Why Information Architecture is Vital for Effective Information Management. J. Kevin Parker, CIP, INFO CEO & Principal Architect at Kwestix

Transcription

1 Why Information Architecture is Vital for Effective Information Management J. Kevin Parker, CIP, INFO CEO & Principal Architect at Kwestix

2 J. Kevin Parker, CIP, INFO CEO & Principal Architect, Kwestix ( Certified Information Professional and holder of these certificates: INFO Designation (Information Coalition/ARMA), SharePoint Master (AIIM), ECM Master (AIIM), BPM Master (AIIM), ERM Master (AIIM), and Capture Practitioner (AIIM) Winner of several industry leadership awards 2

3 Objectives The goal of this presentation is to help you: Discover what problems Information Architecture (IA) helps information professionals to solve. Learn what IA really is and how it applies to information systems and information governance. Understand and communicate why technology needs IA to be most effective. Get started with improving IA in your information environment. 3

4 What Problems Does Information Architecture Solve? Why do we need IA anyway?

5 Gone Digital Information Unleashed 5

6 From CDs to Internet: New Ways to Buy Music itunes and similar platforms leverage the freedom of the digital format and the value of good metadata to present content in new and powerful ways. Preview and buy without leaving home. Play on any device. Never lose it once purchased, just download it again. Look for what s most popular. Buy individual tracks. Find related content. 6

7 Or Stream Whatever, Whenever, Wherever Services like Spotify have carried this further, allowing almost limitless exploration and enjoyment of music. Create playlists easily. Play anything they have, without buying. Share (or not) with friends and others and subscribe to their playlists. Follow artists and other users to see what they are listening to. 7

8 Going Digital Changed Everything for Content New Benefits & Opportunities Content is no longer limited to physical media. It is no longer limited to hierarchical cataloging and retrieval. Content is easier to create, edit, duplicate, and transmit with incredible ease and speed. New Challenges Piracy of intellectual property got a LOT easier. Accidental exposure and malicious theft of sensitive data got a lot easier. Content volumes have grown exponentially. There is much greater competition for people s attention, time, and money. 8

9 We Have Lots of Information Types & Sources Information Types Documents s Databases Wikis Videos Podcasts Log files Tasks Texts Voic s Service tickets Forms Reports Memos Contracts And many more Information Sources Databases ERP systems CRM systems File servers CMS solutions Cloud services Websites Social media Inboxes Smartphones Disk drives Thumb drives Vendor systems Directory services Team sites And many more 9

10 Fragmented Information Management Breeds Chaos Document Management Enterprise Content Management Cybersecurity Web Content Management Data Management Mobile Device Management Master Data Management Payroll Management Records Management Customer Relationship Management Business Intelligence & Analytics Management Knowledge Management Organizations that do not have all of the different information management capabilities under a unified strategy and architecture have chaos. 10

11 People Can t Keep Track Where did I file those TPS reports? Does this document go in the ECM system or the procurement server or the Intranet or the X:\ drive or the ERP system or the records center? I ll just it. Again. Chaos!! 11

12 Bad Metadata Adds Chaos User Interface? Enterprise Taxonomies & Managed Vocabularies Logical Data Models Organization, Labeling, Navigation & Search Systems Service & Interface Descriptions Security Metadata APIs & Data Services Logging, Auditing, Reporting, Predicting Metadata Services???????????????????? System System System System System System System System System System System System System System System System System System System System Bad metadata means: Lack of standardized terms & meanings across systems, business units & processes Lack of interaction between information systems Lack of reusable data services Lack of understanding of available data Lack of awareness of available data sets Inability to log, audit, report & predict accurately Inability to secure & manage information consistently 12

13 Information Environments Should Support Finding & Understanding What can I find here? What can I do here? Where am I? Where can I go from here? 13

14 Making Sense of the Messes Humans need the information and our information environments including how we experience them to make sense to us. Every ounce of energy spent thinking about how and why the tools work (or don t work) the way they do is energy not going toward doing our jobs and fulfilling our missions. Machines can process information much faster!! And they can identify patterns and connections humans would miss. But do they identify what is most important? Can they make value judgments? Garbage in, garbage out still applies. Automating bad processes is still bad. Processing terabytes and petabytes of information with no guidance and priorities will still fail to meet expectations. 14

15 Potential Benefits from Better IA & InfoGov Optimized business processes Increased productivity Increased quality Improved customer experience Reduced cost Enterprise information integration Risk mitigation & compliance Improved information leadership 15

16 What Do We Mean by Information Architecture? Known in IA circles as DTDT (define the damned thing!).

17 Information Architecture (IA) Defined IA applies information science to designing structures and systems for organizing, labeling, navigating, and searching information. The goal of IA is to make information findable and understandable. UI Information Architecture Information Systems 17

18 IA Connects Context, Content, and Users Corporate goals, culture, resources, technology, constraints Context IA Content Users 18 Information Architecture (4 th ed.) is a must read for knowing the foundation of IA. These 3 circles come from Rosenfeld and Morville originally. See it at Amazon: Content and data types, content assets, metadata, repositories, structures User personas, use cases, needs, tasks, experience, information-seeking behaviors

19 IA Creates a Bridge of Understanding & Usefulness UA & User Experience Content & Data Repositories Organization Improvements Tagging Improvements Navigation Improvements Search Improvements 19

20 Organization Systems Are the sites and tools we use easy to understand navigate? Is it clear to users where they are at any given place? Are the site organizing structures simple to use and easy to maintain (are they flexible and scalable)? What kinds of sites and virtual workspaces should we use, and how do they relate to each other? What other information apps do we use, and how do they relate to our content sites? 20

21 Labeling Systems Do we have approved sets of terms with clear definitions to use in labeling and tagging content, libraries, and sites? Do we have naming schemes to use across collaboration spaces and sites? Do they work? Do we use folders in our information environments, and are there guidelines on how these are named and used? Do we know how to label the inputs and outputs of each type of business process? 21

22 Navigation Systems Are websites and apps easy to browse and navigate? Are navigation labels and structures clear, consistent, and useful? Are navigation elements automatically generated? Curated? Up to date and accurate? Do we adequately cater to different information-seeking behaviors? 22

23 Search Systems Does search work well within sites and apps? Is search scoped appropriately in different contexts? Are users able to search across all related content systems and provide relevant, consistent results? Are search analytics actively monitored and is search continuously tuned to improve the user experience? 23

24 IA in Context for Information Professionals How Information Architecture applies to Information Management, Information Technology, and Information Governance

25 IA Systems in Context User Interface Information Architecture Organization Systems Labeling Systems Navigation Systems Search Systems Information Management Systems 25

26 Key Points on the Purposes and Benefits of IA (1 of 3) IA relates to both the front end and back end of information systems. IA for user interfaces (UI) defines schemes for organizing and labeling information in websites, applications, mobile interfaces, and Internet of Things devices for greater clarity and improved user experiences (UX). IA for information systems defines data structures, content repositories, information flows, and metadata for describing properties, categories, and classifications, all of which are used for searching, displaying, processing, routing, securing, and managing information assets throughout their lifecycle. 26

27 Key Points on the Purposes and Benefits of IA (2 of 3) IA design for websites and applications considers the interdependent aspects of Users, Content, and Context. Enterprise IA, which is closely related to Enterprise Architecture, considers the interdependent aspects of people, process, technology, and information for designing enterprise information systems. IA design must follow strategic goals and requirements defined by Information Governance when designing information architectures for individual systems, system interfaces, and the entire enterprise information environment. 27

28 Key Points on the Purposes and Benefits of IA (3 of 3) IA defines the work artifacts necessary for well-designed and usable information environments that follow the strategic goals and requirements defined by Information Governance and Cybersecurity. IA produces artifacts that include taxonomies, ontologies, sitemaps, wireframes, search strategies, navigation strategies, records schedules, master data and metadata plans, data models, and data maps. IA informs architectures for applications and infrastructure. 28

29 Where IA is Vital For improving information findability and understanding for staff and customers. For enabling better ediscovery and FOIA responses. For facilitating privacy protection and compliance. For enabling people and technology to capture, present, preserve, protect, organize, and manage information assets to meet their mission. 29

30 No, Technology Isn t the Answer to Your Information Problems Why technological advancements are helping but are not enough on their own without IA

31 Powerful Technology Advancements That Still Need IA AI, Machine Learning, Neural Networks Autoclassification and Analytics Robotic Process Automation Information Architecture for Finding and Understanding 31

32 What the Tools Need to Maximize Their Effectiveness AI needs IA just like people do, identifying relevant information stores, priorities, labels, categories, etc. that are important to a particular organization. Autoclassification and analytics tools can process and index enormous amounts of information with greater speed and consistency than humans, but it still depends on processes, information stores, content types, categories, and labels defined by the business. RPA is automating business processes based on business logic and structured inputs, thus leveraging pre-existing IA and UI to work. AI is whatever hasn't been done yet. 32

33 How to Get Started with IA Build your Information Architecture framework to support better Information Management

34 Take a Current Inventory & Measure Maturity What are the business priorities and governance requirements that apply? Where are the information stores and applications? What are the processes, structures, inputs, and outputs for the business? How mature is our information environment? What are our weak areas that need to be focused on for improvement? 34

35 Develop Your IA Models Organizing & Labeling Navigation & Search Processes Controlled vocabularies Taxonomies Ontologies Site and app navigation Search crawling and indexing Intranet and workspace connections Business processes Information development Information management Discovery and analysis 35

36 Apply the IA to Information Systems & Processes New data structures New organization and label schemes New search indexes Apply system improvements Apply UI & UX improvements Improve navigation Improve search results Leverage personalization Ensure processes use the new IA models Eliminate unnecessary steps Support user adoption of adjustments Update processes to match 36

37 Make IA Part of Governance Someone needs to own Information Architecture. It is NOT just about design or even IT. IA for enterprises is naturally a part of Enterprise Architecture, as it clarifies what is most important about the business to staff, customers, and everyone. IA should define some governance requirements for information systems and those that design, delivery, support, and use those systems. 37

38 Measure, Improve, Report After a period of improvement effort, measure maturity again and compare. Look for new ways to improve based on the findings. Report improvements, continuing challenges, and additional opportunities. And start the improvement process again. 38

39 IA Improves Finding & Understanding It helps make your information systems useful, usable, and used. What can I find here? What can I do here? Where am I? Where can I go from here? 39

40 Thank