A tool known as the Canfield Grid is useful in analyzing the deployment of IS. The Grid as illustrated in the is derived from the McFarland Grid and is a quadrant diagram having the categories of ‘support’, ‘operational,’ ‘strategic,’ and ‘high-potential.’
It is expected that an organization will require information systems in all four quadrants if it is to prosper. The information systems in these four zones must support all the business processes of the organization as well as propel it into the future.
In the operational zone are many systems that work using a range of OS and hardware platforms and perform vital operational tasks. The strategic information systems provide the senior management vital information required for better-informed decision-making.
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Support systems refer to those systems that provide support services to the core systems. High-Potential Zone is primarily concerned with the enhancement of service and its delivery periods.
‘I lay classic approach to IS design begins with a User Requirement Specification (URS). For the system to be effective, it is imperative that the system is aligned with the organizational business requirements.
The next important issue is to ensure a common language interconnecting the dispersed systems. The common information language provides definitions of the time domains of information, the physical attributes of information, the quality attributes, and so on.
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Having provided a common language, the next step in linking information and strategy is to explicate the links between die time attributes of information and the main elements of any organization.