Alignment of organisational structure and business strategy to strategic informational systems at the national Department of Transport, South Africa

Abstract

South African government has set out a policy and strategy for 'e-government'. This initiative is intended to position information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a tool to facilitate innovative service delivery to citizens. The goals within the strategy include aspects such as lowered costs, increased productivity, citizen convenience, security, and interoperability, reducing duplication and economies of scale. Achievement of these strategic goals and objectives depend on the strategies developed for delivery. Each government department is required to establish strategic ICT investment plans that appropriately and correctly support their business environment. Furthermore, these plans must be aligned with broader national ICT requirements and goals in order to realise the e-government objectives. The ICT organisational structure and its placement in the department are considered as important factors for the successful implementation of the strategy.

The aim of this study was to develop a framework for Information Technology organizational structure that is not absolute in a dynamic environment for the National Department Transport. The framework was meant to clarify the different roles of both user divisions or line function divisions and the Corporate Information Technology sub-division.