Managing Information Technology - Essay Example

What is the purpose and role of an IS steering committee, or advisory board? The main role of an IS steering committee is to make sure that the involved parties, that are going to be affected by the decisions made by the committee, have a say in the decision-making process (Brown et al. 2008). The purpose is to empower all parties to participate in the IS project decisions. These parties are the stakeholders that are a part of the company, like the software engineers or the departments, and whose needs need to be met for the successful completion of the project.

IS steering committee also makes sure that the outcomes of the IS project do not affect the company or any of its departments in the negative way. This calls for the need for the advisory board to have a deep insight into the requirements and objectives of the information system. The advisory board must be able to predict and detect the outcomes and plan how to deal with them. Thus, the main purpose is to monitor the changes that the project or its outcomes are going to inflict upon the company as a whole.

The committee also works to promote fair dealing among all the departments and the stakeholders so that every one of them has a right to give invoice in the decisions. This requires right kind of leadership and strategic planning. Another role is to promote healthy communication among all the involved parties to bring positive changes to the business on a collaborative platform, such changes that should affect the stakeholders positively, which is the main purpose of the committee. References Brown, C.V., DeHayes, D.W., Hoffer, J.A., & Perkins, W.C. (2008).

Managing Information Technology. USA: Pearson Prentice Hall.