Strategic paper

1) DB (week 6)

Based upon the recommendations you plan to make for your week six written assignment, use the attached spreadsheet to create a financial case for your recommendations. Return on investment template.xlsxIn your posting, describe your recommendations and attach the return on investment spreadsheet with your costs and benefits. The following resources may help you:

Video: Return on investment explains calculating return on investment, which is critically important before choosing specific IT initiatives.
Article: Return on investment explains return on investment.

Students will be updating the financial case for the week seven written strategy.

2) Strategic Analysis paper (Week 6)

Please choose one of these ten business case studies:

A Sweet Breakfast Memory That Connects With the Wrong Market

Seeking Even Faster Growth, an E-Commerce Company Stumbles

A Business Owner Seeks an Alternative to Seven-Day Workweeks

A Business Owner Who Backed Off Tries to Step Back In

A Wholesaler Finds Himself in Competition With Retail Clients

Meeting the Demand for Quirky Objects

Helping One Big Client, but Wanting to Spread Out

Can Chasing Small Customers Lead to Larger Profits

Irrational Design, a San Francisco Start-Up, Tries to Fly Solo

Looking to Expand, but Fearing It, Too

• Write a summary of the case study that is about one page. Research and describe at least 3 technologies that could be used to support or enhance the business in the case study. Your paper should include at least 3 references from peer-reviewed journals associated with how other companies are using the 3 technologies you are recommending. Your paper should be in APA format and at least 3 pages, not counting the title page and reference pages. Make sure you have in-text citations and a reference page. You will use this paper as part of your IS strategy for week 7. The technologies you choose will be part of the return on investment analysis for this week’s discussion board.
• Make sure on your references page you include a reference with the URL (weblink) to the case study you chose, in addition to at least 3 references from peer-reviewed journals.

Please watch Creating Winning IT Strategies video, which describes how to create an IT strategy. Because the PowerPoint slides in the video are a little hard to read, a copy of the slides is attached here: Gartner-IT Strategy.pptx

In developing your recommendations for the case study this week, please refer to the resources from previous weeks. A list of all the videos and other resources can be found under the Strategy Resources link on the main menu in this Blackboard course. You can reference these resources in your paper, but you must also reference at least 3 peer-reviewed articles.

3) DB (week 7)

After a project is successfully implemented, the resulting systems may be operational for several years. IT enhancements are often run as a series of small projects. Businesses generally want more enhancements than is affordable. Based on economic and technical feasibility considerations, and frameworks like the Balanced Scorecard, describe a process for deciding how you would plan to keep systems and the skills of your staff up to date. The following resources may help you:

Read: Chapter 13 – Project Management and SDLC Chapter 13 – Project Management and SDLC.pptxVideo: What is Portfolio Management vs. Project Management? explains the difference between project management and portfolio management.
Video: Project Portfolio Management Defined describes managing a portfolio of projects.

4) Strategic analysis paper (Week 7)

Attached Files:

• IT Strategy Template.docx (50.579 KB)

Using the IS alignment work and the financial analysis from week 6, submit a complete IS strategic plan. Your paper should include at least 5 references from peer-reviewed journals associated with how other companies are using the technologies you are recommending. The strategy should include the technologies you plan to implement, your plan for sourcing the IS work, and the governance model you plan to use to sustain the IS operation over the long term. You should include specific projects with a timeline for implementation in your strategy. Make sure you also include the financial analysis. Your IT strategy should also specify some key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of IT. The website below can help you identify the KPIs for your strategy.

• Website: ITIL Key Performance Indicators explains some of the key performance indicators used for IT service management in the ITIL governance framework.

Your total paper should be 5-7 pages of text in APA format, not counting the title and reference pages, and not counting any tables or figures. Make sure you include in-text citations. Please use the template attached above. In developing your IT strategy, please refer to the resources from previous weeks. A list of all the videos and other resources can be found under the Strategy Resources link on the main menu in this Blackboard course. You can reference these resources in your paper, but you must also reference at least 5 peer-reviewed articles. Make sure on your references page you include a reference with the URL (weblink) to the case study you chose, in addition to at least 5 references from peer-reviewed journals.