Systems Planning for the Enterprise-wide Information Management Complex: The Architectural Approach

systems. abstract: An architectural approach is used to provide a framework for understand- ing the Enterprise-wide Information Management Complex (ewimc). Imc is pro- posed as an emerging self-contained business process that interfaces with but re- mains separate from all other business elements, while providing unique services to those other elements. A generic model of ewimc itself is presented that breaks down imc into a set of systems federations, each functionally distinct from one another; each federation, in turn, is composed of more specific systems and each system its subsystems, and so on. Thus, a top-down, hierarchical approach is applied to the concept of imc to provide a framework for understanding the complexities and interrelationships among its many pieces. The model is offered as a first step in developing a comprehensive overview of ewimc to replace the numerous fragment- ed approaches offered in the past. An example of General Motors' architecture is presented. Finally, the System Planning Technique is presented as a tool for defining systems requirements.