Value of Information to a Manufacturing Company
Information Management
Analysing and Critiquing Information Needs (ATI2)
Prepared For:
Paul Holland
Australian Institute of Management - Qld & NT
Submitted Date:
March 22, 2012
Prepared By:
Scott Elsom
Site General Manager
Al Morrell Development (AMD)
Baghdad
Executive Summary
Al Morrell Development (Al Morrell) is an American company operating in Iraq. It followed the US Military into Iraq in 2003 and become a key contractor to the US Government supplying drinking water to 500,000 troops, contractors and civilians. In the lead up to the withdrawal of the US Military Al Morrell positioned itself as the country’s largest bottled water manufacturer, supplying bottled drinking water to the Iraqi population.
Contractually, the business was required to be operational in six different locations within nine months of the signing of the contract, so the emphasis was on output, not on the documentation and refinement of systems. Over time a paper based reporting process and an informal network of ‘experts’ evolved. These individuals tend to be the longer-term employees and those individuals to whom Davernport refers as “information heat-seekers” (1977, p 182).
By analysing the opinions of managers at different levels of the business, a review of information sources personally used and a review of relevant literature it has been determined that Al Morrell does collect a lot of valuable information that serves the business well, however to better meet the current and future needs of the business, information systems that more effectively catalogue, disseminate and control the information are required.
It is recommended that a senior manager, with ongoing executive support, be tasked with developing appropriate systems to further develop the systems that company currently has in place to manage its information.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary i
Table of Figures ii 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Background 1 1.2. Scope of the Report 1
Analysing and Critiquing Information Needs (ATI2)
Prepared For:
Paul Holland
Australian Institute of Management - Qld & NT
Submitted Date:
March 22, 2012
Prepared By:
Scott Elsom
Site General Manager
Al Morrell Development (AMD)
Baghdad
Executive Summary
Al Morrell Development (Al Morrell) is an American company operating in Iraq. It followed the US Military into Iraq in 2003 and become a key contractor to the US Government supplying drinking water to 500,000 troops, contractors and civilians. In the lead up to the withdrawal of the US Military Al Morrell positioned itself as the country’s largest bottled water manufacturer, supplying bottled drinking water to the Iraqi population.
Contractually, the business was required to be operational in six different locations within nine months of the signing of the contract, so the emphasis was on output, not on the documentation and refinement of systems. Over time a paper based reporting process and an informal network of ‘experts’ evolved. These individuals tend to be the longer-term employees and those individuals to whom Davernport refers as “information heat-seekers” (1977, p 182).
By analysing the opinions of managers at different levels of the business, a review of information sources personally used and a review of relevant literature it has been determined that Al Morrell does collect a lot of valuable information that serves the business well, however to better meet the current and future needs of the business, information systems that more effectively catalogue, disseminate and control the information are required.
It is recommended that a senior manager, with ongoing executive support, be tasked with developing appropriate systems to further develop the systems that company currently has in place to manage its information.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary i
Table of Figures ii 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Background 1 1.2. Scope of the Report 1
References: Davernport, T. 1997 Information Ecology: Mastering the Information and Knowledge Environment, Oxford University Press, New York, USA Glazer, R Wang, R. & Strong, D. 1996, Beyond accuracy : What data quality means to data consumers , Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 5-24 Pipino, L & Wang R 2002, Data Quality Assessment, Communications for the ACM, vol Rockart, J. 1979, New systems approach, based on the identification of 'critical success factors ', Harvard Business Review, vol. 57, no. 2, p. 85 Smith, H.A