Competency

• Evaluate effective leadership theories and strategies for information technology decision-making in real-world situations.
• Lead, communicate, and direct diverse teams, stakeholders, and sponsors.
• Design effective information technology models for implementing technology for the organization.
• Create a plan to deploy technology solutions in alignment with strategic business needs.
• Manage complex information technology systems.
• Establish a change-control process to assure formal approvals.

Scenario

You have spent many years as an MIS executive. You have just been hired as the new C.I.O. for a company of your choosing. You will need to create an IT strategy that addresses the necessary information technology needs and projects that the company must undertake to be successful.

You will first determine your mission, vision, and strategic goals. Once those are established, you will create your IT strategy/plan. The IT strategy should document how your business will plan, execute, and measure all activities.

You will need to present your strategy to the Executive Board. As the Chief Information Officer (C.I.O), you will need to be clear about how your efforts will increase efficiency, effectiveness, and profitability.

Instructions

Create an IT strategy/plan for your business that you can present to the Executive Leadership Team. It will need to be detailed, clear, and specific so that they can understand your plan then trust in your abilities to manage this part of the business.

Your submission should be in Microsoft Word. You may use a Microsoft Word template to create your IT plan. Appendices for the organizational chart and MIS architecture may be attached separately. Each of the following sections, should be a section of your final IT plan.

Section 1 – Summarize the business and industry that you chose. Explain the type of leadership style you believe is best suited in a changing business environment. Discuss how leadership principles will help ease the challenges of a fast changing IT environment.

Section 2 – Produce an organizational chart that adequately depicts the hierarchal relationship between the IT department and other key business positions. Using the organizational chart, summarize how decision making is impacted by “change,” planned or unplanned. Describe the internal and external stakeholders that will be impacted by the changes.

Section 3 – Evaluate the existing design of the MIS architecture then provide a summary of how the architecture supports business objectives. Analyzing your companies resources and the needs of your MIS architecture, determine the best IT systems implementation model. Create a Disaster Recovery plan that provides automated restoral of key systems and services.

Section 4 – Conduct a systems analysis in order to determine IT systems requirements based upon business objectives and goals. Conduct an inventory of existing IT resources in order to determine the impact of implementing change.

Section 5 – Create a MIS architecture baseline that outlines the current capacity and capability of the infrastructure. Examine and define the best systems life cycle methodology for changes to your MIS architecture. Defend your chosen methodology based upon the capabilities of your chosen company.

Section 6 – As changes to the MIS architecture are necessary, explain how you will implement the changes from a Change Management perspective. Demonstrate knowledge of the change control process. Create a RFP that will be submitted to executive leadership of the organization for approval.