1 Information Management & Systems A Brief History of Information Management.

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Information Management& Systems

A Brief History of Information Management

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Definitions

InformationMeaning derived from study, experience, and instruction.

Information SystemAn organized combination of people, hardware, software, communication networks, and data resources.

Information TechnologyElectronic systems and components comprising an information system.

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Definitions

Information Management (IM) Management of information resources. Design of information technology components. Analysis of information processing procedures. Deriving knowledge from the information corpus.

cor·pus   (kôr p s) A large collection of writings of a specific kind or on a specific subject

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A Brief History of IM

1940’s – 1950’s First electronic computers invented

Code-breaking (German/Japanese codes in WWII) Nuclear weapons design (Manhattan Project) Ballistic firing tables Weather forecasting

Computer Science invented Alan Turing, John von Neumann IBM starts producing electronic computers

Vacuum tubes, transistors ENIAC more info at

http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/comphist/eniac-story.html

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A Brief History of IM

Early 1960’s Computer Programming invented

BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN, ALGOL

Operating Systems invented VMS, System 60

Punch Cards, paper tape Mainframe computers Remote Job Entry, batch processing

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A Brief History of IM

Late 1960’s Interactive terminals

Mouse, keyboard, screen Applications

Spreadsheets, word processing, email Microcomputers

Small operating systems “C” programming language

Solid state electronics, microelectronics ARPANet (first computer network) - it is how the Internet

started. More info at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/experience/technology/inventions.timeline/arpanet.html

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A Brief History of IM

1970’s Minicomputer revolution

Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) PDP (16 bit computer, specs at

http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/pdp-11.html#Photo ), VAX computer, VMS operating systems

Microcomputer revolution Personal computers (Sinclair, Apple, Atari) Embedded computers

Software Engineering “Structured” programming “Functional Decomposition” Pascal, Ada

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A Brief History of IM

1970’s Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Apple Database technology Interactive terminals Unix operating systems Multitasking operating systems Robotics Automated process control

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A Brief History of IM

Before the 80’s Mainframe systems (centralized data processing) No desktop data processing (DP) Limited number of employees in a company doing

data processing No personal experience with computers Little “interactive” computing Few graphical user interfaces (GUI) Everything is done on paper (even DP)

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A Brief History of IM

1980’s Microcomputer/Personal computer revolution A computer on every desktop at work WYSIWYG computing (desktop metaphor) Digital telephone systems, faxes, digital copiers Networking… connecting all the desktop

computers together Object-Oriented Paradigm Highly decentralized information storage

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A Brief History of IM

1990’s The Internet revolution (World Wide Web, Browsers)

Global networking Corporate Websites e-Business and e-Commerce e-mail, instant messaging “knowledge management”, “information

management” Portals, intranets, extranets

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A Brief History of IM

Today Every company uses computer technology Almost every employee uses a computer or

produces/consumes computer information Every household may contain a computer Most people have used personal computers Most people own personal computer-based

devices (cell phones, pagers, CD/MP3/iPod, game devices)

Many people do business/commerce online

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A Brief History of IM

Tomorrow “On-demand” digital services Pervasive connectivity (“always online”) Smart and connected appliances Electronic paper (flexible screens) Wearable computers (BlueTooth using our bodies

to transmit wireless signals) Ubiquitous computing (embedded in the

environment, and unnoticable) Nanotechnology (nano-memory and electronics)

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Today’s Information Corpus

FilesMost sizeable companies have huge stores of electronic files scattered throughout the enterprise (a legacy of desktop networking). Letters, memos, reports, spreadsheets, database files, presentations, etc.

DatabasesCompanies usually maintain a number of databases on several different hardware and software platforms.

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The Information Corpus

EmailMost employees communicate with email and much of an enterprise’s internal and external business communication is done via email (and attachments).

Instant Messaging (IM)This is becoming the way employees talk to one another in real-time. Ad-hoc discussions, routine “chatter”.

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The Information Corpus

Electronic PublishingMost companies produce printed material such as catalogs, brochures, flyers, contact sheets, product specification sheets, newsletters, business reports, etc. Also, an increasing amount of information exists only in electronic format (e.g. Web pages, PDF documents, Intranets).

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The Information Corpus

Physical Files and ArtifactsEven though much of an enterprise’s information processing is done via electronic means, every organization possesses some degree of physical paperwork and other artifacts. Being able to index these artifacts so they may be searched electronically is important.

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Information Management

IM allows companies to make use out of what they already know

IM is an essential part of any business Only in recent years has “information management”

specialists been identified as a job title IM makes better use of existing IT and also

plans/directs future IT initiatives Any company that mismanages its information

management and technology resources is likely to lose in today’s competitive market

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IM Applications

Information CorpusInformation ManagementApplications

IM applications allow companies to know what they know.

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IM Applications – “The Big M’s”

KM: Knowledge Management

CM: Content Management

PM: Project Management

HRM: Human Resources Management

ERM: Enterprise Resources Management

FM: Financial Management

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IM Applications – Case Study

ScenarioA large oil company maintains many offshore drilling platforms. Operations of a platform, when idle, cost $250,000 per day. Lost revenue when not drilling exceeds $1 million per day. Therefore, it is imperative to fixed problems interrupting production as soon as possible.

Almost every problem encountered in the field has been encountered and solved in the past. However, the experts that know these solutions are scattered all over the world.

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IM Applications – Case Study

ProblemIdentifying a problem, finding and collaborating with the experts, and implementing the solution takes 3-5 days making every problem cost millions of dollars.

Needed, is a better way to locate and bring people together. Problems need to be resolved in a day.

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IM Applications – Case Study

Solution Problem knowledge base Skills database (mapping personnel to

skills) People locator Collaborative groupware

Shared Files Threaded Discussions Group Calendar Real-time video conferencing

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KM – Knowledge Management

Easy access to the information corpus Search capabilities into archival file systems Information filtering

Based on user’s identity (personal filtering) Based on user’s job title (occupational filtering) Based on groups user is a member of Based on project or task Based on “point of view” selection

Integrated with e-mail system Integrated with company’s Intranet Customizable user interface – “portal”

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History of IM Summary Processing information has become a critical

function of businesses worldwide Computer technology has become pervasive in the

business world IM has become an essential component of business IT is an important job skill in today’s companies Current IM applications are the way they are

because of the evolution of computer technology and information processing