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Title:

Information Auditing - A Guide for Information Managers

Review:

Although the consensus is that carrying out an information audit is an essential precursor to the development of any information, intranet or records management strategy, until the publication of this report there has been a dearth of practical advice. Steve Wood has a background as an intranet manager in the public sector but is now Senior Lecturer in Information Management at the School of Business Information, Liverpool John Moores University. The result is a report that is an adroit blend of academic rigour and practical insight.

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By book standards it's quite a slim publication, just 40 pages in length, but that matters little when the quality is so high. The main sections deal with setting the scene, defining the purpose, scope and objectives, the purposes that require an information audit, a brief discussion on the difference between information and knowledge auditing, and then a detailed description of good practice in information auditing. There is even advice on how to present an information audit report. Some software tools that can be used to support an information audit are profiled and there is a useful bibliography that illustrates how little published information there is on the subject.

Indeed despite the importance of a reliable information audit the only other book that I am aware of is Susan Henczel's book The Information Audit, (K.G. Saur, 2001). One document that seems to have escaped Steve's diligent research efforts is the Information Management Audit Guidelines developed by the Department of Commerce of the New South Wales state government in Australia http://digbig.com/4dcdn, which covers more than IM issues.

The merit of Steve's report is the clarity with which it is written, enabling anyone in an organization tasked with carrying out an information audit to do so with excellent results. Many of the sections contain useful checklists. As a result, the guide will be of value not only to information professionals and intranet managers, but also to business managers who have been asked to carry out an audit for compliance, risk management or records management purposes and have no idea of where to start. If there is an omission, it is that I would like to have seen a reference to the problems of conducting content audits of web and (especially!) intranet sites.

The publishers offer a corporate licence so that the report can be added to an intranet. Overall, highly recommended, and I can't see how any organization trying to maximize the benefit from its information resources can justify not buying a copy.

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Free Pint Reviewer:

Martin White is Managing Director of Intranet Focus Limited http://www.intranetfocus.com.

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