Information Management

White Paper Series

The Game Changer: Leveraging Enterprise

Information Management for Improved
Performance

Table of Contents THE CHALLENGE OF EIM

Enterprise Information Management (EIM)

Drivers for Improved Information .............2
What’s the Problem? ........................................4
Obstacles to Success .........................................5
What’s the solution? .........................................7
What to look for in an EIM Strategy........ 10
Key Points and Summary ............................ 11
programs have not lived up to their promise
in recent years. In many cases the promised
business benefits have not been realised.
Too often EIM programs are undertaken as
a reaction, to improve compliance or reduce
risk exposure. As a result EIM initiatives run
the risk of being too complex, IT rather than
business driven and generally lacking in
suitable measures and defined benefits.

EIM is not simple, and the case studies for

Understanding how your failed initiatives are plenty. However, we
organisation uses its believe that with an intelligent and
structured approach to investing in EIM
information to operate initiatives which directly relate to business
and how to focus on information requirements, and which
resolve business problems or leverage
practical, measurable potential opportunities the chances for
improvement success are high.
opportunities is an This White Paper outlines the drivers for
effective first step in EIM, and explores the challenges facing EIM
initiatives. The paper further identifies
implementing an strategies and techniques to overcome
Enterprise Information those obstacles and to ensure your EIM
program initiatives deliver value to the
Management program . organisation and differentiate it in its
market space or service delivery area, while
creating stronger relationships with
customers, suppliers and stakeholders,
effectively changing the game.

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information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Glentworth disclaims all warranties as to the
accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Glentworth does not provide legal advice or services and it’s advice should
not be construed or used as such. The opinions hereing are subject to change without notice.

Drivers for Improved Information
Gartner provides a useful definition of
Enterprise Information Management:
“...AN INTEGRATIVE DISCIPLINE FOR STRUCTURING,
DESCRIBING AND GOVERNING INFORMATION
ASSETS, REGARDLESS OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND
TECHNOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES, TO IMPROVE
OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, PROMOTE
TRANSPARENCY AND ENABLE BUSINESS INSIGHT.”1
The benefits of good information are widely
known, and include customer insight,
decision support, operational efficiency
through reduced redundancy and improved
compliance through records management
and audit. In fact, it would be surprising if
there were not already discrete projects
running in your organisation that are
designed to address matters such as these.
Enterprise Information Management
initiatives are often born as the organisation
realises that many of the discrete
information management or data projects
that are currently running are in fact
related. Consolidating the initiatives by
using a common approach, methodology
and governance body may in fact have
benefits2.
It makes sense to take a step back and
develop an integrated approach which
introduces common benefits, measures and
governance practices to the implementation
of the initiatives. In addition, the approach
may include an overarching “strategy” by
which individual initiatives can be assessed
for “fit” and new initiatives developed, all of
1 Gartner, Definition Clarifies the Role of Enterprise
Information Management, G00143330, 10/10/2006
2 Gartner; Business Drivers and Issues in Enterprise
Information Management, G00129712
© 2010 Glentworth Pty Ltd. www.glentworth.com
Information Management
White Paper Series
which move the organisation toward an
agreed set of strategic goals.
The drivers for initiatives do not change,
however, integrating the initiatives,
measuring baselines, quantifying benefits
and leveraging the economies of scale from
introducing enterprise information
management initiatives will improve the
success rate and returns from the
initiatives.
Leveraging assets
Intangible assets, such as enterprise
information, represent a significant
proportion the overall value of an
organization. Some estimates put this value
at approximately two-thirds of the total3. In
order to leverage the asset, it must be
valued and managed as any other tangible
asset within the organisation.
An EIM initiative which treats
“unstructured” data, such as that found in
email systems, Wikis, Blogs, Records
Management Systems with similar best
practice principles that are applied to other
“structured” systems, such as traditional
databases, will enable value to be harvested
from the asset. These practices can include
modelling, classification and federation
which will allow the information to be
organised, managed and found when
required.
Ultimately when these disparate
information sources are “under control”
EIM techniques can be used to bring both
the “structured” information together with
the “unstructured” information to enable a
single, consolidated view of customers and
suppliers. This new intelligence can be used
3 Intangible Value Management Survey, Feb 2002
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White Paper Series

to grow revenue through improved cross- cross Enhancing credibility

sell opportunities, or reduce costs by having
Poor data quality can quickly damage
a clear view of end to end procurement
p
brands and the credibility of the
processes. Improving findability requires
organisation. Improving this cre
credibility,
the information be managed and organised
through the use of timely, accurate
by an EIM initiative as shown in Figure 1.
information delivery to customers,
suppliers and
shareholders is often a
driver for information
management activities.

In addition compliance
Manage Organise Disseminate FIND requirements dictate that
end to end information
flows through transactions
be documented and made
available for audit. An EIM
focus when modelling
Figure 1: Improving findability for unstructured data requires the data
to be managed and organised properly processes and services
supports
upports compliance
initiatives and having a solid
understanding of data and process will
Operational Efficiencies further assist in operational efficiency
Most companies are constantly seeking new initiatives.
ways to enhance their operating efficiencies,
Delighting customers
to achieve
hieve more with less. EIM initiatives,
such as understanding the information and The more organisations know about their
data flows through organisational processes customers, clients or suppliers
suppliers, their
can eliminate redundancy and duplication.
dupl business and their requirements
requirements, the more
Furthermore, organisations which are accurate the picture can be of their needs
undertaking business process management and motivations. The likely consequence is
initiatives or have established process maps that
will find that EIM is fundamental to the customer “Poor data quality
development of reusable business scenarios retention can quickly
and improving cross functional and
damage brands
collaboration and service hand-offs.
hand satisfaction
is and credibility”
Further operational efficiencies can be improved.
driven by improving the timeliness
timelin and Enterprise Information Management can
accuracy of data and information. Decision provide many of the tools need
needed to better
making based on trusted information that is understand customers’ and clients’ needs.
immediately available is an enabler for rapid Managing information at an enterprise level
action and service delivery. can also help in trend identification and

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 Information Management
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analysis by providing structure to the range of problems, some of which the

method used in collecting, processing and organisation does not even know it has.
reporting data. Applying a maturity model to most
organisations will reveal flaws or gaps in
Differentiating the business the application of data and information
Collaborative channels with customers and management principles to some or all of the
suppliers, marketing channels using social organisation’s data sets, which can lead to
networks, CEO Twitters, Customer Self knee-jerk or poorly planned initiatives,
Service that actually works. These are all often technology led, which result in poor
methods of differentiating outcomes.
“The organisation
organisations from one
another. Each of these MUST understand it’s Confusion can arise as EIM
information initiatives are known by
depends on understanding
many different names. To
the information requirements in at different people EIM can be
requirements of the target
least some key areas” known as:
audience and fulfilling
those requirements with clean, accurate and  Content Management
timely data with appropriate privacy and
security policy.  Information Architecture
 Better Reporting
Developing these policies and the
governance required for ongoing  Management of Structured
management of these channels can be a Information
driver for information management
 Workflow Management
improvements.
 Document Records Management
What’s the Problem? Systems
There is a lot of hype around the benefits of
 Record Keeping Systems
Enterprise Information Management
programs and already there are In fact EIM is all of these things! No wonder
disillusioned organisations that have it is sold as the cure-all for information
invested significant amounts in management.
technologies, consultants and
Gartner locates EIM programs at the very
methodologies without seeing a return.
beginning of their popular “hype cycle”
The field is emerging, confusing and there is model, around the same location as
still a large gap between the “hype” and the technologies such as XBRL in EIM, the
“reality”. Semantic Web and Metadata Taxonomy and
Ontology Management. It also notes that
In fact, EIM is all of these elements and EIM programs have the potential to be
more, which is where the hype comes in... transformational, however the realisation of

The Hype
Enterprise Information Management
Initiatives are often sold as the solution to a

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 Information Management
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these benefits is a number of years away for specific, clear business goals, using business
most organisations4. metrics.

However, there are ways to move forward The location of the EIM program in an
with EIM that generate real, tangible value organisation is a telling indicator of
to the business and that make use of the potential success. The program must be
more mature elements of EIM Strategies located in the business and be driven by the
while temporarily disregarding those tools business to be a truly “Enterprise” program.
and technologies which are still emergent The unfortunate reality is that initiatives
and unproven. and programs concentrating on information
and data are driven by IT.
The Reality
In addition to missing requirements,
If EIM is a set of techniques, tools and
measures and metrics are often lacking.
processes requiring organisational
Being able to quantify benefits in business
commitment, executive sponsorship and
language is a key enabler for successful
clear measures and metrics why are the
projects, particularly when it comes to
projects failing?
realising benefits.
There appears to be a number of common
factors missing in EIM programs, Obstacles to Success
particularly those that have So, what are the obstacles to
failed or where enthusiasm An organisation must a successful EIM program or
has evaporated and initiative and how can we
address the make sure that we avoid
investment dollars are
moving to more tangible, fundamentals of data them, or at least manage
accessible projects. management before their impact?

Most importantly, EIM

moving on to complex In the authors opinion there
programs need a firm EIM initiatives...
understanding of the
information requirements of customers,
internal business units, suppliers and
shareholders. This is most often the case in
a technology-led initiative, or an Enterprise
Architecture (EA) led initiative. EIM and EA
should not be lead frameworks or
initiatives; they are required to support the
delivery of the organisation’s information
requirements, so those requirements should
be the lead statement. In essence, any EIM
initiative should be business led and support
4Gartner; Hype Cycle for Enterprise Information
Management, 2009; G00167472
are some fundamental
obstacles which appear
again and again in EIM projects. Some are
more difficult than others to overcome, but
it is important to note that none of them are
technical in nature, nor is the solution to
any of them a technical solution.
Complexity and Coordination
EIM programs and strategies tend toward
being too complex, and are often not “fit for
purpose”.
The roadmap for the program may run to
multiple pages, with scores of dependent
initiatives, sequenced out over a number of
years. This kind of “uber” EIM strategy does

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not enable initiatives to be flexible or to
address specific business problems as they
arise. Further, the language used to describe
initiatives can be jargon-strewn and the
ultimate vision of success confused. Is it
about:
 Effectiveness (and how do we
measure that?)
 Rapid decision making (do we have
a baseline? How quickly do we make
them now?)
 Accountability for information
quality (what does that mean to
me?)
 Compliance (do we
really need to do Understanding
that?)
exactly what EIM
 Placing the means is key to
enterprise needs
avoiding conflicts
above my own (is
that possible when talking about
data?)
Much like a large systems implementation,
it can all get “too hard” and lose momentum,
particularly if resources are expected to
take a hand in the EIM program and
continue with “business as usual”.
EIM initiatives cross organisational
boundaries and can address any data set
that exists while also impacting processes,
systems, performance reporting and
balance sheets. Multiple initiatives in
different business units can quickly become
uncoordinated (much like any cross
functional project), robbing the initiatives of
benefits.
Addressing the Fundamentals
If the organisation does not understand the
fundamental nature of EIM or the value of
© 2010 Glentworth Pty Ltd. www.glentworth.com
Information Management
White Paper Series
information or data generally then an EIM
program will fail. Leading an EIM initiative
with a complex metadata management
initiative will in all likelihood fail. Leading
the EIM program with a series of technical
initiatives will almost certainly guarantee a
fail. Failure to lead with initiatives that are
appropriate for the organisation’s maturity
and current practices and competencies will
impede the program’s success.
Aligning People
Make no mistake, EIM success relies more
on people and culture than it does on tools
or systems. The relationship between
information quality, for example, and
business process and policy
has been clearly identified
by a number of authors.
Understanding the root
causes of information
quality require a thorough
understanding of business
processes and behaviours within the
business process before an appropriate
information quality programme can be
initiated.
Further, there is no doubt that there will be
significant impacts on staff from the EIM
initiatives, from a resourcing perspective
and from a change perspective. A lack of
understanding of these impacts will cause
ongoing problems for the program.
Running EIM as an IT Project
Considering EIM as a technology,
application or systems focused program will
limit business benefits, buy-in, sponsorship
and transformation benefits. As numerous
initiatives begin in the IT space, the
challenge is to manage them as part of an
overall business program. Unless the
business defines it’s requirements
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independently of systems and application, Obstacles EIM Success

there will be a poor result. Factor

Understanding what EIM is Aligning People Seek expert advice

It goes without saying that discussing EIM Build Support and

without a shared understanding of what it Momentum
actually is can lead to confusion and conflict.
Invest in Building
There are a number of common activities Capability
that fall under the banner of EIM, such as Running EIM as an IT Invest in good
business intelligence, data quality, Project governance
development of information architectures
and enterprise content management. Each Appoint a business
leader
of these fields can be complex in it’s own
right. Not clarifying the scope of initiatives Understanding EIM Settle on language,
and having a shared language will lead to definitions and
scope early in the
failure.
program
What’s the solution?
What is it then that an organisation can do
Identify specific opportunities
differently to overcome the myriad of
obstacles to improving EIM objectives? To avoid the overwhelming complexity of
the EIM program, it is wise to target the
The solution is to address each of the initiatives on the resolution of specific
obstacles with proven, practical techniques. business problems and the exploitation of
specific business opportunities.
Obstacles EIM Success
Factor An effective technique in capturing
Complexity and Identify specific requirements and opportunities is to look at
Coordination opportunities for how information is actually used by
improvement individuals and business units in the
organisation, and to identify through a
Adopt an EIM series of interviews and further analysis,
Strategy
opportunities for improvement. In addition
Addressing the Understand your these scenarios can be used to develop an
Fundamentals INFORMATION understanding of information use patterns
REQUIREMENTS
and an understanding of previously un-
Implement utilised unstructured data sets that may be
measures and sources of value.
Baseline to
measure and The rationale behind this approach is that
report success most tasks and activities create or consume
information and are repeated over specific
Prioritise your timeframes (such as days or months).
investments Understanding the information-use scenario

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 Information Management
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for a product development group for scenarios can be structured to permit

example will identify information flows and functional areas to answer specific
requirements for the group: questions as indicated in Figure 2. which
can support the development of suitable
 WITHIN the business unit;
unit improvement initiatives.
 BETWEEN
TWEEN business units;
units
Build support and momentu
momentum
 BETWEEN the business unit and
Most organisations will have some
customers; and
Figure 2: Understanding the relationship between different requirements helps
 BETWEEN the to target initiatives and prioritise them.

business unit
and suppliers.
Executive
• Interested in: Business Outcomes – Corporate Key Performance
Indicators reported in Annual Reports, Statements of Corporate Intent,
Audit and Financial Reports
 BETWEEN the Requirements • Typical Questions : “How do we know that we are performing in line
with shareholder requirements? What can we do to improve?”
business unit
and
management.
Management
• Interested in: Key processes supporting business outcomes, reported in
Management Process KPIs
This will in turn assist • Typical Questions : “Is our business unit contributing effectively to

in identifying Requirements organisational efficiency? What are the trends in recruitment? What do
we need to know for next years business plan?”

appropriate
stewardship rules for
the information and
Operational •• Operational processes, reported through operational KPIs
metrics for information “What do I need to know to effectively perform my role? How well have

quality improvement Requirements I been performing my role?”

(understanding the
purpose of the data and the quality criteria information management capabilities.
that is acceptable le to the information However, the teams which undertake the
consumer). information management improvement
initiatives need more that good IT and IM
These scenarios will inevitably become a skills.
source of initiatives as they describe real
operating scenarios and information usage Building a cross functional team that
patterns and problems. includes staff that understand nderstand (or better –
need to execute!) the process being
Understand requirements improved add credibility and ownership to
The program must be information the initiative. Including individuals from
requirements focused – what information is functional areas that are “connected” to the
required, by whom, in whatt state, and when. functional area in question, as well as IT
In developing an information requirements staff who understand the delivery
model, scenarios developed above can be mechanisms and potential obstacles to
used to ensure that requirements are clearly improvement will ensure a solid blend of
defined and explicitly linked to service skills.
delivery activities, product development, Further, it is worth considering engaging
sales and organisational goals. The external expertise to assist with up to date

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tools, techniques and methods that will
accelerate the EIM program
implementation.
Building internal capability
Any EIM program should adopt a long term
goal to build internal capability to support
ongoing EIM initiatives. This can be
supported further by developing the
organisation’s capability to understand the
value of its information and to quickly
respond to new and emerging information
channels.
Developing common standards and
communicating standards to staff and
external agencies will ensure that there is a
shared “information language” with which
to discuss pain points and appropriate
resolutions.
Invest in Good Governance
Good governance practices and appropriate
support for EIM are clearly requirements
for effective execution on
“Be specific in
the EIM initiatives. EIM is
a business program and identifying
improvement
must be run as one, with
appropriate membership opportunities”
of the governance group.
Through this group, the business defines it’s
information requirements, which become
data definitions and this data is then
supplied and managed within applications
and systems.
In addition, an appropriate business leader
should be chosen to lead the EIM program
in order to ensure that it has credibility and
relevance to the business.
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Information Management
White Paper Series
Measuring value
Information asset value is difficult to assess
directly. However, there are emerging
valuation treatments which can be useful in
assessing information value such as value
network analysis.
Key questions should be asked when
developing an EIM initiative. These should
include the typical “benefits” analysis
criteria such as:
 What are the revenue increases?
 What are the potential business
process efficiencies?
 What are the cost reductions?
 How will we realise those savings?
 What will happen if we don’t do
this?
 What are the risk impacts?
In addition to assessing the benefits,
analysis of the information
flows through processes
should be undertaken. This
can include looking at tasks
that cannot be completed
due to information
restrictions, time wasted looking for data
known to exist, time wasted recreating
documentation known to exist and so on.
The correct questions to ask become clear
when working through the process or
scenario5.
Benefits must of course be realisable, so
assigning an owner to the benefit and
5 Katsas, A., Lee, Y., Understanding Hidden
Interdependencies between Information and
Organizational Processes in Practice, Proceedings of
the 7th International Conference on Information Quality
(ICIQ-02), 2002
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tracking progress is important to to the business processes which actually

maintaining support and executive interest. rely on and use the data and information.
The rationale for this is that different levels
In addition to developing of the organisation and
metrics and measures, a Be clear about what indeed different
baseline exercise must be you a looking for in an functional areas have
conducted so that success can different ideas about the
be measured. With a baseline EIM Strategy...
value and purpose of data
against which to compare and information just as they are generally
results, the benefits of undertaking the interested in different key performance
initiative become clear. indicators.
Regardless of the technique used to value In effect selecting appropriate initiatives
the information assets of an organisation, requires the organisation to:
there are many practices which can be used
 Understand it’s information
to improve the quality (and hence value) of
requirements and their context;
the asset. These include data quality
practices, data management practices and  Prioritise those requirements; and
so on, most of which are included in data
 Focus on projects which fulfil those
management frameworks such as DAMA
requirements and which progress
2.0. A standard data management
information management maturity.
framework should be adopted for all of the
organisation’s data sets as part of an EIM What to look for in an EIM Strategy
program. There are many elements to an EIM
program. Ultimately, it will be important to
Investment
bring these together into some kind of
The suggested approach to simplifying strategy, so there are formal mechanisms,
investment decisions is to develop a logical tools and criteria for assessing initiatives
connection between information and progress toward the long term vision
management initiatives and the for information.
organisation’s:
Indeed EIM is defined as the discipline of
 Performance framework, indicators
managing this “collection” of elements, and
and measures;
strategies for EIM are often built around a
 Vision, mission and business roadmap and initiatives for bringing these
objectives; elements together into a coherent whole.

 Process re-engineering projects Of course the strategy should be in

(where they exist); and alignment with any organisational strategic
 Baseline measures, particularly in goals, existing enterprise architecture stack,
relation to the cost of poor or existing data or knowledge management
information quality. programs.

In effect the approach forces information

management activities to be contextualised

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What the strategy should include Key area What to look for
The strategy should encompass people, in the strategy
processes and systems and be flexible Governance Clear terms of
enough to accommodate changes to reference,
organisational structure or to priorities over composition and
responsibilities
time.

Key area What to look for

Key Points and Summary
in the strategy The Enterprise Information Management
discipline is an emerging practice area that
Scope A clear set of
objective demands investment in order for
organisations to begin leveraging value
Tangible, from their information assets. Although
measureable there are some obstacles to implementing
outcomes EIM program initiatives, tackling the
Guidance Key information obstacles by understanding information
management requirements which directly relate to
principles such as business problems; by applying good
“single source of governance practices; the effective use of
truth” and how
internal and external resourcing and
they apply to
decision making effective measurement techniques will
improve the chances of success.
Criteria for
assessing and EIM program initiatives can deliver value to
prioritising your organisation’s bottom line while
initiatives creating stronger relationships with
Vision Clear; It must customers, suppliers, and other
describe what stakeholders - effectively changing the
“success” in EIM game.
looks like from the
business Who are Glentworth?
perspective
Frameworks & The adoption of a Glentworth Pty. Ltd. a services and
Methods consistent consulting firm with staff in Brisbane and
framework for data Adelaide in Australia. It has a track record of
and information
successfully delivering EIM and ECM
management will
enhance strategies and has a strong team of national
coordination – look and international consultants that can
for industry deliver EIM solutions that are tailored to
standards such as your organisational requirements, in
DAMA 2.0 or MIKE addition to providing program, portfolio
2.0
and business transformation services to
support your ongoing EIM initiatives.

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