Introduction
The current trend of increased globalization and its tradeoffs with global competitiveness and corporate success emphasizes the need for information management systems within the organizational setting. Also, the integration of the broader idea of technical information has been advantageous to most organizations in the past decades. However, today, developing and managing an effective information management system is a fundamental compliant requirement for organizations. The Data Protective directive and the GDPR formulations are among federal policies that uphold the relevance of an adequately managed information management system. That said, the process of developing and maintaining an information system (IS) within the organization is a collective role of leaders. Although it appears that information technology (IT) vendors design, code, install, and monitor IS, the organization's leadership structure provides the necessary strategic vision. On the other hand, businesses provide the essential input and direction, while the specific user within the organization renders the particular needs. Therefore, effective MIS development and maintenance is a collective role within the organization.
The roles of Business users in the core activities of building an IS
The process of building an effective IS system is designed such that it appears as though the organization’s IT team is solely responsible for all core activities involved. This is partly true because the IT team actually implements the IS development procedure, but this is only possible through the help of business analysts within the organization. The business analysts derive information from business users (Laudon & Laudon, 2016). Business Analysts wait till a project charter is acquired before they can approach business users to help them breakdown the specific needs as well as problem areas from the perspective of business users. Information regarding the work behavior of business users must be captured as part of understanding the artificial intelligence system, and how it is integrated into the processes of IS building. Therefore, the contribution of business users is useful for both business analysts and the IT team as they provide information that is basic for the designing and building processes of IS systems.
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After gathering information from the business users, the IS building team needs establish proof that the approaches to be implemented are feasible and has practical potentials. At this point, the IT team initiates formulation of proof of concept PoC. In the PoC formulation process, the proposed design of the information system is scheduled for a brainstorming session, which also requires the input of the business users. During brainstorming sessions, business users are introduced to the IS design, in which the fundamental inputs are captured. By doing so, business analysts and the IT representatives address the needs and problems of business users. Without detailed information from business users, it would be difficult for the implementers to approve or complete the design of the IS being requested. In order to successfully incorporate the input of each section of IT teams.
There is need to encourage each team builders to practice self-organization and hence learn through each experience. At this point, the Scrum master becomes helpful in the IS building process. The essential sections of scrum include daily Scrum, Scrum planning, as well as backlog identification and prioritization, which are essential aspects of a successful business IS system. Business users alongside other business stakeholders in the organization form an essential part of the Scrum processes as they provide support the necessary elements required in each step of the scrum master.
Agile development and project management
The concept and design of agile is such that it works flexibly and in line with the available requirements, upholds detailed and gradual building process and showcasing the piece of work already done more frequently. The team of IS builders requires approaches to help in designing, developing and testing the quality the any business system. In most cases, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is recommended. Agile permits the implementation of Scrum Methodology of the SDLC by using sprint planning (Madampe, 2017). The Product Owner, the Scrum master, and the business analysts are responsible for identifying and accessing the specific requirements of the system. The products required are identified bit by bit at each functional point and kept as product backlog (Leybourne, 2009). The product owner determines and prioritizes on each product, the scrum master offers the sprint plan, and the two parties work together to assemble the product and develop the proposed sprint, usually for two weeks. Each of the sections of development is showcased to the business users and any other significant shareholder.
Sprint planning and implementation follow the milestones included in the Project Management Plan, prepared by the project manager. By so doing, the idea of building and maintaining an MIS is always per the provisions of the management plan which enables business leaders to follow up on the process of implementing the new MIS (Madampe, 2017). Aligning the MIS development procedure to the goals of project management also helps organizations to keep track of its vision, mission, and strategic directives (Laudon & Laudon, 2016). The ultimate goal of the project management plan created during the implementation of an MIS is so that the organization can achieve its set goals in an agile way while still able to keep track on its progress and reap from the accruing benefits efficiently.
How project managers ensure that IS development projects align with business strategies and goal
As earlier noted, the Scrum methodology is based upon the organizational project management plan as created by the organization’s project manager. The IT manager can derive from the program created the requirements, deliverables, project Milestones, as well as efforts as included in the Scrum methodology. Scrum planning also permits the product owners to develop a convenient product backlog, which can later be used to define the sprint planning and sprint sessions (Leybourne, 2009). Incorporating such elements into the project, a management plan is necessary since it allows for the project deliverables to be achieved. Possible future changes in the business strategy and framework holds significant impacts on the MIS plan (Leybourne, 2009). IT and project managers can then take cognizance of such changes and can incorporate them into their information system plan.
Conclusion
The activities and processes involved in IS building call for a collective engagement between business analysists, business users from each constituting department. Therefore, the visions of the organization’s leadership and contributions of each business user are crucial for developing and shaping its MIS framework. Scrum, a constituent of the Agile Methodology, has been principally used to facilitate project managers and IT managers to manage information in line with the project’s milestones. Through it, the mentioned managers can track each milestone and showcase progress frequently to ensure the project aligns with the organization's strategies and goals.
References
Laudon, K., & Laudon, J. (2016). Management information systems: Managing the digital Firm (14th ed.). Hudson, New York City, New York: Pearson. Retrieved from Bookshelf.VitalSource.com: https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/user/signin
Leybourne, S. (2009). Improvisation and agile project management: a comparative consideration. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 2 (4), 519-535.
Madampe, K. (2017). Successful Adoption of Agile Project Management in Software Development Industry. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology Research, 5 (4), 27-33.
