Planning for Information Systems Resources?

Increasingly, organizations are looking towards IS planning in an effort to force information technology to live up to its heralded promise. Many of these are finding that their efforts are resulting more in disappointment than in organizational advantage. This article reviews the principles of information systems planning and reports the practices found in organizations. The authors argue that these practices lack the high level direction required to achieve mastery in the area. To rectify this, they propose a four-tier planning framework for information technology, information systems, and information management. This framework provides guidance for an integrated approach to the management of an organization's information and technology resources by promoting the development of a planning platform from which consolidated planning can take place at operational, tactical, and strategic levels.