It alignment

Information & Management 42 (2005) 635–649
www.elsevier.com/locate/dsw

Short communication

Information Technology Alignment Planning—a case study
Dan Peak a,*, C. Steve Guynes a,1, Verlyn Kroon b
a

College of Business, University of North Texas, P.O. Box 305249, Denton, TX 76203-5249, USA
b
Omaha Public Power District, 444 S. 16 Street Mall, Omaha, NE 68102, USA

Received 6 May 2003; received in revised form 11 November 2003; accepted 27 February 2004
Available online 6 February 2005

Abstract
This paper describes the Information Technology (IT) Alignment Planning process—a strategic IT planning process created
to complement the corporate planning model used by a major utility company in the Midwest. Corporate planning activities
produced the divisional strategies, critical success factors (CSFs), and goals that then were used to by the IT Alignment Planning
process to align IT within the company.
The process is intended to aid in making the best possible use of IT resources in meeting the corporation’s business
objectives. Fifty-eight managers from five major business units participated in the study. Several important factors and their
resulting benefits were identified. The model utilized an intuitive color-coded alternative to statistical output that was readily
accepted by management. We found that the process helped align IT with business strategies and improved and facilitated
communication on IT project management and development.
# 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: IT Alignment Planning; Corporate planning; Critical success factors; Business units; Goals; Main thing

1. Introduction
IT Alignment Planning is a process that enables IT
clients to achieve their objectives by delivering quality
information from IT products and services. It involves
the identification of requirements and, delivery if
information, products, and services and continual
monitoring and measurement of the effectiveness of
the system [5].
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 940 565 3110;
fax: +1 940 565 4935.
E-mail addresses: peak@unt.edu (D. Peak), guynes@unt.edu
(C.S. Guynes), vkroon@oppd.com (V. Kroon).
1
Tel.: +1 940 369 7210; fax: +1 940 565 4935.

Alignment of strategic corporate planning with
plans of the strategic business units still remains a key
need of business executives [7,18]. In a supporting
role, IT Alignment Planning also has emerged as a
necessary task of many senior managers [16,12] while
commercial IT research organizations such as Gartner
[21,22] have listed IT alignment as a top issue of
American companies. Understanding and leveraging
the business–IT partnership allows organizations to
use IT as a business strategy enabler [15]. The
resulting harmony can then be extended and applied
throughout the organization.
By tying the IT planning process directly to each
business units’ critical success factors (CSFs), IT

0378-7206/$ – see front matter # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.im.2004.02.009

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D. Peak et al. / Information & Management 42 (2005) 635–649

Alignment Planning takes a strategic view across the
corporation. It identifies or discovers and creates new
IT strategies, identifies and creates new IT resources,
provides input into strategic and tactical planning
processes, and factors in the effects of competition
with the primary objective of improving information
quality for IT clients [19,24,23].
IT alignment involves making good use of IT
resources in meeting the corporation’s business
objectives [4]. Strategically, it is a process for
anticipating future IT requirements of the corporation
to ensure that it will be prepared to meet the challenges
of competitors. Tactically, it is a process of corporatewide IT resource allocation, analogous to labor or
asset resource allocation. Operationally, it is a process
for achieving IT effectiveness and efficiency, in an
effort to keep the business running smoothly and
supporting customer requirements.
IT alignment has become a top issue for management and is expected to remain so [8,13,17,20]. The IT
Alignment Planning process fits well with corporate
strategic planning, particularly when it also involves
corporate alignment.

2. Deregulation as a motivation for IT
Alignment Planning in the USA
The US electric utility industry, directed by US
federal legislation, is transitioning from a regional,
regulated environment to a national, competitive one
where retail customers choose their supplier. Deregulation throughout the US is occurring on a state-bystate basis, with the push for competition originating
from large consumers in markets where electricity
prices are high. The US Congress reacted, in 1978, by
passing the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act
(PURPA), which made it possible for non-utility
generators to sell electricity in the wholesale power
market, though it appears that electric transmission
and distribution will remain regulated and noncompetitive [6].
Throughout the United States, industry, and the state
legislators are investigating the effect of deregulation
on utility supply, delivery, and investments. Although
all states are planning electric industry deregulation, each will decide when and may even halt the
process.

Table 1
IT roles
Role description

IT role in
regulatory

IT role in
competition

Business
Planning

Operational
Operational

Strategic
Strategic

Maintenance and support
Consulting and advisory
Visioning
Developing business long-term vision
Developing client long-term vision

Primary
Secondary
Secondary
Secondary
Secondary

Secondary
Primary
Primary
Primary
Primary

Some states have enacted a time-certain approach;
the legislature designates a timetable for deregulation.
However, Nebraska has adopted a condition-certain
approach, where a set of pre-specified market conditions, as they arise, trigger deregulation. In Nebraska,
the wholesale market price of electric power must
match or fall below the Nebraska utility price for a
specified period before the legislature can proceed
with the plan [1].
2.1. Deregulation brings competition
Deregulation is a powerful motivator for transforming IT into a strategic role. In companies where it
plays a supporting role, the IT organization focuses on
client support activities, but IT clients predict their
own future. Thus, IT is not heavily involved in the
long-term, executive-level planning process.
In companies where IT plays a strategic role, it still
supports its clients but is strategically involved with
them—both IT and clients predict the future. IT is
intimately involved in the long-term, executive-level
planning process, because this role casts it as a
strategic resource (Table 1).
Deregulation highlights the importance of aligning
business goals across the corporation and aligning
business goals with IT. A competitive company can
use IT Alignment Planning to connect strategic and
tactical business goals with IT strategies, resources,
systems, and services, providing business units with
the information they need to be competitive.

3. The Alignment Planning context
Omaha Public Power District (here termed ‘‘the
Company’’) is a not-for-profit organization. It is a

D. Peak et al. / Information & Management 42 (2005) 635–649

637

governmental subdivision of the state of Nebraska
and owned by its approximately 3,00,000 customers. It
is a vertically integrated retailer and wholesaler,
containing both nuclear and fossil fuel generating
plants, a transmission and distribution infrastructure,
and marketing and service units. The management
structure is hierarchical, with a president/CEO
reporting to an elected board of directors. The eight
board members, who campaign and run for public
office every 2 years, serve as the representative ratesetting body. The president and the direct reports make
rate recommendations to the board based on revenue
estimates. Board-approved rates serve to recoup costs,
maintain the operating capability, anticipate future
requirements, and provide value to customer–owners
and security to bondholders.
In 1998, the information technology division (ITD)
of the company jointly developed an IT Alignment
Planning model with their Energy Services Unit.
The model was used to create an Energy Services
IT Alignment Roadmap, which identified areas of
concern and resulted in the plans for IT systems and
related products. The alignment roadmap served as a
pilot for the corporate-wide implementation of an IT
Alignment Planning process.
In 2000, the process was revised to make it more
efficient. The data collection was automated with
electronic group meeting software and spreadsheets
were designed to analyze the data. With the support of
upper management, the process was applied to the five
company business units with the object of providing a
high-level, management view of information concerns
and possible solutions.

budgeting process; performance against budget was
measured from the bottom up. The company largely
determined its own performance success, conditioned
by the market environment, based on the performance
results aggregated from lower-level goals. The PDR
process also drove the performance measurement
system for professional employees. PDR was documented in The Power of Alignment [10].
After corporate-level pdr, the corporate strategic
plan was developed by the business units, divisions,
and departments through all levels of the hierarchy.
Responsibility is allocated by job function, except in
cases of shared measures, where PDR identified key
business processes that extended beyond divisional or
unit boundaries. Management determined that shared
measures fostered alignment across unit boundaries
and contributed to an overall alignment with corporate
business goals. Several PDR items are defined as
follows (Fig. 1):

3.1. Corporate strategic Alignment Planning

The measures of information quality (IQ) were
developed jointly by the IT and client organizations
during the pilot study. For many years, IQ was a critical
concern and active area of IT research [9,11,14].
However, the inconsistency of the results and lack of an
accepted IQ standard, other than TQM and the Baldridge
Award methods, led them to develop an IQ measure that
both the IT staff and clients considered appropriate.

Every year, the company went through a strategic
planning process: plan, deploy, and review (PDR).
This was a process whose purpose was to focus the
company’s activities and resources against established
priorities and to ensure alignment with corporate goals
and measures. PDR was not a strategic planning
method in a traditional sense, because it had no
alignment component. Instead, PDR was a systematic,
top-down, goal-oriented planning and alignment
process that successively allocated performance
responsibility for corporate-level goals from the top
through the lower levels, which were funded through a

Main thing: The highest level purpose of the organization. The element that could improve performance
in the near term. Determined by customers through
consensus achieved at a facilitated meeting.
Critical success factor: Key operational or cultural
indicator of success.
Stretch goal: An ambitious, highly targeted opportunity for breakthrough improvement in performance.
It is actionable, measurable, and achievable. Because
it is fundamental to organizational performance,
a PDR Planning Goal could take years to achieve.
3.2. IT Alignment Planning and information quality

4. Theoretical foundation for the model
Detailed planning alone or isolated strategic
decision making will not provide a good change

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D. Peak et al. / Information Management 42 (2005) 635–649

Fig. 1. Strategic Alignment Planning: critical success factors.

strategy. What is required is an integrated and dynamic
view of the organization and its environment, where
strategy making is part of a continuous process as a
part of organizational growth and survival. Aligning
the IT strategy with an existing business plan allows
managers and planners to deﬁne a course of action and
develop an IT strategy to bridge the gap between IT
reality and the strategic target. Alignment takes into
account management processes and practices, coordinated planning capabilities, accountability processes,
service level agreements, and organizational principles, culture, and structure.
IT Alignment Planning advocates that an IT
organization should plan with clients, not just for
them. Thus IT will support the CSFs, processes, and
drivers of all business units and becomes an integrative
and binding force across the corporation (see Fig. 2).
The deliverable for each business unit, a custom
IT Alignment Roadmap, contains a list of ranked
concerns (information gaps), a prioritized development plan with a schedule of candidate IT solutions,
and a management-level portfolio of IS. The deliverable, the IT Alignment Plan that integrates the
business unit Roadmaps, provides consistent, corporate-wide IT vision and status, and also functions as a
capital budgeting tool for major IT resources, projects,
and systems (see Fig. 3).
This becomes a high-level IT planning product
customized for each corporate business unit. Major

deliverables include: (1) a management-level portfolio
of important IT systems and products; (2) a prioritized
list of information solutions (e.g., systems, enhancements, strategies, projects, training programs) containing estimates of size, resources, new technologies,
dependencies, cost beneﬁt, and installation date; and
(3) a solution delivery schedule.
The IT Alignment Plan reconciles and integrates
the IT Alignment Roadmaps. Major deliverables
include: (1) a consistent, comparative, prioritized
view of new and current IT projects across the
corporation that can be used for strategic planning and
capital budgeting; (2) a consistent view of major
information needs and concerns across the corporation. IT Alignment Planning creates links between
the strategic and the operational levels of the corporation.
4.1. Four information dimensions used to assess
information quality
There are four information dimensions to assess
IQ: CSFs, business process, information needs, and IT
products and systems (Fig. 4). These four were
selected as major elements of the PDR and company
IT planning processes to examine IQ from the strategic
through operational levels, and to highlight the areas
of concern by examining their dimensions two at a
time.


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five major processes, while business units have
approximately six. Vice presidents are responsible
for all processes within control of their unit, and
partially responsible for shared processes across units.
Division managers are responsible for all processes
within control of their division and partially responsible for shared processes across divisions or units.
4.1.3. Information dimension III: information
needs
Employees need some information to complete
their task; whether they are able to acquire it or not, it
is an information need (IN). Information needs are
divided into five categories:
(a) Overall information.
(b) Business core information, containing between
five and seven specific elements; e.g., customer
knowledge, service, and satisfaction.
(c) People information; e.g., employee retention and
recruitment, skill assessment and training.
(d) Financial information; e.g., economic decision,
analytical and forecasting for several units.
(e) Information on IT; e.g., technology support
effectiveness, system selection methodology.

Fig. 2. IT Alignment Planning: building the BU IT alignment
roadmap.

4.1.1. Information dimension I: critical success
factors
A CSF is a key operational or cultural indicator
of success within control of the organization. Each
‘‘Main thing’’ is expressed with approximately three
to six CSFs, against which responsible managers
are measured. Managers are measured against one or
more CSFs.
4.1.2. Information dimension II: business
processes
Managers are responsible for all or parts of a
business process which transforms inputs to outputs,
adding value for the customer. The corporation has

4.1.4. Information dimension IV: IT systems
and products
Information is provided to employees by IS,
products, and services.
Based on customer perceptions of performance and
customer requirements, some IT products should be
enhanced, some may call for more customer training,
and some may suggest a study to define customer
concerns. Fig. 4 illustrates the four business information dimensions, listed in order from most strategic to
most operational.

5. Methodology
Out of approximately 200 professional managers in
the corporation, 75 senior and upper-middle managers
were identified by IT and senior management as
candidates to participate in the IT Alignment Planning
process. Because it was not known by people in
other areas, a representative group who were both
knowledgeable and willing participants were selected.

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Fig. 3. Buisness unit IT alignment roadmaps align BU information requirements with the BU strategic plans.

Fig. 4. The four business information dimensions reveal information concerns, which suggest IT solutions.


In addition, all managers were given allowed to
involve senior professionals who possessed management-level understanding of their information needs
as advisors or substitutes. Ultimately, 58 individuals
participated in the study, including 49 managers and
nine selected professionals.
Using their 1998 pilot study templates as a model,
information templates for each BU were prepared from
four information matrices, constructed of paired
information dimensions. The rows and columns of
each matrix were filled with preliminary information.
The CSFs columns were primed with those in the
business unit strategic plan. The business processes
and information systems were extracted from IT
information architecture files. To complete the planning templates for each BU, the authors then met with
IT and BU managers to confirm the BU processes,
identify information needs, and confirm which were
the important information systems.The data collection
process of IT Alignment involved four main steps:
(1) Identify information needs of each business unit:
Key management-level personnel from each
business unit were identified and contacted. This
information was used to prepare a template IT
Alignment Roadmap and IQ survey.
(2) Assess and visualize: The Information Quality
Assessment Survey was administered electronically to managerial-level personnel for each
business unit. Three surveys with approximately
700 questions were administered using an electronic data collection tool. The survey results were
plotted in four 2 Â 2 matrices, using color to
indicate missing (black), inadequate (red), marginal
(yellow), or adequate (green) information. Managers could view IQ trends in color—e.g., a
predominantly green chart indicated that the
business unit perceived it was receiving adequate
information.
(3) Detect gaps between the business and its information: Based on perceived importance of information
received, the survey results were stratified into
three categories: high, medium, and low importance. Those receiving the highest importance
and the lowest quality scores were the gaps, and
these areas were grouped into information concerns
which were presented to the business unit managers
for verification and prioritization.

641

(4) Identify solution IT strategies, projects, and
systems: Based on the results and BU verification,
both IT and the business units jointly identified
possible solutions for top information concerns.
Solutions included: (a) strategies, such as studies,
plans, tasks; (b) new projects, such as product
acquisition, process reengineering, enhancement;
and (c) systems, such as new or acquired IS
designed to address the issues. The IT alignment
participant managers then estimated budget,
cost/benefit, schedule, resource requirements
and assigned priorities. These candidate solutions
were entered into the BU IT Alignment Roadmap.
Solutions that achieved the corporate acceptance
thresholds became part of the final BU IT
Alignment Roadmap and the IT Alignment Plan,
and ultimately part of the IT Strategic Plan.

6. Assessing information quality and
information gaps
Clients of IT assessed the quality of information
they received as they performed their jobs. To assess
the IQ of a paired set of information dimensions,
clients were asked: Are both of these dimensions
important to me as I perform my job? and if the answer
was ‘’Yes,’’ then What is the quality of information
that I receive as I perform my job?
Mentally acclimating study participants to the
questions that described the impact of paired
dimensions on them required mental effort and
patience on everyone’s part.
IQ scores collected from management were
recorded in four information quality matrices.
Matrix A—Business processes to CSFs. This
represented the highest strategic level of inquiry.
Managers will be responsible for all or part of one or
more processes. They will also be assigned to perform
to one or more CSFs. Management was asked to assess
IQ they receive as they performed a process and as
they satisfied the CSF (Fig. 5A).
Matrix B—Information needs to CSFs. Every
manager had information needs that could be assessed
individually. However, by assessing how that information need was served in the performance of a specific
CSF focused on the issue and served as the basis for
user-directed discussion (Fig. 5B).

642


Matrix C—Business processes to IT systems or
products. Managers and their employees are clients of
IT and users of IT systems and other products.
Managers were provided with a list of IT systems
and products they identified as important to them, and
then asked to assess the quality of information they
received from them as they performed a specific
business process (Fig. 5C).

Matrix D—Information needs to IT systems or
products. This represents the lowest operational
level of inquiry. Managers were asked to assess
the quality of information they received in fulfilling their information needs. A low IQ score
indicated that a specific IT system provided
inadequate support for a specific information need
(Fig. 5D).

Fig. 5. Information quality matrices with paired information quality dimensions and information quality scores (For color see http://
www.coba.unt.edu/oppd).


643

Fig. 5. (Continued ).

6.1. Information quality scores
When the respondents (IT client managers)
assessed the quality of the information they received,

the resulting numerical assessment ratings were called
information quality scores (IQS). Respondents could
choose from ﬁve color-coded information quality
scores, where the IQS could be: 3 (Adequate = green),

644


Fig. 6. Facilitate.com questionaire reponses: A column of information quality scores in matrix B—information needs to CSFs. (For color see
http://www.coba.unt.edu/oppd).

2 (Marginal = yellow), 1 (Inadequate = red), 0
(Missing = black), or N/A (Not applicable = white).
Stoplight colors ere intuitive to managers, and a
matrix of such scores could easily be interpreted by
most people. A mostly green matrix indicated overall
adequate information, while a mostly red matrix
indicated inadequate information (Fig. 6).
6.2. Information concerns
An information concern is the information gap for
an IT client; it is then a candidate for immediate
attention. Although IQ matrices may exhibit multiple
areas where IQSs are inadequate, the true objective
is to identify a high-concern areas that require
priority attention. If the respondent has identified an
information area as important and does not feel that
he/she has been receiving adequate information, then
there must be an information concern—resulting

from a low IQS and a high information need
importance rating (INIR). This is the first indicator
of information importance. It is the average rating
that respondents assign to each of their stated
information needs (IN). Respondents could rate an
IN as having low (0), medium (1), or high (2)
importance. They entered their ratings into the
Facilitate.com electronic meeting software, which
collected, calculated, and assigned an average score
for each user information need [3]. Thus, INs for all
BUs were scored the same way across the corporation.
Because BUs competed with each other for IT services
and project resources, comparable scoring was
essential. It partially eliminated the inclination of
some managers to bias their responses for comparative
advantage. It also gave senior managers an apples-toapples view of information needed across the corporation; it was the senior managers who were the final
authority on project priorities.


The number of voters was the second indicator.
When managers rated the IQ they received for a
question, they were asked to respond only if the
question area was important in their job. For example,
if two managers in the same business unit had
orthogonal responsibilities, each would respond to
different questions. If a higher percentage responded
to one, the higher percentage response was deemed
more important. Corporate managers understood the
implications of majority voting and were willing to
adjust importance levels after the scores were
tabulated. As the INIR scores were interpreted in
the context of the IT alignment process, this process
was more likely to provide IT clients the information
they believe that they needed.
6.3. The importance of visualization and color
A key feature of the IT Alignment Planning process
was being able to visualize information quality. A
group of clients and IT managers authored this
technique. When the planning model was being
developed, the pilot group consistently stressed the
need for intuitive visual scoring and analysis.
Numbers and statistics told a part of the story, but
they wanted a picture to aid them. After considering a
number of alternatives, the group settled on colors as
the preferred technique.
During the pilot study, managers assigned information quality scores with color alone. The group would
discuss each square and decide its appropriate color.
As the discussion progressed, the matrices would
gradually evolve into splashes of color. Not surprisingly, color scoring was intuitively compelling but
extremely slow. The group agreed that the scoring
process should be faster.
Data collection was automated by using a GDS
tool: Facilitate.com. This cut data collection time
substantially and made it practical to implement IT
Alignment Planning across the entire company. A
color data display has, however, become the primary
output feature of the process.
6.4. Assigning an information quality score
During data collection, respondents were asked
to assess the quality of information they received as
they performed their jobs. If they were receiving the

645

‘‘right’’ information to make the best decisions or the
‘‘right’’ information to do their job, then the IQ was
adequate. Detailed knowledge of neither the delivery
technology nor the information origin was necessary.
Respondents were also asked to use their own
perception of IQ, reflecting their own job needs,
points of view, and best judgment.
To score an item, respondents went through a
two-stage assessment process. First, the information
had to be important to them. If not, they skipped the
question, and it received the default N/A. Second, if
the information was important, they assessed the IQ:
if any important aspect was questionable (e.g., not
immediately available, inaccurate, unreliable), the
item would receive a score of 2 (marginal) or less (see
Fig. 6).
Managers may believe that they need information,
whether it was available or not. Regardless, the IT
Alignment Planning process attempted to identify
information gaps wherever they existed and resolve
them.

7. Formulating IT solutions
BU CSF and business processes studied during the
BU strategic planning process can generate IT
Alignment information gaps. These, when identified
and ranked in importance, encouraged discussion
between the IT organization and the BU for possible
solution. Sometimes these were apparent, but sometimes they required additional thought and activity.
IT solutions included new projects, systems, and
other IT products. Solutions also included the
development of new IT strategies. To plan and
implement a solution, IT managers aggregated groups
of related projects and activities into activity (work)
streams and then estimated the required resources,
finally putting them into an activity stream schedule—
the master. As a result, IT Alignment tied the
information gaps identified at the strategic and process
levels of the organization to IT system and product
solutions. Thus strategic information concerns were
operationalized into solutions that could contain a
spectrum of projects, systems, products, and other
means, or just a single task or project.
Specific BU solutions were indentified and listed in
the BU IT Alignment Roadmaps, where they were

646


Fig. 7. Business–IT projects are reconciled in the IT alignment plan.

prioritized and scheduled into activity streams that
gave managers a grouped, high-level perspective of
similar solutions. Once all proposed BU solutions had
been justiﬁed as valid cases, aggregated activity
streams and projects from across the corporation were
reconciled in the IT Alignment Plan with strategic
input provided by senior management. Finally, all
activities and projects, with enabling technology and
resource requirements, were factored into the IT
Strategic Plan (Fig. 7).

continuum on the x axis from individual, functional
information requirements (lower left quadrant) to
business process information requirements. Each

7.1. The summary information quality matrix
The summary information quality matrix in Fig. 8
was a four-quadrant synthesis of the four paired
information dimension matrices. It was a composite,
color-coded, meta-matrix of the four information
quality matrices created for each BU, representing a
continuum on the y axis from operational information
(lower left quadrant) to strategic information with a

Fig. 8. The summary information quality matrix, which aggregates
scores of each of the four information quality matrices.


quadrant was then assigned a color that summarized
the numerous IQ cells into a single quadrant cell.
Using this scheme, matrix A (upper right quadrant)
provides the most strategic view of the organization’s
IQ, showing that the organization’s business process
information supported its CSF. Matrix D (lower left
quadrant) provided the operational view, showing how
well its job information requirements were being met
by IT systems or products.
The IQ of each BU, then, was summarized to four
quadrants. At a glance, a manager could then absorb
the quality of information being received by a dozen
BU summary matrices. An outcome of IT client
assessment, using a summary matrix with a green ‘‘A’’
quadrant and a red ‘‘D’’ quadrant shows that the
clients have been receiving adequate strategic
information but inadequate operational information.
The summary matrix provided a scorecard for IT,
measuring how its clients perceived that they were
being supported.

647

data be collected from them individually, using an
online questionnaire with identical formats and
questions—but no facilitator. In four cases, the
researchers met with managers to take them individually through the questions. This attention doubled
the data collection time from the scheduled 2–4
months.
Maintaining matrix spreadsheets for each BU and
then consolidating them was a non-trivial task.
Microsoft Excel lends itself well to displaying colored
cell values but is awkward to program.
Finally, training the managers to think in paired
information dimensions was challenging and
demanded patience and understanding. The authors
met individually with every manager to explain the IT
Alignment Planning process. At GDS sessions, the
authors preceded the data collection activity with an
explanation and demonstration. However, once the
data was processed, managers exhibited interest and
enthusiasm, especially since the validation prioritized
their own unit’s IT projects and services side-by-side
with those of competing units.

8. Limitations
Despite a successful pilot study with a major
business unit, other units expressed apprehension,
because the pilot took 8 months. The VP of the pilot
unit championed the process and, with the support of
the company President, all units eventually participated. Immediate and full participation would have
greatly sped up the process.
The sheer number of individuals involved and the
data collected was daunting. Not surprisingly, the
meetings required for each participating manager
were either met with enthusiasm or resistance. For
example, two BUs meeting together to collect data as a
group had some traveling managers, requiring that

9. Conclusions
The IT Alignment Planning process was a
successful 4 year activity that involved a pilot
implementation and company-wide implementation
of the IT Alignment Planning process. The beneﬁts for
the company are summarized in Table 2. A corporatewide alignment of the business unit goals and
associated IT with the IT unit goals and priorities
was achieved. Our evidence for the success of the
activity came from management feedback in the
annual IT evaluation questionnaire. Also, the added
understanding of BU projects and their priorities

Table 2
A summary of results
Major results and beneﬁts of the IT Alignment Planning Process
Aligns corporate and client business goals with IT
Creates a decision and capital budgeting tool for IT projects across the corporation
Dovetails with the corporate strategic planning process
Develops IT vision integrated with business goals and critical success factors
Facilitates executive-level understanding and communication on IT across the company
Helps improve operational IT support of clients while addressing long-term client needs
Brings IT and client closer together

648


significantly aided in the preparation of the IT
Strategic Plan.
The process produced a uniform and consistent
decision tool: a capital budgeting tool, for proposing,
evaluating, and measuring IT projects across the
corporation.
It is also noteworthy that the second iteration
required significantly less time to collect information
than the first. The major reason for time efficiency was
the use of a GDS tool. Such tools can also aid the
posting of IQ questions in a Web questionnaire.
Managers need not meet to participate. In addition,
senior managers could monitor the whole alignment
process using the tools.
Non-IT perceptions of ‘‘not good enough information’’ called attention to problems that had not
previously been addressed. The products of this
planning activity, together with a high-level of user
satisfaction, were shared throughout the company. The
IT Alignment Planning process improved and facilitated communication on IT and the projects throughout the company, from the executive to the operational
level, and brought the IT and client units closer
together.

References
[1] Wanted Industrial Engineers for Continuous Improvement, IIE
Solutions, 29 December 1997. 26–29.
[3] Omaha Public Power District Annual Report, 2000.
[4] Status of State Electric Industry Restructuring Activity-As
of February 2003. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/
chg_str/regmap.html.
[5] Facilitate.com Collaboration software. http://www.facilitate.com, 2003.
[6] R.J. Baets, Some empirical evidence of IT strategy alignment
in banking, Information and Management 30, 1996, pp. 155–
177.
[7] W.B. Arthur, How Fast is Technology Evolving? Scientific
American February 1997.
[8] R.H. Deane, B.C. Thomas, Y. Dennis, Creating a learning
project environment: aligning project outcomes with customer
needs, Information Systems Management 14.3 (Summer
1997), 1996, pp. 54–60.
[9] W.E. Deming, Out of the Crisis, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press,
1986.
[10] DOE/EIA-X037, The Restructuring of the Electric Power
Industry: A Capsule of Issues and Events, Energy Information
Administration, http://www.eia.doe.gov, January 2000.

[11] P. Friedlander, E.T. William, Reengineering done right,
Information Systems Management 14.3 (Winter 1994),
1996, pp. 7–14.
[12] L. Gotlieb, Information Management Commentary. CMA
Magazine, (March 1993) 9–10.
[13] L. Gotlieb, Information Management Commentary. CMA
Magazine, (October 1994) 7–8.
[14] V. Grover, D.F. Kirk, T.C.T. James, Exploring the success
of information technology enabled business process reengineering, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 14.3
(August 1994), 1996, pp. 54–60.
[15] G. Hamel, C.K. Prahalad, Competing for the Future, Harvard
Business School Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996.
[16] M. Hammer, Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate,
Obliterate, Harvard Business Review. (July–August 1990)
104–112.
[17] J. Henderson, N. Venkatraman, Aligning business and IT
strategies, in: J. Luftman (Ed.), Competing in the Information
Age: Practical Applications of the Strategic Alignment Model,
New York, Oxford University Press, 1996.
[18] C. Hess, Five Steps for Aligning IT With the Business, Guidelines G-07-2351, GartnerGroup, 17 January 1999.
[19] K. Huang, Y. Lee, R. Wang, Quality Information and
Knowledge, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1999.
[20] G. Labovitz, R. Victor, The Power of Alignment: How Great
Companies Stay Centered and Accomplish Extraordinary
Things, John Wiley Sons., New York, 1997.
[21] Y. Lee, S. Diane, K. Beverly, W. Richard, AIMQ: a methodology for assessment, Information and Management 40, 2002,
pp. 133–146.
[22] H.C. Lucas, The T-Form Organization: Using Technology To
Design Organizations For The 21st Century, San Francisco,
CA, Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1996.
[23] J. Luftman, B. Tom, Achieving and sustaining business–IT
alignment, California Management Review 42.1, Fall 1999,
pp. 109–122.
[24] S. Madnick, R.Y. Wang, Introduction to Total Data Quality
Management (TDQM) Research Program, No. TDQM-92-01,
Total Data Quality Management Program, MIT Sloan School
of Management, Sloan, 1992.

Further reading
[2] Kaizen is not enough. Management Review: Cutting Edge,
September 1997, pp. 25–29.
[25] J.L. Mariotti, Ten steps for shifting an organization, Management Review 87.1, January 1998, pp. 367–373.
[26] R.J. Mayer, C.B. Perakath, E.C. Bruce, K.P. Michael, A
Framework and a Suite of Methods for Business Process
Reengineering, Business Process Change, HD 58.8.G77,
1995.
[27] S. Mingay, J. Furlonger, F. Magee, E. Andren. The five pillars
of IS organizational effectiveness, document R-06-6660, Management Strategies and Directions, GartnerGroup, 18 November 1998.

[28] R. Papp, Business–IT alignment: productivity paradox payoff?
Industrial Management and Data Systems 99.8, 1999, pp. 367–
373.
[29] Y.A. Pollalis, A systematic approach to change management,
Information Systems Management 13.2, Spring 1996, pp. 19–
25.
[30] J.F. Rockart, J.E. Micheal, W.R. Jeanne, Eight Imperatives for
the new IT Organization, Sloan Management Review, Fall
1996, pp. 43–55.
[31] J. Rosa, CIOs challenged by disparate goals, Computer Reseller News, 7 December 1998, 43.
[32] B. Rosser, C. Smith. Aligning Business and IT Strategies,
Document R-410-103, Management Strategies and Directions,
GartnerGroup, 9 September 1996.
[33] F. Schlier, R. Hunter, K. Harris, T. Berg., Enterprise 2003: the
technology-enabled enterprise, Industry Trends and Directions
Document R-ITD-120, GartnerGroup, 29 January 1998.
[34] D.M. Strong, IT process designs for improving information
quality and reducing exception handling: a simulation experiment, Information and Management 31.5, 1997, pp. 251–263.
[35] B. Tan, Effects of variability on the due-time performance of a
continuous materials ﬂow production system in series, International Journal of Production Economics 54.1, 1998, pp. 87–
100.
[36] H.J. Thamhain, Best practices for controlling technologybased projects, Project Management Journal 27.4, December
1996, pp. 37–48.
[37] R.Y. Wang, D. Strong, Beyond accuracy: means to data consumers, Journal of Management Information Systems 12.4,
1996, pp. 5–34.
Daniel A. Peak received his PhD in
Business Computer Information Systems
in 1994 from the University of North
Texas (UNT), with majors in Business
Computer Information Systems and in
Finance. An Associate Professor, he has
recently moved back to the UNT College
of Business Administration after serving
at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s
College of Information, Science and
Technology, which he helped develop. His research interests include
IT governance, strategic IT planning, media systems and human

649

factors. Dr. Peak has more than 20 years of IT consulting and
planning experience with numerous Fortune 500 companies, and has
won and participated in numerous production and research grants.
C. Stephen Guynes is a Regents Professor of Business Computer Information
Systems at the University of North Texas.
He received a doctorate in quantitative
analysis from Texas Tech University. Dr.
Guynes’ areas of specialization are client/
server computing, visual computing, data
administration, and information resource
management. His most recent research
efforts have been directed in the areas
of client/server computing and data administration. Some of the
journals in which Dr. Guynes has published include Information
Management, Communications of the ACM, The Journal of Information Systems Management, Journal of Accountancy, Journal of
Systems Management, The Journal of Database Management, The
CPA Journal, The Journal of Computer Information Systems, Information Strategy, Computers and Security, and Computers and
Society.
Verlyn Kroon is Division Manager of
Information Technology and CIO of
Omaha Public Power District, a publicly
owned, business-managed electric utility
with approximately 3,00,000 customers
in southeastern Nebraska. As a 29 year
veteran in the electric utility industry, he
has extensive leadership experience in
both the Information Technology and
corporate planning functions of business.
His special interests are in technology planning, and in providing
innovative, practical ideas which add real value to the business. He
shares his business experiences with numerous technology advisory
boards and academic institutions in the Omaha metropolitan area to
further the education of Information Technology professionals. He
sponsored several applied Information Technology research projects
for his employer with faculty of local universities and is an advocate
for strengthening collaboration of the academic and business communities.

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