2. Business and IT Alignement

Question 1

What type of analysis ( internal or external) is PESTLE and what does it stand for ?

Answer 1

It is external and stands for:
Political
Economic
Socio-cultural
Technoligical
Legal
Envrinomental

Question 2

What does VMOST stand for and provide a brief summary of each?

Answer 2

Vision - overall vision of the future for the organisation
Mission - high level direction set for the organisation
Objectives - defined goals to be achieved by the organisation
Strategy - mens to achieving the goals over the medium to long term
Tactics -detailed means of delivering teh strategy over theh short term

Question 3

What are Porters five forces ?

Answer 3

used to analyse a business domain or industry and the results may be used in opportunitiesn and threats of SWOT

1. Threat of new entrants
2. Rivalry among existing firms
3. Bargaining power of suppliers
4. Bargaining power of buyers
5. Threat of substitute products or services

Question 4

What is the resource audit ?

Answer 4

it assesses core competencies and can include :

Tangible - physical/financial/human/information/time

Intangible - Know-how , reputation

Question 5

What is Handys organisational model and what are the 4 types of ‘culture’ ?

Answer 5

The Handy model identified 4 types of organisational structure ;

Power Culture (centralised in the top execs of the organisation )
Role Culture (bureaucracy with highly structured, well documented procedures)
Task Culture (getting things done through empowerment)
Person Culture ( individuals connected through a common set of strong values)

Question 6

What s the Value chain ?

Answer 6

The value chain illustrates how value is directly added by primary activities such as inbound logistics ,operations ,outbound logistics and that secondary activities in the value chain such as human resources, technology , accounting are important enablers for effective operation of these primary activities.

Value Adding Activities ( primary )
Value Enabling Activities ( secondary and do not add value themsleves )

Question 7

What is the Hofstedes Cultural model used for and what are the 5 dimensions ?

Answer 7

It is used to represent the culture of diffferent nations

Dimensions:

1. High Power distance ( power unequally distributed)
2. High Individualism ( people are expected to look after themselves and thie family )
3. High Masculinity (values such as assertiveness and competitiveness are more prevalent)
4. High Uncertainity (society has a low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity )
5. Long term orientation vs short term

Question 8

Define Enterprise Architecture ?

Answer 8

It is a target model of the organisation covering both buisness components ( processes and information ) and technology components ( applications and infrastructure)

Question 9

What is the Zachman Framework?

Answer 9

It is a Enterprise Architecture framework . It consists of two dimensions ( rows and columns) what , how where / Scope . enterprise model , system model .

The top 3 rows are applicable to business change whilst the bottom 3 have traditionally been IT focuses.

Question 10

What is TOGAF and what are its 4 elements ?

Answer 10

The Open Group Architecture Framework

This was created by members of the Open Group consortiom and is a framework for developing Enterprise Architecture.

Its 4 elements are :
- Business Architecture
- Data architecture
- Applications Architecture
-Technology Architecture