Introduction to Part 2

The second part of this book aims to inspire the strategic managers of information systems to reflect on the development of the territory of their organization and their information system. We will start with a presentation of the organizational territory and its counterpart, the information systems territory. Note especially the territorial representations, because they describe and also determine our understanding of the organization of information systems. Finally, beyond this description, they have an influence on organizational reality.

The urbanization of an information system, similarly to the urbanization of a city, is a way of controlling the territory and its changes. Urbanization thus aims to understand the current information system, define information systems targets and the associated trajectory, and provide tools to steer its development. We will demonstrate that the issue of information systems urbanization does not stop at the organizational boundary. Information systems urbanization can cross boundaries via the development of information systems that extend to other organizations or via cooperative information systems.

In Chapter 4, we will address the conceptual framework of organizational territory and information systems territory, and we will envision different ways to represent the organization and the information system: according to hierarchy, functions, processes, software, hardware and information content. Chapter 5 will focus on the issue of information systems urbanization. We will introduce the principles of operational information systems urbanism and the advantages brought by urbanization: upgradeability, sustainability and an information system that is independent from any external organization. Chapter 6 concludes this second part by touching on the approach to information systems urbanization in the inter-organizational domain and the specific issues this raises: shared protocols, free software, standardization and collaboration on standards.