The document discusses the importance of Information Architecture (IA) in enhancing information management and governance, explaining how IA solves problems related to fragmented information systems and bad metadata. It highlights the role of IA in organizing and labeling information, improving user experience, and supporting effective data management processes. The presentation aims to guide professionals in implementing IA to optimize business processes, productivity, and compliance.

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

2. All content © copyright Kwestix LLC (unless otherwise noted). All rights reserved.
J. Kevin Parker, CIP, INFO
▪ CEO & Principal Architect, Kwestix
(www.kwestix.com)
▪ 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
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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.
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What Problems Does
Information Architecture
Solve?
Why do we need IA anyway?

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Gone Digital—Information Unleashed

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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.

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Or Stream Whatever, Whenever, Wherever
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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.

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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.
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We Have Lots of Information Types & Sources
Information Types
▪ Documents
▪ Emails
▪ Databases
▪ Wikis
▪ Videos
▪ Podcasts
▪ Log files
▪ Tasks
▪ Texts
▪ Voicemails
▪ 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…
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Fragmented Information
Management Breeds Chaos
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Data
Management
Records
Management
Knowledge
Management
Document
Management
Enterprise
Content
Management
Business
Intelligence &
Analytics
Master Data
Management
Web Content
Management
Customer
Relationship
Management
Email
Management
Mobile Device
Management
Organizations that do not have
all of the different information
management capabilities under
a unified strategy and
architecture have chaos.
Cybersecurity
Payroll
Management

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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 email it. Again.”
Chaos!!
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Bad Metadata Adds Chaos
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
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System System System System System System System System System System
System System System System System System System System System System
User Interface
Metadata Services
Enterprise Taxonomies & Managed Vocabularies
Organization, Labeling, Navigation & Search Systems
Service & Interface Descriptions
Security Metadata
Logical Data Models
APIs & Data Services
Logging, Auditing, Reporting, Predicting
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?

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

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

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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
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Context
Content Users
IA
Corporate goals,
culture, resources,
technology, constraints
User personas, use cases,
needs, tasks, experience,
information-seeking
behaviors
Content and data types,
content assets, metadata,
repositories, structures
IA Connects Context,
Content, and Users
Information Architecture
(4th ed.) is a must read for
knowing the foundation of
IA. These 3 circles come
from Rosenfeld and
Morville originally.
See it at Amazon:
http://a.co/d/6tjn8c8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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?
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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
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Apply the IA to Information
Systems & Processes
• New data structures
• New organization and
label schemes
• New search indexes
Apply system
improvements
• Improve navigation
• Improve search results
• Leverage
personalization
Apply UI & UX
improvements • Ensure processes use
the new IA models
• Eliminate unnecessary
steps
• Support user adoption
of adjustments
Update processes
to match
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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.
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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.
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IA Improves Finding & Understanding
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What can I
find here?
Where
am I?
What can I
do here?
Where can I
go from
here?
It helps make your information systems useful, usable, and used.

40. Thank you!
@JKevinParker
info@kwestix.com
www.kwestix.com