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IMS • The knowledge and experience of individuals adds value to a business and enables a competitive advantage. Members in one part of an organisation have knowledge that may be useful to someone in another part. Sharing this knowledge and making it easily accessible to those who need it is the key to successful knowledge management.
Management Information • Information is data that has been processed in such a way that it becomes useful for the end user. Within quality management, information is used for many purposes. It is used to monitor progress and determine where problems exist. • Raw Data • Information • Data processing • Information is any data that has been processed for a specific purpose.
Exploring information management • ‘Information management’ is an umbrella term that encompasses all the systems and processes within an organisation for the creation and use of corporate information. • In terms of technology, information management encompasses systems such as: • web content management (CM) • document management (DM) • records management (RM) • digital asset management (DAM)
Information Management • learning management systems (LM) • learning content management systems (LCM) • collaboration • enterprise search • and many more…
Information Management • Information management is, however, much more than just technology. Equally importantly, it is about the business processes and practices that underpin the creation and use of information. • It is also about the information itself, including the structure of information (‘information architecture’), metadata, content quality, and more.
Information Management • Information management therefore encompasses: • people • process • technology • content • Each of these must be addressed if information management projects are to succeed.
Information Management • Organisations are confronted with many information management problems and issues. In many ways, the growth of electronic information (rather than paper) has only worsened these issues over the last decade or two. • Common information management problems include: • Large number of disparate information management systems. • Little integration or coordination between information systems. • Range of legacy systems requiring upgrading or replacement. • Direct competition between information management systems. • No clear strategic direction for the overall technology environment.
Limited and patchy adoption of existing information systems by staff. • Poor quality of information, including lack of consistency, duplication, and out-of-date information. • Little recognition and support of information management by senior management. • Limited resources for deploying, managing or improving information systems. • Lack of enterprise-wide definitions for information types and values (no corporate-wide taxonomy).
Information Managment • Large number of diverse business needs and issues to be addressed. • Lack of clarity around broader organisational strategies and directions. • Difficulties in changing working practices and processes of staff. • Internal politics impacting on the ability to coordinate activities enterprise-wide.
Information Management • While this can be an overwhelming list, there are practical ways of delivering solutions that work within these limitations and issues. • Ten principles Ten key principles to ensure that information management activities are effective and successful: • recognise (and manage) complexity • focus on adoption • deliver tangible & visible benefits
Information Management • prioritise according to business needs • take a journey of a thousand steps • provide strong leadership • mitigate risks • communicate extensively • aim to deliver a seamless user experience • choose the first project very carefully
Information Management With regard to the process of information gathering, as the saying goes, it is often difficult to see the forest for the trees. This is especially true of managing information for large projects like writing business plans and resource proposals. There is so much information available in the average workplace that often you are unable to zero in on an important concept simply because you cannot get the right information that you need to make a decision effectively. An effective information management system however can allow you to sift through the information you have and attempt to find that information which is most relevant to your specific project.
Information Management When writing strategies for information gathering, we begin by examining the information needs of the end user. That is, we want to know the purpose of the information gathering activities. Why are we gathering this information? By examining the priorities of the end user, and what they require from the information provided to them, you should be able to determine the most appropriate information to provide them with – and develop strategies that will enable your systems to do this.
Information Management A very effective way to begin your examination of information gathering needs is to examine the purpose for which the end user requires the given information. By attempting to ascertain the information purpose, you will be able to determine the type of information that you should provide. If the information is needed to make a decision related to a quality initiative, what will be required are the pros and cons of the various initiatives
Information Management However if the end user will just be reporting the information (perhaps in the form of a business plan) they will simply require the facts. Therefore the purpose that the end user requires information for will affect the nature of the information that you are required to present to them. When considering the information’s purpose it is important to ensure that the purpose meets with the objectives of your organisation, the requirements set out by the organisation and the organisation’s capabilities.
IMS It is likely that for any information gathering strategy, you will be provided with a brief by your managers. This brief will outline exactly what it is that your managers want you to achieve - these are the requirements set out by your organisation. All information that you gather needs to be aligned to the specific requirements of your organisation. Some of the requirements that you should ensure that your information meets include:
Possible gathering information Requirements The scope of the information will also affect the information. Is information only required for your organisation, or is information required for your organisation as well as averages for the entire industry? Just one year or for multiple years? As you can imagine, the greater the scope that is required, the more work will need to be done to obtain all the required information. Determining the scope of the required information will enable you to determine the amount of data you will need to obtain and the amount of processing that is likely to be required.
Possible gathering information Requirements Both data and information comes in many forms. To be able to make an effective decision, that information needs to be in the most suitable form for the decision maker. This means that in the early stage you should attempt to determine the most suitable form for this information to take. Should you provide written information, present the information orally to the decision maker, or should you use visual aids, charts and graphs? These many and varied types of information each have their own relative advantages and disadvantages.
Possible gathering information Requirements The end presentation format of the data also needs to be strongly considered. Should the data be a report, a chart, or a speech? What level of presentation does your organisation require of you? Will this information need to be provided in draft form, or in a final, finished and polished report?
Resources • Resources available are a significant matter when looking at information processing strategies. With unlimited resources, you would be able to collect all the information you could possibly imagine, and this could be used to make the most effective decision possible. However in the real world there are limits to what we can do. Budgets, time, and expertise constrain our ability to gather the best information. Therefore the strategies that you develop must take the limited resources you have into account. • Having fewer resources means you need to be much more careful with how you approach the problem.
Resources Whether we like it or not, the finance department and supervisors and managers will play an important role in our ability to utilise the right information strategies. Before you begin the process of developing such a strategy, it is important to determine the amount of money that you are able to spend on the project. This will affect spending in terms of your time, the types of information you gather, and expertise you are able to bring in. Let’s look at the three major resource constraints that may be placed on us by budgets.
Budgetary Constraints • We mentioned scope previously. Essentially scope is how wide your information will be. Will it only cover a single facet of the topic, or will you attempt to cover a much broader range. While the initial proposal you are given will state the scope of the study that is desired, the actual budget that you are provided may dictate whether this scope • Is feasible or not. If the budget provided is not high enough, you may find that you cannot conduct the data collection and information processing as widely as you would have hoped
Budgetary Constraints • Time is money in business, and your provided budget will have a significant effect on the time you can put into a given project. The wider the project is the more primary resource sources you use, the more time it is going to take. The time that you can put into the project will be affected by the money that you receive to do it. If only a small amount of money is received, you will not be able to spend as long on the project as you could if a large amount of money is received.
Budgetary Constraints • Expertise is likely to be related to the effects of budget. Essentially the less money you have, the fewer experts you are able to employ. For example you may not be able to hire consultants to help you put together and run a survey program if you do not have enough money, so you may be forced to conduct the program yourself. You may not have the expertise to run this program as well as a market research house, and so the information provided may not be accurate as could be done.
One method of attempting to ascertain whether the expenditure is justified is through the use of cost benefit analysis. For a particular project to be seen as being useful, the benefits of gathering the information must outweigh the costs associated with gathering it. You will find that for the most part, this will always be true. Your costs associated with gathering the required information will be low, as most quality information will be easily found.
