Protect the data Information systems evolve over time in response to the demands of their environment. Managers presented with opportunities to expand an ERP solution or to provide targeted solutions for different constituencies across the firm must ensure that in executing these opportunities they do not allow IT infrastructure attributes to drift from the ERP-imposed standards that made them effective.
Most specifically, managers should protect data standards and integration. Departure from data standards introduces inefficiencies in communication and understanding as different parts of the firm must, once again, struggle to translate the information they obtain from elsewhere. Integration failures create repositories of information that may evolve along separate paths, serving different purposes. Eventually, the firm could find that, through a lack of discipline, its information systems architecture has once again evolved into a hodge-podge of non-integrated, non-communicating technology islands that hinder rather then support the business objectives of the firm.
