• Source: Business systems planning

Business systems planning (BSP) is a method of analyzing, defining and designing the information architecture of organizations. It was introduced by IBM for internal use only in 1981, although initial work on BSP began during the early 1970s. BSP was later sold to organizations. It is a complex method dealing with interconnected data, processes, strategies, aims and organizational departments.
BSP was a new approach to IA; its goals are to:

Understand issues and opportunities with current applications
Develop future technology supporting the enterprise
Provide executives with direction and a decision-making framework for IT expenditures
Provide information systems (IS) with a developmental blueprint
The result of a BSP project is a technology roadmap aligning investments and business strategy.
BSP comprises 15 steps, which are classified into three sections by function.




Preparation






= Study authorization

=
The essential first step in BSP is to obtain authorization for the study from management or an interested department. A number of roles must agree on the purpose and range of the study:

Managing director
May be a sponsor or team leader
Verifies and approves study results
Sponsor
Provides financial support
Team leader
Chooses team members (four to seven people)
Coordinates activities
Documents and implements study (usually longer than eight weeks)
Presents results to management
Team member
Usually a department head
Analyzes and determines organizational information needs
Recommends future IS content
Presents results to management
Secretary
Documents study
Assists team leader




= Preparation

=
The second step is the team leader's study preparation. Its goal is to:

Set timeframe
Obtain documents
Choose managers to interview
Procure meeting and interview space
Inform team members of:
Organizational functions
Organizational data-processing level
A product of this step is a lead study book with the above information, a study schedule, IT documents and diagrams.




= Beginning

=
At the first meeting of the study, the sponsor explains the purpose and expected results of the study; the team leader presents the study plan, and the IT manager describes the current state and the role of IS in the organization.




Analysis


The analysis is the most important part of BSP. The team searches for an appropriate organizational structure as it defines business strategy, processes and data classes and analyzes current information support.




= Strategy

=
This step define strategic targets and how to achieve them within the organization:

Adaptating to the customer's desires
Centrally-planned reservations, stock, payments
Improvements in checking in, shipping, presentation, advertising, partner relations and stock management
New customers
Noise reduction
Paperless processes
Product-portfolio expansion
Loss and cost reduction
Simplifying customer order cycle
Transport coordination
Upgrade of production line
Updating information
The team works from these strategic targets. Organizational units are departments of the organization. Each department is responsible for a strategic target.




= Processes

=
There are about 40-60 business processes in an organization (depending on its size), and it is important to choose the most profitable ones and the department responsible for a particular process. Examples include:

Contact creation
Hangaring
Invoicing
Monitoring
Airplane coordination and service
New-customer registration
Service catalog creation
Reservations
Employee training
Transfers
Car rental




= Data classes

=
There are usually about 30–60 data classes, depending on the size of the organization. Future IS will use databases based on these classes. Examples include:

Accommodation
Branches
Corporation
Customer
Employee
Invoice
Load
Airplane
Purchase order
Service catalog
Supplier
Vehicle




= Information support

=
The purpose of this step is to check the applications used by an organization, evaluating the importance of each to eliminate redundancy.




= Management discussion

=
In the final analytical step the team discusses its results with management to confirm (or refute) assumptions, provide missing information, reveal deficiencies in the organization and establish future priorities.




= Issue results

=
All documents created during the analysis are collected, serving as a base for future information architecture. The organization classifies and dissects all identified problems; a list is made of the cause and effect of each problem, which is integrated into the future IS.
(marque)




Conclusion






= Defining information architecture

=
To define an organization's information architecture, it is necessary to connect the information subsystems using matrix processes and data classes to find appropriate subsystems. The organization then reorders processes according to the product (or service) life cycle.




= Establishing IS-development priorities

=
A number of criteria (costs and development time, for example) establish the best sequence of system implementation. High-priority subsystems may be analyzed more deeply. This information is given to the sponsor, who determines which information subsystems will be developed.




= Verifying study impact

=
An IS planning and management study should be conducted. When the organization has finished its work on processes and data classes, it should explore the functions and goals of the system with a list of requested departmental changes and a cost analysis.




= Proposals

=
Final recommendations and plans are made for the organization during this step, which encompasses information architecture, IS management and information-subsystem development and includes costs, profits and future activities.




= Presentation

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This is the agreement of all interested parties (team, management and sponsor) on future actions.




= Final step

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The organization should establish specific responsibilities during the project's implementation. There is usually a controlling commission, ensuring consistency across the IS.
BSP, in addition to its value to IS planning, introduced the process view of a firm. The business process reengineering of the 1990s was built on this concept. It also demonstrated the need to separate data from its applications using it, supporting the database approach to software development methodology.




Criticism


The effectiveness of BSP and other similar planning methodologies is questionable. On the other hand, the difficulties created by uncontrolled information system development remain, and how better to identify and resolve those difficulties is far from agreed.

The historical analysis shows that BSP and subsequent enterprise architecture (EA) methodologies are "fundamentally flawed".
The research concludes that "the [BSP] approach is too expensive, its benefits are too uncertain, and it is organisationally difficult to implement".
The research concludes that "given their great expense and time consumption, [...] findings seriously challenge the utility of the [BSP and similar] planning methodologies".
The research concludes that "in summary, strategic information systems planners are not particularly satisfied with [the BSP methodology]. After all, it requires extensive resources. [...] When the [BSP] study is complete, further analysis may be required before the plan can be executed. The execution of the plan might not be very extensive".
The study of BSP and similar planning methodologies concludes that "the evidence [...] presented here strongly supports the need for a fundamental rethinking of IS planning methodologies".




References

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