Page 403 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

eobf_I 7/5/06 3:04 PM Page 380

Information Processing

2. What are the capabilities and limitations of hard- dence. Paper copies and/or microfilm are also archived for
ware and software? legal reasons by many businesses and organizations.
3. How can speed of operation, functionality, and Businesses need to examine carefully the document
capacity be increased? work-flow process. This includes four stages/steps: cap-
ture, manage, store, and deliver. Each step supports the
4. What ways will an organization and individual use
transfer of paper document content to electronic format,
the information; for example, will the information
to route and use for specific applications. Richard V.
be used to support strategic, tactical, or operational
Heiman and Anthony C. Picardi (2005) have stated that
decisions, and to inform, persuade, educate, or “information life-cycle management has now become pos-
entertain users?
sible. Intelligent documents have a life cycle built into
5. What techniques are used for representing the them and travel on the backbone of enterprise transaction
design of solutions and output, including input- systems. Content comprehension, digital rights, and inte-
process-output charts, hierarchy charts, screen/hard- gration continues to evolve and will be built into an
copy layout mock-ups, flow charts, or storyboards; increasing array of smart applications.”
what techniques—such as hyperlinks, buttons, Many business documents are governed by regula-
icons, table of contents, index, or page number- tions such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the
ing—are used for navigating complex documents? Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996. These acts are meant to protect information secu-
In many businesses, office files are littered with paper
rity, accuracy, and confidentiality and dictate how organi-
documents. Time consuming and costly, this situation
zations receive, process, use, store, protect, and share
frustrates both customers and employees, often resulting business information.
in service delays. By automating paper-intensive processes,
Business requires that information be accessible in
organizations can realize significant productivity gains.
real time. Real time is associated with speed—real-time
The explosion in information and content has cre- information management is getting information where it
ated business challenges, including: needs to be when it needs to be there, whether that is
microseconds, minutes, or days. Information has impact
• The inability of users to locate information needed
when it is connected to context, to other information, and
• The lack of clear organization to simplify navigation to people. Context enhances the value of stored informa-
through repositories and on Web sites
tion. Business leaders need information that is readily
• Manual tagging processes that take too much time accessible. They want to have real-time views in their busi-
nesses so that decisions are made when they need to be
• The inability to personalize content for individual
without tracking data and generating reports.
users and customers
Traditionally in most businesses, organizations, and
corporations, information has been isolated within a spe-
MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION
cific department on an individual employee’s personal
PROCESSING
computer, in an individual database, or in a file cabinet.
Businesses in the twenty-first century are complex, fluid, Businesses, however, have implemented multiple solutions
and customer-centric, therefore they need to establish and to store various data and yet questions persist on how to
apply appropriate file-management procedures and tech- consolidate and use storehouses of information to deliver
niques to store, communicate, and dispose of data and better products and services while maintaining profit mar-
information efficiently and effectively. By automating gins.
routines to capture, process, manage and deliver business
Capturing all information onto one true enterprise
documents, organizations can safeguard data integrity and system is essential. Enterprise resource management
protect data from alteration. (ERM) has arrived. The implementation of ERM in the
The introduction of digital technologies enabled business sector has helped businesses to manage people
offices to start changes in the use of paper. In the early and workloads and to control of the processes of the busi-
1990s, a Xerox research study indicated that offices were ness. Processes and communication systems that extend
not tending to use less paper rather keep less paper. Many globally and respond instantaneously require flexibility.
office workers maintain paper for reading, annotating, The processes as well as the systems must be integrated so
and sharing information for discussion purposes; many that measurable results are delivered. ERM serves as a
businesses still rely on paper for such form-based docu- vehicle to manage information. It organizes data to be
ments as invoices, contracts, and customer correspon- more useful to individual departments—enabling them to

380 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION