INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Management paradigm to reduce information

overload by Paul Ireland

Information overload is becoming the plague of many modern businesses. In contrast to increased managerial efficiency, evidence suggests that this glut of information is delaying decisions, causing

confusion, exhaustion and errors. This article outlines a different approach to information management enabled by Web technologies.

It describes how information pull reduces management overheads and how BT has benefited by adopting this approach.

umari beings have shared information as long as they have lived together in society. Over the past 4000 years there has been a dramatic H development in the technology used to store

and distribute this information. Papyrus has replaced clay tablets, copiers have replaced scribes and more recently paper is being replaced by E-mail. However, the means of communication have changed very little. Even with E-mail we work in much the same way as the people of Egypt did 4003 years ago.

We produce information, copy it and distribute it to others in the orgaisation. Often we have little confidence in the distribution list, people receive unwanted copies, while those who need the information are often forgotten. To exacerbate matters it is the recipients who bear the cost of managing that information. Information manage- ment is an onerous task, requiring it to be filed, indexed and updated if it is to remain useful. Imagine the office scene today if we still used clay tablets rather than electronic communications!

In the ancient world, technology limited the availability and scope of information. However, in today’s businesses more people are (able to generate information. Improved technology in the form of personal computers, copiers, E- mail and a reliable postal system means they can quickly and easily distribute it to a wider audience. Increasingly businesses are dependent on information flow. In ancient times business kept pace with the seasons; today’s markets change within hours if not minutes. Getting the right information to the right people at the right time is key to gaining competitive advantage.

Information overload The term ‘information overload’ is used to describe

the situation where people are swamped with more information than they are able to usefully use. Before addressing this problem, it is important to understand the financial and human costs associated with the current distribution or ‘push’ model of information management.

Consider the business costs of creating information. Assuming an average production cost of Cp, per information set, the production cost (Pc) rises linearly with the number of information sets (I), i.e.

Pc = I x cp

Distribution incurs an additional ‘per recipient’ cost Cd. Both the production cost (Pc) and distribution cost (Cd)

are borne by the creator and are easy to quantify. At BT, groups with a specific role and budget generate most of the internal information that is circulated to the business.

However, as was stated earlier, each recipient now has the task of managing that information, incurring a cost (Cnz). In contrast to the production and distribution costs, the information management overheads placed on the recipients are distributed and difficult to quantify.

Remembering that distribution (Cd) and information management (Cm) costs are incurred for each informa- tion set, then for R recipients the total information management cost (Tc) is:

Tc = I x (Cp + R x (Cd + Cm))

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INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

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Fig. 1 Total cost of information management as a function of information sources ( I ) and recipients (R)

It is worth noting that the total cost is proportional to the sum of the number of information sources ( I ) and the number of recipients (R). New technology is enabling a growing number of people in an organisation to generate new or updated information sets (increasing I ) and they are able to distribute it to a wider audience (increasing R). This dramatically increases the total information management costs (Fig. 1).

People, tasked with their own jobs, can only spend a certain portion of their time managing the information they receive. As the quantity increases, they reach the point where they are no longer able to manage their information base effectively. Information overload occurs where productivity no longer rises with improved information flows (Fig. 2). Today many managers are working in the regime where a significant portion of their effort is spent coping with these increased information loads. More and more are gaining no benefit from the information they receive. They are suffering from confusion exhaustion and making errors with their own work.“,-l

A recent study found that managers are consuming an average of 125 000 words every month-the equiva- lent of reading 15 Jeffrey Archer novels a year. Business

I I ) I V information input

Fig. 2 Effect of information input on productivity

professionals can spend up to 80% of their time trying to find information, and as little as 5% making decisions about it.

The effects of information overload are demonstrated very dramatically when chemical and power plant operators are overwhelmed by alarms.’ In these cases the automated monitoring equipment is generating the information and ‘pushing it’ onto the operators who become overloaded.

Information pull paradigm In contrast to information push, the pull paradigm puts

the recipients in control. The providers generate the information and publish one reference copy, available to recipients when they need it. The information management overhead is now borne by the providers, a role that they already undertake. However, the ‘distribution’ cost is replaced by a ‘per access’ (Ca) cost to the recipients.

This paradigm is not new. The ‘Ancients’ created centralised libraries to store and manage information. However, the very act of centralising the information resource caused problems. The physical constraints of holding it in one place created barriers to both publishing and, in particular, accessing information. With a centrally stored, physical medium the ‘per access’ costs are high and concurrent access to a single copy is virtually impossible.

The development of paper, the printing press, copiers etc. overcame these barriers by providing everyone with their own copy-information push. Electronic informa- tion sources and Web technologies are enabling them to be overcome in radically different ways-information pull.

With this way of working, people no longer maintain their own copies, they access the current, up-to-date versions in the information pool only when they need to. The information providers are able to maintain and update this when, and as, they want without incurring a distribution overhead themselves or placing an additional load on the recipients. For a given information set. overload is reduced.

Internethntranet technology Technology available to support the pull paradigm

comes in the form of the World Wide Web and Intranets. There is no longer a need for a single, central repository for information, it can be made available from a resource pool located in virtual space.

Information providers have direct access and full control over their resource. The cost of producing and publishing electronic copy is minimal and the skills needed are within the grasp of most people. The overheads of creating and managing the information resource are significantly reduced.

Information users are able to concurrently access this pool of data, independent of physical location. Access

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is almost intuitive; browsing and drilling down to gain more detail are both possible and simple. The ‘per access’ cost is reduced to virtually nil, removing the cost dependencies on the number of recipients. The total information management cost is:

Tc = I x Cp f R x Ca

where the second term is negligible. Compare Fig. 3 with Fig. 1, plotted to the same scale.

Economic models2 predict that, in a free market as costs reduce, demand (and supply) will increase. From the evidence in BT, and from the public Internet, this appears to be true for information. The pull paradigm reduces costs on both the information providers (suppliers) and recipients (consumers) and as predicted produces a dramatic increase in the quantity of information available to people. With a larger information base, the problem now facing users is how to locate the information they want. Information overload is replaced by the problem of information location.

Additional bene$ts Internethtranet technology brings with it additional

benefits. It has grown up as a non-commercial, scalable, platform and infrastructure independent solution. Orga- nisations no longer need to be tied to single suppliers. The hardware and software to deliver these services are both low-cost commodities.

The World Wide Web operates as a clientiserver. It is possible to run back-end applications as well as deliver information. The same technology can be used to implement a range of business solutions, reducing implementation, end user and support costs.

The physical networking technology is ubiquitous. The Web servers can be accessed not only using local networks but also by telephones and GSM mobile phones. People can access information from anywhere. Within BT, this has proved invaluable in supporting remote and roving workers and virtual teams spread across the UK.

Holding a single managed master copy of a document that can be referenced by anybody removes the tradi- tional problems of maintaining distributed multiple copies. Quality is an intrinsic part of the pull paradigm.

This way of working, and the supporting technology, not only removes information overload, but also increases operational efficiency and radically reduces costs.

Implementing BT lntranet The key properties of this technology-low cost, ease

of use and wide applicability-turn the concept of tradi- tional high-cost IT projects on its head. It is no longer necessary to create multi-million pound projects to develop and deploy these systems. Setting up Web servers and populating them is within the current capabilities of information providers. Enabling these

people to create Intranet sites, rather than deploying a central team, rapidly delivers a flexible system better targeted at business needs.

The implementation strategy at BT was based on maintaining control by encouraging people to work within a framework. This framework was sufficiently stringent to maintain overall control without stifling innovation in the use of this new and rapidly developing technology. The overall objective was to ensure a flexible, continually improving information resource that met the needs of both the business and the people working within it.

5

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Fig. 3 Total cost of pull information as a function of information sources ( I ) and recipients (I?)

holders separately. The implementation strategy targeted the key stake-

Information providers Existing information providers within the business

had been severely squeezed by budget cuts and were finding it difficult to publish updates to their paper-based manuals. The first phase of the implementation strategy was to target these information providers. A group was created to provide consultancy, encouraging the adoption of WWW based solutions. In addition training, templates, tools and a budget were made available to reduce barriers.

With no updates to paper-based manuals being issued, users within the business were working with out-of-date copies of key information. These areas were targeted first.

Information users In stark contrast to the ‘traditional’ IT project little

was done to target the information users. Free market principles were rigidly applied, namely ‘if the informa- tion resource was available and met their needs, they would use these systems without any corporate push’. Achieving user acceptance of this way of working

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and technology was achieved by providing a pool of information they regarded as useful. However, as with the information providers, barriers that could prevent the use of the technology were addressed. A simple application was distributed to download and install ‘pre-configured‘, licensed copies of the browser software over the network. This allowed users to obtain and install the client software themselves when they wanted it.

Rather than ‘rolling out’ a major training programme, a small ‘hit squad‘ of trainers were targeted at key people in the organisation, secretaries, local experts etc. Not only did this approach reduce overall costs, but also it provided a pool of people close to the end users able to provide encouragement help and support.

Infrastructure providers For some years a programme had been underway to

provide network access and E-mail throughout the busi- ness. This was progressing slowly due to a lack of end user demand. An Intranet requires the same networking technology as E-mail. Requests were directed to the existing infrastructure deployment teams, providing the user demand that was lacking for E-mail on its own.

Accessing Cnformation The pull paradigm is not a universal solution to the

information management problem. Although users no longer suffer from overload, locating the information people need to do their job now becomes the key issue. Unlike the public Internet, where search engines dominate, within BT maps are used as the prime access mechanism. These are Web pages containing links to information within a specific domain. The maps are organised on three levels: the personal, team and corporate.

The ease of publishing information via an Intranet allows it to be used by people as part of their day job. Many managers work on transient projects with people from other parts of the organisation, manage meetings etc. They will often create their own set of Web pages to publish the information associated with this work. The addresses of these pages are typically shared via E-mail and stored as browser bookmarks.

Teams maintain their own pages containing data or references to the specific information they need to do their job. Typically, these will contain contact lists, team briefings, links to relevant processes, their management system etc. Traditionally, the secretary has managed the information needed by a team. This is no different when it is published electronically. The new role is to manage the Web pages and links that are used by the team, rather than paper held in filing cabinets. Should team members need access to new information, the secretary will search the corporate resource, locate that information and ensure that appropriate links are added to the team pages.

The majority of information is held at corporate level;

this includes contact directories, procedures, company news etc. Although this information is held on servers spread across the organisation, it may be referenced by a series of hierarchical maps grouping information by domain. For example there is one map containing the links to the different contact directories.

Managing the maps and the data that lies behind them are important roles. Out of date information quickly loses its credibility.

Lessons learned from BT 0 The pull paradigm and the use of Intranet technology

fulfil their promise. There is a vast pool of information available in BT that can be accessed very rapidly and from anywhere in the world. At the same time the information management overheads on individuals has been significantly reduced.

0 The information maps are key for efficiently locating and using information. It is important to identify clear roles and responsibilities to create and manage these maps. The decentralised ‘free market’ approach to deploying this solution has been very effective. People are fully committed to the use of BT’s Intranet, even to the point that they will accept outages, slow access etc. as the underlying infrastructure is tuned to meet their demands.

0 However, this way of working places a very high dependence both on the desktop systems and the networks. As people make increasing use of the electronic information resource, network failures can result in them being unable to do their job. No longer can you go to the filing cabinet and get out a piece of paper!

Conclusion The benefits to BTof adopting this way of working

and technology speak for themselves. Unlike ‘traditional’ IT programmes, of which it is claimed over 90% fail, the use of Web technology has proceeded apace. Estimates for 1996/97 show costs for deployment of Intranet based systems to be L16 million while benefits arising from reduced publishing and paper handling costs and increases in efficiency to be in excess of &700 million.

Reterences 1 BARNSBY, M.: ‘Explosive lessons’, Computing & Control Engineering

2 BEGG, D., FISCHER, S., and DORNBUSCH, R.: ‘Economics’ (McGraw-

3 KEW, J.: ‘Information overload, http://www2.vnu.co.uk/vndrood

4 WALKER, R.: ‘Information overload causes stress’, Health & Fitness

Journal, April 1998,9, (Z), pp.57-60

Hill, 1987)

features/overload/info.htm

Magazine, January 1997, p.77

0 IEE 1999 Dr. Paul Ireland is now a Director of Aitken Fox Ltd., 28 Richardsons Road, East Bergholt, Colchester, Essex CO7 6RR, UK, Tel: 01206 298736, E-mail ire1andpBjupiter.u-net.com

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