Strategic Decision Making Report: Role, Sources, and Use of Information

You are working as an assistant to the Information Systems Manager (ISM) in a large organisation, as part of their management training scheme. The organisation wishes to redesign its information systems so that systems are more integrated to support strategic decision making. In order to do this, it needs to understand how information is gathered and used to support the different business functions.

In preparation for a discussion with the ISM he has asked you to write a report relating to the area of strategic decision making. This will involve considering the role, value and sources of information required in strategic decision making.

Your report must cover the following key information, within four sections.

The introductory part of your report should set out the scope of the report and explain the importance of information in strategic decision making that aligns with business objectives.

You must write the first section of your report.

You must evaluate:

1. the role of information in supporting strategic decision making and the achievement of business objectives.
2. the value of information in supporting strategic decision making and the achievement of business objectives.

This section should look at the sources of information for strategic decision making and evaluate these sources. You should use examples of the information requirements and sources of information for strategic decisions in a range of organisations you have chosen to illustrate you answers.

You must write the second section of your report. You must:

1. Identify a range of sources of information used for strategic decision making.
2. Explain each source of information.
3. Evaluate the strengths and limitations of each source.

In this section you will focus on the tools and techniques for gathering information and the potential barriers to gathering information for strategic decision making.

You must write the third section of your report. You must:

1. Identify information gathering tools and techniques.
2. Evaluate strengths and limitations of a range of information gathering tools and techniques to support strategic decision making.
3. Analyse the potential barriers to gathering information for strategic decision making.

In this section, you should consider the use of information in strategic decision making and how information is validated, analysed, collated and presented as well as how information is used to make decisions.

You must write the fourth section of your report. You must:

1. Assess the legal, regulatory, organisational and ethical guidelines used to validate information gathered for strategic decision making
2. Discuss how information required to make strategic decisions should be analysed, collated and presented
3. Explain how people make strategic decisions by using information