An Introduction to Business Information Management

Book excerpt: More and more businesses have become critically dependent on their information systems. This implies that such systems should be designed, developed and managed with great care. Strategic vision, a global architecture and proper governance are becoming the basic ingredients for the successful deployment and operation of suitable information systems in businesses. The role of the information expert is thereby gradually shifting from a technological expert to an expert in business processes, a solutions architect and an IT service delivery manager. In this book, the techniques, methodologies and activities concerned with business information management are brought together in an overall framework. This framework not only includes the strategy, the architecture and the design of information systems, but also the management of the operational IT systems and the IT governance at the corporate level. By using this framework, business information management becomes a competence instead of an art: IT managers do not have to improvise to manage their IT but should use the framework to organize their IT management in a structured and sound way. This book gives an overview of the phases in the life cycle of an IT system and of the techniques and methodologies used during each phase. It describes IT strategy development and the architecture and development of business information systems. In addition, several aspects of IT management are discussed, including governance with CobiT and operational management with ITIL. Finally, a number of economic aspects of IT are discussed, such as the evaluation of the costs and the benefits of IT and the charge-out of the operational IT systems cost.