning models and frameworks, you can uncover opportunities, identify risks, and create a strategic plan to fuel your organization’s success. We list the most popular models and frameworks and explain how you can combine them to create a strategic plan that fits your business.

A strategic plan is a great tool to help you hit your business goals . But sometimes, this tool needs to be updated to reflect new business priorities or changing market conditions. If you decide to use a model that already exists, you can benefit from a roadmap that’s already created. The model you choose can improve your knowledge of what works best in your organization, uncover unknown strengths and weaknesses, or help you find out how you can outpace your competitors.

In this article, we cover the most common strategic planning models and frameworks and explain when to use which one. Plus, get tips on how to apply them and which models and frameworks work well together. 

Strategic planning models vs. frameworks

First off: This is not a one-or-nothing scenario. You can use as many or as few strategic planning models and frameworks as you like. 

When your organization undergoes a strategic planning phase, you should first pick a model or two that you want to apply. This will provide you with a basic outline of the steps to take during the strategic planning process.

During that process, think of strategic planning frameworks as the tools in your toolbox. Many models suggest starting with a SWOT analysis or defining your vision and mission statements first. Depending on your goals, though, you may want to apply several different frameworks throughout the strategic planning process.

For example, if you’re applying a scenario-based strategic plan, you could start with a SWOT and PEST(LE) analysis to get a better overview of your current standing. If one of the weaknesses you identify has to do with your manufacturing process, you could apply the theory of constraints to improve bottlenecks and mitigate risks. 

Now that you know the difference between the two, learn more about the seven strategic planning models, as well as the eight most commonly used frameworks that go along with them.

1. Basic model

The basic strategic planning model is ideal for establishing your company’s vision, mission, business objectives, and values. This model helps you outline the specific steps you need to take to reach your goals, monitor progress to keep everyone on target, and address issues as they arise.

If it’s your first strategic planning session, the basic model is the way to go. Later on, you can embellish it with other models to adjust or rewrite your business strategy as needed. Let’s take a look at what kinds of businesses can benefit from this strategic planning model and how to apply it.

Small businesses or organizations

Companies with little to no strategic planning experience

Organizations with few resources 

Write your mission statement. Gather your planning team and have a brainstorming session. The more ideas you can collect early in this step, the more fun and rewarding the analysis phase will feel.

Identify your organization’s goals . Setting clear business goals will increase your team’s performance and positively impact their motivation.

Outline strategies that will help you reach your goals. Ask yourself what steps you have to take in order to reach these goals and break them down into long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals .

Create action plans to implement each of the strategies above. Action plans will keep teams motivated and your organization on target.

Monitor and revise the plan as you go . As with any strategic plan, it’s important to closely monitor if your company is implementing it successfully and how you can adjust it for a better outcome.

2. Issue-based model

Also called goal-based planning model, this is essentially an extension of the basic strategic planning model. It’s a bit more dynamic and very popular for companies that want to create a more comprehensive plan.

Organizations with basic strategic planning experience

Businesses that are looking for a more comprehensive plan

Conduct a SWOT analysis . Assess your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats with a SWOT analysis to get a better overview of what your strategic plan should focus on. We’ll give into how to conduct a SWOT analysis when we get into the strategic planning frameworks below.

Identify and prioritize major issues and/or goals. Based on your SWOT analysis, identify and prioritize what your strategic plan should focus on this time around.

Develop your main strategies that address these issues and/or goals. Aim to develop one overarching strategy that addresses your highest-priority goal and/or issue to keep this process as simple as possible.

Update or create a mission and vision statement . Make sure that your business’s statements align with your new or updated strategy. If you haven’t already, this is also a chance for you to define your organization’s values.

Create action plans. These will help you address your organization’s goals, resource needs, roles, and responsibilities. 

Develop a yearly operational plan document. This model works best if your business repeats the strategic plan implementation process on an annual basis, so use a yearly operational plan to capture your goals, progress, and opportunities for next time.

Allocate resources for your year-one operational plan. Whether you need funding or dedicated team members to implement your first strategic plan, now is the time to allocate all the resources you’ll need.

Monitor and revise the strategic plan. Record your lessons learned in the operational plan so you can revisit and improve it for the next strategic planning phase.

The issue-based plan can repeat on an annual basis (or less often once you resolve the issues). It’s important to update the plan every time it’s in action to ensure it’s still doing the best it can for your organization.

You don’t have to repeat the full process every year—rather, focus on what’s a priority during this run.

3. Alignment model

This model is also called strategic alignment model (SAM) and is one of the most popular strategic planning models. It helps you align your business and IT strategies with your organization’s strategic goals. 

You’ll have to consider four equally important, yet different perspectives when applying the alignment strategic planning model:

Strategy execution: The business strategy driving the model

Technology potential: The IT strategy supporting the business strategy

Competitive potential: Emerging IT capabilities that can create new products and services

Service level: Team members dedicated to creating the best IT system in the organization

Ideally, your strategy will check off all the criteria above—however, it’s more likely you’ll have to find a compromise. 

Here’s how to create a strategic plan using the alignment model and what kinds of companies can benefit from it.

Organizations that need to fine-tune their strategies

Businesses that want to uncover issues that prevent them from aligning with their mission

Companies that want to reassess objectives or correct problem areas that prevent them from growing

Outline your organization’s mission, programs, resources, and where support is needed. Before you can improve your statements and approaches, you need to define what exactly they are.

Identify what internal processes are working and which ones aren’t. Pinpoint which processes are causing problems, creating bottlenecks , or could otherwise use improving. Then prioritize which internal processes will have the biggest positive impact on your business.

Identify solutions. Work with the respective teams when you’re creating a new strategy to benefit from their experience and perspective on the current situation.

Update your strategic plan with the solutions. Update your strategic plan and monitor if implementing it is setting your business up for improvement or growth. If not, you may have to return to the drawing board and update your strategic plan with new solutions.

4. Scenario model

The scenario model works great if you combine it with other models like the basic or issue-based model. This model is particularly helpful if you need to consider external factors as well. These can be government regulations, technical, or demographic changes that may impact your business.

Organizations trying to identify strategic issues and goals caused by external factors

Identify external factors that influence your organization. For example, you should consider demographic, regulation, or environmental factors.

Review the worst case scenario the above factors could have on your organization. If you know what the worst case scenario for your business looks like, it’ll be much easier to prepare for it. Besides, it’ll take some of the pressure and surprise out of the mix, should a scenario similar to the one you create actually occur.

Identify and discuss two additional hypothetical organizational scenarios. On top of your worst case scenario, you’ll also want to define the best case and average case scenarios. Keep in mind that the worst case scenario from the previous step can often provoke strong motivation to change your organization for the better. However, discussing the other two will allow you to focus on the positive—the opportunities your business may have ahead.

Identify and suggest potential strategies or solutions. Everyone on the team should now brainstorm different ways your business could potentially respond to each of the three scenarios. Discuss the proposed strategies as a team afterward.

Uncover common considerations or strategies for your organization. There’s a good chance that your teammates come up with similar solutions. Decide which ones you like best as a team or create a new one together.

Identify the most likely scenario and the most reasonable strategy. Finally, examine which of the three scenarios is most likely to occur in the next three to five years and how your business should respond to potential changes.

5. Self-organizing model

Also called the organic planning model, the self-organizing model is a bit different from the linear approaches of the other models. You’ll have to be very patient with this method. 

This strategic planning model is all about focusing on the learning and growing process rather than achieving a specific goal. Since the organic model concentrates on continuous improvement , the process is never really over.

Large organizations that can afford to take their time

Businesses that prefer a more naturalistic, organic planning approach that revolves around common values, communication, and shared reflection

Companies that have a clear understanding of their vision

Define and communicate your organization’s cultural values . Your team can only think clearly and with solutions in mind when they have a clear understanding of your organization's values.

Communicate the planning group’s vision for the organization. Define and communicate the vision with everyone involved in the strategic planning process. This will align everyone’s ideas with your company’s vision.

Discuss what processes will help realize the organization’s vision on a regular basis. Meet every quarter to discuss strategies or tactics that will move your organization closer to realizing your vision.

6. Real-time model

This fluid model can help organizations that deal with rapid changes to their work environment. There are three levels of success in the real-time model: 

Organizational: At the organizational level, you’re forming strategies in response to opportunities or trends.

Programmatic: At the programmatic level, you have to decide how to respond to specific outcomes or environmental changes.

Operational: On the operational level, you will study internal systems, policies, and people to develop a strategy for your company.

Figuring out your competitive advantage can be difficult, but this is absolutely crucial to ensure success. Whether it’s a unique asset or strength your organization has or an outstanding execution of services or programs—it’s important that you can set yourself apart from others in the industry to succeed.

Companies that need to react quickly to changing environments

Businesses that are seeking new tools to help them align with their organizational strategy

Define your mission and vision statement. If you ever feel stuck formulating your company’s mission or vision statement, take a look at those of others. Maybe Asana’s vision statement sparks some inspiration.

Research, understand, and learn from competitor strategy and market trends. Pick a handful of competitors in your industry and find out how they’ve created success for themselves. How did they handle setbacks or challenges? What kinds of challenges did they even encounter? Are these common scenarios in the market? Learn from your competitors by finding out as much as you can about them.

Study external environments. At this point, you can combine the real-time model with the scenario model to find solutions to threats and opportunities outside of your control.

Conduct a SWOT analysis of your internal processes, systems, and resources. Besides the external factors your team has to consider, it’s also important to look at your company’s internal environment and how well you’re prepared for different scenarios.

Develop a strategy. Discuss the results of your SWOT analysis to develop a business strategy that builds toward organizational, programmatic, and operational success.

Rinse and repeat. Monitor how well the new strategy is working for your organization and repeat the planning process as needed to ensure you’re on top or, perhaps, ahead of the game. 

7. Inspirational model

This last strategic planning model is perfect to inspire and energize your team as they work toward your organization’s goals. It’s also a great way to introduce or reconnect your employees to your business strategy after a merger or acquisition.

Businesses with a dynamic and inspired start-up culture

Organizations looking for inspiration to reinvigorate the creative process

Companies looking for quick solutions and strategy shifts

Gather your team to discuss an inspirational vision for your organization. The more people you can gather for this process, the more input you will receive.

Brainstorm big, hairy audacious goals and ideas. Encouraging your team not to hold back with ideas that may seem ridiculous will do two things: for one, it will mitigate the fear of contributing bad ideas. But more importantly, it may lead to a genius idea or suggestion that your team wouldn’t have thought of if they felt like they had to think inside of the box.

Assess your organization’s resources. Find out if your company has the resources to implement your new ideas. If they don’t, you’ll have to either adjust your strategy or allocate more resources.

Develop a strategy balancing your resources and brainstorming ideas. Far-fetched ideas can grow into amazing opportunities but they can also bear great risk. Make sure to balance ideas with your strategic direction. 

Now, let’s dive into the most commonly used strategic frameworks.

8. SWOT analysis framework

One of the most popular strategic planning frameworks is the SWOT analysis . A SWOT analysis is a great first step in identifying areas of opportunity and risk—which can help you create a strategic plan that accounts for growth and prepares for threats.

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Here’s an example:

9. OKRs framework

A big part of strategic planning is setting goals for your company. That’s where OKRs come into play. 

OKRs stand for objective and key results—this goal-setting framework helps your organization set and achieve goals. It provides a somewhat holistic approach that you can use to connect your team’s work to your organization’s big-picture goals.  When team members understand how their individual work contributes to the organization’s success, they tend to be more motivated and produce better results

10. Balanced scorecard (BSC) framework

The balanced scorecard is a popular strategic framework for businesses that want to take a more holistic approach rather than just focus on their financial performance. It was designed by David Norton and Robert Kaplan in the 1990s, it’s used by companies around the globe to: 

Communicate goals

Align their team’s daily work with their company’s strategy

Prioritize products, services, and projects

Monitor their progress toward their strategic goals

Your balanced scorecard will outline four main business perspectives:

Customers or clients , meaning their value, satisfaction, and/or retention

Financial , meaning your effectiveness in using resources and your financial performance

Internal process , meaning your business’s quality and efficiency

Organizational capacity , meaning your organizational culture, infrastructure and technology, and human resources

With the help of a strategy map, you can visualize and communicate how your company is creating value. A strategy map is a simple graphic that shows cause-and-effect connections between strategic objectives. 

The balanced scorecard framework is an amazing tool to use from outlining your mission, vision, and values all the way to implementing your strategic plan .

You can use an integration like Lucidchart to create strategy maps for your business in Asana.

11. Porter’s Five Forces framework

If you’re using the real-time strategic planning model, Porter’s Five Forces are a great framework to apply. You can use it to find out what your product’s or service’s competitive advantage is before entering the market.

Developed by Michael E. Porter , the framework outlines five forces you have to be aware of and monitor:

Threat of new industry entrants: Any new entry into the market results in increased pressure on prices and costs. 

Competition in the industry: The more competitors that exist, the more difficult it will be for you to create value in the market with your product or service.

Bargaining power of suppliers: Suppliers can wield more power if there are less alternatives for buyers or it’s expensive, time consuming, or difficult to switch to a different supplier.

Bargaining power of buyers: Buyers can wield more power if the same product or service is available elsewhere with little to no difference in quality.

Threat of substitutes: If another company already covers the market’s needs, you’ll have to create a better product or service or make it available for a lower price at the same quality in order to compete.

Remember, industry structures aren’t static. The more dynamic your strategic plan is, the better you’ll be able to compete in a market.

12. VRIO framework

The VRIO framework is another strategic planning tool designed to help you evaluate your competitive advantage. VRIO stands for value, rarity, imitability, and organization.

It’s a resource-based theory developed by Jay Barney. With this framework, you can study your firmed resources and find out whether or not your company can transform them into sustained competitive advantages. 

Firmed resources can be tangible (e.g., cash, tools, inventory, etc.) or intangible (e.g., copyrights, trademarks, organizational culture, etc.). Whether these resources will actually help your business once you enter the market depends on four qualities:

Valuable : Will this resource either increase your revenue or decrease your costs and thereby create value for your business?

Rare : Are the resources you’re using rare or can others use your resources as well and therefore easily provide the same product or service?

Inimitable : Are your resources either inimitable or non-substitutable? In other words, how unique and complex are your resources?

Organizational: Are you organized enough to use your resources in a way that captures their value, rarity, and inimitability?

It’s important that your resources check all the boxes above so you can ensure that you have sustained competitive advantage over others in the industry.

13. Theory of Constraints (TOC) framework

If the reason you’re currently in a strategic planning process is because you’re trying to mitigate risks or uncover issues that could hurt your business—this framework should be in your toolkit.

The theory of constraints (TOC) is a problem-solving framework that can help you identify limiting factors or bottlenecks preventing your organization from hitting OKRs or KPIs . 

Whether it’s a policy, market, or recourse constraint—you can apply the theory of constraints to solve potential problems, respond to issues, and empower your team to improve their work with the resources they have.

14. PEST/PESTLE analysis framework

The idea of the PEST analysis is similar to that of the SWOT analysis except that you’re focusing on external factors and solutions. It’s a great framework to combine with the scenario-based strategic planning model as it helps you define external factors connected to your business’s success.

PEST stands for political, economic, sociological, and technological factors. Depending on your business model, you may want to expand this framework to include legal and environmental factors as well (PESTLE). These are the most common factors you can include in a PESTLE analysis:

Political: Taxes, trade tariffs, conflicts

Economic: Interest and inflation rate, economic growth patterns, unemployment rate

Social: Demographics, education, media, health

Technological: Communication, information technology, research and development, patents

Legal: Regulatory bodies, environmental regulations, consumer protection

Environmental: Climate, geographical location, environmental offsets

15. Hoshin Kanri framework

Hoshin Kanri is a great tool to communicate and implement strategic goals. It’s a planning system that involves the entire organization in the strategic planning process. The term is Japanese and stands for “compass management” and is also known as policy management. 

This strategic planning framework is a top-down approach that starts with your leadership team defining long-term goals which are then aligned and communicated with every team member in the company. 

You should hold regular meetings to monitor progress and update the timeline to ensure that every teammate’s contributions are aligned with the overarching company goals.

Stick to your strategic goals

Whether you’re a small business just starting out or a nonprofit organization with decades of experience, strategic planning is a crucial step in your journey to success. 

If you’re looking for a tool that can help you and your team define, organize, and implement your strategic goals, Asana is here to help. Our goal-setting software allows you to connect all of your team members in one place, visualize progress, and stay on target.

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Planning for Information Systems

DOI link for Planning for Information Systems

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Edited by one of the best-known and most widely respected figures in the field, "Planning for Information Systems" is a comprehensive, single source overview of the myriad ideas and processes that are identified with IS planning. While many chapters deal with high level strategic planning, the book gives equal attention to on-the-ground planning issues.Part I, 'Key Concepts of IS Planning', focuses on how IS planning has evolved over the years; business-IS strategic alignment; and the role of dynamic organizational capabilities in leveraging IS competencies. Part II, 'The Organizational IS Planning Process,' describes IS planning in terms of critical success factors and includes a knowledge-based view of IS planning; a practical assessment of strategic alignment; the IT budgeting process; the search for an optimal level of IS strategic planning; and the role of organizational learning in IS planning.Part III, 'IS Investment Planning', deals with predicting the value that an IS project may have; a 'rational expectations' approach to assessing project payoffs; assessing the social costs and benefits of projects; an options-based approach to managing project risks; planning for project teams; and the moderating effects of coordinated planning. Part IV, 'Goals and Outcomes of IS Planning', considers information strategy as a goal and/or outcome of IS planning; IT infrastructure as a goal or outcome; competitive advantage as a goal or outcome; e-process partnership chains; and planning successful Internet-based projects.

Business Systems Planning (BSP)

• 1 What is Business Systems Planning (BSP)?
• 2.1 See Also
• 2.2 References

What is Business Systems Planning (BSP)?

Business systems planning (BSP) is a method of analyzing, defining, and designing the information architecture of organizations. It is a complex method dealing with interconnected data, processes, strategies, aims, and IT Business systems organizational departments.

Business systems planning goals are to:

• Understand issues and opportunities with current applications
• Develop future technology supporting the enterprise
• Provide executives with direction and a decision-making framework for IT expenditures
• Provide information systems (IS) with a developmental blueprint [1]

Business Systems Planning (BSP) Procedure [2]

BSP procedure contains 15 steps which are classified into 3 main sections according to their functions.

• Obtain authorization for the study: The very first step of BSP is to obtain authorization for the study from management or a department interested in this study. There is no use to proceed in the study without this document. There are a number of roles which have to agree on the purpose and range of the study.
• operates as a sponsor or a team leader
• Verifies, approves final results of the study
• provides with the financial support for the study
• chooses and leads the team members (4-7 prsns)
• coordinates activities
• guarantees early documentation
• has 8 weeks to carry out the study (usually more)
• presents final results to the management
• set time plan
• get all the necessary documents
• choose managers for interview
• ensure meeting and interview space
• fundamental functions of the organization
• data processing level of the organization
• all the necessary information mentioned above,
• concrete study schedule, documents relating to IT, diagrams, etc.
• the main purpose of the study
• expected results of the study
• results of previous part
• plan of the study
• the present state of IS
• role of IS within the organization
• Strategy = particular strategic targets mentioned above.
• a cross [*]= primary responsibility.
• a slash [/] = partial responsibility.
• Adaptation to the customer’s desires
• Centrally planned reservations, stock, customer’s payments
• Check-in improvement
• Material movement improvement
• Noise reduction
• Paperless processes
• Product portfolio expansion
• Presentation improvement
• Advertising improvement
• Reduction of commitment losses
• Reduction of material costs
• Relations with business partners improvement
• Stock management improvement
• Simplification of customer’s order cycle
• Transport coordination
• 1.Processes / OU
• 2.Processes / Strategy.
• Contacts creation
• Plane coordination
• Plane service
• Registration of a new customer
• Service reservation
• Employee training
• 1.Data classes / Processes,
• 2.Data classes / Strategy and
• 3.Data classes / OU.
• Purchase order
• Service Catalog
• IT Strategy (Information Technology Strategy)
• ↑ What is Business Systems Planning (BSP)? Musato Technologies
• ↑ Business Systems Planning (BSP) Procedure mibambino

Information Systems Planning and Evaluation

• First Online: 01 January 2013

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• Jun Xu 3 &
• Mohammed Quaddus 4  

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In this topic we will discuss the importance of alignment between information systems strategy and business strategy, argue the importance of evaluating the performance of information systems initiatives/investments, describe metrics for measuring performance of information systems initiatives/investments, present methods for information systems investment justification, and discuss difficulties associated with justifying information systems investments.

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Xu, J., Quaddus, M. (2013). Information Systems Planning and Evaluation. In: Managing Information Systems. Atlantis Press, Paris. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-91216-89-3_3

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4 Things to Consider When Planning a System Implementation Project

July 20, 2018

Implementing a new information system is a multivariate project that requires strategic planning , clear project goals, and an organizational culture that can evolve with the technology.

Whether it’s a core financial solution, a Human Resource Information System (HRIS), or another type of critical business software, an implementation plan is the key ingredient influencing success.

With all system implementations, there are four overarching factors you need to assess to determine how long – and how effectively – it will take to implement your new technology system .

Underneath these factors, there are additional considerations to keep in mind, which we’ll explore.

An external event or executive decision typically sets the date when you need to go live. If this isn’t the case at your company, lock in a go-live date that seems reasonable amid the other variables on your list. When locking in a date, consider: 

• If possible, try to go live on a quarter end. By going live on a quarter end, data conversion and reporting are a little bit cleaner. This is especially true for publicly traded companies because they report financials quarterly. By going live after the quarter, your CFO can report to the street their financial results in your legacy system and have three months after go-live to assess the impact of the new system and the data conversion on reporting. Going live on year end is another popular option, but it can be difficult to pull off. For one, the calendar includes several major holidays. Plus, Finance and Accounting tend to be quite busy at year end from a reporting and process perspective.   
• Think about your business cycle. Is there a busy season when most of your sales are occurring? Is there a time when key stakeholders will be otherwise distracted and unavailable to participate?  Budgeting season, 1099 processing, and board meetings, among many other time-sensitive events, can disrupt best-laid plans. 
• Are there other competing projects that might vie for key resources’ time? Does IT have other projects that are scheduled to go live at the same time? Can you get external stakeholders’ time to participate in the project? By understanding all of the other organizational priorities, you can budget your project in an appropriate time slot. 

2. Resources

Project resources and stakeholder resources can make or break an implementation.

It’s very difficult to cobble together a project team using fractional parts of your team’s time. You will need dedicated resources.

Before you think about using external consultants to help guide the project, you should understand the key project resources you will need, such as: 

• A steering committee to guide the project (typically key Finance, IT, Operations, and other executives). These are part-time resources that not only guide the project but also resolve key issues and roadblocks. They are also typically the champions of the project, rallying your company and preparing them for the change.
• A dedicated project manager . This person should understand not only your business but how to run a system implementation project. At times, there are two project managers on the project, a business-side project manager and a system-side project manager. The project manager coordinates the activities of all of the team members, manages the project plan, and reports to the steering committee. 
• A solution architect. The solution architect may be the project manager and/or a key business analyst. This is the person with a deep understanding of the business and also the software solution. They can work easily with users, executives, and developers and typically have a strong understanding of accounting. A solution architect sits in the middle of all of the key decisions and helps build a solution that takes into account organizational change, process design, and system functionality.
• Business analysts . Business analysts typically report to the solution architect and help implement the solution. They work on system configuration, report development, testing, training, and documentation. They are commonly tapped to play a change management and communication role. If the project is big enough, you may need dedicated change management resources as well.
• Developers . Many cloud solutions today offer configuration options and user-friendly business-rule creation tools that don’t require a computer science degree. They do, however, require a system-savvy person at the helm. True developers may be needed to create complex reports, build interfaces, and assist with data conversion. Some solutions also provide a true development toolkit where you can create your own customizations. 

In addition to these core team members, you will also need assistance from:

• The user community.
• Any external entities such as banks, customers, and vendors.  

You will need to do an impact assessment to determine who needs to be impacted and what role they will play on the implementation. Many times it’s an exercise in informing them of the upcoming change, but in other cases, it involves asking them to actively participate. For example, you may want your banks to accept ACH payments or you may need your vendors to register in the new solution after go-live. 

Once you have your project structure in place, you should determine what resources are available to work on the project in key roles. Asking people to do this project AND their full-time job is a tall challenge. It’s also one of the main reasons why IT projects fail.

You need dedicated resources to assist you with the implementation. Once you have filled in as many roles as possible with internal resources, you will be left with a list of roles and skills needed to fill out the rest of the project. This list will then drive a budget for external consultants.

If the cost of the external resources + the opportunity cost of allocating internal resources (and their cost) to the project is too high, play with other levers such as time, scope, and risk to find the right balance of cost relative to the other project management metrics. 

Risk is an interesting metric. It’s also one that requires some experience to determine the risk level of your plan (time, resources, and scope).

Some organizations are very risk-averse, taking years to implement solutions that could have otherwise taken a quarter.

On the other hand, there are times when a go-live date is simply too aggressive and inflexible. Even when manipulating different levers, a proper equilibrium between time, resources, risk, and scope cannot be found. Barging ahead without finding this balance is an unnecessary risk.

For implementations of this kind, there are a few additional steps you can take to appease as many parties as possible. This is called a “rolling go-live.”

Basically, certain functionality is added after the go-live without sacrificing the quality of the implementation or the efficacy of the tool’s other features. For instance, conversion and reporting might be suitable for a post-live completion. It’s not a favorite approach by any means – for businesses or implementation partners – but it can mitigate critical risk while still adhering to specific timelines.

Scope is the most adjustable lever to meet the desired resource, cost, time, and risk levels. In a financial system implementation, for example, here are some of the key scope design decisions. For each decision, you should determine a level of effort in man-hours to complete each component:

• Financial Data Model. It combines an understanding of historical data, system capabilities, and reporting needs (operational, management, financial, and external). What does your account structure look like? What dimensions do you need? When will the account and dimensions be used? What business rules are associated with the dimensions? What workflow drives off the dimensions? These are all key questions that go into the project scope, and are table stakes to full-scale finance function effectiveness .
• Functionality. This is really understanding what parts of the system you want to implement. Some organizations decide to go big-bang while others might start with the basics and then roll out functionality over time. Both options have their pros and cons and will have a direct impact on time, risk, and resources/cost. This is an area with tremendous flexibility when planning your project.
• Users. This is understanding who will be using the system on go live. Is it just the core financial user? Do others need to use the system on day one to enter purchase requisitions, timesheets, expense reports, run reports, and approve transactions? Do external entities such as vendors, customers, and sub-contractors need access? By adjusting the functionality and footprint, you can greatly alter the scope of your project.
• Interfaces. How many systems does the new solution need to interface with on day one? You should build a solution map with your new financial solution in the middle and then add systems that interact with the new solution as points that circle around it – like planets to a sun. For each solution, you should understand the information and process flow between the systems. Many times a business process will hop across multiple systems. To make the process seamless, determine which systems are automated and which ones will be semi-automated (e.g. spreadsheet upload) or manual. You should also think about data ownership. In addition to transactions, these systems will share data – such as vendors and customers. Which system owns the data on add and update? By mapping out these interface and data models, you will understand your scope.
• Trial Balance (TB) data. A good rule of thumb is three years of historical TB data rolled up by Year, Period, Account, and other key dimensions. So you won’t see individual transactions but the sum of the transactions. (If you have multiple entities, this is even a little more complex when you take into account exchange rates, intercompany transactions, eliminations, and CTA.) This usually provides more than enough data to run historical financial reports. Remember your account structure and financial data model will be changing so this is typically not a one-to-one mapping.
• Reference data or entity data. This tends to be customers, vendors, accounting, items, dimensions, etc. The typical rule of thumb is to convert only the active ones that are needed going forward. This sounds great, but you may need to convert old values to support your TB and transactional data conversion.
• Transactions. Best practice is to convert only the open transactions whenever possible (and to close as many of these prior to conversion). In theory, the GL impact of the transactions is in the GL – there should be no need to convert closed transactions. You’re better off converting open transactions such as vendor bills, receivables, billing schedule, installment bills, revenue recognition schedules, and expense reports. Even converting open transactions can take time and requires a large amount of reconciliation effort. By limiting data conversion to what is essential, you can greatly reduce time, cost, and risk.

Bringing It All Together

After determining the four levers, you now have the basis for a plan to take to the steering committee.

Be prepared for pushback.

They will probably not be pleased with one or more components. It may cost too much or be too long to implement. It may not have the impact that we wanted because of the scope selected. This is normal. You can then work with them because you have documented all of the facts above and can adjust any one lever and understand the impact on the other three. By having all of this mapped out before you start the project, you can come to the table with thorough data points and allow your team to make an informed decision.

For more information on systems implementation best practices, contact CrossCountry Consulting today .

Editor’s note: Updated December 2021

Forward Thinking

Coupa r40 quick highlights: new updates and improvements to know  , leaders, alignment, and collaboration: managing change in your business transformation, new floqast api and first-of-its-kind crosscountry connector automate subledger reconciliations .