Read the case study below and answer ALL the questions that follow.

IT Alignment Planning is a process that enables IT clients to achieve their objectives by delivering quality information

from IT products and services. It involves the identification of requirements and, delivery if information, products, and

services and continual monitoring and measurement of the effectiveness of the system. Alignment of strategic corporate

planning with plans of the strategic business units still remains a key need of business executives. In a supporting role, IT

Alignment Planning also has emerged as a necessary task of many senior managers while commercial IT research

organizations such as Gartner have listed IT alignment as a top issue of American companies. Understanding and

leveraging the business$-$IT partnership allows organizations to use IT as a business strategy enabler $.$ The resulting

harmony can then be extended and applied throughout the organization. By tying the IT planning process directly to each

business units' critical success factors $($CSFs$),$ IT Alignment Planning takes a strategic view across the corporation. It

identifies or discovers and creates new IT strategies, identifies and creates new IT resources, provides input into strategic

and tactical planning processes, and factors in the effects of competition with the primary objective of improving

information quality for IT clients. IT alignment involves making good use of IT resources in meeting the corporation's

business objectives. Strategically, it is a process for anticipating future IT requirements of the corporation to ensure that it

will be prepared to meet the challenges of competitors. Tactically, it is a process of corporatewide IT resource allocation,

analogous to labor or asset resource allocation. Operationally, it is a process for achieving IT effectiveness and efficiency,

in an effort to keep the business running smoothly and supporting customer requirements. IT alignment has become a top

issue for management and is expected to remain so$.$ The IT Alignment Planning process fits well with corporate strategic

planning, particularly when it also involves corporate alignment.