Information Development

From MIKE2 Methodology

Information Development is a collection of best practices in information management. Conceptually, it is a new approach where information is "developed" on behalf of the Enterprise, supplemented with the data and metadata artifacts produced within the other domains.

The Information Development approach includes the area of enterprise data repository(s) development, (replacing the silos of MIS Application Development), modelling of data at rest, metadata development, information access and storage and a collection of capabilities involved in the analysis and correction of data; the goal is to have a “single” organisation in the enterprise responsible for Information Development.

In the past Information Development has not been seen as a separate domain, and has been coupled tightly to Application Development and Integration. Decoupling Information Development from the Application Development and integration processes does not create extra work; it is putting standards into place for how and when information should be exchanged and how certain types of information should be captured, presented, and shared.

In summary, Information Development is about:

• Driving an overall approach through an Information Strategy
• Enabling People with the right skills to build and manage new information systems while creating a culture of information excellence
• Moving to a new Organisational model that delivers an improved Information Management competency
• Improving Processes around Information Compliance, Policies, Practices and Measurement
• Delivering contemporary Technology solutions that meet the needs of today’s highly federated organisations

This Information Development approach enables:

• Real-time synchronisation and transformation of information between systems, automating integration and promoting reuse across a federated enterprise
• The exposure of shadow processes and business rules that are typically embedded inside application and integration functions as reusable metadata
• The standardisation of interchange information into a common enterprise format to avoid stovepipe "application-focused" integration
• Building integrated repositories of information for use by the enterprise as a whole
• Improved information quality in a proactive and reusable fashion
• Flexible access to search across structured, semi-structured and unstructured content and being able to supply this information in a consistent form to any channel
• The ability to make fact-based business decisions and drill-down, drill across and aggregate analytical information
• Being to measure the value of any information asset and the resulting business benefits of its improvement
• An organisation that is structured in the most efficient manner to deliver information solutions for the business

Information Development is the main area of focus for the MIKE2.0 Methodology.