Overview
To evaluate the needs of your administration, it is necessary first to define exactly what is your organization’s business and what are your essential aims and objectives in carrying it out -- the ‘what’ and the ‘why’.

The strategy study specifically addresses this requirement. By conducting interviews with key management and personnel, experienced business analysts build up an accurate picture of your organization. This picture is constructed using a precise methodology.

The function hierarchy model captures the essential business functions of an organization using a ‘top-down’ approach. That is, each function is broken down into its component sub-functions down to the lowest level where work is being performed. Each function is defined independently of the means used to carry it out.

The information model is made up of high-level entities and the relationships between them. An entity is defined as a thing of significance about which information needs to be known or held; for example, an asset or a contract. The final model is a comprehensive view of your organization’s data requirements.

The business direction model clearly outlines the goals and objectives of an organization, and defines those critical success factors necessary for, and key performance indicators that will give evidence of, their achievement.

These three models are verified for accuracy and completeness at feedback sessions before strategic analysis brings them together into an application architecture that not only defines the building blocks of database design, but also identifies those business work cycles so critical to the effectiveness of the business.

The goals and objectives of the business direction model are taken into account while constructing a development plan that will fully satisfy your organization’s systems and technology requirements.

Benefits

• Change
  The strategy study gives a clear message to your workforce, and to customers in those external organizations you support, that change is under way.
  
• Vision
  The strategy study embodies your vision of the future. If embraced, it can secure the ‘buy-in’ of those external customers, and is fundamental to establishing the kind of partnerships, particularly in the area of data sharing and ownership, that are dedicated to reducing lead-times, data inaccuracies and operational costs.
  
• Clarity
  The strategy study provides a simple, common means of communication between technical people and non-technical users. It gives organizational knowledge, for example, it shows how each functional area fits into the overall scheme of things.
  
• Development Framework
  The strategy study provides a highly structured view of the overall business that breaks the environment into ‘building blocks’ of related data and functions. Within this framework, clear decisions can be made about development priorities, timeframes, acquisition strategies, etc. Furthermore, the ‘building blocks’ technique will eliminate existing duplication of effort, and redundant and inconsistent data, in new application development.
  
• Workflows
  The strategy study also defines those business workflows so critical to your organization’s well being, workflows ideal for the introduction of the latest workflow management technology.
  
• Measurement
  It defines goals, objectives, critical success factors, and key performance indicators as key drivers of system development and implementation. Such implementation must be targeted at realizing measurable benefits to ensure that your organization achieves an expected return on its information system investment.
  
• Focus
  The strategy study communicates your vision within the organization. Such communication will help you maintain focus and work collectively towards a mutual, realizable goal.
  
• Scope
  The strategy study provides a clear definition of the scope of subsequent analysis and design, and sets the initial boundaries for ensuing projects. As such, it gives your organization the ability to estimate and monitor development efforts, plan projects, and bring home the required deliverables within the desired timeframes.
  
• Adaptability
  Because organizations are subject to economic and market forces demanding new programs and policies, the strategy study models are designed to be highly adaptable. They provide a structured method to deal with anticipated, as well as unexpected, change without alteration to existing information structure and database design.
  
• Management Information
  Without the models of the strategy study, end-user activities will not automatically support top-level objectives. Collecting necessary management data will not be a natural by-product of designing end-user functions; it will be a separate (and substantial and slow) task, and sometimes it may prove impossible.
  
• Issues and Problems
  The strategy study models are not only excellent tools for management communication of business direction to employees, but they also provide the means to resolve issues and problems that may arise between functional areas.
  
  And what does your organization lose by not having a strategy study?
  As Yogi Berra said: "If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else".