Information First: Integrating Knowledge and Information Architecture for Business Advantage

242 Pages·2003·0.95 MB·English

by  Roger Evernden

Information First
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Information First
Integrating Knowledge and
Information Architecture for
Business Advantage
Roger Evernden and Elaine Evernden
AMSTERDAM BOSTON HEIDELBERG LONDON NEW YORK OXFORD
PARIS SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SINGAPORE SYDNEY TOKYO
Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP
200 Wheeler Road, Burlington MA 01803
First published 2003
Copyright © 2003, Roger Evernden and Elaine Evernden. All rights reserved
The right of Roger Evernden and Elaine Evernden to be identified as the
authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including
photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether
or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without
the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the
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a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road,
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 0 7506 5858 4
For information on all Butterworth-Heinemann
publications visit our website at www.bh.com
Typeset by Replika Press Pvt Ltd, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain
Contents
Foreword vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xv
1 Architecting organizational changes 1
2 The essential eight factors 28
3 What and why, and when and how 51
4 Who’s responsible for what: assigning responsibility
for changes 77
5 Developing an information map: how to navigate the
information resource 89
6 Making it available: adding exponential value 117
7 Using it: making the best use of corporate information 134
8 Improving the architecture and keeping it current 162
9 Conclusion: case study 185
Further reading 199
Bibliography 204
Appendices 208
Index 225
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Foreword
I think that the most important issue today for organizations of almost
any size is the knowledge in the organization and the organization’s
ability to deal effectively with that knowledge. The message of the
importance of knowledge and information has been preached more and
more frequently for a couple of decades – but little is actually being
accomplished in most cases.
Consider how those who stand above the marketplace have got there
and you will find these twins, organizational knowledge and intelligence,
as key in most cases. WalMart, for example, is in a business with no
unique invention nor patent to account for its growth. Just intelligence at
the organizational level.
Information technology has provided the possibility for a quantum
leap in organizational intelligence but the design principles for this have
not been made explicit or clear enough to be implemented. The Everndens
have provided a theory, a framework and examples to help bring this
immense field together and, most important, make it operational.
They provide a unique focus on language as a central element in
design and operation of an information system. Few before them have
observed the key importance of language in an information system.
Meaningful change in the area is not easy. Change of this importance,
of this impact, of this potential magnitude on the profitability and viability
of an enterprise requires effort and time. The book provides a tool to
reduce the pain and effort and increase the speed of results from your
efforts in increasing your organizational intelligence.
Mike McMaster
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Preface
Information is seriously undervalued and underused as a corporate
resource. The pressures of global competition and a growing dependence
on information technology mean that the effective use of information is
more important now than it has ever been. This book is a fundamental
guide for unleashing information potential, by combining the discipline
of information architecture with the power of knowledge management,
to drive organizational changes.
Most organizations have made huge investments in information
technology, but few have yet made a strong commitment to information
as a corporate resource. Because of the growth in computing power and
the benefits it offers, most organizations have overlooked the need to
cultivate and nurture the resource that computers sustain – information.
It is as important as the human, financial and physical assets of the
industrial age.
Consider this parallel with music. Think of the many factors that
allow a great musician to perform, such as talent, command of an
instrument, familiarity with the music and creativity. All of these are
based on a deep understanding of music – notes, melodies, harmonies,
key signatures, scales, and all the other elements that make up musical
theory. Like music, information is a medium – you need to understand it
in order to use it well. Musical theory has been explored and documented
for centuries, and there are plenty of books to help you get started and
become a proficient musician, but it is impossible to find a practical
guide that shows you how to become proficient in architecting corporate
information. This book fills that gap, providing a practical mix of how-
to-do-its and explanations.
Ineffective techniques for managing information cost companies millions
every day. The information we have is frequently not what we want. The