<p> The move to cloud computing as mandated by the US federal CIO (Kundra, 2010) is one of the key initiatives expected to provide relief from US federal IT budget concerns. NIST was commissioned to provide guidance for the move. Federal agencies expressed concern that the guidance provided to them was deficient and GAO (2012) further stated that more planning was required. There is no research investigating the possible role systems thinking could play for complementing the NIST guidance and enhancing the planning. This study presents systems thinking as a complementary option to the NIST guidance. Using a mixed method, this study demonstrates first, quantitatively through content analysis that the NIST documentation does not take a systems thinking approach. Then secondly, this study qualitatively explores a systems thinking framework to supplement the NIST guidance. The framework is established based upon a thorough review of current scholarship in the areas of systems thinking and cloud computing using the established tools and methods of content analysis. The review of cloud computing demonstrates the diversity, complexity, and uncertainty of the technology. Systems thinking is shown to address just such situations. Based upon the research, a systems thinking framework is created that demonstrates how systems thinking could supplement the NIST guidance on moving to the cloud. Through the application of the framework US federal agencies could more confidently manage the risk of moving US federal assets to the cloud and thereby gain a firmer foothold in arresting the IT budget concerns.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3585011 |
| Date | 08 April 2014 |
| Creators | Brow, Raymond A. |
| Publisher | Capitol College |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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