This book is a well-written, state-of-the-art, detailed, and comprehensive explanation of and guide to a set of methodologies designed to link business objectives to future information systems, that is, to connect corporate and IS strategic planning. Many books on corporate strategic planning exist, and some address the role of information technology in that process. What these authors have done is to describe the process from the point of view of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), the top person in the information technology organization. They are clear about the responsibilities of corporate management and where the CIO connects to it, but they are also quite explicit about the dependence of the CIO on the corporate strategic posture. With this relationship understood, they present in great detail the process of supporting the corporate direction with information technology. The main theme is constantly emphasized and is consistently endorsed by each of the methods described:

Strategic planning processes employed by the IS organization must be based on business planning ideas, not technology planning ideas. IS, with all of its technology, has only one justification for its existence: to serve the line of business and enterprise so as to enable those groups to achieve its strategies and goals in the most proficient, productive, and profitable manner (p. 3).

The book is written for the information systems professional and also has value as an advanced text. This exciting and worthwhile book is the second in a planned series of four. The first defines a new methodology for performing the cost/benefit analysis required for justifying and prioritizing information technology applications [1]. Their method arrives at the “worth” rather than the application’s cost or benefit. This worth is the amount the organization is willing to invest to achieve a desired result. This broader, enterprise-wide approach is summarized in chapter 2 of this book. The third book will be on strategic information management and will build on principles put forth in the balance of this book.

The authors are knowledgeable and experienced, and this shows in their product. Parker is Program Manager for Enterprise Information Management at IBM’s Los Angeles Scientific Center and has been researching in this area since 1981. Benson is Associate Vice Chancellor for Computing and Communications and Dean of the School of Technology and Information Management at Washington University. He is also director of the university’s Center for the Study of Data Processing, which, since 1984, has been engaged in a joint study with IBM in enterprise-wide information management, of which this book is one result. Trainor has an extensive industry background in financial and corporate planning with information technology. He is currently Vice President of Information Systems at Southern California Gas. Putting their backgrounds to good use, the authors first develop underlying principles, describe practical approaches, and then provide examples from actual experience. A major case study connects the chapters and provides a real-world context for the methodologies described, as well as many tables, charts, sample forms, and documents used in the processes offered.

Part 1 has five chapters. Chapter 1 is an overview of the entire book. Chapter 2, as mentioned, describes information technology “investment” strategies. Chapters 3 and 4 provide an overall view of how IS must support the business organization; they cover topics such as goals for information systems, target architecture (blueprint) orientation, organization decision processes, and developing and designing a planning process. Chapter 5 introduces the case example of a delivery firm.

Part 2 is titled “Applying Information Economics.” These five chapters describe in detail the bottom-up process for IS resource allocation: setting objectives, the call for project requests, scoring proposed projects, developing the IS plan, and implementation. The case example is used throughout the section and continues to the end of the book.

The six chapters in Part 3 describe the top-down process of “Developing the Strategic Framework.” They cover the conceptual foundations of IS planning, initiating the IS strategic plan, and the blueprint and its products (inventory of current systems, models of current and future business processes, IS strategy, an architecture of systems and databases, and roadmaps to change current systems and databases) as well as a description of the development environment using computer-assisted software engineering (CASE).

The last two chapters compose Part 4, “Putting It All Together.” And that is what they do: integrate the bottom-up and top-down approaches of the previous two sections.

Throughout the book the authors do much more than espouse a philosophy. They present significant detail on how to execute this planning process. In many instances they provide a thorough explanation and set of examples; in others they may not present enough information for the reader to know how to do something, but the reader gets enough explanation to appreciate the technique and realize the value of finding out more. Some of the topics explained are CASE capabilities, business systems planning, structured analysis and design methods, data modeling, and the request for proposal process.

The structural features of the book are acceptable. My copy is softcover and, as usual, it curls open. The many figures are well done in terms of providing insights into concepts and processes, but they are singularly unexciting as examples of graphics. The reader’s interest could have been increased and perhaps information transferred better with some color or other artwork additions. For instance, the cover illustration is much more attractive than its twin on page 14. The index is extensive and the references are current and representative, though the date is in error in Figure 11.16. But none of this detracts from the overall positive contribution this book and these authors make.