Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP)

Strategic Planning for information systems is a continuous process for evaluating investment priorities in information systems development within an organization. Selecting the proper approach for SISP is a critical task in achieving success. Many other critical success factors (CSF) are suggested in the literature, such as top management support, sustainability of the environment, and organization's focus on the implementation. Such factors have not been fully mapped into SISP approaches, and not been specified for particular type of industry. There are many approaches to SISP, which some have been reviewed and classified in the literature and in this paper. Four research questions are of particular interest: 1. What are the general characteristics of a SISP? 2. What are various approaches to SISP? 3. Are the approach used and the success factors dependent on the type of the organization, in particular Service versus Manufacturing organizations? 4. Is SIPS approach different or less critical in organizations depending on the level of technology used for their ongoing operations? 5. In a high-technology organization, how should the SISP approach be selected? This paper reviews these questions from the literature, and sets to investigate question 3, as the difference between Manufacturing and Service organizations in terms of preferred SISP approach. The result shows that there is a significant difference in SIPS between Service and Manufacturing. This difference is magnified by the factor of technology, used to classify companies as IT-based, semi-IT based, and IT independent. In IT-based Manufacturing, for example, the systematic approach is effective, as compared to the administrative approach appropriate for non-IT-based Service companies and the organizational approach for IT-based Service companies. In terms of most effective SISP approach, it is dependent of Service versus Manufacturing nature of the company, and it is different based on the level information technology in the organization.