Information Supply to Strategic Planning

In this paper it is proposed that relevant information systems which support the activities of planning and decisionmaking must be based upon a thorough and clear analysis of the planning processes adopted. To this end, a general schema which identifies four key elements of a planning problem—opportunities, policies, options, and decisions—is introduced and various alternative planning processes are shown to be particular combinations of these elements and the links between them. Information relevant to the planning problem is influenced by the uncertainty pertaining to factual data and to knowledge concerning the problem in hand. Putting together the elements of the planning process with these various types of information leads to a threefold hierarchy of information systems: those at the bottom level concerned with source-related information; those based on intermediate-level routinised operation, such as diagnostic and scanning systems; and those at the top level which incorporate models and high-level intelligence in the form of decision support. An important implication of this paper is that for the successful design and application of information systems, planners should examine the wider context of their problem, process, and context in which planning takes place before selecting and developing such systems.