The Requirement for ECMS

The Science of Information

Information Management
Information management
for an uncertain technology future

Infogrid Pacific Pte. Ltd.

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© 2004-7 Infogrid Pacific. All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their respective owners


Meme: Information Management
What is it?

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Making sure all the data that should
survive into the indefinite future
... does survive

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For every conceivable purpose
... accessibility
... reuse
... statutory obligations
... value preservation
... history
... just in case

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Independent of constantly changing
technologies
such as:
... hardware
... operating systems
... proprietary software
... proprietary formats and protocols

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Remember...

Information is forever...

Technology changes daily

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Any finite set of data
can have an infinite set of views
Technology gives the ability to see the
same information in many different ways

... and today you may not even know
what those needs are, or will be...

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The information must be managed
independently from technology

... and not embedded in the technology

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Technology is revolutionizing
our interaction with information

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The value of the information is
being redefined faster than most
organizations can understand

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The information - technology
relationship has to be
redefinable instantly

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The human - technology
relationship has to be
redefinable instantly

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For example:

Ubiquitous mobile access is fast
approaching, and that is going to redefine
our relationship with our information again

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All of this must be easy to do

... or it probably wont happen

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Jargon Alert

Definitions
Data: The bits and bytes on a computer storage
system
Content: The genre and intellectual value of the
data
Information: Data+content systematized with
metadata so it can be understood and used
Knowledge: something a human has based on
experience and memories
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© 2006 Infogrid Pacific. All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their respective owners


Definition

DATA
is all the same
Bits and bytes on the computer are the same
except for endian-ness (are the bits stored 1-
8, or 8-1)
It is stored and transmitted using highly
standardized protocols
This technology has lasted for decades and
will probably last for decades more
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Definition

CONTENT
Is very different
Content is data arranged within file formats
which are used by applications to represent
the data in an content specific manner.
There are some common file formats, and a
babel of proprietary formats
Few have lasted more than a decade so far

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Definition

INFORMATION
Take some data/content,
put them into a usable context
and they become information

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Illustrating Context

An Invoice
The context is a transaction between two
parties. Otherwise it's just a file format, piece
of paper or record in a database.
A DVD Movie
has one context of DRM – you can only view
this on my terms! Otherwise it's just a file
format or a silver disc - or the context
changes to stolen content!

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Information Management Context

Most current Information Management
Solutions...
... are embedded in the past
... solve only todays problem
... are a liability for the future
... are expensive to customize
... are expensive to maintain

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But now your friendly Government
says you have to keep digital
information for
... 7 years
... 25 years
... +++ years
... Or maybe go to jail and pay a big fine!

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and ...

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A lot of your todays data is digital only,
and you will be creating a lot more
... There are no paper trails
... Digitally certificates expire in 12 months
... 100's of different proprietary file formats
... the data is all over the place

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and ...

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You have unstructured information
everywhere that needs to be
organized and accessible
Unstructured information: that's the 90% of
your content and information that is in files,
on some hard disk, on some workstation or
server, that are not in a database

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and ...

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You have legacy physical content
you would like to make available
digitally to reduce access costs

...or even make it available for the first time

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and ...

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Your information / content has cost
you a lot of money to create
... you need to preserve that value
... preserving the existing value shouldn't
break the bank
... or be a management headache.

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and ...

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You need serious efficiency and
effectiveness gains
... to reduce operational costs
... to increase competitive advantages
... to provide better service
... to improve productivity
... to create collaboration

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And what is available is a cacophony
of solutions...
DMS for documents
AMS for assets
RMS for records
LMS for education and training
WCM for web sites
Customized application development
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All of which are just different views
on parts of your information...

...trapped into limiting technology
defined viewpoints

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Not one of which has any inbuilt
strategies for digital preservation

other than “buy my upgrade in three years
– if I still support that product! If you pay
the data migration costs”.

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So now you have to ask serious
questions about the future of your
data...

Is there a better way?

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There sure is...

and its relatively straight forward

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Use independent metadata to
drive your information strategy

Don't let it get trapped in a database
Remember - a database is someones
technology
If metadata if free it can grow and
increase in value

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Metadata = Flexibility = Control
Using:
... Taxonomies - Categorization
... Thesauri – for refined control
... Keywords (formal and social)
... Authority files
These are standard methods– nothing radical here...

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Create really good metadata for
each Information Package
Descriptive – what it is about
Ownership – where it came from
Rights – how it can be used
Structure maps – how it is stored
Relationships – how it fits together

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The difference is not the
metadata

... but how you use the metadata

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Package all the data / content files
together with the metadata

Call them
Information Packages

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Stop managing files and start
managing Information Packages

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Don't worry about the technology
on each side of the stored
Information Packages
(That excitement comes later)

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The storage strategy comes first
... control what goes in
... control what comes out
... control how it is maintained

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Architecture
Separate the users and technology from
the information packages

User Community
Producer Community
Information
User's
Package
Producer's
Technology
Storage
Technology
Environment

Administration Community

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Architecture
Use the latest hottest technology to
access and use the metadata
Newest, hottest
“we gotta have it”
soon technology
Producer Community
What we're using
Information
today and
Package
Producer's
getting by with
Storage
Technology
technology
Environment

Yesterdays
boring
old and cold
technology
Administration Community

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Architecture
And controlling the whole system?
Just set your ingest and access rules by
individual, groups, organizations, other
applications, etc.
User Community
Producer Community
Information
User's
Package
Producer's
Technology
Storage
Technology
Environment

These are your These are your
information information
ingest rules access rules
What you can put in What you can take out
Administration
Community
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Architecture
This architecture is information centric
so you can...
... Preserve it
... Maintain it
... Trust it
... Use it

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Never forget

Information is forever...

Technology changes every day

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The experts tell us to preserve information in a
trusted manner over time we need...
... Replication Strategies
... Migration Strategies
... Life-cycle maintenance strategies
... Policy based management and admin.
... Digital provenance metadata

Let's see what that all means
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Jargon Alert
REPLICATION
Don't put all your eggs in one basket
The more copies of a file that exist, the
more likely they will survive anything
If the copies are in different locations
they are more likely to survive all types
of disasters (flood, fire, etc.)
Replication is an automatic policy driven
process that keeps a set number of
copies in multiple locations.
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Jargon Alert
MIGRATION
I don't want it here anymore!
I want to move some, or all of my information
Packages to a different technology
At some stage – the technology wears out. The
information can be moved while the old
technology stays behind

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Jargon Alert

LIFE CYCLE MAINTENANCE
Periodic health checks
.. periodic file integrity checks
... periodic evidence quality checks
... replication of files to multiple locations
... retention and disposal actions
... audit history on every action

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Jargon Alert

Policy based Management and
Administration
Tell the system the rules for
...Collection and data management
...Replication policies
...Surface validity checks
...Ingest and access policies

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Jargon Alert

Digital Provenance
Full and complete auto-generated metadata
of everything that has happened to the data
while it has been in the care of the storage
system

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Separating Information from
Technology brings new and
powerful options to large-scale
information management

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Organizing the Information

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Better metadata, better
information management
It's easier to put a metadata field into an
Information Package that says “Contract”,
than it is to build a contract management
database

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Users don't interface with the
files, they interface with the file
metadata
And then just sometimes need to view, or
download and use a file in the content context

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So the technology uses whatever
metadata it requires to create a
specific and contextual user
experience

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One information management
system doing its job ...

Replica
Information
Information
Storage
Storage

Information Storage Management

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... any number of interfaces with
any technology ...
Evidential Records
Documents

Metadata Interface
Images & multimedia
Replica
Information Cultural artifacts
Information
Storage
Storage
Data and Research
Sales & Marketing
Commercial Content

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...comprehensive user controls...

Evidential Records

User Access Controls
Documents

Metadata Interface
Images & multimedia
Replica
Information
Storage
Storage
Data and Research
Sales & Marketing
Commercial Content

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With user context applied,
you contol
... what they can see
... what depth they can go to
... what they can do with it
... any other constraints

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... Digital Rights Assertion ...

Evidential Records

Digital Rights Assertion
User Access Controls
Documents

Metadata Interface

Metadata Interface
Images & multimedia
Replica
Information
Storage
Storage
Data and Research
Sales & Marketing
Commercial Content

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DRM allows you to provide
permissions and constraints for
any content

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All of this is encapsulated in
IGP:Repostory
IGP:Information Architect
and
IGP:InfoViewer

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Working seamlessly together ...
Different User Groups

Content
Consumer Different Web Sites
Producers Digital Technology
Preservation Interface
IGP:Production Different Business Processes
Archive
Solutions
InfoViewer Forms
Different Content Types
IGP:InfoViewer
IGP:Repository
IGP:Metadesk
Other Applications
New and changing requirements
Other Applications

Syncronized & Automated Metadata
IGP:Information Architect

... and with other Web Services 68


And supported by
IGP:Production Solutions
IGP:Metadesk
and other
Infogrid Pacific Information
Management applications

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For more information go to ...

www.infogridpacific.com

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