Additional Reading
Identifying Corporate Information Needs
The steps to take for conducting an information audit.
09/01/97
The Information Advisor
Page S1
COPYRIGHT 1997 FIND/SVP
This issue of The Information Advisor's quarterly Knowledge Management
Supplement focuses on the key steps for conducting an information audit. An
information audit is one of the critical first steps of any knowledge management
program, and should directly involve the information professional as a leader or the
leader in putting together an effective project.
Conducting an information audit provides the necessary snapshot of an organization's
current use of information so that a proper diagnosis of the efficiency of the overall
institution's use of information can take place. It also presents an opportunity for you to
take on a higher profile job and gain organization-wide credibility by expanding your
duties in a more strategic role.
YOUR ROLE
While you may already know why you're well suited to do this kind of work, it's still
worth articulating some of the reasons. Here are just a few of the vital skills and
capabilities that you bring to the table:
* An understanding of the organization as a whole, and how the parts work together
* An understanding of external sources and all types of information content
* The ability to organize, codify, and categorize knowledge
* The ability to identify inefficient or improper uses of information, whether that problem
relates to the quality of the actual content, appropriate format, or effective access
methods.
* The ability to apprehend and elaborate on users' information needs. For example, the
skills required for conducing a basic "reference interview" is ideal training for querying
staff about their day to day uses of information. Chun Wei Choo, a faculty member of
the Information Studies Department at the University of Toronto, says that this skill is
"fundamental" to the audit process.
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* The ability to improve the value of the information going to employees by evaluating
it, filtering it, abstracting, and providing a broader organizational and/or industry context.
Guy St. Clair, President and Founder of InfoManage/SMR International, and a past
president of the Special Libraries Association, says that you should be your
organization's "point person" and be "very active in setting up the meetings, working
with [any] consultants on the survey instrument, and bv 'talking up the advantages of
the audit."
(For a broader discussion on the information professionals role in knowledge
management, see The Information Advisor, Vol 9, No. 3, March, 1997, Knowledge
Management Supplement no. 1)
This article will provide a basic checklist of practical tips and strategies for starting an
information audit, grouped into the following five areas:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Getting the Ball Rolling
Conducting Interviews
Organizing and Presenting Results
Follow Up
Typical Pitfalls and Mistakes
Note that this article is a very abbreviated discussion of a fairly complex process. For
more detailed instructions, see the items listed in the "Further Resources" section at the
end of this supplement.
WHAT IS AN INFORMATION AUDIT ?
Before getting into the nuts and bolts of the information audit , let's first define it. The
following is one offered by Edwin M. Cortez and Edward J. Kazlauskas, in their article
"Information Policy Audit: a Case Study of an Organizational Analysis Tool," published
in the Spring 1996 issue of Special Libraries (pp 88-97):
"...the term information audit is a generic term used to designate a number of
strategies for studying the effectiveness of information flow within an organization. The
process for conducting this type of audit is also adapted from communications literature.
It can be defined as a fact-finding, analysis, interpretation, and reporting activity that
studies the information policies, structure, flow, and practice of an organization (citing:
Goldhaber, Gerald et al. Information Strategies: Pathways to Management and
Productivity. New Jersey. Ablex. 1984, pp.334,336). The purpose of the audit includes
the collection of data concerning the efficiency, credibility, and economy of the
organization's information handling activities and practices; the provision of adequate
policies which oversee these activities and practices (including those that govern
guidelines, functions, and budgets); and the development of recommendations for
action tailored to the organization's specific situation."
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St. Clair adds that an information audit is not only an attempt to determine what
information is being managed, but how well it is being managed, and therefore
encompasses the concepts of accountability and responsibility.
GETTING THE BALL ROLLING
How do you get an information audit started? It's probably not news to you that you
won't get off square one if you don't have upper management level support and some
champion or champions to help you along. In fact, Professor Choo advises upper
management not just to "be supportive" but to actively take part in the audit themselves.
After you feel that you've got that buy-in, you then also need to:
-- Get needed background data. Denham Grey, the president of GreyMatter, an
Indianapolis-based consulting firm, has conducted knowledge audit work for the help
desks of several firms, including U.S. Surgical, Texas Instruments, Mutual Life, Lincoln
Life, and Sprint. He advises gathering needed documents ahead of time as a way to get
the lay of the land of the organization. These may include organizational charts, job and
role descriptions, workflow routes, human resource manuals, in-house publications, and
more.
-- Get support from the rest of the organization. Just as you must have top
management support, you also need buy-in from those staffers who will be supplying
the data you require for the audit. Grey says that you should make sure you explain the
rationale and business reasons for the audit, to help allay any fears and encourage
participation. He says it's a good idea to distribute questions ahead of time so people
can collect their thoughts. Choo adds that it's also important to be clear in how the
results of the audit will be used. For example, will it be used to design an Intranet?
CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEWS
While there is a variety of ways that organizational information use can be ascertained,
the best way is still through personal interviews which can include one-on-one
interviews and focus groups. The mission of these interviews is to get people to open up
and talk about how and why they use information. Some experts advise getting an
outside person to conduct the interviews, which can result in getting more open and
honest results from the participants. In any case, a survey instrument should be
constructed that contains specific, but mainly open-ended questions.
While this article does not have enough space to detail all the questions that should be
asked in an information audit (see sources listed in the "Resources" section), these are
the basic areas you should always try to cover:
* Background data: Of course, you first need to get basic data on the person you are
interviewing. This includes job duties/functions and responsibilities, position, key
decision-making responsibilities, and so on.
* Names of information sources used to accomplish the above duties and
responsibilities. Mary Ellen Bates, who has written a just-published article on conducting
an information audit for the Fall 1997 issue of Library Management Briefings (see the
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Further Resources section), advises auditors to make sure that the interviewee
discusses sources found in all formats: e.g. print books and journals, CD-ROM,
Internet, electronic journals, professional online services, clipping files, Intranet
sources, online discussion groups, internal experts and so on. For each source named,
you'll need to find out:
-- Under what circumstances that source is selected -- How the source is accessed,
and in what format -- How often the source is accessed -- What specifically is done with
the information; that is, how is it utilized in a decision making process? -- What
happens to that information source after being accessed -- where does it go? -- Why or
why not the source proves to be successful in solving the user's information problem or
making the needed decision.
Questions should be worded carefully to elicit the most useful responses possible. Choo
advises asking the following three specific questions:
1. Rank and identify your three most vital sources and three most disposable, and
explain why.
2. Disregard all actual sources that you work with now. Imagine your ideal information
source and how would you use it.
3. Recollect and describe two or three recent incidents where you received important
information from a nonroutine source and acted on the information.
Once you have this data, you should be able to identify both the bottlenecks and
opportunity areas. Michael O. Luke, Information Strategist for Atomic Energy of Canada
Ltd in Manitoba, in a paper presented at the 1996 ASIS conference in San Diego said to
look for "natural information flows" and areas where existing pathways can be
enhanced. Bottlenecks, notes Mary Ellen Bates in Library Management Briefings, can
be financial (e.g. limited budgets or authority to make purchases), personal, (reluctance
to use library, lack of confidence in information gathering skills), physical/geographical
(e.g. international offices, field offices); technology (e.g. unable to access sources from
desktop) or lack of upper management support (e.g. no commitment to the value and
strategic role of information).
ORGANIZING AND PRESENTING RESULT
You may decide to illustrate the results of your information audit by creating an
"information map" which visually illustrates how information flows within the
organization. (Next quarter's Knowledge Management supplement will focus on
constructing an information map).
However you calculate and summarize the results of your audit, the results need to be
presented to all the key stakeholders in the organization -- these include, of course,
senior managers, but may also include department heads, systems people, and key
knowledge workers. It's a good idea to make a presentation to all the stakeholders at
the same time, to encourage a good dialogue among various parts of the organization.
FOLLOW UP
Based on the results of the audit, a task force should be created to make and
implement specific recommendations. Those recommendations can identify the need for
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new types of sources (which might include already existing external sources or the
internal design of new customized sources),whether current formats are appropriate,
methods for streamlining information access and sharing and so forth. Be sure too, that
there is some ongoing mechanism instituted to insure that users are continually able to
provide feedback on their evolving needs and uses of information. This will help the
organization provide information that is continually meeting changing needs. (An
excellent “Information Audit Action Plan" checklist is included in the Library
Management Briefings piece).
TYPICAL PITFALLS AND MISTAKES
Conducting an information audit can be a straightforward process, but there are some
common problem areas. Here are a few to avoid.
1. Mismatched Expectations. If different parties within the organization have varied
understandings of the audit's purpose, there will be problems when the audit is
concluded and it's time to take action. Everyone should have a full understanding of why
it is being conducted and what will happen when it is completed.
2. Ignoring the People Factor. Major problems can also occur if the auditors and
project team focus too much on the harder, quantifiable data and neglect people
concerns. Choo notes that you need to attend to the fact that some people are going to
worry that their work or information products won't be shown in a flattering light. He also
says that you can run into problems with people who prefer to hoard, rather than share
their information.
3. Ignoring your Organization's Culture. For any project to be successful, it has to be in
synch with how things work in your firm. Be sure you understand how your organization
operates (i.e. what are its values, beliefs, and ways of getting things done) and make
your project match it as closely as possible.
FURTHER RESOURCES
The following are the best sources we've seen on how to conduct an information audit
:
Books/Booklets
* The information Audit : An SLA Information Kit (Special Libraries Association,
Washington DC, 1995). This packet consists of a compilation of articles by various
authors.
* Rethinking the Corporate Information Center, FIND/SVP, 1995. Contains a sample
questionnaire for assessing user information needs.
Articles
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* "Build Intelligence into Your intranet," Michael Nanfito, Information Outlook, May,
1997, pp 16+.
* "The Information Audit : An Important Management Tool," Katherine Bertolucci,
Managing Information, June, 1996, pp. 34-35.
* Information Audits : What Do We Know and When Do We Know it?", Mary Ellen
Bates, Library Briefings, Fall, 1997 Highly Recommended.
* "Information Policy Audit: A Case Study of an Organizational Analysis Tool," Special
Libraries, Spring 1996, pp. 88-97.
* "Tools of the Trade," Marketing Research: A Magazine of Management and
applications, v.9, n2, Summer 1997, pp.31-35.
Information audits is also a topic frequently covered in Infomanage and the One
Person Library, both of these are published by SMR International, of New York, NY and
edited by Guy St. Clair.
Web Sites
In addition to the general knowledge management sites listed in Knowledge
Management Supplement, number 2, see also:
* Guidelines for Developing an information Strategy, Coopers & Lybrand
http://back.niss.ac.uk/education/jisc/pub/infrastrat Covers knowledge management
issues broader than conducting an audit, and written for a consortium of UK universities;
extremely detailed and useful.
* KM Briefs and KM Netzine are two new electronic journals devoted to knowledge
management that cover information audits . Link to http://www.ktic.com
In the next Knowledge Management Supplement:
How to Construct an Information Map. If you have created an information map for your
organization, please send email to RBerkman@aol.com
Copyright © 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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