Planning Principles & Practice

Principles of effective information

management
Information management Perspective
Improving information management practices is a key focus for many
organisations. 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.

Information Management is about the organisational, cultural and

strategic factors that must be considered to improve the management
of information within organisations.

Information management is not a technology

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)
•Learning Management Systems (LM)
•Learning Content Management Systems (LCM)
•Collaboration
•Enterprise Search
•and many more…
Exploring 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 therefore encompasses:

•People
•Process
•Technology
•Content

Each of these must be addressed if information management

projects are to succeed.
Information management challenges

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.
Information management challenges

•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).
•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 issues can be

overwhelming
While this can be an overwhelming list, there are practical ways of
Ten principles
Ten key principles to ensure that information management activities
are effective and successful:

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. Mitigate risks
8. Communicate extensively
9. Aim to deliver a seamless user experience
10. Choose the first project very carefully

There are no simple answers to complex

issues and needs
Principle 1:
Organisations
Recognise (andare
manage)
very complex
complexity
environments to deliver concrete
solutions.
There are many challenges that need to be overcome when planning
and implementing information management projects. When confronted
with this complexity, project teams often fall back upon approaches
such as:

•Focusing on deploying just one technology in isolation.

•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 standardised solutions across a whole organisation,
even though individual business areas may have different needs.
•Forcing the use of a single technology system in all cases, regardless
of whether it is an appropriate solution.
•Purchasing a product ‘for life’, even though business requirements will
change over time.
Principle 1:
Recognise (and manage) complexity

All of these approaches will fail, as they are attempting to convert a

complex set of needs and problems into simple (even simplistic)
solutions. The hope is that the complexity can be limited or avoided
when planning and deploying solutions.

In practice, however, there is no way of avoiding the inherent

complexities within organisations. New approaches to information
management must therefore be found that recognise (and manage)
this complexity. Organisations must stop looking for simple
approaches, and must stop believing vendors when they offer ’silver
bullet’ technology solutions.

Instead, successful information management is underpinned by strong

leadership that defines a clear direction (principle 6). Many small
activities should then be planned to address in parallel the many needs
and issues (principle 5). Risks must then be identified and mitigated
throughout the project (principle 7), to ensure that organisational
complexities do not prevent the delivery of effective solutions.
Principle 2:
Information management systems are only successful if they are
Focus on adoption
actually used by staff, and it is not sufficient to simply focus on installing
the software centrally.

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.

In all these cases, the challenge is to gain sufficient adoption to ensure

that required information is captured in the system. Without a critical
mass of usage, corporate repositories will not contain enough
information to be useful. This presents a considerable change
Principle 2:
Focus on adoption

In practice, it means that projects must be carefully designed from the

outset to ensure that sufficient adoption is gained. This may include:

•Identifying the ‘what’s in it for me’ factors for end users of the
system.
•Communicating clearly to all staff the purpose and benefits of the
project.
•Carefully targeting initial projects to build momentum for the project
(see principle 10).
•Conducting extensive change management and cultural change
activities throughout the project.
•Ensuring that the systems that are deployed are useful and usable for
staff.

These are just a few of the possible approaches, and they demonstrate
the wide implications of needing to gain adoption by staff.
Principle 3:
ItDeliver tangibleto&simply
is not enough visible improve
benefits 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 3:
Deliver tangible & visible benefits

For example, improving the information available to call centre staff

can have a very visible and tangible impact on customer service.

In contrast, creating a standard taxonomy for classifying information

across systems is hard to quantify and rarely visible to general staff

This is not to say that ‘behind the scenes’ improvements are not
required, but rather that they should always be partnered with
changes that deliver more visible benefits.

This also has a major impact on the choice of the initial activities
conducted (principle 10).

Tackle the most urgent business needs

first
Principle 4:
Prioritise according
It can be difficult to to business
know whereneeds
to start when planning information
management projects.

While some organisations attempt to prioritise projects according to the

’simplicity’ of the technology to be deployed, this is not a meaningful
approach. This often doesn’t deliver short-term benefits that are tangible
and visible (principle 3).

Instead of this technology-driven approach, the planning process should

be turned around entirely, to drive projects based on their ability to
address business needs. 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.

For example, the rate of errors in home loan applications might be

identified as a strategic issue for the organisation. A new system might
therefore be put in place (along with other activities) to better manage
the information that supports the processing of these applications.

Alternatively, a new call centre might be in the process of being planned.

Avoid ’silver bullet’ solutions that promise to fix
Principle 5:
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.
Principle 5:
Take a journey of a thousand steps

While some of these changes are organisation-wide, most are actually

implemented at business unit (or even team) level. When added up
over time, these numerous small changes have a major impact on the
organisation. This is a very different approach to that typically taken in
organisations, and it replaces a single large (centralised) project with
many individual initiatives conducted by multiple teams.

While this can be challenging to coordinate and manage, this ‘thousand

steps’ approach recognises the inherent complexity of organisations
(principle 1) and is a very effective way of mitigating risks (principle 7)

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).

Successful projects require strong

leadership
Principle 6:
Successful information
Provide strong management is about organisational and cultural
leadership
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.

This focus on leadership then underpins a range of communications

activities (principle 8) that ensure that the organisation has a clear
understanding of the projects and the benefits they will deliver.

When projects are solely driven by the acquisition and deployment of new
technology solutions, this leadership is often lacking. Without the
engagement and support of key stakeholder outside the IT area, these
projects often have little impact.
Apply good risk management to ensure
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, either avoiding or mitigating the risk.

Risk management approaches should then be used to plan all

aspects of the project, including the activities conducted and the
budget spent.

For example, a simple but effective way of mitigating risks is to

spend less money. This might involve conducting pilot projects to
identifying issues and potential solutions, rather than starting with
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.

With many projects happening simultaneously (principle 5), coordination

becomes paramount. All project teams should devote time to work
closely with each other, to ensure that activities and outcomes are
aligned.

In a complex environment, it is not possible to enforce a strict command-

and-control approach to management (principle 1).

Instead, a clear end point (’vision’) must be created for the information
management project, and communicated widely. This allows each
project team to align themselves to the eventual goal, and to make
informed decisions about the best approaches.
Principle 8:
Communicate extensively

For all these reasons, the first step in an information management

project should be to develop a clear communications ‘message’. This
should then be supported by a communications plan that describes
target audiences, and methods of communication.

Project teams should also consider establishing a ‘project site’ on the

intranet as the outset, to provide a location for planning documents,
news releases, and other updates.

Staff do not understand the distinction

between systems
Principle 9:
Aim to deliver a seamless 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 disparate 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. This is not to say that there
should be one enterprise-wide system that contains all information.

There will always be a need to have multiple information systems, but

the information contained within them should be presented in a human-
friendly way.
In practice, this means:
•Delivering a single intranet (or equivalent) that gives access to all
information and tools.
•Ensuring a consistent look-and-feel across all applications, including
standard navigation and page layouts.
•Providing ’single sign-on’ to all applications.
Principle 9:
Aim to deliver a seamless user experience

Ultimately, it also means breaking down the distinctions between

applications, and delivering tools and information along task and
subject lines.

For example, many organisations store HR procedures on the intranet,

but require staff to log a separate ‘HR self-service’ application that
provides a completely different menu structure and appearance.

Improving on this, leave details should be located alongside the leave

form itself. In this model, the HR application becomes a background
system, invisible to the user.
Care should also be taken, however, when looking to a silver-bullet
solution for providing a seamless user experience. Despite the
promises, portal applications do not automatically deliver this.

Instead, a better approach may be to leverage the inherent benefits of

the web platform. As long as the applications all look the same, the user
will be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems and servers
behind the scenes.
Of course, achieving a truly seamless user experience is not a short-
term goal. Plan to incrementally move towards this goal, delivering one
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

•builds momentum for future activities
•generates interest and enthusiasm 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

Actions speak louder than words. The first project is the single best (and
perhaps only) opportunity to set the organisation on the right path towards
better information management practices and technologies.
Principle 10:
Choose the first project very carefully

The first project must therefore be chosen according to its ability to

act as a ‘catalyst’ for further organisational and cultural changes.

In practice, this often involves starting with one problem or one area
of the business that the organisation as a whole would be interested
in, and cares about.

For example, starting by restructuring the corporate policies and

procedures will generate little interest or enthusiasm. In contrast,
delivering a system that greatly assists salespeople in the field would
be something that could be widely promoted throughout the
organisation.
Conclusion

Implementing information technology solutions in a complex and ever-

changing organisational environment is never easy. The challenges
inherent in information management projects mean that new
approaches need to be taken, if they are to succeed.

The outlined ten key principles of effective information management

focus on the organisational and cultural changes required to drive
forward improvements.

They also outline a pragmatic, step-by-step approach to implementing

solutions that starts with addressing key needs and building support for
further initiatives. A focus on adoption then ensures that staff actually
uses the solutions that are deployed.