DSCI 34410: Digital Information Management & Processing

Lesson 3 Outline: Information Management Strategies

1. Purpose
This is the outline for Lesson 3 for the course DSCI 34410: Digital Information Management & Processing to be
delivered as part of Kent States Digital Sciences Bachelor of Science (BS) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) Program
requirements.
2. Overview
The aim of this lesson is to introduce students to concept of an Information Management (IM) strategy. The IM
strategy is used within organizations for these purposes:
To define the future direction of IM solutions that align with and support the future direction and vision of
the organization.
To examine all aspects of IM and at a high level provides the principles, policies and standards and a
roadmap for the development of IM capabilities.
The types of capabilities examined during an IM strategy review may include:
Business Intelligence (BI), Analytics, Business Performance Measurement (BPM) and Data Warehousing.
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) including content, document & records management, digital asset
management, collaboration, workflow and search.
Foundational Capabilities including Data Management, Model and Metadata, Master Data Management
(MDM) and Data Quality.
Information Architecture standards including Enterprise Data Model (EDM) and Data Classification.
3. Lesson Objectives
The learning outcomes for the course are that students will be able to:
Review the purpose, context and framework for an IM strategy.
Discuss an approach for developing an IM strategy.
Discuss development of the IM current state and future state assessments.
Undertake specific assignments and submit tutorial discussions relevant to IM strategies within
organizations.
4. Lesson Assignments
4.1. Reading Assignment
There is no single specific reference text that covers the material in this lesson. The content is developed
based on the instructors knowledge of the methods used by IT consulting organizations to develop
information management strategies within organizations.

Kent State University School of Digital Sciences
(KSU DSCI)
2

These methods will be presented in the lecture and you may find them useful in the event that you are
required to develop IM strategies in your future careers. The approaches described in the lecture can be
applied for the development of IM strategies for commercial and government organizations, irrespective
of their types and sizes.

There is also no specific reference to IM Strategy in the DAMA DMBOK reference guide. However, there
are elements within the guide that relate to the development of IM Strategy, and these will be shown on
the lesson slides.

The supplemental reading assignments for students for Lesson 3 are:
Robert Hilliard, Managing Director, Bearing Point. Refer:
http://connectedsocialmedia.com/2776/mike-20-simplifying-the-methodology-of-
information-management/
Office of the President Digital Government. Refer:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/egov/digital-government/digital-
government.html
CimTech Ltd (2002): Developing an Information Management Strategy. I have uploaded this
whitepaper as a PDF into Blackboard Learn. The whitepaper is dated (2002) and it doesnt
necessarily align with the IM strategy framework discussed in the lecture, but key tenets of
the message in the document are still applicable.
4.2. Discussion Forum
Students are required to participate in Group Discussion for this lesson using the forum on Blackboard
Learn refer to the Course Syllabus regarding requirements for participation. The discussion question for
this lesson is:
Why might medium to large size organizations fail to develop an IM strategy?
4.3. Tutorial Questions
Students may submit answers to the tutorial questions for this lesson using the assessments capability on
Blackboard Learn. Refer to the Course Syllabus regarding requirements for Tutorial submission. The
tutorial questions for this lesson are:
List and discuss at least three types of capabilities that might be recommended as part of an
IM strategy? (Note: four sets of capabilities were mentioned in the lecture).
List and discuss at least three objectives for an IM strategy project and provide a brief
explanation? (Note: six objectives were mentioned in the lecture).
4.4. Supplemental Resources
There is no requirement to purchase these materials to participate in discussion forums and respond to
tutorial questions; the resources are provided for background reading only and may be available via
library resources or via Internet link.
MIKE 2 The Open Source Standard for Information Management. This link contains some
general materials under the tag information strategy:
http://mike2.openmethodology.org/blogs/information-development/category/information-
strategy/

3

5. Instructor
Len Asprey, Adjunct Professor
lasprey@kent.edu