Information Management Strategy

One of any organisation’s most valuable assets is information. The efficient capture, storage and retrieval of this information represent a high cost.

It is essential that an organisation maximises the value of this asset and minimises the cost. Electronic Document Management Systems (EDM) is a technology that will enable it to meet this objective.

There is a need for sharing of information across multiple business functions. This implies a requirement for standardisation of filing classification. In addition to this site-wide common access, there is a need for specific functionality to meet the needs of each individual business function.

We examine the issues surrounding the implementation of an enterprise-wide EDM system, and suggest a way of balancing the often conflicting requirements. Many of these issues are not relevant at the early stages, but they need to be borne in mind to avoid future problems.

The information strategy should identify what information is required to manage the business issues effectively. In particular, it should identify what information is required to manage the mission-critical activities. For the types of information identified, the following aspects should be specified:

1. The precise definition, to be shared by all relevant areas
2. The scope, i.e. in which areas the term is relevant
3. The format, if the term is structured
4. The legal, regulatory and audit requirements
5. The managerial post responsible for ensuring that the information is accurate, up-to-date and available in the most useful format
6. The area responsible for keeping the management of the term up-to-date (which may be the same as 5. or different)

EDM enables the wider sharing of information. When this happens, it is vital that all areas work to a common set of definitions of terms to avoid errors through assumptions.

Information includes corporate and local databases, electronic records, email, paper records, reference manuals, internal and external information, ‘soft’ or unrecorded information and much more.

A complete Information Strategy for the organisation would be a major undertaking. It is often suggested that a sub-set of the strategy be developed for information relevant to the EDM study.

Clients who have benefited from this Service:

• Department for Education and Skills
• Financial Services Authority
• Government of Jamaica Ministry of Finance
• States of Jersey Government
• West of Scotland Water
• Wigan Council