BookStoreBusiness Simulation for Information Management

Information Management. This simulation is about information management. The team has to design information management processes in such a way that the business strategy can be realized.. In this simulation, participants play employees of the company BookStore™. This company sells books and has 150 outlets in the country. Management has an ambitious growth plan. In the course of the game, BookStore™, will introduce new products and services. Book-Store™ intends to interact with its customers using emerging technology and consumer demands, such as by using smartphones. Par-ticipants of this simulation will manage sources of information and applications. They will learn to recognize what the information needs of the business are.

Participants will have to consider how user sup-port needs to be implemented to support users

with their information use and needs and also how to implement supplier management in rela-tion to the provision of Information externally. Such as Cloud solutions. Information Planning. The information man-ager will need to establish an information plan based on the business strategy of Book-Store™. To achieve this, an analysis of the current infrastructure and application landscape will need to be made. The opportunities of new emerging technology should also be checked in cooperation with the external supplier. The information manager will closely work together with the business managers, as well as other roles in IT and the business in order to translate the business plan to effective solutions. Exam-ples are: • Growth in existing services provided • Changes to existing products and services• Optimization of existing Infrastructure

About this simulation

a serious Business Simulation by GamingWorks

Key words: BISL, ASL, ITSM

“Business Strategy as starting point for Information Policy”

Amsterdam - Many book shops and book sellers are under increasing pressure to change if they are to survive. There is a rapid growth in books being sold through Internet. Book shops world-wide see a reduction in their sales fi gures. A chain of booksell-ers called ‘BookStore’ has decided to implement a strategy to modernize their business processes. BookStore’s CEO has announced a plan for the coming year in which the following ambitions must be realized. 1. Introduction of the use of new media 2. Introduction and application of modern tools such as e-readers

Learning Objectives1. Establishing a dialogue between Business & IT2. Understanding the information needs of the business 3. Perform information planning and analysis 4. Manage the fl ow of information 5. Implement information management 6. Apply Information management to realize business goals 7. Execution of Information related roles in all parts of business and IT 8. Planning of migrations, changes and withdrawal of old systems and information9. Effective resource management and allocation in relation to Information management10. Reporting and managing costs of Information provisioning11. Use of emerging technology to support business strategic ambitions12. Determine the role of cloud computing in information management 13. Align user support and service desk 14. Use of best practices such as BiSL and ASL

Managing Funtionality and Informa-tion.

The business plans drawn up by the managers of BookStore, will have to be translated into specifi c requirements for the functionality of the information services. It should be defi ned what is required to be able to perform the busi-ness activities and to deliver these ser-vices in the most effective way. In the next step this service defi nition should be put into terms of requirements for the applications that IT should deliver. The change manager will, in close coopera-tion with application and system mana-gers, agree the necessary changes to the information systems. The changes to the underpinning applications and infrastructure components will be plan-ned.In this way the information provision will be offered to the business, enabling

them to realize their strategic growth plans.If the required Information technology or Infor-mation sources are not available to support the business strategy within the required business timeframe then decisions will need to be made:• Choosing between DIY or Commercial off

the shelf solutions • Capacity requirements • Knowledge and capabilities to support the

new Information systems, such as Functio-nal user Support, including the Service Desk

Challenges for information management. A number of challenges will arise for all roles in the simulation:

Subjects1. Information planning2. Information requirements3. Information management4. Managing functionality5. Application management6. Infrastructure management

“Ten years ago we were concerned with the question of how we could best save information in databases, now we want to know how we can best use this information.” Prof. Rik Maes (University of Amsterdam)

BookStore

“There is a growing need for professional implementation of ma-naging functionality and information within organizations” Remko

van der Pols (author of BiSL and ASL)

• Cost Management. Budget is limited; if more fi nancial resources are required, the team must know how and where to justify and obtain this

• Are IT costs known and manageable? • Use of Business Resources. Users are needed to be involved in requirements specifi ca-

tion and do acceptance testing, but obviously they are also busy doing their daily work in the business processes. A lack of available resources means that choices have to be made and decisions taken.

• Use of IT Resources. Planning and managing resources to be used for IT processed is needed.

• Training support staff. Are personnel in user support and the service desk trained at the right time?

• Is alignment between business and supporting processes achieved? • Can User Support in the business support their colleagues as required? • Are requirements defi ned and managed properly? • Are IT Suppliers being managed in the right way? • Is everything documented? The team of participants will have to implement the neces-

sary processes and manage them effectively.

Events. The participants will be confronted with a number of realistic events: • Changing commercial environment of the company (changing customer behavior) • New services with new information requirements are introduced by the business • New opportunities are presented by emerging technologies• Changes in functionality will have an effect on existing services • Incidents and requests for user support and the service desk • Supplier information about the end of support of specifi c applications

Dashboard. At the end of every round the costs and turn-over will be reported.

BookStore

“A short report for management is just the tip of the iceberg. The actual information iceberg is below the surface” an information manager

The Facts

Duration 1 day

Participants 10-12

Key wordsInformation Strategy, Requirements Mana- gement, Change Management, User Sup-port, Managing Functionalities, Application Management, ASL, BiSL, Information Flow

When to use

More Information

a serious Business Simulation by GamingWorks

Information Management • Roles in information management are not clear• Difficulty speaking the language of the customer• IT Services need to be more aligned with the business• Growing ‘ Demands’ from the business for Information systems• IT investments not aligned with business needs• IT systems do not adequately support business functionalityIT departments• Need to understand information management• ITSM processes have to be aligned to information management processes• Need to align with new demand management• IT has to align to business processes• IT has to improve its communication with the business• IT wants to become a partner to the business• IT wants to position emerging technologies to the business• Issues prioritizing IT investments and IT resourcesCustomers/Users/Business• Difficulty communicating with IT• Confronted with information management• New (information) processes are being defined in the business environment• Too little effective support from IT relating to business functionality

BookStore

www.gamingworks.nl