ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF INTEGRATING BUSINESS PLANNING AND IS PLANNING

One of the key elements of strategic planning for information systems (IS) is the integration of IS planning (ISP) and business planning (BP ). Although this issue has received significant attention in recent ye ars, empirical research focusing specifically on it is still relativel y sparse. Here, BP-ISP integration is considered in four ways (adminis trative, sequential, reciprocal, and full integration), reflecting var ious degrees of BP-ISP integration. The relationships between these an d organizational impact (measured in terms of the extent of ISP proble ms and the extent of IS contributions to organizational performance) a re investigated through the analysis of data gathered in a ''matched p air'' field survey of business planners and IS executives. The results empirically validate the importance of BP-ISP integration, since it w as found to have a significant positive relationship with IS contribut ions to organization performance and a significant negative relationsh ip to the extent of ISP problems.