Diploma thesis aims to clarify necessity of the use of IS audit in the financial audit and to identify the main areas of IS audit, which are necessary to focused during the financial audit. IS Audit is a developing area, but it is not always taken as a natural part of the financial audit. The first part summarizes the theoretical knowledge of the financial audit and the audit of information systems. The second part describes the links between these two types of audit, the reasons why i tis necessary to involve the IS audit into the financial audit and the method of tis involving. In the end, there is an output of IS audit performed within the financial audit on the basis of the identified areas.

Problem that emerges quite often when managing IT in retail industry is not understanding individual details and bindings between elements within this activity. Therefore, this diploma thesis is, with the help of MBI methodology, trying to draft frameworks for at least two scenarios which may emerge with high probability when managing IT in retail: choice and implementation of retail information system and corresponding hardware and subsequent service maintenance of chosen solution. These scenarios contain individual parts of addressed issues in form of tasks and their key activities; each single one of them defining processes, possible problems and finally bonds with internal and external elements, mainly because such bonds very often in a major way affect solution of said issues. Main goal of this thesis is to show these segments of reality from retail-and-its-surroundings-as-a-whole point of view, providing users of the methodology with description of the best ways to cope with the industry-specific problems in a practical and graspable way.

Information technology (IT) is a key enabler of modern business practices, yet reliably effective IT systems remain a significant challenge for many organizations. The consequences when systems fail to behave as expected becomes ever-more problematic as IT dependence grows. Therefore, methods for assessing IT effectiveness and generating actionable recommendations for improvement are key drivers of success. For this reason, large organizations often adopt IT best practice frameworks such as COBIT, ITIL or ISO/IEC standards which can offer greater assurances of IT effectiveness. However smaller organizations are rarely able to adopt these frameworks due, in part, to resource constraints, and a preference to eschew authoritative practices in favour of informal guides to action. Consequently, a significant research gap is the lack of IT effectiveness approaches for organizations unable or unwilling to adopt formal IT best practice frameworks. This thesis presents an alternative norms-based approach to IT effectiveness which some organizations might find more suitable. Norms are informal beliefs (e.g. ‘using a complex password helps safeguard data’) which motivate behaviours and can often be expressed using non-technical language. We review the literature to formulate a predictive model connecting norms to IT quality. Employing a scientific methodology defensible on philosophical grounds and accepted research practices, we distil a set of IT effectiveness norms from the COBIT 4.1 IT governance framework and adapt theories of motivation to justify our assertion that IT effectiveness norms can motivate actions. Our work is signficant in its formulation of an alternative approach for assessing IT operations and improving organizational IT outcomes. Our survey instrument –validated in four studies, which include a non-profit and government organization, multiple small businesses, a large pharmaceutical company and a university –is a light-weight and reliable assessment tool. Our predictive model is able to explain 26% of observed variance, and can offer actionable and non-technical insights which can improve organizational outcomes. A norms-based approach may bring many of the same IT effectiveness benefits offered by formal IT best practices into organizations, such as small businesses, which lack the resources for their implementation. This approach may also help bridge important communication gaps between IT professionals and others in the organization by providing a different, less technical perspective for framing, assessing, diagnosing, and communicating about IT processes.

The purpose of this work is to define a theorical framework to explain sustainability of competitive advantage in what we will name network industries: social networks, internet based services, mobile devices and online softwares. This framework will consist in integration of the well known Porter approach combined with a more recent Resource Based View of the firm. Using four real cases, with a focus on Google, we will demonstrate that sustaining competitive advantage in those industries requires a combination of external opportunities and a strong defensible resource position. One without the other cannot lead to long term success. In order to make our conclusions actionable, we will lay down a checklist of strategic diagnosis that any decision maker in that industry should have in mind at all time, in order to defend his / her market share.

Nowadays risk management is an essential part of project management. It is necessary to identify, analyze, registr and respond to risks. They have to be assesed by means of the probability of their occurence and their final impacts. One of the tools for risk and response management and for keeping the evidence is risk register. This study will compare different theoretical approaches to risk management (e.g. based on PRINCE2) and based on the comparison a template for risk register and related user guide for different IT project environments will be derived. The study will have two parts: the theoretical part will introduce the issue and analyze different methods; in the practical part will be compared these methods and the template for risk register will be derived together with the user guide.

The aim of the thesis is information strategy development for a particular nonprofit foun- dation in the Czech Republic that would mark the strategy as a valuable contribution to its organizational planning. Then these thesis point theoretical findings, which has not been clear in the beginning and which are probably generalizable. The development method was designed specifically for OSF in Prague and is based on MMDIS, COBIT a Gartner IT strategy framework. These approaches are discussed in the theoretical part, then, in the analytical part, are inputs to the information strategy that are followed by the information strategy itself. The conclusion deals with the foundation feedback and names potentially generalizable findings. Despite them, the thesis contribution is in description of a real in- formation strategy development process in the Czech foundation environment with includ- ed feedback. It can inspire other works focused practically in the field of nonprofit and information technology or it can be a contribution to the theoretically focused works to discuss their findings.

Cílem práce je zařadit koncept IT Portfolio Management do kontextu strategického řízení firmy a dále navrhnout model IT Portfolio Managementu, který by byl universálně použitelný v malých a středních podnicích. Model zohledňuje odlišnosti malých a středních podniků a zestručňuje obecný postup implementace IT Portfolio Managementu popsaný v literatuře tak, aby byl lépe srozumitelný pro management takovýchto podniků. Přínos autora je zejména v syntéze teoretických poznatků s praktickými zkušenostmi nabytými během dlouholeté praxe v IT společnosti.

The objective of the thesis is to analyze the current implementation of information and communication technologies in public administration in the Czech Republic and its development. The presented results come from my partial researches of this area, which I was doing in the whole course of my doctoral study. The thesis is divided into several parts. The first part deals with review of various e-Government definitions and its objectives identification as e-Government has already become an integral part of public administration transformation process. There are also discussed individual e-Government development stages within the broader context of information society development as well as in the context of connections created within the European Union. The second part of the thesis deals with two different points of view of e-Government. The first one includes separate components and institutes of e-Government such as an electronic signature, data mailboxes and contact points of public administration. The second point of view is based on projects. There are mentioned both state level projects such as the Portal of public administration, information system of data mailboxes, Czech POINT, basic registries of public administration and resort level projects as well as projects of particular authorities. Typical examples of regional and local level e-Government projects, which are provided by municipalities, are also included in this part. The third part of the thesis deals with legal, economic, social and regional aspects of e-Government. Indivisible part of this chapter is precise identification and description of constraints that limit implementation possibilities of information and communication technologies within the public administration. These constraints must not be understood as barriers that have to be overcome at any costs or as barriers restraining development of e-Government, but as borders of properly defined space, where the electronization of public administration should operate. Correct understanding of these constraints can help to decrease failure risk of e-Government projects. One of these constraints is legal framework, which I suppose to be crucial and that is why I pay to it the most attention. Besides proving the stated working hypothesis there are given three recommendations for next development of e-Government in the Czech Republic. I suppose that e-Government is a meaningful part of transformation process of public administration and that while keeping some rules it can bring significantly positive results.

Stratgic alignment has been one of the top concerns for IT executives for decades. One of the great debates in literature regarding strategic alignment is what act ‘alignment’ means, why it is needed and how do enterprises stay aligned. Alignment has many definitions, but in this context, it is concerned with the integration of business and IT strategies. Research has proven that there are positive relations to enterprise performance when it is aligned.   This qualitative research investigates the causes of misalignment through the views and thoughts of IT professionals at a Scandinavian IT consultancy company. By using a model created by, Schlosser, Wagner, and Coltman, this thesis could establish the most common factors to achieve alignment in the given enterprise. The model allowed the field of business-IT alignment to be explored in IT projects, and allowed for a better understanding of what causes misalignment.   This thesis conducted six interviews to answers two research questions; (1) what factors cause misalignment in IT projects and (2) how do these factors differ in different methodologies. The results from the analysis found that the main factors of misalignment were ‘procedures / workflow alignment’, ‘managerial skills of business and IT employees’, ‘technical skills and knowledge of IT employees’, ‘mutual trust and respect between business and IT executives / employees’, ‘IT skills and knowledge of business executives/employees’ and ‘alignment of business and IT strategy/goals/plans’. The second research question could  concluded that more research is needed to understand how factors change using different methodologies, as the results were to similar to reach a definit conclusion. For future research the thesis recommends using a multiple case study using the same model to verify the data gathered in this thesis and to strengthen the use of the model.

Marknaden för IT-system har växt kraftigt under de senaste årtiondena vilket även har lett till att olika system för transportadministration har utvecklats. Allt fler företag väljer att investera i TA-system för att underlätta den dagliga verksamheten och förenkla transportrelaterade affärsprocesser. En stor aktör på den svenska marknaden för TA-system är LogTrade, som även varit undersökningsobjektet i denna studie. Syftet med arbetet har varit att undersöka hur LogTrades kunder utvärderar sina investeringar i TA-system. Den teoretiska referensramen som ligger till grund för undersökningen berör tidigare forskning om Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), IT-investeringar samt finansiella och icke-finansiella värderingsmetoder. En kvalitativ studie har genomförts, vilken huvudsakligen bygger på en enkätundersökning som har tolkats likt en strukturerad intervju. Enkäten skickades ut till totalt 156 företag, varav 31 svar erhölls. Merparten av respondenterna angav att anledningen till investeringen i TA- systemet främst har varit för att möjliggöra tids- och kostnadsbesparingar samt för integrationsmöjlighet med ett ERP-system. Den största delen av respondenterna har gjort någon form av utvärdering för investeringen och främst har icke-finansiella mätetal använts för att beräkna investeringens nytta. Undersökningens resultat visade dock att majoriteten av LogTrades kunder inte har använt sig av någon konkret värderingsmodell för att utvärdera sin investering och häften av respondenterna upplever att de inte har kunnat beräkna investeringens totala nytta. Studien visar även att det råder en avsaknad på uppföljningar av investeringens nytta, en värdering av nyttan har främst skett innan implementeringen av TA- systemet. Trots delvis bristande värderingsmetoder och uppföljningar av investeringens nytta, upplever ändå LogTrades kunder att investeringen levt upp till deras förväntningar. / The market for IT systems has grown rapidly in recent decades, leading to the development of transportation administration systems. An increasing amount of companies choose to invest in TA-systems facilitating their day-to-day operations and transport administration. A major actor on the Swedish market for TA-systems is LogTrade, and this company has also been the investigation object for this study. The purpose of the study has been to examine how LogTrade's customers evaluate their investments in TA-systems. The theoretical framework that has built the basis for our research, concerns previous research on Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), IT investments and different financial and non-financial valuation methods. A qualitative study has been conducted which is mainly based on a survey that has been interpreted similarly to a structured interview. The survey was sent out to a total of 156 customers, resulting in 31 replies. A majority of the respondents stated that the reasons for the implementation of the TA-system has mainly been for time- and cost savings, but also for integration opportunities with their ERP-system. Most of the respondents have made some type of evaluation regarding the investment, and non-financial metrics has been most commonly used to evaluate the benefits of the investment. However, the result of the survey showed that the majority of LogTrade's customers did not use any specific valuation model for their investments and half of the respondents’ experience that they have not been able to calculate the full benefits of the investment. The study also shows that there is a lack of follow-up regarding the benefits of the investment. Despite partly inadequate evaluation methods and follow-up of the investment's benefit, LogTrade's customers felt that the investment in the TA-system lived up to their expectations.