The relative success of alternative approaches to strategic information systems planning: an empirical analysis

Strategic information systems planning (SISP) is an exercise or ongoing activity that enablesorganisations to develop priorities for information systems development. It has been suggested thatthe ‘SISP approach’, a combination of method, process and implementation, is the most completeway of describing SISP activity. Based upon questionnaire responses from 267 IT Directors, fourdistinct approaches to SISP have been derived using cluster analysis. A comparison of these fourapproaches with five approaches of Earl, M.J., 1993. Experiences in SISP, MIS Quarterly, (March),1–24, indicates that three bear strong similarities to the ‘organisational’, ‘business-led’, and‘administrative’ approaches, whilst the fourth cluster is related to both Earl’s ‘method-driven’ and‘technological’ approaches. An analysis of the relationship between SISP approach and SISP successdemonstrates that the ‘organisational approach’ is significantly more successful than the other threeapproaches.