IS Plan

IS Plan

Being invited by the University President would really be a great pleasure. Since expediting the implementation is the main task to do, I assume that it refers only to the actual implementation of the Information System plan; hence it is a fact that we already have a background and a plan for the University.

Since planning is being the issue, let me state how strategic planning works. Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis involving Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors. According to what I have researched, strategic plan is a document used by an organization to align its organization and budget structure with organizational priorities, missions, and objectives. As it says, it is also a process of comprehensive, integrative program planning that considers, at a minimum, the future of current decisions, overall policy, organizational development, and links to operational plans. Strategic planning is a basic document for planning of different projects of the program and their sub-projects; this is according to the project management club. It is based on the content of the Financing Memorandum and the Monitoring and Evaluation Matrix attached to the Financing Proposal and translates the two documents into detailed operational terms. A satisfactory strategic plan must be realistic and attainable so as to allow managers and entrepreneurs to think strategically and act operationally. In our Management Information Systems 1subject last semester, we are successfully done doing a business plan with our adopted company. With the help of the head officer in the department, all he information and other facts of that business plan was been discussed accordingly. As we always hear from our instructor, we the human resources or the IT personnel may lift up the company to its highest peak or eventually put it down depending on what we have wanted to. As what I have stated above, strategic planning must have the SWOT analysis. In to our preparation and to our research about the company, we have then listed some of the weaknesses and strength of the company. In such way we can decide how to build up a company.

In conducting strategic planning, each person or part of the organization that does the planning is really up into a purpose and what are those purposes in it. According to Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke “Planning is everything. Plans are nothing”. On what I have understood, it simply means that we can really plan for anything, for our future and for all the things that we ought to aspire. We can say that it is really easy to plan directly as it is in our hands and have the planning for ourselves. But in the end, after we have decided the planning, we cannot really have the activities to do the plan. Since I am going to be invited to speak out to the University president, lets me take the University of Southeastern Philippines as the subject. We all know that all the things, activities and transactions that happen within the school is done by the University professional professors and teachers. They do have their conference and meeting about the strategic planning for the school, but once it was been designed or talked properly, at the end of the discussion and after the technical paper was made, there are still no implementation for it. The words and discussions are being taken for granted. Meaning, the planning was still useless since it was not been implemented properly.

So what are the purposes of strategic planning? For example, in our own self, we do have dreams and visions in life. Before we are able to conquer those dreams and visions, we must first start by step by step process on it. We must have first decided on what our goals to achieve the dream. We must always think of planning as the first step. In strategic planning, especially in businesses and industry, the main purpose of it is to set the overall goals for the business and to develop a plan to achieve them. It involves stepping back from the day-to-day operations and asking where the business is headed and what its priorities should be. In the world market side, there are lots of purposes why strategic planning must be done.

First on the list, is the purpose on reducing the risks. Planning increases the likelihood of project success by providing insights into the project’s risks. Some projects are so risky that the business may choose not to start once they have learned about the risks. Other projects may contain features whose risks can be contained by early attention. The discussions that occur while estimating raise questions that expose potential dark corners of a project. Another is to reduce uncertainty within a team. A team is generating new capabilities and potentials about what is inside the business or the company throughout the whole project. They are also generating new knowledge—about it, the technologies in use, and themselves as a team. It is critical that this new knowledge be acknowledged and factored into an iterative planning process that is designed to help a team refine their vision. Next, is supporting in the decision making. Plans help the business to make decisions. How does an organization decide whether a particular project is worth doing if it does not have estimates of the value and the cost of the project? Beyond decisions about whether or not to start a project, estimates help them make sure that they are working on the most valuable projects possible. Strategic planning also helps in conveying information. A plan conveys expectations and describes one possibility of what may come to pass over the course of a project. A plan does not guarantee an exact set of features on an exact date at a specified cost. A plan does, however, communicate and establish a set of baseline expectations. Far too often a plan is reduced to a single date, and all of the assumptions and expectations that led to that date are forgotten. In relation with planning supports in decision making, it also acquires establishing trusts. Frequent reliable delivery of promised features builds trust between the developers and the customers. Reliable estimates enable reliable delivery. A customer needs estimates to make important prioritization and tradeoff decisions. Estimates also help a customer decide how much of a feature to develop. Customers are reluctant to make these types of tradeoff decisions early in a project unless the developers’ estimates have proved trustworthy.

Consequently, all of those things are being considered in order to have a very effective and successful Information System Plan (IS Plan). As a choice, I wanted to focus on the newly implemented University Registration Management Information System (USRMIS). Today, it is likely called as the Student Registration Management Information System (SRMIS). We all know that the University had just decided to in source the system and laid all their trust to our very own programmers. I would say to the University President, that in order to improve the services to its students, faculty, staff and stakeholders, it is very good to embark on the automation of its operation towards the institution’s system. Before deciding to pursue with this in source system, according to what I have interviewed with some personnel involve in this system, at present the University is leasing its enrolment system provided by ECPAC System (an outsource program) amounting to a very large amount that would be very costly to pay per month only. Considering that the University has a several colleges and at least two computers are utilizing the said ECPAC System per college in addition with the computer units being used in the office of the Registrar and the Accounting/Finance office. While ECPAC is providing these services, some problems arises for the reason that the system is not made and contextualized to cater the appropriate needs of the different offices and colleges of the University. In maintaining the program, the University had also encountered some difficulty since the customization is outsourced and there are some limitations that are not immediately address whenever there are changes in the procedures and policies in the University. Outsourced system also limiting the University on the source code, design and architecture of the ECPAC system because the University can never own these information. The University has also the restriction of opportunity to customize and repackage the system and eventually sell it for an income generating project later on.

I can proudly say that among all the Universities in the city, the University of Southeastern Philippines has the good programmers and IT people. When the Institute of Computing (IC) proposed about this Student Registration Management Information System (SRMIS), we could say that this project will soon address the issues in minimizing the operating procedures of the University in the proceeding years the system will be use. The in house development also gives enough liberty to customize these systems. It will also give the University an opportunity to have a stable and sustainable income generating project through these developed information systems. At present, the Institute of Computing (IC) has already developed the Students Registration Management Information System (SRMIS) for student and enrolment and registration system including the cashiering and collection system. The whole recently expanded Students Registration Management Information System (SRMIS), have aimed to develop an automated system for the registration and record keeping of the student’s records to be handled by the assigned office which is the Office of Admission and Student Records (OASR). It will also manage the student assessment in terms of how much number of units in total a student has enrolled and the corresponding fees associated with it. The additional fees such as laboratory, library, internet, insurance and other fees is being automated and will automatically reflect it on the Cashiering system. As of now, two faculty members of the Institute of Computing (IC) are the one in charge in developing the Students Registration Management Information System (SRMIS). Since, the programmers and the developers came from the University; it will not be costly later on with the maintenance of the said system considering that the rental of the ECPAC System cost too much. So, this time with this project the cost will be minimized and the University can save and eliminated expenditures related to the ECPAC System rental. Again, this project will be a great help for the faculty who were developing the system because they are given the chance for professional development. This project showcased the institute’s capability of developing information systems. Also it will advertise the University’s expertise in the field of Information Systems development. The project is under the Office of the President while the project development is under the direct supervision of the Institute of Computing.

A lot of things are being presented. We have seen the good side of it and also consider the disadvantage that it will bring to the University. But in order to expedite the implementation of the Students Registration Management Information System (SRMIS), here are the steps that I think will be a great aid for the success of the Information System.

Project Management is the first step they would do in order for the involving people be aware and understand what is all the Information System Plan (IS Plan) all about. Then it better for the people involve in the plan on what kind of involvement they will have in order for them to participate enthusiastically.
They would also coordinate with the parties involved in the IS implementation, since they will be the ones performing the roles in the IS plan.

In this step, it refers to considerations such as where would the project/system suitable to be implemented or placed in, budget on executing and maintaining it, who are going to manage it and are they suitable to handle implementation of the project? This also requires orienting the people involved about the different roles that need to be played in the IS plan. This is also in line with the employees that will be affected with the implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan). Their experiences must be noted for us to know how effective they can be in handling the implementation of the new Information System Plan (IS Plan). We must determine the strength in terms of time that is necessary for the implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan) and even the location variable. Through this information we could come up to reasonable activities and deadlines.

We must also consider the cost that is needed in the implementation of the system. It must be in relation to the overall budget the Information System Plan (IS Plan) have and the amount that is allotted in the implementation stage. And as said earlier the implementation plan must be within the allotted time. Also they should assign responsibilities and set timelines. This entails the development of efficient working plans that are constituted by the specific steps or action plans to implement the Information System Plan (IS Plan). Setting timelines for taking action in the Information System Plan (IS Plan) is very important to ensure that the plan is being carried out efficiently and productively and also to see results within a specified timeframe. We should determine the time to be allotted in order to complete the plan. With this we can utilize time management and other factors concerning schedules. Other than managing time we should also consider who will manage the plan and create planning teams that is capable in planning an IS. Project management must be properly supervised and development practices are also one most significant factor to be considered. We need to better understand the plan so that implementation won’t become more complicated. That is why such issues must be put into consideration.

The second step would be the Data Conversion. This includes analyzing the data that would be necessary for the system, the volume of the data to be converted and the issues involved in converting the data. Issues involving data conversion and allocation of resources must also be considered. Proper usage of resources must also be recognized because it might cause several failures, either when it comes to implementation or allocation of data. This will be applying for the change in information system development the University has decided. All the data from the past system must be properly transferred to the new one. This requires skilled personnel that know the previous system and persons that are also trained for the new system. Depending on the data that must be converted the personnel assigned must be reasonable in choosing the type of process in converting the data. The factors that must be considered includes the time and the percentage of error that my occur in the conversion process

To allocate resources is another step in order to expedite the implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan). This is a very critical part in the implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan) in the university where the budget for carrying out the ISP will be laid out in detail. A well-made IS plan will go to waste if the necessary resources are not allocated to it. Without resources, it is nearly impossible to expedite the implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan). Money is always involved and so even our university cannot escape from this fact. There are other necessary resources to expedite the Information System Plan (IS Plan). Some of these are people, time and physical resources. Resources not only of money but also of knowledge, of strength are needed to successfully implement the IS plan. It is of practical act to properly make use of all the resources available for the system. Analysis of the resources should be made. A university should look out for any source accessible. Overlooked resource could be a big lost for one’s organization. All these and more need to be properly and adequately allocated to ensure that the plan will not fail.


Next step is training of the people involve in the Information System Plan (IS Plan). Training is also the most important factor to be considered. IT staffs that are properly trained will make the project easily done. They need to have knowledge in terms of managing data and IS plan implementation. One of the things that are essential to successful continuous improvement in order to expedite implementation of IS plan are strongly matters on the people involve around the plan. User of the project are not IT professionals that is why time and training has to done to guide them in how to use and manipulate the project. If the person is knowledgeable or has received appropriate training then implementation if IS plan will be done faster. The people are the most fundamental resource of an Information System Plan (IS Plan). Since that they are the one who is using the systems the plan. They are the user or the client of the plan; it must be necessary that they have the knowledge about and how to deal with the change. There must be a necessary training for the IT staff and the general staff to run the information system in a smooth way. Since it is new system, a new way of operating the system and the function of the system must be utilize very well.

To monitor the progress of the new system should also be considered. The targeted task should be identified and the parties involved should see to it that the milestones are achieved. Milestones are very efficient measures of progress because it divides the whole project into smaller and more achievable tasks. Every milestone achieved can also motivate the people involved, as they are assured that they are making progress with the implementation of the ISP. Rather than setting a large and distant measure of progress, milestones can be used to keep track of progress in the smaller picture. To keep track with the project schedules they must observed the progress of the project development. Any progress should be made recognize. Updates and improvements must also be identified and evaluated if it has been going well with what has been planned for the system. They should evaluate if the desired outcomes had achieved, to see if still on the trail or if still following the timetable also to find out if there is a progress or not. By checking the details of each of the tasks or summary task we are better informed on the overall progress of the implementation. The programmers should submit a progress report on a monthly basis, in the progress report, programmers will be required to enumerate all deliverables expected from them and state the status of each deliverables required.

The compare and contrast of the actual implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan) to the original plan would be the final step. The original plan should be examined every now and then for detection of errors. Once errors are detected and revisions are made, the actual results of the revised action plans and the original plan should be compared or evaluated to look for the differences again for the errors, and to mull over what are the changes to be done, and what are the things to be added or subtracted. This would serve as a basis for revising the original action plan. Since it cannot be helped that the actual implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan) in the university would not follow the written plan exactly, it is necessary to compare how the plan is doing when it is carried out to how the plan is doing based on projections in the original plan.

With all those steps I have presented, I hope it could address the problems and solve it through expediting its implementation while utilizing the full potential of the university in delivering its services. Since we a state university, many opportunities may rise and make use of this and using it up to the maximum benefit would greatly improve the university. The foremost concern for this process of changing the information system is the willingness of the University for Implementation. We can never avoid a huge resistance for the implementation of an Information System Plan (IS Plan) would prove a huge risk and may cause the Information System Plan (IS Plan) to fail or never implemented. It would greatly help if the IS plan is backed and supported by the top university officials so that other parts of the university or colleges would have minimal amount of resistance. The IS plan with the acknowledgment from the university would be implemented faster if the university itself knows of the Information System Plan (IS Plan) so training and seminars are thereby held. The whole process of implementation would require much time and resources that focusing all efforts will be required for the implementation to go smoothly and immediately.

In our own self as well, we do have a strategic planning that was been planned accordingly. Now, it is our choice on how to implement it, how to maintain it and how to make it flexible in change without putting us into much cost.

References:

http://managementhelp.org/plan_dec/str_plan/basics.htm

http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/5262

http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/businessplan/a/implementation.htm

http://www.thepbgrp.com/merger-acquisition-services/post.html

Skills and Characteristics of a System Analyst

A Good System Analyst

Last Wednesday, December 9, 2009, the group one has reported about the module one in our Systems Analysis and Design 1 subject. The report mainly discussed about The World of the Information System Analyst. The reporters have clearly stated and explained the topic very well. In view of the fact that they are in the focus of System Analyst, why not dig up on the thing a System Analyst always start of. That is the System Analysis and Design.

Based on what I read and understand in the report, Systems analysis is a process of understanding in detail what a system should accomplish. It is simply defined that System Analysis is all about understanding the goals and strategies of the business. This is where the key people plan carefully and decide their aspirations and steps on how to manage the operation and business processes their organization have. Because of the plans they have think of, in System Analysis, the people should have listed the important data rations that will aid the pursuant of those goals and aspirations the people of the organization establish.

We always mistook the fact that since we are talking about System Analysis, it is automatically about the job a programmer. Basically, System Analysis is not about programming. It is about on how an organization process to establish priorities on what they will accomplish in the future. With these strategies, these key people should pull the entire organization together around a single game plan for execution in attaining these goals.

On the other hand, let us talk about the System Design which also another factor in the world of being a System Analyst. Systems design is a process of specifying in detail how components of an information system should be physically implemented. It is very understandable that this is where an information system is being devised into an actual employment of the design a System Analyst plan to have. The system’s components are being identified detail by detail in order for the client to express the things that are really required in the Information System.

So what is Information System after all? An information system is a collection of interrelated components that collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to complete a business task. Example of it would be the Students Registration Management Information System (SRMIS) of the University. Maybe we might think why these are things being tackled, but as for the benefit of all of us, a System Analyst should know about it because Information System is crucial to success of modern business organization. It is constantly being developed to make business more competitive and it has a great impact in terms of the productivity and profits of an organization.

We are done with the factors a System analyst mainly deals with. The reporters have also point out a lot of situations showing on how a System Analyst really does their job. So let me define first what System Analyst means and what does a System Analyst perform in particular.

As what I have read and researched on the internet, a System Analyst is a business professional who uses analysis and design techniques to solve business problems using information technology. Systems analyst has broad knowledge and variety of skills, including technical, business, and people. A Systems analyst encounters a variety of rapidly changing technologies. A Systems analyst works on strategic plans and then system development projects. Systems Analysts solve business problems using information systems technology. So as we can see, a System Analyst has many responsibilities to consider. It is not that easy because in a real world, A System Analyst deal with a lot of client. People with different personalities, with different needs in terms of the system the client want to have. So let us first highlight on what a System Analyst exactly should have. Since they say that he should have a broad knowledge and should have a lot of skills that ought to be mull over.

Also let us remember that they surely have always a transaction with any people in the industry of many organizations. That is why a System Analyst must have a wide familiarity and awareness in the field of Information Systems. It is not only with the knowledge in Information Technology an SA should possess but also the understanding on the business side and especially the technicalities they would face in every project they will going to made. Let us also focus on the skills a System Analyst should possess.

As I have said, there is a requirement on the level a System Analyst should have knowledge with. That is in the Technical side, the business and lastly in dealing with people. On the technical and knowledge skills, these are the following things to consider. He should have better information about computers or any peripheral devices, communication networks and connectivity. The technicalities stuff, like the Database and database management systems (DBMS), Programming languages (for example, VB.NET or Java) and Operating systems and utilities are such things must be look after.

As a System Analyst, a business outlook is also a necessity wherein he could have known how to process business functions performed by organization. A System Analyst should know how to strategies plans, traditions, and values of the organization. The organizational structure, organization management techniques and the functional work processes an organization practice. Another is the skill on how to deal with people. Systems analysts need to understand how people think, learn, react to change, communicate and work in a variety of jobs and levels. Remember you will not work a boss or head here, instead you work as a solution provider and need to consider on treating with diverse behavior any client could have. Really it is a crucial job especially in obtaining information from these clients. Let us not forget also that you would also deal the people around you, your co workers. So it is also needed that you know how to motivate people and get cooperation from them.

Again and again it is never an easy job, especially in the matter of integrity. Because a System Analyst has the solely access to confidential information, such as salary, an organization’s planned projects, security systems, other things an organization entrust to them. That is why they have to be reliable and trustworthy enough that an organization will confidently delegate to them. The System Analyst plans security in systems to protect confidential information. They must keep information private because in just one mistake, any impropriety can ruin an analyst’s career.

In today’s generation, we can never deny the fact that there a lot of transformation in terms of the trends in the technology. Changes that are very swift and could not easily handle if it is not manage well. Consequently, if this is the case, a System Analyst should have the ability to work despite of these evolutions the technology has. Then it is also mentioned that a System Analyst does strategic planning and then on the system development projects. With this, a System Analyst always considers and thinks forwardly in a business. They tend to imagine the future of having these missions of a company. As what I have learned in one our lessons in Management Information System 2, “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail”. Thus, being proactive about the future is the best thing a System Analyst makes in their organization.

With Strategic planning, his performance could improve into a more competitive level. It could counter excessive inward and short-term thinking. The systems or programs that a System Analyst always encounters are never that easy. It is done for a longer time and the development of the system follows certain cycle within its growth. But in any organization, we can never avoid the problems that will arise in the middle of the business. These are the problems that we never expect and especially if it will occur in the process of acquiring outputs for a system. With this, a System Analyst must know how to solve business troubles using the things that they particularly specialized, the Information Systems Technology. They must know how to solve any issues that tend to happen. Let us take these situations where we can test the ability of a System Analyst.

 Customers want to order product anytime of the day.

 Suppliers want to minimize inventory holding costs.

 Marketing want to know customer needs better.

 Management wants to analyze financial information more efficiently.

These are the typical problems they could come across during the development of any system. So I could say that a System Analyst is really a tough job. They have to be very patient and persevere to finish a certain job according to what they agreed to accept.

But if they just have these following skills and capabilities, I think they would be an effective System Analyst as a problem solver. They should have a computer technology knowledge and programming expertise. Next is to understand the business problems. That is why he should possess a familiarity about the industry. Since they are dealing about rational concepts, a System Analyst should use logical methods for solving the unexpected problems.

Another is a System Analyst should have fundamental curiosity on anything, bringing himself a critical thinking towards any problem. Even though it has qualifications of an expertise in programming, it does not mean that he must concentrate in this matter. Instead, this time a System Analyst is more of a business problem solver than a technical programmer. And lastly, despite of all the difficulty he could face, it is still important that he knows and wants to make things better than worsening it out.

In all the things that have been discussed about the basic skills a System Analyst must possess, I could say that I could follow the characteristics of having a great interpersonal and communication skill. It will not going to be hard for me because I always like talking to people. I am confident in dealing with different people with different personalities. And I must say it is a gift that I could use if I will be a System Analyst someday. I could use this skill in any crucial transactions that I would be facing in the future since communication is the basic tool in having some business operations to other people.

Given that a System Analyst deals with integrity and security, the skill of being trustworthy, honest, the integrity and the morality are also the things I can consider that myself have. I am very willing to learn and can easily adopt with the new changes brought by the fast changing level of the technological transformation the world has.

It is very important to work professionally because this time, your name is at stake that is why you should do your job better and always make your clients satisfied on what you have done. So I must say that I possess the skills of professionalism, positive attitude, motivated, has the energy and lastly the passion.

Because I believe that even if you are the most intelligent person in the world but still you do not have the passion and humility, still you will not be successful on your chosen field.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_analyst

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_analysis

http://www.freetutes.com/systemanalysis/

Assignment 2

The Nature of the Relationship of Business and IS Plan

Since we are talking about business plan and IS plan here, let us dig deeper the significance of planning in view of the nature of the relationship of each organizational plan and IT plan. To have a better perspective on this matter, I would like to show you some important aspects I have gathered through my researches about business planning.

Planning is something fundamental to anybody or any organization as it is a preparatory measure of some things that need to be done. As plan defines by Encarta, plan works as a system for achieving objective. Consequently, it is a method of doing something that is worked out in advance. clearly stated that it is a method of doing something that is worked out in advance. The way things are arranged or just an outline of items to be included in certain tasks.

In any organization, planning is the most important tool in achieving its objectives and purposes. To earn success, people should have an effective business plan to be carried out. Business planning encompasses all the goals, strategies and actions that an organization envision to ensure the business’s survival and growth. It is an incredibly effective way for individuals to focus on achieving the goals of the organization(Susan Ward).Basically, any form of business and/or establishments has business plans that set out its future strategies and financial development.

Huge, isn’t it? For convenience, let’s think of business planning as being broken into two large sections; profit-making business planning and contingency business planning. Profit-making business planning is all the general business planning that must be done to start and run a successful business. The best known example of this type of business planning is the business plan. The business plan isn’t a do-it-and-forget business planning exercise but a living document that needs to be updated throughout the lifecycle of any business. Once the business has officially started, profit-making business planning will center on setting and meeting goals and targets.

In establishing and managing the affair of state on any businesses, a manager has to set out a layout of his plans which will guide him in doing tasks concerning the achievement of his business goals. This will going to be a great help for him in governing his business colleagues and associates and direct the whole company to its program implementations. Without this solid foundation that serves as a backbone for the organization, no business will be able to have a clear perspective of its accomplishment. As planning guides the organization on the right track keeping it focused and remains relevant to the needs of its community, the reason why it exists. It supply a basis for measuring the results and progress of the business development. The key important thing is to make the organization move into a systematic and orderly way.

Because planning serves as way of proceeding for assessment of progress, most organizations understand the need for annual program objectives. When managers and leaders organize objectives for yearly program implementations, they usually set out goals made strategically to help them set the priorities of the company and organize work. And with the fast-evolving changes in our environment in the presents state of life, plans should likewise be made every now and then a very flexible one that could possibly handle the rapid alteration and transformations of various company programs and objectives intended for longer term plans.

Some definite objectives could not be anymore applicable in a certain period of time or it may be difficult to implement now that several changes are influencing the present status of the organization. Moreover, planning is an important factor to be considered by most of the leaders of an organization since this will assist them in making some of the strategies that will aid in defining ways to administer changes occurred from the internal and external factors in the community.

In most cases, those of higher positions like the Chief Executive Officers are the usual persons who creates and initiates the planning for the business components of the company and the lower rank staff like those in the supervising and control staff and employees are hands-on to the implementation of the plans. But some organizations have these certain offices and divisions which take charge with the business planning strategies. But in common cases, planning are done primarily by the administrative division.

Having realized the competence brought by technology to the corporate world, information technology has long been integrated into the core of every business through managing and supporting its business operations. The information system department will going to be the organization’s most important areas. Information System people are treated as the most critical resources of the company. They can either help the company progress or be a failure to the organization. Thus, it is then very crucial for the company to take high attention on the center of the organization which holds its vital information. Since, information is a very significant data any organization has. The purpose and use of information systems in the beginning, is targeted towards reducing manual labor and increasing efficiency and thus reducing cost of doing business. In this case, the information system processes the essential elements of the company’s day-to-day business processes. In this side of the story, IT planning is somehow align with the Information Systems planning.

IT planning is the organized planning of IT infrastructure done at various levels of the organization. The topic of IT planning is very important for both planners and end users: End-users often do IT planning for their own units, and they also frequently participate in the corporate IT planning. This in turn determines what applications end users can deploy. Thus the future of every unit in the organization could be impacted by the IT infrastructure. These plans would help organizations to reach their business goals and to create competitive advantage.

For this reason, all of the plans of the organization should include not only the outside part of the business components of the company but also the internal structure of the organization as well as the factors comprising the Information Systems. The information systems uses technology to serve the organization in a more better view, the society where it is classified, to perform its mission and vision, to boost the economy and to achieve its goals and objectives through propelling business. Any organization could have a lot of reasons for keeping alive the information systems of the company. As we all know, every organization is striving hard to improve its competitive position in the global and local marketplace. Thus most organizations invest in information technology as it plays a critical supporting role in reaching the organization’s goals. Information Systems consists of the hardware, software and the people ware where any of the organization have. All of these basically support each other in order for the Information Systems aligned with the business processes.

If we are going to specifically look over the components of Information Systems, we could easily see the significance of each element towards each other. Moreover, in most business processes, there are lot of proprietary and open source software being introduced and used by companies that could further enhance the processing of information. Software that are especially made particularly for the certain tasks and programs for a company specialization. Naturally, software elements would not run without the hardware components. All the hardware components of the company are necessary tools for every individual who were using the resources essential for the transactions and business operations of an organization. Indeed, these hardware components are invested by the company to help them in processing large amount of data and will aid in producing more accurate and better outputs with less effort on the labor. Nevertheless, Information Systems would never be completed without the most important ingredient - the people ware or the human resources of the organization. Without them, the hardware and software specifications of any company will become useless for the fact that there will be no person in charge in operating these components for the business operations. The human resources, or the workforce as we kept on saying is the most critical resource of the organization. And as with the information system is concern, these IT people are treated as highly significant beings because all the crucial information about the business of the company is being processed in the information system department which is manned by people who are hands-on to the functionalities of the system.

Since we already mentioned that the information system involves many procedures and functions, it is likely important to engross the organization with Information System Plan or the so-called IS Plan. This is where the classifying, processing, managing, and controlling of the data inputs to yield the necessary output of the business operations. In most companies, it is in the Information Systems department where able to carry out the mission and vision of the company as a whole, and later on each and every subdivisions of it should align with the business strategy. This is where the business plan and information systems plan naturally align. Where all the core processes of the company, or the business plan always inclined with their IS Plan.

The nature of relationship between the business plan and the information systems plan is basically relative to business and Information Technology. Usually, the information system is aligned with the business plans of the organization. Let’s take the Davao Light and Power Company Information System Department as an example: in every suggestions or proposal they have to made for a new system or programs, they would always take the side of the top management who were the business owners. They are not in the right place to easily decide for the company. Thus, with the signal of the higher rank people, that would be the time where they can eventually proceed to their plan. With this the information systems plan always relates to the business plan of any company. The information system is in charge of doing these procedures that is why the IS plan should not be far from the overall business plan of the company. The IT people will be the support group for any operations that needed to be prepare.

Also, because of the technological advance brought by the rapid changes of our generation, the business strategies of the owners were being affected and need to be taken care of. The top management should also look up to how these new trends of technologies will provide betterment for the organization as a whole. Apart from that concerns the company should also consider on how to acquire and manage the firm’s hardware and software assets, and other mediating factors affecting the information technology and the organization. Without intensive business plan and integrated Information System plan, the programs and systems being develop would not be possibly directly implemented and gain beneficial results for the business. The kinds of information systems like the operational, management, and strategic level serves the groups of operational managers, data workers, middle and senior managers. As we can see, these people are also the same persons setting out the company’s vision, mission, goals, and objectives.

In overall reflection, I can say that the continuous use of information technology in business strategies will help achieve competitive advantage of the organization in the society. This is because Information Systems enlightens any organizations in taking responsibility together and sharing the knowledge across business divisions and improving competency towards global marketplace. Information systems aid in automating the manual parts of the businesses, giving efficient and accurate results in processing information. When the manual system adopt threats to security and reliability of the information due to data redundancy, the computerized system can speed up, and give accurate, more reliable outputs which could then be utilized not just by one functional area in the company but to all that is concerned with the information being processed.

These made me realized that both the business plan and IS plan are always been correlated to each other. Because as business strategies being outputted to business plan carry out the outside level of the company while IS plan is concerned with the information system and the company’s core issues.

References:
http://managementhelp.org/plan_dec/bus_plan/bus_plan.htm
http://www.investorwords.com/630/business_plan.html
Feurer, R., et al., “Aligning Strategies, Processes, and IT:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/nhsitrc/it_planning/index.html

Ten Years after...

10 YEARS FROM NOW...

What will I be ten years from now? What do I want to be? What should I do in my life? What are my goals, my dreams and my ambitions in the future? These are just few questions that we frequently asked towards ourselves. In my nineteen years of existence here in this world, I seldom ask myself what is my real worth as a person, asking myself what was really my purpose. Now I ask myself, am I doing the right things in attaining these aspirations and dreams I have in life? Or as an IT student, am I worthy to be called as an IT professional someday. I’ve stayed at the University of Southeastern Philippines for almost four years now, and until now I’m still confuse of what will be the future me ten years from now. Honestly, until now I’m still on the stage of confusion. I’m sure all of us who were enrolled in Bachelor of Information Technology were having a hard time especially with the standard education our University is giving. That’s why; I’m still on the level of acquiring experiences and knowledge for me to be called as a worthy IT Professional someday. Let’s see, 2011 comes, the year of my graduation. All of us will be aspiring of getting the good job where we can apply all the knowledge we have gained in 5 years in college. From the emerging technology trends arrive, more opportunities have been also presented to us. Exposing us from the different skills and jobs regarding Information Technology World.

In a fast changing environment we have now, I can never tell what field am I going to adopt ten years from now. A lot of opportunities are being offered and presented in today’s generation, so with this I must say that ten years from now, I want to own an IT company that will cater and render services that will provide IT solutions. And also a company that will have an expertise with management consulting, technology services that would help clients leverage next generation networks to achieve high performance. Maybe that time, using our industry knowledge, service-offering expertise and technology capabilities, we can identify new business and technology trends and develop solutions to help clients around the world. This is really an unreachable dream to that an individual like me could have. But I can say if I would have the ability to plan my future well, I will probably reach my goals and will be successful IT Professional sooner or later. Every decision must come from a plan, a plan that will guide my way in attaining all my goals and aspirations in life. That would be the time strategic planning goes in my way.

As what our discussion in Management Information System last Monday, it is really important to plan the things that you will do every time you decide. Planning is really significant in everyone’s life because it give us a choice what to do and what not to do in the first place. Personally, I want to plan everything that I would be encountering throughout my journey to the end. It is never been easy facing all the trials and failure. That’s why I have learned that we should not plan to fail nor fail to plan. I also believe that having faith with one’s self could help me motivate on whatever output I could attain in the future. Since there is no permanent in this world, I can never avoid the changes that will come and go. So part of the plan is to be flexible on making decisions and steps within my plan. I will prepare myself in order to achieve triumph and to improve my performance in the end of the day. Also, establishing priorities is one of the things that I will never forget since I am aspiring in an industry that consists of the World’s best. The reality of our current generation market requires people to become more strategic and proactive in planning and managing their careers. It will never be easy but I think with these strategies I would like to follow, I can say that little by little, my dreams will come into reality.

Finish my degree

This is what am I dreaming of for my whole life now. Finishing my degree of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology especially here in the University of Southeastern Philippines. I guess this is very first key in order to reach out those dreams I have always in mind. This time it will not only runs through my mind but eventually be a reality. It is not that easy, but as what I have always heard, proper planning is one of the initial move I should do in order to manage all my remaining time here with all the subjects, requirements and school documents we are going to have before leaving the realm of the University. After all these sufferings and hardships, it is such a great victory when you receive your diploma and at last make your parents proud. Also, when I finish my degree soon, all the learning’s and knowledge I have acquired will be my weapon in facing the real world and starting my own career as an IT professional.

Controlling my own destiny

At the very beginning, what am I right now is not because my parents or my friends like this course for me. But, because I take control of my own career planning for my personal goals and objectives I want to achieve. We should find the perfect fit for what we are passionate about. This is the first thing we should do, to evaluate and reevaluate where we want our career to go This is a dynamic process that requires sensitivity to trends in my chosen and related fields as well as the ability to take advantage of opportunities and challenges that will occur as time passes. Being proactive in identifying career goals is the one we should never forget for whatever you decide is already final. As they say, “touch, move!”. Basically, regretting will never been an issue here because on the first place, I’ve already decide what would be my future be the moment I enter the pillars of the University of Southeastern Philippines under the Institute of Computing.

Identifying the specific skills

It is not necessarily that after we graduate good job with a high salary will automatically comes in front of us. Since we were starting, we would not ignore the fact that we should work with whoever will be training us. Example our supervisor, human resource staff, or other senior staff to identify specific training or education required to reach our career goals. Many organizations offer such training and education to employees who wish to advance. Trainings are such a good learning experience so that someday a lot of opportunities will knock on our door because we have a lot of knowledge and familiarity than the other competent. With proper training and determination, I’m sure later on I could work and collaborate with the World’s best.
Collaborate with the World’s Best

As I have said in the previous paragraph, working with the World’s best in the field of Information Technology is a great help and strategy in order to improve everyone’s ability. It is not that you were not the smart as they do and you frequently avoid people who were definitely excel in the field that you are in control with. Because as what I have learned in one of the seminar I have attended, these people are the one who could motivate us to work hard and can be our inspiration in all the things we are doing. Their superior capacity could challenge us that if they could do it, why cannot we? So, it just simple, all of us have equal skills and power that God has given. It is only that we differ on how we nurture all these abilities in order for us to be successful in life.


Positive thinking

I guess being positive is such a good attitude towards one’s goal. It keeps yourself being motivated for what you are aiming for. It can help me to fulfill my dreams and could really empower me to the very best I can be. Sometimes, we can never avoid frustrations in life especially when you opt to have many priorities in life that would literally confused us with life, making it a difficult concept to grasp the attitude of being a positive thinker. Positive thinking is a good strategy to practice in order not to limit all my beliefs and thoughts that would directly prolong my despair whenever I feel pressured. Since negative thoughts are very contagious and could affect my life very much, leaving me to live a life of unhappiness and disillusionment. I would never allow these negative thoughts to have a power to consume me with depression and misery. Conversely, I would like to adopt totally positive thinking since it is really a powerful emotion, it would really help me to attract what I really want and will offer me a great outlook in life. I would like to start a day of letting go of my limiting viewpoint, believing with myself that I could do what others can do too. This strategy could help me embrace a positive outlook for reaching my goals and assessing each of it and identify the reasons behind this. It would give me the sanity of stress free environment that could develop myself and eventually replace all the thoughts of having been failed again. I know it will not have a 100% changes to me. However, working in a job of being optimistic could possibly ease the hardships of facing every trial we were expecting within this journey of life.

Maintaining a life of positive discipline and surround I with other optimist, will seriously encroaching my happiness. Treating ones’ self is also a good thing. As they say, don't say anything to yourself you wouldn't say to others. Be mindful that what you think and believe about yourself will ultimately create your reality. Your thoughts affect your feelings, which in turn affect your behavior. Remember to smile more: it will help you to feel more positive.
Challenge yourself to identify all the positive things you do in the day and don't focus and dwell on minor challenges and setbacks that may have occurred. There is no such thing as failure; only experiences from which to learn and therefore the opportunity for personal growth and development.
Therefore, positive thinking will improve my confidence and self-esteem.

Building positive and trusting relationships among your coworkers.

Let’s say that I could easily adopt a life of living with positive discipline already. Meaning having a good relationship with your coworkers is a significant thing that should not be forget. Example, in the company that I will be owning soon, it does not mean that if I’m the owner I should be the one only deciding for the company’s sake. Since I will be working with many people, treating them equally and with heart should always be a priority. They are the people where we entrust the company’s information. They are working hard to make the company progress in its highest level. So it just right to give them importance so that in return the working relationship with each other would help everyone to be on top.

I’ve almost give up just in studying at a University where standard education is being provided and competition is in high risk. And just imagining that after graduation is much more challenges is awaiting, I could really feel the pressure rushing throughout me. It is another journey of my life that I should face. But having just a strong faith with our God Almighty, and just focusing with the things I am really passionate about, I know in myself that despite of these things, a great future will be heading towards me.

Information Environment

INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT

Today, solutions to environmental challenges are aided by an arsenal of information and knowledge systems that were unavailable for most of the last 30 years when environmental management was predicated on “command and control” mechanisms such as remediation of specific sites or compliance with, and enforcement of, end-of-pipe emissions requirements and standards. As knowledge about the causes of environmental ills has grown, so too has the number of options on how to handle them and the development of collaborations and partnerships aimed at harnessing the growing incentive-based approaches to environmental protection. As additional information technologies and knowledge management techniques evolve, environmental considerations will join other areas of strategic importance to industry.

Information technologies are unique not just because of their growing use in decision-making and knowledge management systems, important as that is. Their use has also yielded significant improvements in the efficiency of energy and materials use. This has contributed to economic expansion without the increases in environmental impacts that would have resulted had the efficiency improvements not occurred. Advances in information technology are likely to continue to provide opportunities for the development of improved and new products and services
An information environment can be characterized as the set of networks or online services that support publishing and use of information and learning resources. There probably isn’t a perfect information environment but we can only make use of these systems to their fullest potential.

An information systems environment is an area in which information systems professionals apply management systems and technology skills professionally in an organization. An environment does not and cannot constitute a single, focused knowledge area such as applications in mathematics, art, technology, law, statistics, or desktop publishing. Instead, an environment represents an ecosystem in which information systems are employed. The environment surrounds and impacts the systems and technologies that support it and whose inputs, processes or outputs are closely intertwined with their information system.

Since we are talking about information system environment, let me show some myths associating with information environment.

Myths of the IT Profession

1. IT professionals possess a complete disregard for business concerns.

2. Once you join the ranks of IT, you’ll work in solitary confinement for the rest of your life, living only for weekend sci fi movie or video/on-line game marathons.

3. You must have a computer science degree to get a job in IT.

4. If you don’t understand acronym-speak, don’t even think of conversing with an IT professional.

5. All IT professionals are techie gear-heads with little interest in anything outside of technology.

With these myths of IT profession, let’s throw it on through the role of IT professionals in these information environments.

Demystifying the Techie

1. IT is a challenge in organizing people, solving issues and problems through better process and organization.

2. The tech professionals role is hardly solitary nor is it confined to IT or submerged in a world of arcane acronyms. Emphasis is on business-focused problem solving.

3. The role entails tech professionals who are multifaceted, possessing a diversity of experience and skills.

4. The more one exercises both sides of the brain, the better positioned is the tech professional. Therefore, immersing in hobbies outside technology is ideal.

5. The ideal tech professional is one who can take abstract thoughts about what people are trying to achieve, where they want the business to go, and turn those thoughts into viable processes and solutions.

Probably, the most important characteristic of an information environment is interaction. An environment does not consist of only one being. It is an internetwork, an interweaving thread of digital resources. Therefore, this kind of environment should not be made rigid and one-sided. I think that an ideal information environment should be one that does not only allow the users to access and view digital information but also should allow them to modify the information. In my point of view, information or knowledge is not a stable thing.

Many changes and new discoveries are being made and an effective information environment should be able to address these changes and inform the users about them. For an environment to be interactive, it is necessary that it allows the users to share information via digital means. This process is similar to peer-to-peer communication or online file-sharing. Of course, it should be made sure that information exchanged is true and valid.

So the mere fact that interaction is such an important key in information environment, the categories of IT skills could be connected for a fact that having such capabilities is linked with interacting with different people.

These are some IT skill categories to be chosen from:

IT Skill Categories

1. BUSINESS OPERATIONS- providing strategy, policy, operational planning and execution of work processes for the company as it relates to IT.

2. DATABASE DEVELOPMENT and ADMINISTRATION – designing, maintaining, and using files to store customer and business information. It is generally working with a database management software, finding ways to organize and store information, setting up computer databases for companies, and finding ways to

3. DIGITAL MEDIA - managing digital projects from conception to delivery, including: preparing, costing and writing proposals for clients managing the pitch process to appoint an agency to undertake detailed specification, design, development and delivery proactively managing agencies and other stakeholders evaluating project outcomes.

4. PROGRAMMING/ SOFTWARE ENGINEERING designing, creating and maintaining software. It also involves analyzing,
designing, developing, testing and maintaining computer and Internet- based applications.

5. ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS and INTEGRATION- overseeing the installation of necessary software, programming of databases and configuration of networks to allow efficient and secure transactions among computer systems.

6. TECHNICAL WRITING- communicating technical (specialized) information in appropriate form to an appropriate audience. A few examples of the documents created by technical writers are technical manuals, detailed specifications, online help, web content, and training manuals.

7. SECURITY and COMPLIANCE ensuring that systems, services, processes and information are demonstrably secure and compliant to the satisfaction of the range of supervising entities to which the company is accountable

8. NETWORK DESIGN and ADMINISTRATION devising a plan that allows a business or organization to use a network to further its goals. It focuses on designing, installing, and supporting an organization's network and Internet capabilities,
daily on site support, maintaining network hardware and software, and developing network security.

9. TECHNICAL SUPPORT – providing assistance with hardware or software operation and application problems. In general, technical support attempts to help the user solve specific problems with a product - rather than providing training, customization, or other support services.

10.WEB DEVELOPMENT and ADMINISTRATION developing a web site for the World Wide Web or an intranet. It usually refers only to the non-design aspects of building web sites such as writing markup and coding. Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based Internet applications, electronic businesses, or social network services.

As presented, among the IT skill categories, I should say that I would like to be on NETWORKING DESIGN and ADMINISTRATION. For we all know that in this generation technology is in fast paced. Thus, giving people the privileged to use the innovation brought by these new emerging technologies. So in this sense, working in such environment where I can design my own network and eventually devise a plan that will develop in an organization that could use a network and further its goals. Since it focuses on designing, installing,
and supporting an organization's network, my role with be essential in site support with the internet capabilities,
daily.

The network hardware and software should always be stable and maintained. Well, it is already mentioned that with these roles that I must performed surrounded with this environment, the network security should be dealt also. It is always an issue because in this kind of environment, processing large amount of data is always the matter. These data are such significant and confidential information that the surroundings that apportioned in an organization. Securing these information must not be disregarded.


My role with this upbringing will be very important for a reason that business and IT are two different fields that should go hand in hand together.

Upon working in a company, some things should be consider because I know for a fact that living in a real life situation is not living alone. Thus, it is always inside a group and dealing with them is much essential. Thinking that you are to deal with different people with unique personality and skills. We should find time to mingle with them in order to be a productive and efficient worker. In such time that I would face the real world, there are a lot of factors and challenges that I will be reflecting of. These are the things that could be a factor in our role to those information system environments. The principles of information organization and representation are one of the factors. I have to know all these things so that I can perform my role effectively.

There are many principles of information organization and I think it differs in every organization. But there are three common principles that I need to consider.

These three principles of knowledge organization that I have known are knowledge needs to be organized for communities. Designing tools to support the organization of knowledge, guiding principle must be that of user orientation and predominant usage.

And lastly, standardization and networking provide infrastructures, which facilitate effective and efficient access to information and documents. The notion of information representation and organization traditionally means creating catalogs and indexes for publications of any kind. It includes the description of the attributes of a document and the representation of its intellectual content. Today the library catalog is no longer a tool for its own collection for the library visitors; it has become a network node that users can visit from anywhere in the world via a computer connected to the Web information space that is being used for e-publishing, e-businesses, and e-commerce. These principles, if properly used will help me to become even more effective in my job. The knowledge needs to be organized for communities is essential because I have as what I've said, I have to get involve with people because I will not work with myself alone, I have to deal with managers, stockholders, business associates, and every individuals who compose the organization or company.

Designing tools to support the organization of knowledge and guiding principle must be also considered especially for the kind of job that I have, to design and develop company data analysis and report solutions. This includes the ability to design front ends and interfaces. I must possess a talent in doing so. I have to make sure that the design I made is acceptable to the user and every individual who will take a glance unto it will surely understand. And finally, the last principle talks about standardization and networking provide infrastructures, which facilitate effective and efficient access to information and document. This principle generally talks about the demonstration and sharing of expertise and perspectives in relation to the organization of knowledge. If one wants to associate these principles into just a few words, they can use communities, user orientation and standardization and networking, respectively. I do believe that these principles of information organization will help to fulfill my role so that I will become an effective business intelligence analyst.

However, I also believed that it is not an easy task. I mean, there a lot of challenges that I had to face in performing this role. And I know that this is just natural. I mean in our every action, challenges always accompany us, not to bring us down but to make us strong so that next time around, we will become more effective. First and for most is the competition. We are all aware that competition is one of the most common problems in a job knowing that everybody’s aiming to become the best.

Maybe I can address this by making sure that I am really competent. Even when I am a fresh graduate, I had a lot of learning’s because I already practice even before I graduated. Also, another problem is that technology is changing. I mean, what we had right now is nothing to what we are going to have in the following years.

Technology changes so fast I had to keep myself in touch. I mean, I have to be always updated so that I will not find it hard to deal with other competing companies. Another challenge is if there exist someone who can perform better than I do. Maybe in this case, I had to humbly accept this and realize that each is given different talents and ability. What makes sense is the fact that we use this talent and we help hand in hand for the benefit of the company. We had different strengths and limitations and it's all right as long as we are giving our best in everything we did. My inexperience can also influence on how am I going to perform my role yet I know this can be handled well if I am just willing to learn and improve myself.

There are countless numbers of information environments present in the world today. With the fast development of technology, various information environments have grown so big that they are able to span the whole world. We should not be outdated with the latest trend that being produce with the fast paced innovation fetch with this kind of generation.