10 Principles of Effective Information Management

MS (BA)2nd Semester
(Dr. Abdul Hyee)

Improving information management practices is a key focus for many organisations, across both the
public and private sectors.

This is being driven by a range of factors, including a need to improve the efficiency of business
processes, the demands of compliance regulations and the desire to deliver new services.

In many cases, ‘information management’ has meant deploying new technology solutions, such as
content or document management systems, data warehousing or portal applications.

These projects have a poor track record of success, and most organisations are still struggling to deliver
an integrated information management environment.

Effective information management is not easy. There are many systems to integrate, a huge range of
business needs to meet, and complex organisational (and cultural) issues to address.

From the outset, it must be emphasised that this is not an article about technology. Rather, it is about the
organisational, cultural and strategic factors that must be considered to improve the management of
information within organisations.

The key goal of this article is to help information management projects succeed.

EXPLORING INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

‘Information management’ is an umbrella term that includes all the systems and processes within an
organisation for the creation and use of corporate information.

In terms of technology, information management includes systems such as:

 Web content management (CM)

 Document management (DM)

 Records management (RM)

 Digital asset management (DAM)

 Learning management systems (LM)

 Learning content management systems (LCM)

It is also about the information itself, including the structure of information (‘information architecture’),
metadata, content quality, and more.

Information management therefore includes:

 People
 Process
 Technology
 Content

Each of these must be addressed if information management projects are to succeed.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Organisations are faced with many information management problems and issues. Common information
management problems include:

 Large number of different 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 irregular 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.

 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.

1. Recognise (and manage) complexity

2. Focus on adoption

3. Deliver tangible & visible benefits

4. Prioritise according to business needs

5. Take a journey of a thousand steps

6. Provide strong leadership

7. Reduce risks

8. Communicate extensively

9. Aim to deliver a seamless user experience

10. Choose the first project very carefully

Principle 1: Recognise (and Manage) Complexity

Organisations have very complex environments in which to deliver concrete solutions. As outlined above,
there are many challenges that need to be overcome when planning and implementing information
management projects.

When faced with this complexity, project teams often fall back upon approaches such as:

 Forcing the use of a single technology system in all cases.

 Purchasing a very large suite of applications from a single vendor, in the hope that this can be
used to solve all information management problems at once.

 Rolling out rigid solutions across a whole organisation.

 Purchasing a product ‘for life’, even though business requirements will change over time.

 Fully centralising information management activities, to ensure that every activity is tightly
controlled.
The hope is that the complexity can be limited or avoided when planning and deploying solutions.
Principle 2: Focus On Adoption (Acceptance) by the Staff

Information management systems are only successful if they are actually used by staff, and it is not
sufficient to simply focus on centrally installing the software.

In practice, most information management systems need the active participation of staff throughout the
organisation.

For example:

 Staff must save all key files into the document/records management system.

 Decentralised authors must use the content management system to regularly update the intranet.

 Lecturers must use the learning content management system to deliver e-learning packages to
their students.

 Front-line staff must capture call details in the customer relationship management system.

Principle 3: Deliver Tangible & Visible Benefits

It is not enough to simply improve the management of information ‘behind the scenes’. While this will
deliver real benefits, it will not drive the required cultural changes, or assist with gaining adoption by staff
(principle 2).

In many cases, information management projects initially focus on improving the productivity of
publishers or information managers.

While these are valuable projects, they are invisible to the rest of the organisation. When challenged, it
can be hard to demonstrate the return on investment of these projects, and they do little to assist project
teams to gain further funding.

Instead, information management projects must always be designed so that they deliver tangible and
visible benefits.

Delivering tangible benefits involves identifying concrete business needs that must be met (principle 4).
This allows meaningful measurement of the impact of the projects on the operation of the organisation.

The projects should also target issues or needs that are very visible within the organisation. When
solutions are delivered, the improvement should be obvious, and widely promoted throughout the
organisation.
Principle 4: Prioritise According To Business Needs

It can be difficult to know where to start during planning information management projects.

While some organisations attempt to prioritise projects according to the ‘simplicity’ of the technology to
be deployed.

In this way, information management projects are targeted at the most urgent business needs or issues.
These in turn are derived from the overall business strategy and direction for the organisation as a
whole.

Principle 5: Avoid to Take a Journey of a Thousand Steps

There is no single application or project that will address and resolve all the information management
problems of an organisation.

Where organisations look for such solutions, large and costly strategic plans are developed. Assuming
the results of this strategic planning are actually delivered (which they often aren’t), they usually describe
a long-term vision but give few clear directions for immediate actions.

In practice, anyone looking to design the complete information management solution will be trapped by
‘analysis paralysis’: the inability to escape the planning process.

Organisations are simply too complex to consider all the factors when developing strategies or planning
activities.

The answer is to let go of the desire for a perfectly planned approach. Instead, project teams
should take a ‘journey of a thousand steps’.

This approach recognises that there are hundreds (or thousands) of often small changes that are needed
to improve the information management practices across an organisation. These changes will often be
implemented in parallel.

It also ensures that ‘quick wins’ can be delivered early on (principle 3), and allows solutions to be
targeted to individual business needs (principle 4).
Principle 6: Provide Strong Leadership

Successful information management is about organisational and cultural change, and this can only be
achieved through strong leadership.

The starting point is to create a clear vision of the desired outcomes of the information management
strategy. This will describe how the organisation will operate, more than just describing how the
information systems themselves will work.

Effort must then be put into generating a sufficient sense of urgency to drive the deployment and
adoption of new systems and processes.

Stakeholders must also be engaged and involved in the project, to ensure that there is support at all
levels in the organisation.

Principle 7: Mitigate Risks

Due to the inherent complexity of the environment within organisations (principle 1), there are many risks
in implementing information management solutions. These risks include:

 Selecting an inappropriate technology solution

 Time and budget overruns

 Changing business requirements

 Technical issues, particularly relating to integrating systems

 Failure to gain adoption by staff

At the outset of planning an information management strategy, the risks should be clearly identified. An
approach must then be identified for each risk.

Risk management approaches should then be used to plan all aspects of the project, including the
activities conducted and the budget spent.

Principle 8: Communicate Extensively

Extensive communication from the project team (and project sponsors) is critical for a successful
information management initiative.

This communication ensures that staff have a clear understanding of the project, and the benefits it will
deliver. This is a pre-requisite for achieving the required level of adoption.
Principle 9: Aim To Deliver a Seamless (Clear) User Experience

Users don’t understand systems. When presented with six different information systems, each containing
one-sixth of what they want, they generally rely on a piece of paper instead (or ask the person next to
them).

Educating staff in the purpose and use of a different set of information systems is difficult, and generally
fruitless. The underlying goal should therefore be to deliver a seamless user experience, one that hides
the systems that the information is coming from.

Of course, achieving a truly seamless user experience is not a short-term goal. Plan to incrementally
move towards this goal, delivering one improvement at a time.

Principle 10: Choose the First Project Very Carefully

The choice of the first project conducted as part of a broader information management strategy is critical.
This project must be selected carefully, to ensure that it:

 Demonstrates the value of the information management strategy

 Generates interest from both end-users and stakeholders

 Delivers tangible and visible benefits (principle 3)

 Addresses an important or urgent business need (principle 4)

 Can be clearly communicated to staff and stakeholders (principle 8)

 Assists the project team in gaining further resources and support

Conclusion

1. Implementing information technology solutions in a complex and ever-changing organisational

3. These ten key principles focus on the organisational and cultural changes required to drive
forward improvements.

4. Focus on adoption then ensures that staff actually uses the solutions that are deployed.