INFORMATION MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Abstract Each time information is exchanged, accessed, or manipulated, project time is expended and project resources are consumed. Inasmuch as the project management process is both information intensive and information dependent, the effective implementation of information management strategies will undoubtedly contribute toward goals to reduce overall project cost and schedule. An information management strategy may impact personnel requirements, project processes, policies, technologies, or any combination. This paper summarizes benefits commonly attributable to information management applications, and presents three specific information management strategies designed to improve the project management process. The proposed strategies are technology independent, viewing information technology as enabling tools that are continually evolving. Keywords: information management; information systems; process improvement; communications management All project-related activities, either directly or indirectly, interact with information, and all firms must therefore have some form of information management. Information may be stored in computer databases, filing cabinets, print rooms, or even in the minds of individuals. Information may be captured manually or automatically. It may be shared electronically in integrated systems, transferred by word of mouth, or lost in the notes scribbled on a file folder. Regardless of whether these methods are considered good or poor demonstrations of information management, they all illustrate how information is handled. Information management is not a process with an easily defined beginning and end. It is a continuous process intrinsic to a company's normal workflow. A company's process of managing any one piece of information begins when that information is created internally or introduced from an outside source. The management process continues as that information is shared and used. Even when the information remains stored in a database or paper file or on disk, microfilm, or other medium, the information is still being managed. The process only ends when, and if, that specific bit of information is eliminated from the system. Therefore, well-conceived information management strategies should provide for the management of information from the time it is created until it is no longer useful and thus eliminated from the system. Companies performing project management services are always searching for ways to become better, faster, more efficient, and more competitive. With information management such a critical element of daily operations, an emphasis needs to be placed on improving the access to, and quality of, project information. There are many technologies marketed as tools for improving information management, but there are so many that the options can easily be overwhelming. Although several information technologies may offer similar solutions, each one has its own unique capabilities to differentiate itself in the marketplace, making the selection process both challenging and problematic. Coussens (1995) proposed that it is more efficient for a business to identify a strategy and to understand that the solution to implement that strategy may be evolutionary. It is on that premise that this paper introduces three specific information management strategies--data management, document management, and information sharing--designed to assist organizations in their efforts to achieve improved project management performance. Information Terminology The term information can take on many different definitions, depending on the context of its use and the level of detail at which it is discussed. The intention of this study was to maintain a broad perspective on the subject of information and to embrace all forms of information used within the project management process. Not surprisingly, when referencing the literature, several terms related to information have been defined differently by various authors. Some of these terms include information, information management, information technology (IT), and information strategy. Although the technical literature does not provide an explicit, universal definition of information, it is clear that text, image, audio, documents, and numeric data are all forms of information commonly processed by companies and their IT (Burrus, 1994; Keen, 1991; Kingman, Lambert, & Steen, 1990; Sprague, 1991; Tapscott & Carson, 1993). Note that images may include video, film, and/or graphics, and audio includes all sound and voice forms of information. Ralph Sprague Jr., a professor of decision sciences at the University of Hawaii (1991), identified data management and document management as the total information resources of a firm. For the purposes of this paper, information has been defined as all data and document resources, which may be composed of discrete forms of text, image, audio, or numerics. Information management is a concept that involves coordinating information from the time that it is created until it is eliminated. Information management functions include the creation, capture, entry, manipulation, exchange, and storage of information. Information management and IT may be difficult to consider separately since the tools often used to enable information

management have been technologies. However, other enablers of information management should also be considered. Information management is the aggregation of all agency personnel, processes, policies, and technologies that define and comprise the information infrastructure. A technology is a scientifically developed tool used to simplify or enhance specific tasks within the business cycle. IT may be defined as the hardware, software, and systems that process information. Keen (1991) explains that the term IT includes, among others items, computers, telecommunications, workstations, and information stores. Bar coding, 3D CAD, and electronic data interchange (EDI) are all examples of technologies often used for processing project information. The functions enabled by any one technology represent only a fraction of the entire information management process. An information management strategy is a plan or method to improve how information is managed--that is, to improve how information is created, captured, entered, manipulated, exchanged, and stored. An information management strategy should enhance the information infrastructure's ability to connect, share, and structure information throughout an enterprise (Haeckel & Nolan, 1993). Consider the following analogy. Most companies have stated business objectives such as reducing project time and cost, improving product quality, or reaching a goal of zero injuries. To meet the stated objectives, a company must develop a strategy for action. Similarly; the objective of improving information management must have a strategy to achieve it. The information management strategy describes changes to current information management practices and the means for achieving those changes. Consider the following examples to illustrate the difference in each of these terms. A 3D CAD drawing is one form of documented information, which frequently contains additional discrete information including text (notes), images (graphics), and numerics (dimensions). The 3D CAD software is a form of technology. Bar coding, databases, and EDI are also examples of technologies often used as part of a company's information infrastructure. Over the course of a project, Company 1 may use 3D CAD, databases, bar coding, and other technologies to create the design, electronically transmit the documents, and electronically track project status. Company 2 could manage the same information by designing with 2D CAD, printing documents on plotters, and making phone calls to track status: Although different technologies are used, both companies are executing information management. Company 2, however, may decide that its method of information management has put it at a competitive disadvantage. Company 2, then, might set goals to improve competitiveness by achieving a shorter cycle time and reducing costs required to develop, access, and share information. This would be Company 2's new information management strategy. In summary, information may be described as the data and document resources of a firm. Information management is the process of coordinating the use of those resources. A technology is one tool that may be used as part of the information management process, and an information management strategy is a plan to improve the process. Detailed definitions are listed in Table 1. The relationships between the terms are illustrated in Figure 1. Information Management Today Historically, companies have developed paper-based, functionally centered systems to manage information (Huff, 1992). According to one study, approximately 1% of a corporation's data is in a computer system available for processing, while 99% is non-coded in the form of paper, microfiche, or other media (Kingman et al., 1990). A separate study indicated that only about 5% of a firm's documents is in digital form and able to be stored and accessed electronically (Keen, 1991). As a means of improving project performance while also seeking to achieve other business objectives, many businesses, companies, and industries have implemented various technologies. Efforts to use IT have been fragmented (Keen, 1991), and many of these technologies have been implemented to automate isolated functions within a business work process rather than the company or enterprise as a whole (Haeckel & Nolan, 1993). Michael Hammer indicates that IT has been primarily implemented as "functionally-focused computer systems that automate the preexisting functionally-focused paper-based systems" (Huff, 1992). In many instances, implemented technologies have been sufficiently advanced to carry out the required tasks, but there has been no set of standard conventions for enabling them to work together (Koulopoulos, 1995). The implemented technologies rest on scattered networks and incompatible computer platforms throughout organizations (Coussens, 1995; Haeckel & Nolan, 1993). Research by Grover, Fiedler, and Teng (1994) suggests that another contributor of incompatible technologies and a fragmented operating infrastructure is the excessive use of intrafunctional processes without integration with defined corporate strategies. As a result of the incompatibility, "islands of automation" and "functional silos" have developed (Koulopoulos, 1995). These terms have been used to describe the localized use of technology within a specific functional area. The terms also suggest the difficulty of

communication between the islands and beyond the silos. Several literature sources identify the existence of these islands and silos throughout virtually every industry (Coussens, 1995; Koulopoulos, 1995; Leinfuss, 1995; Parfitt, Syal, Khalvati, & Bhatia, 1993; Teicholz & Fischer, 1994). Luiten and Tolman (1995) suggest that another contributor to the creation of islands of automation and functional silos has been the fact that knowledge in general and information transfer have not evolved at an equal pace. They state that many technologies to create, process, and store new information have been introduced without additional technology to provide a means for sharing and connecting that information. Some of today's systems that support interfacing applications cannot relay information across the interface, and therefore necessitate data reentry. Ramamurthy and Premkumar (1995) referenced an earlier study by Rochester that showed that approximately 70% of all business data manually entered into computers are eventually manually entered into another computer. They further emphasize the significance of that study with additional reference to work by Dearing who reported that approximately 25% of the total cost of business transactions is due to data entry and reentry. Hinkkanen, Kalakota, Saengcharoenrat, Stallaert, and Whinston (1997) also believe that functional silos have also been created simply by having too narrow a focus when developing methods and procedures for improvements. This suboptimization, Hinkkanen contends, ignores various aspects that cannot be viewed independently. As a specific case in point, the design and construction of large capital projects has been particularly prone to the evolution of islands of automation and functional silos. These projects are often functionally focused with poor communication across internal and external organizational boundaries. They are also highly dependent on printed documentation. According to Taylor (1992), 90% of North American data is only available in hard-copy form. One study, including interviews with 80 individuals and 18 new product teams in five engineering-driven firms, stated that each functional group owned different information, focused only on its own part of the project, and defined the entire process from its own perspective (Workman, 1995). Teicholz and Fischer (1994) stated that such paper-based design is difficult to coordinate and may fail under time constraints. Other ramifications include processing or retrieval delays, lost documents, misrouted forms, and storage problems (Kingman et al., 1990). A paper-based process is also prone to errors since data is extracted, transferred, interpreted, and repackaged (Luiten & Tolman, 1995; Teicholz & Fischer, 1994). Benefits Commonly Attributed to Information Management To eliminate or minimize some of the gaps in today's information flow, companies in many industries are increasingly spending significant amounts of money. Information has been referred to as the "lifeblood" of the modern business enterprise (Kingman et al., 1990). Compton (1994) claims that companies making effective use of IT and computers will remain or become their industry's leaders. The basis for these claims is rooted in the idea that improved information management can effect performance improvements, influence business panners, and enhance a company's influence on the global market. Many authors of related literature cite specific examples of such benefits. Some of these anticipated benefits of improved information management have been summarized in Table 2. Similar improvements have been attributed to investments in information management with specific regard to project management practices. For example, Miyatake and Kangari (1993), again speaking directly to the engineering and construction industry, stated that IT must be viewed as an important resource in today's professional practice and that the automated flow of information is of vital significance. These authors also paraphrase the claim made by Choi and Ibbs ( 1989) that it is "the efficient integration of information technology into application systems that is of greatest economic relevance to the construction industry." Some of the anticipated benefits of improved information management for the engineering and construction industry as described in the literature have been summarized in Table 3. Information Management Strategies With so many areas for improvement, so many benefits attributed to information management, and so many technologies from which to choose, sound information management strategies are needed to help guide business investments in work process modification and the implementation of IT. Based on the literature previously referenced, the strategies must be technology independent. Strategies should also provide for the integration of information enterprisewide and avoid being limited to a functional or discipline focus. The primary objective of this paper is to present three broad information management strategies that can be used as guides for making strategic decisions about process improvement and IT investments. These specific information management strategies were developed to incorporate all aspects of managing information resources. Table 4 provides a brief description of each strategy and identifies the objectives for achieving each strategy.

Achieving the strategies of data management, document management, and information sharing will require much more than simply implementing presently available information technologies. There are many limitations to current technologies that restrict their range of application and usefulness. These limitations may include such issues as data and information security, legal impacts to business processes, and difficulties in quantifying benefits versus costs. Additionally, there may be organizational barriers that need to be addressed, such as compatibility issues with parent company policies and initiatives. Risk factors would need to be thoroughly considered and evaluated prior to specific technology implementation. However, despite such limitations, implementation of present technology and information management techniques is often an important first step in the direction of achieving information management strategies. Data and Document Management Data management includes the creation, capture or entry, organization, update, and storage of data, as well as the processing or use of such data for reviews and checks, planning, calculation and analysis, design, or any other necessary function. Similarly document management includes the creation, capture, organization, update, and storage of documents, as well as the use of documents for reviews and checks, planning, calculation and analysis, design, or any other necessary function. As stated in Table 4, the data and document management objectives require connection and storage of all existing data and documents, enhancement of the user's ability to process them, the ability to add or modify data or documents, and the dissemination of all data changes to all documents containing the modified data elements. The following sections provide additional detail describing each of these objectives. Information Structuring. Although information structuring is not expressly stated in the definition of the data and document management strategies, it is an essential element to achieving the other capabilities more explicitly stated. The ability to achieve the other objectives of the data and document management strategies is largely dependent on the extent and effectiveness of information structuring. Information structuring is also fundamental in enabling information sharing. The information structure is essentially the programmed framework and rules describing how information is classified, organized, related, and used, which the information system uses to execute these actions (Haeckel & Nolan, 1993). Information Connecting. Information connecting describes the physical framework used to execute the activities defined by the information structure. While information structuring considers primarily the interaction of information itself, information connecting considers primarily the interaction of system components. it may be partially or fully defined by the architecture and operating system. The architecture is the "manner in which a system is structured and how its components fit together," and the operating system is the "software that controls the basic interaction of a computer's components" (Lucas, Weill, Cox, & Willey, 1993). Information connecting is necessary for new and modified data and documents to be captured and propagated to all appropriate system locations as required by the data and document management strategies. Connected information also serves as a basis for the entire information sharing strategy. Information Storage. Information storage describes the preservation of information as described by the information structure or standard practice of a company. There are several mediums that may act as a repository for information. Commonly used forms include paper files, microfiche, standard computer disks, and the human mind. Not all storage mediums provide for the integration of information throughout the organization, however. To enable the data management, document management, and sharing strategies, the information storage medium must be accessible to the entire organization for retrieval of stored information. Information Addition and Modification. Once the existing information is used or processed in some manner, undoubtedly, additional information will become available. New information will likely be generated at virtually every phase of a project's development and may originate from within or outside the project organization. New project information will likely take a wide variety of forms as the project progresses. Both the data management and document management strategies require a means by which these new data and documents may be entered into the information system. The information structure and information connection capabilities determine how the new information will be disseminated throughout the system. Information may even be created simply by the workings of the human mind; however, the new information is not completely useful until it is communicated to all other potential benefactors of that information. To provide maximum utility, information must be added and modified such that the entire organization has the ability to access it. Information Use. Information may be used as a reference or knowledge source for problem solving. It may be reviewed and checked. It may also simply be an input to a formula. The ways in which information may be used are virtually endless. Generally, however, information is processed in the execution of a task and typically results in the generation of new information. The strategies of data and document management require the information system to be able to enhance the user's ability to process data and documents. The use of information to execute a task may be enhanced either by directly affecting how it is processed or by acting as a reference for additional input to the processing function. Information Sharing Information may be shared by several means, including phone, postal mail, e-mail, fax, memo, or accessing a storage location. The time and effort required to share information by these and other methods vary considerably. The extent to which the shared

information reaches all those who could utilize the information also varies significantly. The objectives of information sharing require that updated information be immediately accessible to anyone in the company at any time or location needed. It also requires the instantaneous movement of information from one source, location, user, or medium to any other. Information Exchange. The means of moving information from one point to another is becoming more and more electronic. For example, it was just a few short years ago that designers relied on postal services to transport documents from the design organization to the construction contractor organization or to the construction site itself. Even documents moved from one point to another within the same organization typically required either personally carrying the document to its destination or submitting it to the organization's own internal mail system. Clearly, in today's corporate culture, such processes are far behind the leading-edge electronic solutions. Opportunities for the instant exchange of information are endless. Information Access. Information access frequently requires a person to physically sort through files, drawers, or other paper storage locations and to actually remove the documents to use directly or to copy. Not only is this effort extraordinarily time consuming, but also is often unsuccessful. The information sharing objectives require that access to information become much more effective and efficient, essentially becoming instantaneous. Implementation of Information Management Strategies Although separate technologies may enable the strategic capabilities described, only the integration and coordination of these capabilities can truly achieve the information strategies themselves. In particular, information structuring, connecting, and storage are key capabilities that either enable other capabilities or provide additional utility when integrated with other capabilities. For example, information sharing is enabled by structuring, connecting, and storage capabilities. Information sharing technologies may be fundamental in achieving strategy goals but without the information structure describing how to manipulate information, the exchange- and access-specific technologies may be ineffective. Similarly, without the connecting components of the system that provide the physical link between locations, people, and systems, the exchange- and access-specific technologies alone provide little additional benefit. Finally, without the storage capabilities to enable preservation of information not presently or immediately used, the information sharing strategy would be meaningless. Likewise, the utility provided by the information addition and modification capability is expanded when integrated with a system's structuring, connecting, and storage capabilities. The information structure describes how the added information is disseminated to all appropriate users and storage locations. The dissemination is actually made possible through the physical framework of the connecting components. Similarly, the storage capabilities provide additional utility by enabling the preservation of all information not presently or immediately used. The primary utility comes from the ability to share and use all information after it has been added and disseminated throughout the system. Although many technologies and techniques may facilitate the development of an integrated information system, the following list of technologies are those which Teicholz and Fischer (1994) and Miyatake and Kangari (1993) identified as being key to enabling complete integration: object-oriented programming, knowledge-based systems, database management systems, computer-aided design and visual computing, computer-aided engineering, local area networking, artificial intelligence, dynamic simulation, and robotics. Miyatake and Kangari (1993) identified several benefits that can be attributed to the complete integration of information. Some of the benefits cited include productivity improvement through automation, project cost reduction, project time/schedule optimization, project quality improvement, and improved management and project coordination. They also contend that integration facilitates concurrent performance of various business processes and increases corporate flexibility with respect to meeting/exceeding customer expectations. They state that the faster exchange of information and the availability of information achieved by integration initiatives improve communication and minimizes repeated data entry. A fully integrated online information management system substantially increases the opportunity for additional automation and other improvements throughout the entire business supply chain. Hansen, Gann, and Groak (1998) stated that the implementation of well-conceived information management strategies provides improved project management capabilities resulting from opportunities to carry out new types of work, offering customers new services, and thus, developing better producer/user relationships. They state that the most important aspects of change are:

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The speed and concurrence of decision-making The ability to make information readily available when and where it is required Increased visibility of decision-making processes, including access to other people's decisions. Conclusions and Recommendations To meaningfully improve project management capabilities, practitioners must evaluate the overall utility of technology against welldeveloped corporate strategies for information management. Given the rapidly evolving nature of technology, particularly IT, and the potential benefit of non-technological process modifications, companies should avoid perceiving process improvement as

equivalent to the automation of an activity or process task. Project management information needs to be integrated, preserved, and leveraged throughout the entire project life cycle. New technologies are constantly under development. A technology may even become outdated before a complete implementation plan is developed. What is needed is a recognition of the importance of an overall information management strategy that may be accomplished, or enabled, by existing, new, or emerging technologies and innovations. Aside from being independent of specific technologies, corporate information management strategies should be evolutionary and interdependent, and proactively respond to changes in the marketplace. This study has investigated much literature on information, IT, and information management. The literature identifies how information is currently being managed, and the anticipated benefits of implementing technology designed to supplement the information management process. This paper presented three specific information management strategies to assist companies sort through the endless variety of technology choices and opportunities for change. The three strategies include data management, document management, and information sharing. Included in the definition and objectives of each strategy is the underlying intent to provide the mechanism for a seamless flow of information for use by anyone requiring that information, at any time that it is required. Currently, available technology may not have the full capability required for total achievement of these strategies. However, the strategies are technology independent, and the objectives of each strategy can be used as goals for companies to work toward as they pursue strategic investment decisions both now and in the future.