INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (IM)Lecturer: F. O. Entsua-Mensah (Mrs)

Concept of IM | IM Challenges |PIM | OIM | IMS | IM Strategies | IM Task

Introduction• As organizations grow, data volume and

complexity increases exponentially. More and more interactions with your data from different departments and data managers compound the challenges.

• An integrated, enterprise-wide approach is necessary to ensure the performance, quality, sustainability and scalability of new and existing information (Adastragrp) .

• Hence the need for IM (importance of IM). • This implies that IM in organizations must be business-driven

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IM is vital because of the…

• Exploding digital universe: The rate of information growth is increasing exponentially. Duplication of data to ensure high availability has also contributed to increase of information growth

• Increasing dependency on information: strategic use of information plays an important role in determining success of a business and provides competitive advantages in marketplace

• Changing value of information: Information that is valuable today may become less important tomorrow. value of information often changes over time

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Definition of Information Management (IM)

• The effective production, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information in any format and on any medium to support business objectives Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM in Great Britain) .

• The collection and management of information from one or more sources and distribution of that information to one or more audiences.

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• It is the integrated set of components for collecting, storing, processing, and communicating information.

• Information Management can also be defined as a managerial support for dealing with information.

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Definition of IM

Elements of IM

Information management entails:

•people

•process

• technology

• content

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People:

• They implement what ever systems or measures to manage the information.

• It is the People that;• plan• control• monitor• take important decisions at various levels

in the organization.

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Process:

• These are the procedures established for carrying out every activity in an organisation.

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Technology

• This enhances the processes of managing information including the speed of delivery and accuracy of information.

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Content

•refers to information that is captured, stored and disseminated for use within the organization

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INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (IM)CHALLENGES

• Lack of Coordination : The large number of disparate information management systems with little or no coordination between the information systems.

• For instance, Managers acquire a system solely for the payroll which can not be coordinated with the Human Resource System

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IM Challenges Cont’d.

•Quality of Information:• Poor Content:

• Lack of consistency• Duplication • out-dated information

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• Limited resources for deploying, managing or improving information systems is another challenge with information management.

•Organizations need a lot of money to be able to acquire, manage and maintain the information flow

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IM Challenges Cont’d.

Limited and patchy adoption of existing information systems : This arises when inadequate training is given and employees do not have a feeling of

owning the information system.

Difficulties in changing working practices : this is a cultural issue that needs to be worked on gradually for staff to accept any new changes in the organization.

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IM Challenges Cont’d.

MANAGING THE CHALLENGES

• Staff participation - Information management systems are only successful if they are actually used by staff and it is not sufficient to simply focus on installing the software centrally. The staff are the ones who actually make it work or a reality.

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Managing the Challenges Cont’d

•Manage Complexities - Managers must stop looking for simple approaches, and must stop believing vendors when they offer very large suite of applications which they claim can be used to solve all information management problems at once.

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•Delivering tangible and visible benefits Information management projects must always be designed so that they deliver tangible and visible benefits. The projects should also target issues or

needs that are very visible within the organization.

When solutions are delivered, the improvement should be obvious, and widely promoted throughout the organization

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Managing the Challenges Cont’d

• Strong leadership - Successful information management is about organizational and cultural change and this can only be achieved through strong leadership –engage all stakeholders effectively.

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Managing the Challenges Cont’d

• Mitigate Risks Risk relating to:

Integrating systems Failure to gain adoption by staff

This might be mitigated through: conducting pilot projects to

identifying issues and potential solutions.

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Managing the Challenges Cont’d

• Extensive communication - This 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.

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Managing the Challenges Cont’d

• Seamless user experience - Users do not understand systems.

Educating staff on the purpose and use of information systems may be difficult, and generally fruitless.

There will always be a need to have multiple information systems, but the information contained within them should be presented such that accessibility is through one ‘log in’.

This could mean delivering a single intranet (or equivalent) that gives access to all information and tools; ensuring a consistent look-and-feel across all applications

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Managing the Challenges Cont’d

PERSONAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (PIM)

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What is PIM?

•The practice and study of activities people perform in order to acquire, organize, maintain and retrieve information for everyday use•Goal of PIM – have right information in right place, in right form and of sufficient completeness and quality to meet our current need

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• Time• Information when you need it.

• Information that describes the time period you are considering.

• Location• Having information irrespective of your location. The

Intranet and Internet makes this possible

Personal information can be considered from three points of view

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• Form• Format: This refers to the format in which a user feels

comfortable in receiving or accessing information.

• It may be; • Audio

• Text

• Video

• Animation

• Graphical and others.

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• The second deals with accuracy. That is, you need information that is free of errors.

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Challenges Associated with PIM

• Information at the right time – Timely

• Information at the right place – location

• Information in the right form - format

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Benefits of PIM

•Better PIM means a better use of our precious resources (time, money, energy, attention) and ultimately, a better quality to our lives.

•Within organizations, better PIM means better employee productivity and better team work in the near-term.

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ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (OIM)What is OIM | Dimensions in OIM |

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What is OIM?

• In every Organization, information should be available to those who need it and it must flow from the right channels.

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OIM Cont’dManaging information in an organization, requires some dimensions. These are:

• Information inflows• what information describes • information granularity • how information is used

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Information Inflows

• This occurs in four directions in an organization:• upward• downward• horizontally • Outward

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Information Inflows con’t

Upward flow of information• Information that is gathered as a part of

everyday operations is consolidated by information technology and passed upward to decision makers.

• This describes the current state of the organization based on its daily transactions.

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Information Inflows con’t

•downward flow of information • consists of the strategies, goals and

directives that originate at one level and are passed to lower levels.

•Horizontal flow of information• Information flow between functional

business units and work teams. • Eg: from one HOD to another or Unit to Unit

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Information Inflows con’t

• Outward flow of information • Consists of information that is communicated to

customers, suppliers, distributors or other partners for the purpose of doing business.

• This outward flow of information (and its corresponding inward flow of information) is really what electronic commerce is all about.

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Information Granularity

• The level of detail considered in a model or decision making process or the extent of detail within the information

• Information Granularity Differs at each level of Management.

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Information Granularity con’t.

• Strategic Level deal mainly with a coarse granularity or highly summarized information.

• Lowest Levels of the organization need information with fine granularity.

• Operational Managers for example need information in great detail that describes each transaction.• when it occurred, whether by credit or cash,

who made the sale, to whom the sale was made etc.

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What Information Describes

• Internal information - describes specific operational aspects of the organization.

• External information describes the environment surrounding the organization.

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What Information Describes con’t

• Objective information - data or facts/information gathered from the different information systems or from questionnaires and so on.

• Subjective information - personal feeling or opinion on a fact or an issue.

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What Information Describes con’t

•As a general rule,• People in the lowest levels of the

organization deal mainly with internal and objective information.

• People in the highest levels of the organization deal with all types of information.

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How Information is Used

Depending on the level in which the user finds him/her self, information can either be used for:

• Transaction processing

• Analytical processing

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