The balanced scorecard: a foundation for the strategic management of information systems

Abstract The balanced scorecard (BSC) has emerged as a decision support tool at the strategic management level. Many business leaders now evaluate corporate performance by supplementing financial accounting data with goal-related measures from the following perspectives: customer, internal business process, and learning and growth. It is argued that the BSC concept can be adapted to assist those managing business functions, organizational units and individual projects. This article develops a balanced scorecard for information systems (IS) that measures and evaluates IS activities from the following perspectives: business value, user orientation, internal process, and future readiness. Case study evidence suggests that a balanced IS scorecard can be the foundation for a strategic IS management system provided that certain development guidelines are followed, appropriate metrics are identified, and key implementation obstacles are overcome.

[1]  James C. Wetherbe,et al.  The management of information systems , 1985 .

[2]  Stephen R. Letza,et al.  The design and implementation of the balanced business scorecard , 1996 .

[3]  Pavlos Moraitis,et al.  A distributed decision support system for strategic planning , 1997, Decis. Support Syst..

[4]  Stephanie Lester,et al.  Information Economics: linking business performance to information technology , 1990, J. Inf. Technol..

[5]  Maris G. Martinsons,et al.  Organizational visions for technology assimilation: the strategic roads to knowledge-based systems success , 1995 .

[6]  Michael Daskalantonakis,et al.  A Practical View of Software Measurement and Implementation Experiences Within Motorola , 1992, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[7]  Varun Grover,et al.  Re-designing business processes using information technology , 1994 .

[8]  Maris G. Martinsons.  Radical process innovation using information technology: The theory, the practice and the future of reengineering , 1995 .

[9]  James C. Wetherbe,et al.  Key issues in information systems management , 1987 .

[10]  Maris G. Martinsons.  Benchmarking human resource information systems in Canada and Hong Kong , 1994, Inf. Manag..

[11]  R. Kelly Rainer,et al.  What does it take for successful executive information systems? , 1995, Decis. Support Syst..

[12]  George Strauss,et al.  Tracking the Giant Corporation@@@Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism. , 1991 .

[13]  R. Dorf,et al.  The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy Into Action , 1997, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[14]  Andrew B. Whinston,et al.  The Calculus of Reengineering , 1996, Inf. Syst. Res..

[15]  Robert E. Mittelstaedt.  Benchmarking: how to learn from best-in-class practices , 1992 .

[16]  R. Kaplan,et al.  The balanced scorecard--measures that drive performance. , 2015, Harvard business review.

[17]  Ramesh Sharda,et al.  Decision support system effectiveness: a review and an empirical test , 1988 .

[18]  Michiel van Genuchten,et al.  On the use of software cost models , 1991, Inf. Manag..

[19]  Erik Brynjolfsson,et al.  The Matrix of Change , 1997 .

[20]  A. Akerkar,et al.  Coping with Information , 1985 .

[21]  M. Morton,et al.  The corporation of the 1990s: Information technology and organizational transformation , 1993 .

[22]  Charles R. Symons,et al.  Function Point Analysis: Difficulties and Improvements , 1988, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[23]  Andrew B. Whinston,et al.  On the usage of qualitative reasoning as an approach towards enterprise modelling , 1995, Ann. Oper. Res..

[24]  M. Parker.  Strategic transformation and information technology , 1995 .

[25]  R. Kaplan,et al.  Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system , 1996 .

[26]  Soumitra Dutta,et al.  Decision support for planning , 1994, Decision Support Systems.

[27]  Louis C. K. Ma,et al.  Critical issues of IS management in Hong Kong: a cultural comparison , 1993 .

[28]  R. Kaplan,et al.  PUTTING THE BALANCED SCORECARD TO WORK , 1993 .

[29]  L ChervanyNorman,et al.  Evaluating information systems effectiveness - part ii: , 1981 .

[30]  E. Brynjolfsson,et al.  Information Technology As A Factor Of Production: The Role Of Differences Among Firms , 1995 .

[31]  Andrew Martin,et al.  The 3-D Model of Information Systems Success: The Search for the Dependent Variable Continues , 1996 .

[32]  Ephraim R. McLean,et al.  Information Systems Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable , 1992, Inf. Syst. Res..

[33]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Coping with information technology? How British executives perceive the key information systems management issues in the mid-1990s , 1994, J. Inf. Technol..

[34]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Process Innovation: Reengineering Work Through Information Technology , 1992 .

[35]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  Structure in Fives: Designing Effective Organizations , 1983 .

[36]  Maris G. Martinsons.  Outsourcing information systems: A strategic partnership with risks , 1993 .

[37]  Enid Mumford,et al.  Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution , 1995 .

[38]  Maris G. Martinsons,et al.  Re-engineering is dead; Long live re-engineering , 1997 .

[39]  Timo Saarinen,et al.  An expanded instrument for evaluating information system success , 1996, Inf. Manag..

[40]  F. Javier Lerch,et al.  Assessing the impact of information technology on labor productivity A field study , 1997, Decis. Support Syst..

[41]  Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic,et al.  Organizational activity support systems , 1994, Decis. Support Syst..

[42]  Andrew B. Whinston,et al.  Enterprise decision support using Intranet technology , 1997, Decis. Support Syst..

[43]  Linda Duxbury.  The corporation of the 1990s: Information technology and organizational transformation , 1993 .

[44]  Maris G. Martinsons.  A domain selection and evaluation framework for introducing knowledge‐based systems in smaller businesses , 1991, Inf. Syst. J..

[45]  E. Brynjolfsson,et al.  Paradox Lost? Firm-Level Evidence on the Returns to Information Systems Spending , 1996 .

[46]  Scott Hamilton,et al.  Evaluating Information Systems Effectiveness - Part I: Comparing Evaluation Approaches , 1981, MIS Q..

[47]  James C. Wetherbe,et al.  Key Issues in Information Systems Management: 1994-95 SIM Delphi Results , 1996, MIS Q..