Paper on Bsp

Information Technology Management IT600-1204A-02 Dr. D. Lance Revenaugh By Licia Felton Business System Planning The Business Systems Planning (BSP) Approach was developed by IBM, a proprietary technique devised initially for IBM internal use. It was later sold for customer use in the mid-1970s. Business Systems Planning was one of the first information system planning methods and is now one of the most commonly recognized. “This approach concentrates on a firm’s data resources and strives to develop an information architecture that supports a coordinated view of the data needs of the firm’s major systems.

The BSP process identifies the key activities of the firm and the systems and data that support these activities. The data is arranged in classes, and a method is developed to relate data classes to the firm’s activities and its information systems. ” (Frenzel, 2004) BSP offers a structured approach to IS planning in numerous defined stages that lead from the identification of business processes, to a definition of required data structures. Data is then followed as they flow throughout the organization by the business activity support or from which they result.

The BSP methodology consists of four major activities, documenting the business activities, defining the business processes, defining the data necessary to support the business processes, and defining the information architecture. “BSP, in addition to its value for IS planning, also made two other important intellectual contributions: It helped introduce the process view of the firm. The popular Business Process Re-engineering of the 1990s was built on this concept. It pointed out the need to de-couple the data from the applications that use these data, i. e. , data independence.

This supported the database approach to systems development. ” (Dubey, 2011) What should Information technology (IT) management professionals understand about the BSP approach? BSP study requires the diversion of staff and other scarce resources from more immediate tasks. Therefore, it is important to gain top management commitment and involvement. This support is needed not only to get things started but also to measure adherence to the plans. Discipline and constraints are imposed by BSP on managers and high-level business executives, who often view these constraints as counter-productive to their short-term interests.

This is why top management support is critical for the BSP study. The BSP approach can be a very useful tool for communicating with users. It helps to articulate major information system segments to define the overall architecture. “However, this approach needed further help from other planning methods to make it also peep into the possible opportunities and competition. This approach also has its limitations. It is too internal focused and does not take into account extended enterprises needs and creativity. In addition, BSP is very comprehensive, time-consuming and expensive. (Dubey, 2011) In conclusion, the Business Systems Planning (BSP) Approach was developed by IBM, a proprietary technique devised initially for IBM internal use. It was later sold for customer use in the mid-1970s. The BSP methodology consists of four major activities, documenting the business activities, defining the business processes, defining the data necessary to support the business processes, and defining the information architecture. The BSP approach can be a very useful tool for communicating with users.

It helps to articulate major information system segments to define the overall architecture. It also has its limitations. The approach is very comprehensive, time-consuming and expensive. References: Frenzel, C. W. , & Frenzel, J. C. (2004). Management of Information Technology. 4th Edition, Boston, MA: Course Technology. Colorado Technical University. Information Management. Live Chat 10/10/12. Dubey, Shankar Sanjiva. (2011). IT Strategy and Management. 2nd Edition. Pages 38-39. | | | | | | | | | | | [pic][pic]