Leveraging the World of Information Chapter 14 Information Systems Management In Practice 5E McNurlin & Sprague

Leveraging the World of Information

Chapter 14

Information Systems Management In Practice 5EMcNurlin & Sprague

2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc.

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Introduction

Document management: using new technologies to manage the information resources that do not fit easily into traditional databases

Knowledge management and knowledge sharing: using new technologies to assist in capturing and sharing knowledge among people


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Documents: Definition and Scope A document can be described as a unit of

“recorded” information structured for human consumption”

Definition also accommodates wide variety of documents used in organizations: Contracts and agreements Drawings, blueprints, and photographs Reports E-mail and voice mail messages Manuals and handbooks


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Video clips Business forms Scripts and visuals from presentations Correspondence Computer printouts Memos Transcripts from meetings New items and articles

Documents: Definition and Scope (cont.)


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A document is a snapshot of some set of information that can: Incorporate many complex information types Exist in multiple places across a network Depend on other documents for information Change on the fly Have an intricate structure, or complex data

types such as full-motion video and voice annotations

Be accessed and modified by many people simultaneously



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The Roles Documents Play Four fundamental roles for documents in

organizations: As a product, or support for a product As a fundamental mechanism for

communication among people and groups within an organization and between organizations

As the primary vehicle for business processes As an important part of organizational memory



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Electronic Document Management Applications

Application areas that are particularly susceptible to EDM are generic functions in organizations that: Depend on documents as the primary

mechanism for getting work done Are susceptible to emerging document

technologies Have proven business value resulting from

the use of EDM technologies and approaches


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EDM applications that generate value can be organized into the following seven generic categories: To improve the publishing process To support organizational processes To support communication among

people and groups

Electronic Document Management Applications (cont.)


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To improve access to external information

To create and maintain documentation

To maintain corporate records To promote training and education



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Improving the Publication Process Documents are stored electronically,

shipped over a network, and printed when and where they are needed

Benefits result from reducing obsolescence, eliminating warehouse costs, and reducing or eliminating delivery time



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Supporting Organizational Processes Use of technology to support these

processes generates significant value in reducing physical space for handling forms, faster routing of forms, and managing and tracking forms flow and workload



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Supporting Communication Among People and Groups Primary value of EDM applications in

this category derives from the richer communication offered by multimedia or compound documents, and the reduced time needed to distribute documents electronically



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Improving Access to External Information Two kinds of external resources are

time-critical information (news) and reference material

Ex: news wire items, newspapers, periodicals, magazines, electronic bulletin board items, books, video tapes, etc.



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Creating and Maintaining Documentation Documentation applications maintain the

“current version” of documents Must be updated and accessed frequently by a

wide variety of requesters Ex:

Internal standards and procedures manuals Engineering blueprints and diagrams Systems documentation and operating manuals Product documentation manuals and other product

information.



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Maintaining Corporate Records Role of EDM applications in this area is to

manage this set of official corporate records by providing archival storage and occasional retrieval

Savings from digital image processing in storage space and ease of retrieval are impressive

Additional value comes from: Reduced misfiling of important documents Quicker and more accurate retrieval Better access and sharing over geographic distances Better version control Improved retention management



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Promoting Training and Education Continuous, sequential interaction over

time between the user and the information through the learning process, rather than a specific search and retrieval event to obtain a document



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Document Mining

Document mining is the process of analyzing a semantically rich document or set of documents to understand the content and meaning of the information they contain


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The Value of Document Mining Valuable in many areas:

Supporting the discovery process in litigation: requires examining large quantities of documents to find the occurrence of specific topics relevant to a trial

Managing intellectual property: can help analyze patent repositories

Managing internal R & D: can be used to analyze internal research reports and lab reports to avoid previous pitfalls

Document Mining (cont.)


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Managing knowledge: repository of professional services documents, white papers, and presentations that can be analyzed to address clients’ needs rapidly

Business intelligence: monitor hundreds of markets for technology shifts, emerging competitors, and governmental regulations

Organizing complex information: can select relevant documents, cluster them into topics, and visualize the relationship among them

Managing customer relationships: analyze customer feedback, etc., to establish customer policies and procedures



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Functions and Technologies Enhanced search and retrieval: improves the

process greatly because it’s based on the structure of language

Summarization: based on lexical analysis; “indicative summaries”: abstracts that indicate content; “informative summaries”: contain enough content to replace entire original document

Visualization: often called “InfoViz” as an analogy to data visualization or “dataviz”



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Categorization: automatically assigns a document to one or more predetermined categories; based on lexical analysis

Clustering: provides an overview of contents, identifies hidden similarities and accelerates the process of finding similar or related information

Genre identification: indicates the type of document based on characteristics of language, format, and content

Metadata extraction: process of identifying key “features” and extracting them

Language identification: ability to automatically recognize foreign languages



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Technologies for Document Management

Underlying Infrastructure: improve handling information in any form; have attributes that support document processing and management Stronger desktop workstations: permit display of

documents and delivery of nontext media Storage media: hold large volume of bits required for

rich media documents Networks: will interconnect workstations of most

workers, within and between organizations User-friendly software: enable computer illiterate people

to deal more easily with documents on computers Operating systems: increasingly document/object

oriented; shift focus from applications to documents


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Document Processing Technologies Capture and creation: used to digitize information Storage and organization: determine how

documents are stored and organized Compound document architecture: consists of

objects stored on different devices Distributed storage: underscores the importance

of distributed document management software to provide organization and access to resource

Integrating documents and databases: makes documents an integral part of information resources

Technologies for Document Management (cont.)


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Hypertext: software that implements a hypertext structure

Retrieval and synthesis: information retrieval, text retrieval, and concept retrieval

Transmission and routing: functionality required for business transport of electronic documents: Authorization Authentication Encryption Filtering

Print and display: important technology is the wide variety of digital printers and copiers on a network



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Document Management Functions Status reporting: Who has a document? Access control: Who “owns” it? Version control: What is the current

version? Retention management: What are the

legal retention requirements? Disaster recovery: How and where are

the backup copies kept?



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EDM Guidelines for IS Executives

Roles and Responsibilities The IS department: responsible for evolving the

technical infrastructure Records management: has valuable experience in

document management practices Office management: files will be cross-referenced

among departments and linked with online databases Library: external sources of information available

electronically Print shop: more computer power Training and education: based on multimedia

technology and computer-based courseware


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An Action Plan Steps IS executives can take to

prepare for developing an EDM strategy: Form a “document council” Form a document technology group Prioritize applications Develop an EDM plan Revise responsibilities

EDM Guidelines for IS Executives


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Knowledge Management and Sharing

Four stages that represent what people do with knowledge: Knowledge creation and capture: generating

knowledge Knowledge organization and categorization:

creating best practices knowledge bases or metadata indexes

Knowledge distribution and access: push-pull Knowledge absorption and reuse: getting

knowledge into people’s heads


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The Cultural Side of Knowledge Management: Behavioral red flags:

Being seen as a whistle-blower or messenger of bad news

Losing one’s place as a knowledge gatekeeper

Hiding from others to prevent knowledge sharing

Knowledge Management and Sharing