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Title:
Information Strategy in Practice 2004
Review:
Elizabeth Orna's 1999 text "Practical information policies" is
regarded as a key text for information managers responsible for
auditing information, devising organisational information policies and
strategies. This new text, "Information Strategy in Practice", builds
upon "Practical information policies" by including updated versions of
chapters 2-6 from the 1999 text with postscripts entitled "practical
insights" for each chapter. As Orna notes, a good deal has happened
in the world of information management since 1999, hence the need for
the new text.
Orna's excellent text has a well-defined approach that is consistently
applied throughout. It avoids much of the jargon that has often
blighted this field of work, particularly related to the area of
knowledge management. I will always point students to Orna as a
starting point for defining terms such as information, knowledge,
information management, etc. The scenarios from real-world
organisations that are used to illustrate key points in the text are
well chosen and taken from a good mix of sectors and industries. This
makes the text valuable to information managers working in both public
and private sectors.
The structure logically guides the reader through information strategy
processes for organisations. It begins with a chapter discussing why
information is important; then covers understanding information
requirements; before dealing with analysing organisational objectives.
The process developed by Orna matches the objectives to "content"
which is then mapped to "containers". The table outlining these three
areas is an excellent basic starting point and can be easily adapted
to many scenarios. In terms of teaching or training it also acts as a
good starting point for student understanding of the topic.
The following chapters then move on to the information audit process
from planning to execution. Useful new material added to the practical
insights section for this chapter include terms of reference that
could be adapted for an information audit project. The next chapter
rightly stresses the importance of analysing and interpreting the
findings before moving to the policy and strategy stages that are
dealt with in the following chapters.
Chapters 7 and 8 will be of most interest to readers of the "practical
information policies" text, as Orna offers insight beyond the "how to
do it" aspects focused on in chapters 2-6. She uses her experience to:
"recapitulate the main underlying ideas, so that readers can make them
their own, illuminate them with their own experience and knowledge,
and use them in convincing, explaining, arguing a business case,
answering objections, gaining allies on the way towards developing and
using information strategy". Concepts such as taxonomy, that have
become important information management tools, are introduced here,
along with a valuable comparison of information management and
knowledge management concepts in practice.
This book is highly recommended for students studying on undergraduate
and postgraduate information management degree programmes and equally
for information managers working in the field attempting to assess
information assets and formulate policies and strategies. For those
without the previous 1999 text, I would say this edition is an
essential part of any information manager's bookshelf.
Free Pint Reviewer:
Steve Wood, Senior Lecturer, School of Business Information, Liverpool
John Moores University, lectures on undergraduate and postgraduate
programmes on web management, knowledge management, network management
and information policy.
Research interests include content management knowledge management and
freedom of information legislation. Steve is author of the text
"Business Information Management" with Dave Chaffey, published by
Pearson Education November 2004.
Email steve_wood62@hotmail.com or visit http://www.livjm.ac.uk.
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