Center for Information Systems Research (CISR)
MIT Sloan School of Management 3 Cambridge Center, NE20-336 Cambridge, MA 02142
Telephone: 617/253-2348 Facsimile: 617/253-4424
IT Governance and Business Performance: A Brief Survey
This brief survey on critical IT governance and engagement mechanisms is an effort by MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research (MIT CISR) to better understand how companies are getting business value from IT. It is based on earlier MIT CISR research into how organizations effectively implement and sustain organization-wide objectives, such as a target enterprise architecture.
The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete.
Your participation is important because the greater the number of respondents, the more insights we can provide all participants.
Your participation in this survey is voluntary, and you may opt not to answer any question(s). Your identity will be kept strictly confidential by the study team. The information you provide will be used for aggregate statistics, and will not be used to identify you or your organization. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Once complete, please save the survey and then e-mail it to .
Thank you for participating.
Nils Olaya Fonstad / Mani SubramaniResearch Scientist
Center for Information Systems Research
MIT Sloan School of Management
3 Cambridge Center, NE 20-336
Cambridge, MA 02142-1607
t: 1-617-253-8319
e: / Professor
IDSc Department
Carlson School, University of Minnesota
321,19th Ave S.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
t: 1-612-624-3522
e:
You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies because of you participation in this research study. If you feel you have been treated unfairly, or you have questions regarding your rights as a research participant, you may contact the Chairman of the Committee on the Use of Humans as Experimental Subjects, M.I.T., Room E25-143b, 77 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, phone 1-617-253 6787.
A. Participant Contact Information
1. Name: / 2. Email address:3. Organization: / 4. Your position:
5. How long have you been with the firm ...in any capacity: years ...in your current position: years.
6. What is the total number of information systems employees currently in the organization as a whole, including the central group? people (full time equivalents)
B. Organizational Integration and Corporate IT Governance
1. Please indicate how many business units (e.g., subunits, divisions, lines of business, etc.) there are in the organization as a whole:
2. Which business unit do you belong to? (If you are part of corporate IT, please indicate "corporate")
3. Please indicate the city you primarily work out of:
4. Please indicate the location(s) of your key client(s):
5. Please describe the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements about how the organization as a whole operates.
Strongly Disagree / Strongly Agree1 2 3 4 5
a. Business units regularly share data as part of their daily operations / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
b. Applications are largely shaped by local objectives/needs / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
c. Applications are largely shaped by organization-wide objectives/needs / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
d. Technology platforms are standardized across our business units / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
e. Core business processes are standardized across business units / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
f. Core business processes are integrated across business units / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
g. Data for core business processes are standardized across business units / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
h. Data for core business processes are integrated across business units / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
i. Business processes can be plug-and-played onto a core process platform / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
j. IT principles – the vision for IT in the larger organization – are clear / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
k. Decision rights and accountability regarding integration and standardization requirements of business processes are clear / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
l. Decision rights and accountability regarding enterprise-critical infrastructure services are clear / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
m. Decision rights and accountability for IT investments are clear / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
n. Decision rights and accountability regarding business applications that are either acquired or internally developed are clear / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
C. Details of Typical Large Project
Consider the life cycle of a typical large project that you actively participated in and recently completed.
1. Please provide one or two sentences describing the project:
2. With respect to this project, please indicate which groupsactively participated in each mechanism. Please note: if you belong to a business unit of a larger organization, then "corporate" refers to that larger organization.
Linking Mechanisms and Participation / Mechanism NotUsed / Corporate
Level / Business Unit Level / Project Team Level
IT / non-IT / IT / non-IT / IT / non-IT
Example: Executive Committee - Sets objectives and forms strategy for the entire organization.
a. Prioritization process - A committee assesses and prioritizes IT projects from across the organization as a whole, according to a common set of criteria, before any receives funding.
b. Program management office - A central group coordinates related projects and creates inter-project efficiencies.
c. Business cases for projects - Business or IT leaders specify expected project outcomes in terms of business value.
d. Early-stage client involvement - Participants jointly define and agree on general requirements, execution plans, and deliverables.
e. Post implementation review - A group assesses a project’s key targets and deliverables at the conclusion of the project.
f. Project gates tied to organization-wide objectives - Throughout a project’s lifecycle, a team regularly assesses the project against organization-wide objectives.
g. Early involvement of enterprise architecture -A group ensures that, early in its lifecycle, a project will help build out and/or leverage the enterprise architecture.
h. Enterprise architecture conformance process -A team periodically reviews projects in terms of their compliance with enterprise architecture principles.
i. Business-IT relationship management role -A role to connect IT and a specified part of the business.
j. Local incentives tied to organization-wide objectives - Project participants are rewarded for accomplishing organization-wide objectives.
k. Risk assessmentprocess – A process to assess the influence of projects on IT portfolio risk.
l. Accountability for project outcomes– The people who are held accountable for project success.
m. Business process integration– A group responsible for integrating core business processes across business units.
n. Business process standardization– A group responsible for standardizing core business processes across business units.
D. Project Performance
With respect to the specific project you mentioned in Question C… / Strongly Disagree / Strongly Agree1 2 3 4 5
1. ....the project was completed on-time / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
2. ....the project was completed within budget / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
3. ....the project accomplished local business objectives / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
4. ....the project advanced organization-wide objectives (e.g. it was consistent with the enterprise architecture) / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
5. ….the project applied lessons from prior projects / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
6. This project is typical of large IT projects in our organization / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
E. Business Integration: Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following:
Strongly Disagree / Strongly Agree1. Personnel from different business units routinely share knowledge / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
2. Related functions rarely coordinate their strategic planning / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
3. Personnel from different business units have little mutual understanding / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
4. Key business processes are coordinated across business units / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
5. Related business units engage in considerable ongoing coordination / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
6. IT and non-IT executives have a high level of understanding of each other’s missions, objectives and plans / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
7. IT members have little ability to influence important non-IT decisions and policies / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
8. IT and non-IT executives rarely consult each other / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
9. IT has enhanced business process discipline across the firm / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
10. Non-IT executives share responsibilities for deriving business value from IT / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
F. IT Performance: Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following:
Strongly Disagree / Strongly Agree1. Key applications/platforms are easily scaled to handle higher volumes / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
2. IT helps the business respond to competitive challenges / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
3. IT services are cost effective / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
4. IT cost allocations are transparent to customers / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
5.There is a high level of customer satisfaction with IT services / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
6. Key applications (or modules) can be easily replaced or upgraded without disrupting related systems / 1 Strongly Disagree2345 Strongly Agree
Would you be willing to be contacted by the researchers for any clarifications we may have?
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