ISAM-based inter-organization information systems alignment process

To cope with environmental change, an organization has to perform dynamic adjustment of alignment between Information Systems (IS) and business. The paper establishes the Information Systems Alignment Model (ISAM) that is expanded and refined from Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) and describes the core factors and their relationships in the process of Information System Planning. In addition, ISAM analyzes the impacts of Inter-Organizational Information Systems (IOS) against the organization and defines the corresponding alignment processes according to the characteristics of the four application models of IOS - Consultation, Cooperation, Coordination and Collaboration. It includes four active and four passive alignment processes which explain the influences of different application models on the organization.