7004 Strategic Information Management Session 5 Lecture slides available at Wiki-spaces 1

Using information to inform and support decision making By the end of this session you would be able to: 1.Identify at least 5 key feature of information for an organisation [but not your own] 2.Identify 1 Critical Success Factor (CSF) of an organisation and relevant Key Decisions (KD) and Information Requirements (IR) 3.List and describe three important issues relevant to collecting and providing information. 4.Differentiate the Strategic Decision-making requirements 5.Evaluate an organisations Strategic Options by using Balance Score Card 2

Activity 1 Working in groups discuss and list three examples of data – please make sure that your examples comply with features of data as discussed in first Learning outcome. Please also make sure that your examples must relate to your area of work or to the organisation your chosen organisation. AB Working in groups discuss and list three examples of information – please make sure that your examples comply with features of information as discussed in first learning outcome. Please also make sure that your examples must relate to your area of work or to the organisation your chosen organisation. AB 3

Activity 2 Working within same groups write at least five feature of ‘good information’ Hint: information should be ‘ACCURATE’ 4

Gathering information for decision- making Information must be ACCURATE I need ACCURATE information as otherwise I could end up making wrong decision. 5

Saving and sending information Information stored or communicated must be ACCURATE I am storing and/or sending information to others for decision making. Is this information ACCURATE as otherwise wrong decisions could me made. 6

Organisation’s needs of information CSF KD IR Critical Success Factors Key Decision Information Requirement Relationship between critical success factors, key decisions and information requirements Source: Robson (1997) 7

Collecting and Providing information It is important to consider what is secure, ethical and legal Robson, W. (1997) defines safe information system management as being the following: organisationally safe — secure socially safe — ethical judicially safe — legal [Data Protection Act 1998] 8

Ethical Issue Robson used Mason’s PAPA categories (Mason, R. O. 1986) These four categories can be used to structure the organisational code of ethics for IS management. Privacy Accuracy Property Access 9

Activity 3 i) Working together in groups please discuss and agree on a CSF, KD and IR of the organisation. ii) For IR list the potential security, ethical and legal issues 10

How decisions are made Structured decisions Mostly at operational and middle management level [e.g. reduce admin expenses] Unstructured decisions Mostly at strategic level [e.g. launch new product] decision-maker needs the judgement, evaluation and insights to make these types of decisions 11

Strategic Decision-making tools Executive Support System, ESS An example of a management cockpit [a pharmaceutical company] Source: Laudon and Laudon (2002) 12

Balance Score Card FLIC – IS should give information about KPI’s Financial Perspective Objective: increased profitability KPIs: economic value added, gross margins, return on sales, cost reduction Customer Perspective Objective: improved customer satisfaction KPIs: customer feedback, customer complaints, delivery times, response time Internal Perspective Objective: streamlined processes KPIs: reduced waste, reduced unit costs, improved sourcing, product quality Innovation and Learning Perspective Objective: continuous improvement KPIs: number of employees on training, improved quality in product delivery, quantity of employee suggestions, sales per employee Adopted from 7004 Pathways 13

ACTIVITY 4 Working individually please determine one objective for each perspective of Balance Score Card. To be discussed in workshop 14

Use information to inform and support decision making By the end of this session you would be able to Identify at least 5 key feature of information for an organisation [but not your own] Identify 1 Critical Success Factor (CSF) of an organisation and relevant Key Decisions (KD) and Information Requirements (IR) List and describe three important issues relevant to collecting and providing information. Differentiate the Strategic Decision-making requirements Evaluate an organisations Strategic Options by using Balance Score Card 15

Wiki Space lecture slides available at 16