ITMP-P13

ITMP-P13
PGDM 2013-15: Term-IV

IT Management Practices

Credits	3
Faculty Name	Dipak Misra
Program	PGDM
Academic Year and Term	2014-15, Term 4

Course Description:

Many IT projects and efforts fail to deliver the benefits to the business that was promised. Often critical processes lack adequate supporting systems. Yet, IT managers and staff work hard to meet the needs of the business in terms of satisfying department and business needs. Systems are put in place; network operations are reliable and stable. Despite all these, there is misalignment of IT with the business. There has been a lot of literature on IT alignment. But, these often do not provide detailed direction or steps to take. These present the view of IT as reactive to requests. They treat IT management from a technical and business point of view. They ignore the organizational issues and the real world of IT.

Typical problems with IT management are that of misalignment of IT and the business, and IT often being viewed as reactive to individual business requests. Another issue is that of poor IT project selection (in absence of an effective portfolio approach); projects are selected for tactical, not strategic reasons. This gives rise to mismatch between where IT resources go and where the needs are! Critical processes do not receive sufficient resources and attention. Furthermore, undue focus on intangible benefits can lead to the wrong work being performed. Also, with misallocation of IT resources, too much of IT resources are consumed in maintenance, operations, and support activities. Another important issue is how to cope more effectively with the political and cultural factors.

Given the above, this course aims at providing pragmatic

approaches for better managing the IT function and achieving alignment with business

. None of the approaches requires extensive investments. Rather, these are the specific guidelines and methods which need to be employed to reap the benefits. The course is divided into four major areas: IT Leadership Issues, IT Operations & Benefits Management, Supporting Decision and Knowledge Work, and Specific Alignment Issues and Performance Measures.

Student Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the course participants will be able to:

Identify critical factors for alignment of IT and the business

Develop methods that make IT more proactive in helping the business and its processes

Measure IT activities using realistic performance measurement

References:

Books:

1. Practical Guide to Information Systems Strategic Planning, A. Cassidy, St. Lucie Press, New York, 1998

2. Benefits Management, Ward, J. and Daniel, E., John Wiley & Sons, 2006

3. Competing in the Information Age: Strategic Alignment in Practice, Luftman, J.N., Oxford University Press, 1996

Articles:

1. “CIOs Should Address the Impacts of the Euro Crisis on their Enterprises Now”

, Furlonger, D., Gartner Industry Research, December 2011

2. “Developing Superior Outsourcing Programs”

, Power, M.J. et al., ITPro, IEEE Computer Society, 2005

3. “Offshoring: What Can Go Wrong”

, Matloff, N., ITPro, IEEE Computer Society, 2005

4. “CEO/CIO mutual understanding, strategic alignment, and the contribution of

IS to the organization”

, Johnson, A.M & Lederer, A.L, Information & Management, 2010,

www.elsevier.com

5. “Where IT Infrastructure and Business Strategy Meet”

, Hughes, J. & Kaplan, J., The McKinsey Quarterly, May 2009

6. “Where is the Power in Your IT Organization”

, Bussmann, J. et al., booz & co

7. “Have you tested your strategy lately?”

, Bradley, C. et al., McKinsey Quarterly, January 2011

8. “Rethinking Knowledge Work: A Strategic Approach”

, Davenport, T.H., McKinsey Quarterly, February 2011

9. “How to Adapt IT Demand Management to a Recession Outlook”

, Schulte, A., Gartner Research, October 2011

10. “IT Metrics: New Economic Rules of IT Spending and Staffing Metrics”

, Potter, K, Gartner Research, September2011

11. “The Business Process Management Scenario”

, Sinur, J. & Thomson, J., Gartner Research, June 2003

12. “The BPM Scenario: From Operational Excellence to Adaptive Processes”

, Hill, J., Gartner India CIO & IT Executive Summit 2010

13. Hand-outs will be made available to the participants

14. You will be also be directed to other Internet resources during the course duration

Tentative Session Plan:

Session	Topic	Reading/Case Discussions
1	Importance of Management of IT	Handout 1
2	Escalating Roles of IT	Handout 2,
3 & 4	Strategic Alignment of CEO/CIO	Handout 3, Article 1 & 4
5 & 6	Managing IT Operations, Business Continuity and Outsourcing, Performance Measures for IT Work Management	Handout 4, Cases: Microsoft, Household Int’l, ANZ Banking Group, Honda Motor Co.
7 & 8	Benefits Management-Challenges, PEST Analysis, Planning and Implementing a Benefits Management Approach	Handout 5, Article 9, Cases: Barclays and Woolwich, National Health Service (UK)
9 & 10	Supporting Decision Making-Real-Time Enterprise, Straight-Through Processing, Real-Time CRM, Vigilant Info Systems, the Dark Side of Real Time	Handout 6, Article 6, Cases: Delta Air Lines, Western Digital
11	Supporting Knowledge Work-A model for Knowledge Management	Handout 7, Article 8, Cases: Buckman Laboratories, BP, a North American Bank
12 & 13	Alignment of IT and the Business-Performance Measures for the IT Organization	Handout 8, Article 11 & 12, Cases: Supreme Oil, Tucker County, Shamrock Agriculture
14	Developing Strategic IT Plan – Performance measures for IT Planning	Handout 9, Article 5 & 7, Cases: Supreme Oil, Tucker County, Shamrock Agriculture
15	Managing Risk and the Project Portfolio – Performance measures for Risk and Project Management	Handout 10, Article 10, Cases: Supreme Oil, Tucker County, Shamrock Agriculture
16	Presentations of Assignments
17	Presentations of Assignments
18	Coordinate Business-Unit Activities – Defining Roles of Business Units in IT	Handout 11, Cases: Supreme Oil, Tucker County, Shamrock Agriculture
19	Direct Outsourcing and Manage Vendors – Organized approach to Outsourcing, Managing multiple Vendors, Performance Measures for Outsourcing	Handout 12, Article 2 & 3, Cases: Supreme Oil, Tucker County, Shamrock Agriculture
20	Software Packages and System Development – Evaluating and making the Buy or Build Decision, Performance Measures	Handout 13, Cases: Supreme Oil, Tucker County, Shamrock Agriculture

Evaluation:

Quiz(es) : 30%

End Term : 30%

Assignments/Presentations : 30%

Class Participation : 10%

Academic Integrity:

Broad Course Guidelines

Your attitude toward learning the course material will influence your performance. The skills you will acquire in this course will be very useful irrespective of your future roles in any business. You are responsible for all of the materials covered in class and in the textbook. You are free to meet your instructor in connection with homework assignments and to clarify any concepts from the lecture

with appointment.

Assignments Submissions

All homework/ group assignment topics will be on the Course Web/AIS. Assignment submissions are due at the beginning of class. Late work will not be accepted under any circumstances! All assignments must contain the following information in the cover page: Course name; Assignment number; Group number; Group members’ names and roll numbers, and the Due date

Course Conduct

You will not indulge in any disruptive activities like gossips, during the class lecture and discussions/presentations. This will not be tolerated. If I discover any such activity, you will be asked to leave the classroom. Students not attending class/es are responsible for the class coverage and announcements, if any.

Group Presentations and Reports

There will be at least one presentation for each group. The reports for presentations should be submitted as soft copies. Your presentation should summarize your team’s work and findings and involve the class in discussion. Presentations should be between about 15 minutes. All team members should participate. Remember to be creative! Please plan your time wisely.

In grading the presentations and reports, I will look for originality, presentation style, ability to generate a class discussion, enthusiasm, and the demonstration of a clear understanding of the concepts and principles in the team findings. The rest of the class will come fully prepared to participate in the discussions and contribute to the learning process.

Group assignments will be posted on AIS from time to time.

Class Participation

IT Management Practices do evolve continuously over time. So, class participation is essential to the success of the class. Obviously, you must attend classes in order to participate. Participation does not necessarily mean constantly trying to answer questions. You should provide meaningful contribution to the class through comments and discussion. Attendance will also be used to decide on the marks for your class participation component.

Course Transparency
You are free to meet and ask your instructor in connection with any issue such as evaluation etc with appointment during office hours.

All the quiz answers will be discussed in the class, after the quiz. After evaluation of the End Term and publication of the grades, you can see the End Term answer scripts which will be available with my secretary. Any discrepancy observed should be reported to your instructor, through my secretary, or through the Dean (Acad)’s office using the ‘application form for re-evaluation’.

Note: Your instructor reserves the right to alter any of the above. All changes will be announced in class or informed via e-mail, or updated on the course web page.

Created By: Alora Kar on 03/03/2014 at 09:00 AM
Category: BM-II Doctype: Document

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