Information Architecture Analysis

The information needs of business executives have particular characteristics. Excess information in systems can also be considered a problem. Rockart found that information systems presented problems when executives were required to search through a number of reports, which contained varying degrees of detail, making it difficult to select the important information. Thus, it was argued that each business area should define its particular information needs so that systems could be developed and used in accordance with these definitions, based on Critical Success Factors (CSF). Davenport reported the existence of several difficulties, including identifying information needs, the large amounts of data stored within the systems, and the need for human intervention in order to make information available.

Executives process information from a variety of internal and external sources, making decisions, formulating strategies, and distributing information both within and outside the company. This is achieved based on their own ideas as well as through internal operations, events, analyses, trends and even pressures. The key to a support system for company executives is relevant information that is delivered quickly and cohesively, enabling decisions to be made that are not only based on facts and structured information, but are also affected by factors such as affection, preferences, and experiences.

Choo proposes that information not be considered as an object (resource), but rather the result of people, constituting meaning through messages and insinuations, since it resides not in artifacts (systems, spreadsheets, documents), but in the minds of people. Hence, there are three basic steps to obtain and use information: a) information needs: represent cognitive gaps that prevent people from progressing and cause uncertainty. In this respect, determining these needs should not only consider the question 'what do we need to know?', but also 'why do we need to know?', 'what is the issue in question?', 'what do we already know?', 'what can we expect to find' and 'how will this help?'; b) search for information: after identifying the need, based on determining the possible sources, select which sources to use, locating or contacting and interacting with the sources. Choosing and searching for information is influenced by the amount of time, effort, cost required for interaction, complexity, and environment; c) using information: how an individual uses the information selected: contextual development, understanding a particular situation, knowing how and what to do, gathering facts, confirming another piece of information, forecasting future events, motivating or sustaining personal involvement, developing and improving relationships and personal accomplishment. People can choose to suppress these needs, avoiding problems and declining to search for information. On the other hand, they can also opt to seek information, understand it and use it, carrying out their roles.

In addition to issues related to obtaining and using information, Thomsen presents an example for the scope of decision, relating it to the systems and hierarchical levels of organizations. At operational levels, the number of decisions is more frequent and the decision scope involves less information, and is serviced by transaction processing systems (operational). At the tactical level, the scope and number of inputs increases while the number of outputs declines. At the strategic level, a decision encompasses a greater number of input information. The number of decisions is lower, but more complex and with a greater impact on the organization. It is on the tactical and strategic levels that OLAP tools, BI and Decision Support Systems (DSS) operate. Figure 1 depicts the example used by Thomsen.

Figure 1 Scope of Decisions.

Information need is a fundamental issue in the development of a system, but other elements surrounding it must also be analyzed, such as searching and use. The development of a system should always take into account the supply of useful information to solve problems, considering its quality and quantity. The process of decision-making and information sharing for the entire organization is performed based on technological tools, the most suitable of which is called Business Intelligence.