We have reviewed 83 sources in books and periodicals published primarily in the United States within the last decade, with a view to identifying trends in the development and use of Strategic Information Systems (SIS) and other executive planning systems as well as related soft and hardware. We have found that SIS, as an independent research and functional category is seldom referred to as such in North America. Rather, it constitutes a topic or a subsystem of Management Information Systems (MIS) or even of Computer Information Systems (CIS). Furthermore, SIS is often equated with Information Planning Systems (IPS) or Strategic Information Planning (SIP).
As to the Decision Support System (DSS) and Management Support System (MSS) designations, they are often used for SIS or IPS/SIP, or, ambiguously, as subsystems of SIS or IPS/SIP, or, to bedevil the matter further, as the overall conceptual systems embracing SIS, MIS, and/or IPS/SIP. IBM's Business System Planning (BSP) is touted by its makers as a comprehensive planning methodology - which encompasses SIS. We noted that, whereas MIS is mentioned in the four management dictionaries we consulted, SIS does not appear in any of them. In the light of this not only lexicographical but conceptual confusion with regards to the neologisms of the information sciences - or, rather Information Systems (IS) - we have adhered to the notion that every senior management information systems which illustrate apparently significant trends are worthy of note, inasmuch as they involve essentially strategic planning.
System integration, open systems, and democratization
Foremost in methodological trends is information systems integration. This is accomplished through systematic and systemic conceptualization of information obtained through a variety of sources and through a variety of media - in great measure through the instrumentality of computers. Adams and Wagner (1986) describe the integr...