Using Information Audit to prevent chaos

Chantal Marcoux

Director, Information Service

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

cmarcoux@lacaisse.com

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Table of content

La Caisse and its Information Services1

Information Audit Experiences2

Next Steps After an Audit3

Focus on Alert Services4

Lessons Learned5

La Caisse and its Information Services

What is La Caisse ?

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Background

Founded in July 1965 Act of Québec’s National Assembly Initial mandate to manage the assets of the Québec

pension plan (RRQ) Now manages the funds of 19 depositors: public pension

and insurance plans as well as various other funds

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A major fund manager

Largest Canadian investor on world markets One of the largest portfolio managers in North America One of the world’s 10 largest real estate asset managers One of Canada’s main private equity investors

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Asset growth since 1966

20406080

100120140160180200

Net assets

Total assetsundermanagement

In billions of Canadian dollars - as at December 31, 2004

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CaisseCaisse

Breakdown of total assets under management: $174.7 billion

Equity MarketsEquity Markets Fixed IncomeFixed Income AbsoluteReturn

AbsoluteReturn Real EstateReal EstatePrivate

Equity

PrivateEquity

Investment Analysis

and Optimization

Investment Analysis

and Optimization

$115.9 billion

In Canadian dollars – as at December 31, 2004

$10.7 billion $48.1 billion

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Story of Information Services at La Caisse

1991 : Records management 2000 : VP Strategic Information and Intelligence 2001 : Start offering Research services Goal : implement a good and complet information

management within the organization March 2003 : a new direction was founded called

Information Service 15 information specialists in two teams : records managers,

technicians, research analysts

Information Audit Experiences

Experiences and Definition

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Information Audit Experiences

Winter 2001 Surveys and Interviews with Samson Belair Deloitte & Touche

Winter 2002 Surveys and Interviews with Montreal University’s Students

2002 Complete Knowledge Audit with LGS : Identified needs for a

Directorate responsible for information and knowledge management

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What is an Information Audit ?

Process to understand information flows, information assets and information needs of an organization, and establish the best correlations between them.

Information Audit

Two ways : Formal and Informal

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Two Ways : Formal and Informal

Formal Surveys Interviews : Sense-making methodology Statistics on all information services HR analysis Inventories : Technologies and informations sources Library uses analysis

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Two ways : Formal and Informal

Informal Analysing organization reports : annual report, website, internal

newspaper. Asking questions when possible. Participating in important committees and projects. Contributing to social committees. Giving research results in person.

Information Audit

Sense-Making Methodology

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Sense-Making Methodology

Brenda Dervin, PhD http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/ Commonly use in Social Sciences and in evolution since

1972. « Sense-Making is an approach to thinking about and

implementing communication research and practice and the design of communication-based systems and activities. »

Mico-Moment-Time-Line Interview : Help to identify gaps in a process and find solutions.

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Sense-making

Sense-making"gap"

gap

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Micro-Moment Time-Line Interview

Micro-Moment Time-Line Interview provides precise information on the respondent’s experience:

the respondent’s understanding of the situation; what were the questions that came to his mind; which strategies were used to obtain relevant information; Were they succesful; Was the information obtained helpful; What obstacles the respondent faced while searching and

obtaining information.

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Methodology Processes

Interviews Select a regular task Events or steps Questions and sub-questions

Results compilation Categorisation of events, questions, and sub-questions

Analysis and recommendations Compare events and questions Identify hard questions to answer List all used sources

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List of the Sub-Questions

Did you asked assistance? What was the answer? How complete was the answer? How relevant was the answer? Which level of effort was required to get an answer? Which sources have you used/tried/considered? Which one provided you the answer? What was the delay prior to getting the answer? How important is your source? Level of difficulty Did the answer help you or not?

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Data

Results were compiled in Excel. To understand the data’s meaning, the results were

reorganized into categories. Presentation of simple results and cross correlation.

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Conclusions

Although challenging, information research is a key process for analysts.

Analysts don’t have easily access to quality information sources.

Analysts are autonomous and have a busy schedule. While there is a variety of professional at La Caisse,

information needs are quite the same.

Next Steps

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Next Steps

Strategic planning Alert services Implementation

Next Steps

Strategic Planning

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Strategic Planning

Data Analysis Which services are in place ? Who uses them ? How do they evolve within your organization

Mission Vision 2-3 major goals for the next three years Annual planning following these goals

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Products and Services by Clients

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Products and Services by Clients

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Products and Services by Clients

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Strategic Planning 2004-2007

Mission Manage all the Caisse’s information resources, both internal and external, in a

comprehensive and integrated manner according to the industry’s best practices and respond to the strategic and tactical information needs of the Caisse and its subsidiaries.

Vision Consider information as an essential and manageable asset, and the Information

service as the main force in obtaining the best results.

Management Philosophy In order to create value, the Information service must be involved in making the

decision process more intelligent, especially in investments. This is achieved through a global, accessible, profitable and competitive vision of the information assets and a true understanding of the specific information needs of the Caisse, its teams and its employees. In other words, provide the right information at the right time.

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Strategic Planning 2004-2007

First objective: To structure the Caisse’s available information to facilitate access and sharing.

Strategies: Implementing and coordinating the Electronic Document

Management System within all the organization; Developing an electronic access infrastructure linked to related

internal projects, ensuring promotion and sharing of available information to support investment decisions;

Coordinating external information sources management to promote sharing within the organization, create purchasing consortium, and ensure compliance with laws.

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Strategic Planning 2004-2007

Second objective: Support the investment decision-making process with research activities and competitive intelligence.

Strategies: Develop our analysts’ information research skills, while building

a Research and Information Intelligence Team ; Create and coordinate competitive intelligence cells within

several investment teams; Develop infrastructure to share primary information (i.e. Directory

of expertise)

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Services offers

Research and Information Intelligence Team Researchs Mandates Internet Training Competitive Intelligence and Alert Services Subscription Management Portal

Information Architecture Content Link with ECM system

Records Management Team Records Management Entreprise Content Management (ECM) System Implementation

Focus on Alerting Services

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Alert Services Implementation

Pro`s Automate research Higher efficency Frequent update on latest trends or events Time optimization One step to look on all information sources at the time

Con`s Need a research team Take a lots of hours to manage, analyze and compile results

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Alert Services implementation

Analyze the information needs Focus on specific and strategic information needs Identify the best information sources and CI systems Establish the strategies into it Test the results Test and define the product format with the client Evaluation and update Establish link between CI cells

Lessons Learned

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Lessons Learned

Knowledge workers manage information many times a day Info pros goals should not be to replace knowledge workers, but to

help them improving these competences,. Information audit is a complet process and is not limited to survey or

interviews. Information needs evolve A close relationship with your customers is essential Training is very important Easy technology that organize all the information needed by your

customers and technologies that enable them to find everything is not available yet…

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Thank you !

If you have any questions…

Chantal Marcoux

613-236-1687

cmarcoux@lacaisse.com