Aligning IT Strategies with Business Initiatives

Prior to beginning work on this assignment read Chapter 4 from the course text and review the relevant information from this week’s lecture. Review the instructions below and research at least three additional scholarly sources to support your statements. You may wish to review the recommended resources for this week for assistance with finding appropriate resources.

In previous weeks you have constructed a mission statement, a vision statement, and a time-line horizon. Additionally, you identified the strategic initiatives of the business and built an IT Major Projects Plan. This week you will put these all together in an aligned and coordinated IT Strategic Matrix in which you will match the major projects that you want to accomplish over the next one to three years with the company’s strategic business initiatives. Within this hierarchy, the business develops its strategy and specific initiatives, and as the IT Leader you will build your strategy from those initiatives. In some cases this presents some duplication of effort, but at some point, a consolidation of direction and efforts must take place in order to move the business forward. In order for IT to be successful (meaning, it drives the business forward and supports its mission and vision productively), it must sync up its activities to those needed by the business.

In this assignment you will write a 4-5 page paper that describes the alignment of IT Strategic Plans with the Strategic Business Initiatives.

Using the ISM645 Acme Full Strategic Plan, determine the elements of the business initiatives and match them to the major IT strategic projects necessary. Discuss the strategic relationship between the elements within your narrative and why you aligned the specific IT initiatives to the Business initiatives.

Include the following elements in your paper.

• Align the IT strategies with the corporate strategies and business initiatives.


• Identify the potential future IT needs for each business initiative utilizing research and innovative practices.


• Align IT strategic elements against a one, two, and three year time frame.


• Create a cost estimate for each IT strategic element


• Include a matrix that shows the alignment of the IT Strategic Plan and the Strategic Business Initiatives.

Refer to the ISM645 Business Initiative IT Planning Matrix Worksheet to for a guide to creating the table.

The Alignment of IT Strategies with Business Initiatives paper

• Must be completed in the provided ISM645 Business Initiative IT Plan Matrix template.


• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  
  
  
  • Title of paper
  
  
  • Student’s name
  
  
  • Course name and number
  
  
  • Instructor’s name
  
  
  • Date submitted
  
  
  
  


• Must use at least three scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
  
  
  
  • The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
  
  
  
  


• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.