Topic C.2: Information management and IT governance in value-generating networks for renewable resources

The strategic alignment, benefit contribution, risk and resource management, as well as the control mechanisms for information management have to be defined and converted within the framework of a company-wide IT governance (IT Governance Institute, 2003). Owing to the examined networks’ specific characteristics, the following must be taken into account: the requirements for a flexible integration and disintegration of partners, the environmental and seasonal fluctuations of raw material quality and quantity, as well as the raw material’s technical data collection and representation in the IT systems. These issues are researched in this topic.

This topic is related to topics C.1, C.5 and C.6. On the one hand, in terms of IT governance, standardized data formats (C.1) are defined and their use ensured in the network. The same applies to relationship management (C.5). The implications for the organization of IT governance (centralized vs. decentralized) could be derived from preliminary studies on efficient structural patterns (C.6). Preliminary studies on IT service management consider processes and organization structures for efficient information management (IT Governance Institute, 2003; Young, 2004; Marrone et al., 2010a; Marrone et al., 2010b). In addition, other internal research studies on IT governance present points of departure to investigate the responsibilities, processes, as well as the information and communication systems for, specifically, value-generating networks for renewable resources (Meyer et al., 2003).

The topic could be dealt with by classical business informatics methods, especially business engineering and design science (Österle, Winter, 2003; Hevner, 2004; Wilde, Hess, 2007). The framework concept’s design and/or adaptation (reference modeling) and evaluation are conducted by means of literature analyses, case studies, and qualitative surveys. The objective is to develop process, organization, and maturity models for a value-generating network of renewable resources in order to establish a standard. This framework (program shell) is based on branch-neutral best practices that set requirements for information security, such as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and ISO 20000 as a quasi-standard for IT service management, Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (Cobit) as a process-oriented reference model for the IT governance and ISO 27000.