Info Tech Importance In Strategic Planning – Thoughts, Ideas, Comments And / Or Questions Concerning Chapter 6 Lecture.

Managing and Using Information Systems:

A Strategic Approach – Sixth Edition

Keri Pearlson, Carol Saunders, and Dennis Galletta

© Copyright 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Chapter 6 Architecture and

Infrastructure

Mohawk Paper

•What did Mohawk paper see as an opportunity?

•What did they do?

•What was the result?

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From Vision to Implementation •Architecture translates strategy into infrastructure

•Home architect develops a blueprint of a proposed house—based on customer

•Business architect develops a blueprint of a company’s proposed systems—based on strategy

•This “blueprint” is used for translating business strategy into a plan for IS.

•The IT infrastructure is everything that supports the flow and processing of information (hardware, software, data, and networks).

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From abstract to concrete – building vs. IT

Abstract Concrete

Owner’s

Vision

Architect’s

Plans

Builder’s

Implementation

Strategy Architecture Infrastructure

Information

Technology

Building

The Manager’s Role

•Must understand what to expect from IT architecture and infrastructure.

•Must clearly communicate business vision.

•May need to modify the plans if IT cannot realistically support them.

•Manager MUST be involved in the decision making process.

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From Strategy to Architecture

•Manager starts out with a strategy.

•Strategy is used to develop more specific goals

•Business requirements must be determined for each goal so the architect knows what IS must accomplish.

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Example

•Strategy: Be a customer-oriented company •Goal: 30-day money back guarantee

• Business Requirement: ability to track purchases

• Business Requirement: ability to track problems

•Goal: Answer email questions within 6 hours • Business Requirement: Ability to handle the volume

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From Business Requirements to Architecture

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The Example Continues

•Business Requirement: Ability to track purchases •Architectural Requirement:

• Database that can handle all details of more than a 30-day history

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From Architecture to Infrastructure

•Adds more detail to the architectural plan. • actual hardware, software, data, and networking

•Components need coherent combination

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From Architecture to Infrastructure

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The Example Continues

 Architectural Requirement: Database that can handle all details of more than a 30-day history  Functional Specification: be able to hold 150,000

customer records, 30 fields; be able to insert 200 records per hour  Hardware specification: 3 gigaherz Core 2 Duo Server

 Hardware specification: half terabyte RAID level 3 hard drive array

 Software specification: Apache operating system

 Software specification: My SQL database  Data protocol: IP (internet protocol)

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A Framework for the Translation

•Considerations for moving from strategy to architecture to infrastructure: • Hardware – physical components • Software – programs • Network – software and hardware

• Data – utmost concern: data quantity & format

•What-who-where is a useful framework

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Component What Who Where

Hardware What hardware does the organization have?

Who manages it?

Who uses it?

Who owns it?

Where is it

located? Where is

it used?

Software What software does the organization have?

Who manages it?

Who uses it?

Who owns it?

Where is it

located? Where is

it used?

Network What networking does the organization have?

Who manages it?

Who uses it?

Who owns it?

Where is it

located? Where is

it used?

Data What data does the organization have?

Who manages it?

Who uses it?

Who owns it?

Where is it

located? Where is

it used?

Information systems analysis framework.

Figure 6.3 Infrastructure and architecture analysis framework with sample questions.

Common IT Architecture Configurations

•Centralized architecture – All purchases, support, and management from data center

•Decentralized architecture – uses multiple servers perhaps in different locations

•Service-Oriented architecture – uses small chunks of functionality to build applications quickly. • Example: e-commerce shopping cart

•Software-Defined architecture – instantly reconfigures under load or surplus

© 2016 John Wi ley & Sons, Inc. 17

Software-Defined Architecture

•Birdbath example: Thanks to the Oprah Winfrey show, sales went from 10 per month to 80,000. • Increased sales seen as an attack with static system • Adaptive system warns other parts of sales fluctuations,

preventing lost sales

•Famous Coffee Shop example: • WiFi shares lines with production systems; problems in one

can be shunted to another • Also, coffee bean automatic reordering; spot market

purchasing

• High potential for decreasing costs

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New Technologies

•Peer to peer architecture: Allows networked computers to share resources without a central server

•Wireless (mobile) infrastructure: allows communication without laying wires

•Web-based architecture: places information on web servers connected to the Internet

•Cloud-based architecture: places both data and processing methods on servers on the Internet, accessible anywhere

•Capacity-on-demand: enables firms to make available more processing capacity or storage when needed

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Architectural Principles Fundamental beliefs about how the architecture should function

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Enterprise Architecture (EA)

•The “blueprint” for all IS and interrelationships in the firm

•Four key elements: • Core business processes

• Shared data • Linking and automation technologies • Customer groups

•One example is TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Foundation) • Methodology and set of resources for developing an EA • Specifications are public

•Business and IT leaders develop EA together © 2016 John Wi ley & Sons, Inc. 21

Virtualization and Cloud Computing •Cloud computing refers to:

• Resources that are available “on the Internet” • No software for the organization to develop or install (only

web browser) • No data for the organization to store (it stays somewhere in

the Internet “cloud”)

•The provider keeps and safeguards programs and data

•This is “infrastructure as a service” (IaaS)

•Also available is SaaS (Software as a service)

•And there is also PaaS (Platform as a service)

•Utility Computing: Pay only for what you use (like power, lights) Source: Computerworld Aug 4, 2008

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Examples of Systems Provided in the “Cloud?”

• Just some examples • Word processing; spreadsheeting; email (Google Docs: $50

per user annually) • Buying/selling Financial services (Salesforce.com) • Email (Gmail, Hotmail)

• Social networking (Facebook)

• Business networking (LinkedIn) • Music (iTunes) • Storage (Amazon’s Simple Storage Service—S3)

• A server (Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud—EC2)

Source: Computerworld Aug 4, 2008 and CRN website

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Assessing Strategic Timeframe

•Varies from industry to industry • Level of commitment to fixed resources • Maturity of the industry

• Cyclicality • Barriers to entry

•Also varies from firm to firm • Management’s reliance on IT

• Rate of advances affecting the IT management counts on

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Assessing Adaptability

•Guidelines for planning adaptable IT architecture and infrastructure • Plan for applications and systems that are independent

and loosely coupled • Set clear boundaries between infrastructure components • When designing a network architecture, provide access to

all users when it makes sense to do so

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Assessing Scalability

•Scalability refers to how well a component can adapt to increased or decreased demand

•Needs are determined by: • Projections of growth

• How architecture must support growth

• What happens if growth is much higher than projected • What happens if there is no growth

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Other Assessments

•Standardization – Common, shared standards are easy to plug in

•Maintainability – Can the infrastructure be maintained?

•Security – Decentralized architecture is more difficult to secure

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Assessing Financial Issues

• Quantify expected return on investment

• Can be difficult to quantify

• Steps • Quantify costs

• Determine life cycles of components • Quantify benefits • Quantify risks

• Consider ongoing dollar costs and benefits

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Managing and Using Information Systems:

A Strategic Approach – Sixth Edition

Keri Pearlson, Carol Saunders, and Dennis Galletta

© Copyright 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.