Budgeting time is an exciting time in every organization. Managers meet to come up with an estimate of needs for the areas and functions they supervise, and on the basis of the means available, new initiatives and projects are prioritized as to their perceived promise in adding to the growth of the organization.
- What is the relationship between strategic IS planning and the yearly budgeting and prioritization process? What is the objective of each? Do you think that general and functional managers should be involved in decisions about funding IS assets and services? Justify your opinion. Who should be developing and presenting the business case for a new IS? Why? How would the new and existing ISs be funded and who would fund them? Propose three funding methods, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
- Risks are associated with every new project that an organization considers to undertake. In the budgeting process, organizations often think of diversification of their new efforts and initiatives in order to minimize the risk of failure. What are the principal drivers and risks associated with implementing a new IS project? What are the principal drivers and risks associated with IS outsourcing? Why should an organization evaluate the aggregate risk of its portfolio of projects? What should an organization do if the current level of portfolio risk is not aligned with the degree of risk deemed appropriate according to the strategic IS plan? Justify your answers using relevant examples.
