Briefing: Information Management Best Practices: Next-Gen IM – Moving Beyond The Repository

The sun is setting on the information management (IM) function as repository. This Briefing showcases two trailblazing organizations that have embraced the concept of information asset management. It examines why it's time to look beyond the repository as the core IM function, and provides a blueprint for change. At the Government Accountability Office (GAO), information asset management is a function comprising many units, including a library, whose mission is to manage and support every aspect of information creation and disposition. Best practices identified include focusing on what's core to the larger organization's mission, knowing key customers and serving their needs, and looking for partnering opportunities for next-generation solutions. At Dow Corning, a Knowledge Management group is grounded in the reality of an increasingly mobile workforce, and it defines information asset management as creating the ability for people to get what they need to know anywhere, anytime, and in compliance with company policies. Dow Corning's KM unit organizes itself around an information life cycle of create, protect, use, store, and dispose. Best practices include aligning a mission with the enterprise's needs; running a truly global organization with all that entails in networking, communication, and cultural training; and questioning and understanding the business value of everything the organization does. Data from Outsell's Database of Information Markets and Users shows that most information management functions still have not turned the corner in reshaping their organizations away from the repository model. Analytical tools for getting beyond that point include the 'holy triangle' of stakeholder management, strategic assessment, and needs assessment.