ISYS6312 – Information System

Strategy, Management and

Acquisition
Week 6

Architecture and Infrastructure

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Learning Outcomes

 LO2: Analyze related aspects of IS Strategy, Management, and

Acquisition on business cases.

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 References

 Pearlson, K. E. and Saunders, C. S. (2015). Managing and Using

Information Systems: A Strategic Approach. Chapter. 6.

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Sub Topics

From Vision to Implementation

The Leap from Strategy to Architecture to Infrastructure

Architectural Principles

Enterprise Architecture

Virtualization and Cloud Computing

Other Managerial Considerations

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Learning Objectives
• Understand how strategy drives architecture, which then
drives infrastructure.
• Identify and define the three configurations for IT
architecture.
• Define how business goals can be translated into IT
architecture and then into infrastructure.
• Know the different types of frameworks used to design and
build the IT architecture and infrastructure.
• Understand the importance of knowing the details of the
existing architecture and infrastructure of the organization.

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Real World Examples

• Over the past 10 years Valero Energy (gas/oil refiner) has

experienced hypergrowth.
• Revenue has grown from $29 to $90 billion.
• This growth came with a mixture of disparate IT systems and
applications.
• Difficult and expensive to manage.
• Not easily integrated into ERP system.
• IT architecture needed to be redesigned to meet future needs.
• Flexible in design and able to grow with the company.
• An SOA system was selected: SAP R/3 ERP.
• 90 service components were built on the SAP platform.

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 From Vision to
Implementation
• Architecturetranslates strategy into infrastructure (Figure 6.1).
• The architect develops plans based on a vision of how
the customer will use the system (or in the example a
house), which is a blueprint of the company’s systems.
• This IT architecture “blueprint” is used for translating
business strategy into a plan for IS.
• The IT infrastructure is everything that supports the flow
and processing of information (e.g., hardware,
software, data, and networks).

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Figure 6.1 From abstract to concrete – building vs. IT.

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 The Manager’s Role
• The manager’s role is to:
– Understand what to expect from IT architecture
and infrastructure to make full and realistic use of
them.
– Effectively communicate the business vision to IT
architects and implementers.
– Modify the plans if IT cannot realistically support
them.
– Be involved in the decision-making process.
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 From Strategy to Architecture

• The manager must start out with a strategy.

o Use the strategy to develop more specific goals (Figure 6.2).

• Business requirements for each goal must be fleshed out in order to provide
the architect with a clear picture of what IS must accomplish.
• The manager must work with the IT architect.
o Translate the business requirements into a more detailed view of the systems
requirements, standards, and processes.

• The architectural requirements include considerations such as:

o Data demands, process demands, and security objectives.

• The IT architect takes the architectural requirements and designs the IT

architecture.

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 From Architecture to Infrastructure
• This stage entails adding more detail to the architectural plan
such as:
– specifying hardware, data, networking, and software(Figure 6.2).
• Decisions are made about how to implement these specifications:
– What hardware, software, storage, interface, network, etc. to use
in the infrastructure.
• Components must be assembled in a coherent pattern according to
the blueprint in order to have a viable infrastructure.
• Infrastructure has several levels:
– Global level
– Interorganizational level
– Application-level
• Infrastructure also refers to the platform.
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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Figure 6.2 From strategy to business requirements.

Pearlson, K. E. and Saunders, C. S. (2015).

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 A Framework for the Translation

• The framework for transforming business strategy into

architecture and then into infrastructure should consider
basic components (Figure 1.8):
– Hardware – physical components.
– Software – programs.
– Network – software and hardware.
– Data – numbers and text.
• Understanding the technology behind each component
of the infrastructure and the technical requirements of
the architecture is a much more complex task.

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Figure 6.3 Infrastructure and architecture analysis framework with sample questions.

Pearlson, K. E. and Saunders, C. S. (2015).

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Centralized Versus
Decentralized Architectures

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Additional Infrastructures
• Peer-to-peer – allows networked computers to share resources without a
central server.
• Wireless (mobile) – allows communication from remote locations using a
variety of wireless technologies.
• Web-based – significant hardware, software, and possibly even data elements
that reside on the Internet.
– Offers greater flexibility when used as a source for capacity-on-demand or
for additional processing capability for a fee.
• Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) - employees bring their own devices and
connect to enterprise systems.
– Raises issues with capacity, security, and compatibility.
– Consumerization of IT – the push for employees and customers to use
their own devices to access corporate systems and the ensuing issues to
make them work.

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 From Strategy to Architecture
to Infrastructure
• The process of converting strategy to architecture to infrastructure:
– Define the strategic goals.
– Translate goals into business requirements.
– Specify architectural requirements.
– Translate specs into hardware, software, data
protocols, interface designs, and other
components that will make up the
infrastructure.
• Figure 6.5 lists questions raised when applying the framework to TennisUp’s
architecture goals and related infrastructure.
• Figure 6.6 lists possible infrastructure components.
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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Architectural Principles

• Based on a set of principles or fundamental beliefs about

how the architecture should function.
• Architecture principles must be consistent with both the
enterprise values as well as the technology used in the
infrastructure.
• The number of principles vary widely.
• Principles should define the desirable behaviors of the IT
systems and the role of the organization(s) that support
it.
• Sample architectural principles (Figure 6.7).

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 Enterprise Architecture
• The “blueprint” for all IS and its interrelationships in the firm.
• Specifies how IT will support business processes by identifying:
– core processes of the company and how they will work
together.
– how the IT systems will support the processes.
– the standard technical capabilities and activities for all parts
of the enterprise.
– Guidelines for making choices.
• Four key elements:
1. Core business processes.
2. Shared data.
3. Linking and automation technologies.
4. Customer groups.
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 Virtualization and Cloud
Computing
• Virtualization infrastructure - computing capabilities, storage, and
networking provided by a third party or group of vendors, usually over
the Internet or through a private network (e.g., virtualized desktop).
– Includes servers, storage, backup, network, and disaster recovery.
– Enables resources to be shared and allocated as needed by the user.
– Makes maintenance easier since resources are centralized.
• Cloud computing - virtual infrastructure provided over the Internet.
• SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and IaaS
(Infrastructure as a Service).
• A cloud is a large cluster of virtual servers or storage devices.

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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
 Other Managerial
Considerations
Understanding Existing Architecture

Assessing Strategic Timeframe

Assessing Technical Issues: Adaptability, Scalability,

Standardization, Maintainability, Security

Assessing Financial and Managerial Issues

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 Thank You
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ã John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices