The Business Knowledge and Information Policy Model

This article follows two previous articles by Alan Flett published in Business Information Review. It considers why auto-classification is so important to ensuring effective access to information and needs to be a fundamental component of contemporary Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) strategies and architectures. In doing so it considers the predicament of knowledge workers faced with the challenge of publishing findable information and presents the auto-classification principles and techniques that make this possible. Practical solutions are demonstrated with reference to Smartlogic’s Semaphore product.

Purpose – Personal projects are any kind of projects whose management is left to an individual untrained in project management and is greatly influenced by this individual’s personal touch. This includes the majority of knowledge workers who daily manage information relating to several personal projects. The authors have conducted an in-depth qualitative investigation on information management of such projects and the tacit knowledge behind its processes that cannot be found in the organisational structures of current personal information management (PIM) tools (file managers, e-mail clients, web browsers). The purpose of this paper is to reveal and understand project information management practices in details and provide guidelines for personal project management tools. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews similar to that in several other PIM exploratory studies were carried out focusing on project fragmentation, information overlap and project context recreation. In addition, the authors enhanced interviews with sketching approach not yet used to study PIM. Sketches were used for articulating things that were not easily expressed through words, they represented a time stamp of a project context in the projects’ lifetime, uncovered additional tacit knowledge behind project information management not mentioned during the interviews, and were also used to find what they have in common which might be used in prototype designing. Findings – The paper presents first personal project definition based on the conceptualisations derived from the study. The study revealed that the extensive information fragmentation in the file hierarchy (due to different organisational needs and ease of information access) poses a significant challenge to context recreation besides cross-tool fragmentation so far described in the literature. The study also reveals the division of project information into core and support and emphasises the importance of support information in relation to project goals. Other findings uncover the division of input/output information, project overlaps through information reuse, storytelling and visualising information relations, which could help with user modelling and enhancing project context recreation. Research limitations/implications – On of the limitations is the group of participants that cannot represent the ideally generalised knowledge worker as there are many different kinds of knowledge workers and they all have different information needs besides different management practices. However, participants of variety of different backgrounds were observed and the authors converged observations into points of project information management similarities across the spectrum of different professions. Nevertheless, its observations and conceptualisations should be repeatable. For one, some of the issues that emerged during this work have been to different extents discussed in other studies. Practical implications – The empirical findings are used to create guidelines for designing personal project information management tools: support the selective focus on information with the division into core and supportive information; visualise changes in project information space to support narratives for context recreation; overcome fragmentation in the file system with selective unification; visualising project’s information relationship to better understand the complexity of project information space; and support navigating in project information space on two axes: time and between projects (overlaps through information). Originality/value – The study presents a longitudinal insight into personal project information management. As such it provides a first formal definition of personal project from the information point of view. The method used in the study presented uses a new approach – sketching in which participants externalised and visualised personal information and projects they discussed. The insights derived from the study form design implications for personal project management tools for knowledge workers.

Project information management in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) projects can be a challenging endeavor due to the complex nature of projects and the numerous sources and types of information required, including drawings, plans, specifications, and building information modeling (BIM), among others. AEC projects require stakeholders to develop temporary teams, develop work processes, and collaborate across organizational boundaries. Additionally, the numerous technologies used in information management, such as project management software, scheduling software, and BIM, require contractual agreements among project stakeholders to address these technologies’ potential risks while still allowing stakeholder collaboration to benefit project execution and delivery. Contracts are used to define project requirements and can be used to define different aspects of project information management, like required deliverables or stakeholder roles and responsibilities. While recent research has evaluated the relationship between BIM and contracts, there is a gap in understanding the relationship between contracts and information management more holistically. The objectives of this research were to gain insight into how contracts impact information management, identify barriers that exist in contracts related to information management, and to develop potential contract-related strategies to improve information management on AEC projects. Researchers implemented a qualitative analysis approach through semistructured interviews with 38 AEC professionals and the application of a systematic and iterative qualitative coding process. This research found that contracts can be used as a tool to influence the development and execution of project information management strategies. Specifically, contracts can be used to define deliverables, workflows, and software, as well as templates and forms. While interviewees discussed many contract-related challenges, they also proposed potential contract-related strategies to improve project information management. These strategies encompass three main categories: improving contract compliance, contract flexibility, and setting expectations. These findings provide insight into how contracts can impact project information management and provide practitioners with specific contract strategies to improve project information management.

Social informatics: Beyond emergence

The inherent geographic nature of displacement in refugee camps is requiring further use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology for community-based information and asset management. Additionally, refugees have a fundamental need for livelihood development in host countries due to the protracted nature of displacement. This paper presents our work on the Refugee GIS or ‘RefuGIS’ project that addresses these two topics via a training and capacity building education program and community mobilization efforts. RefuGIS is currently at the prototype level of development in the Za'atari Syrian Refugee Camp in northern Jordan. RefuGIS is the one of world's first efforts at enabling GIS capacity among refugees themselves and was funded by a grant from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Innovation fund. Specifically, this paper will discuss (a) design of the RefuGIS educational program via utilization of a non-profit GIS software donation, hardware procurement and customized GIS educational curriculum, (b) selection of refugee participants through spatial thinking aptitude testing, (c) practical experiences and lessons learned from education, training, and capacity building of refugees on the topics of GIS and related information technology skills, (d) insights into use of GIS as a community information and asset management tool by refugees themselves as demonstrated by evaluation of project outputs such as reference mapping products and field surveys conducted by refugees. Lessons learned from the RefuGIS project, even at the prototype stage, have potential to inform other refugee community information and asset management projects. Since creation of the project, refugees in Za'atari camp have been able to obtain cash-for-work GIS jobs in Za'atari using the skills learned via the RefuGIS project. The RefuGIS project demonstrates the refugee livelihood potential that training and capacity building around GIS can build as well as the empowerment effect that technology education and livelihood development can bring to refugees.

Management information facilities transform the library management system into a much more effective management tool. Three levels of management can be identified — operational, tactical and strategic — and each of these has its own unique management information needs. Earlier work on the use of management information in libraries and the development of management information systems demonstrates that progress in these areas has been slow. Management information systems comprise three components: facilities for handling ad hoc enquiries; facilities for standard report generation; and management information modules, or report generators that support the production of user‐defined reports. A list of standard reports covering acquisitions, cataloguing, circulation control, serials and inter‐library loans is provided. The functions of report generators are explored and the nature of enquiry facilities reviewed. Management information tools available in library management systems form a valuable aid in decision making. These should be further exploited and further developed.

Oman’s developing economy has relied heavily on hydraulics for its expenditure since the early 1970s. However, due to the current business environment and the new direction of the country; the 2020 and 2040 vision tends to focus on transforming the country into an economy which relies on new sector development, new entrepreneurial business startups and SMEs. Entrepreneurial startups and SMEs are significant factors in the development of sustainable growth of a national economy and it is expected that entrepreneurship in Oman will contribute greatly in its economic development and sustainability. This is since using SMEs to increase diversification in the economy, consequently, results in an increase of job opportunities. A startup entity tends to face several hurdles and challenges during the various stages of development such as rigid labor regulations, business knowledge, networks, attracting market segmentation, raising funds, procuring and operations, people management, policies and regulations and social culture. These challenges tend to arise because there is a lack of support for both business and for an existing entrepreneurial ecosystem. Business incubators can play a crucial role in developing an effective and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem to support entrepreneurs in building their startups at different stages. The introduction of business incubators has the potential to help foster entrepreneurial talent as well as creating an environment for entrepreneurship; this is reflective of business incubators being tools at both the micro and macro level. Therefore, Business Incubation is viewed as a combination of business development processes, infrastructure and knowledgeable business experts - designed to nurture and grow startups. Somewhere in the region of 7000 business incubators exists around the world in 2020, according to the National business Incubation Association. The aim of this paper is to showcase how business incubators may be capable of playing a critical role in developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem within Oman. Furthermore, the authors will show how our understanding of business incubators function may help with national development. After considerable review of business incubators where it was concluded that business incubators represent the cornerstone of entrepreneurship and economic development and sustainability in any economy and especially in Oman. For example, the current study concluded that business incubators lead to job creation, new business formation, business stabilization and expansion, commercialization of research and knowledge and business sustainability. All these benefits in turn will lead to economic development and sustainability, and in sustaining such benefits, there are certain critical success factors must be followed for the success of business incubators and they are having stringent incubate selection criteria; access to facilities and resources; access to consultant, advisors, and experts; access to regulations and legal framework; selection of quality of entrepreneurs, performance measurement and acceptance of innovative products or services.

PurposeThe advent of web services and the semantic web have opened up opportunities for a new generation of interoperable systems on the web. The purpose of this paper is to show the importance of semantics in design and construction, and how this has long been recognised and addressed to varying extents by researchers.Design/methodology/approachThere is now the potential for designs to be developed through a system of collaborating design services and for input by the construction team members. The potential also extends to the construction phase where the designers can provide more timely responses to problems encountered in the field. Within this environment, there is the need for effective mechanisms for design and construction information management, in addition to an ontology that facilitates the sharing of design and construction information and the underlying semantics. This paper explores these trends in collaborative design and construction, and presents an ontology‐based approach to project information management in a semantic web environment.FindingsThe findings include a framework for semantic web‐based information management (SWIMS), which provides for effective collaborative information management. Examples, based on design and construction information, are presented to illustrate the key concepts.Originality/valueThis paper presents an innovative approach to overcoming the limitations of conventional information management approaches in construction. The proposed approach is expected to enhance collaboration, and avoid information loss, overload and misunderstanding,

This article presents research conducted in three municipalities in Sweden and Belgium. The municipalities were involved in e-Government development. The article focuses on information culture, which constitutes the attitudes and norms embraced by the municipal employees towards public information management and use. E-Government is meant to improve efficiency through the use of information technology and information. This, however, requires effective information management regimes if information is to be leveraged in a manner that will enable the municipalities to attain their ultimate goal of high quality service delivery. Despite investments in information systems this research has proved that the information culture embraced by these will have to change if the ultimate goal of delivering high quality services to the citizens and the effective use and re-use of information is to be achieved. Information culture researchers argue that there is a correlation between business success and information culture. Therefore, the attitudes, norms and how the employees value organizational information, impacts its efficient use and management. This article therefore highlights some of the challenges that are caused by the attitudes of the municipal employees like lack of information management skills, collaboration and insufficient information management systems and satisfactory information management architecture. Even though huge investments are currently being made in the development of e-services, there are soft issues that need to be seriously addressed.

Four constructs are developed and five research hypotheses are tested in a structural equation model focused on the role of strategic business alignment and information management in achieving business performance. The data to develop the constructs and test the model are based on a survey of 226 manufacturing firms in the US automobile components industry. The research is interdisciplinary in nature with a focus on building theory in an under-researched area of study by testing a causal model. The structural equation model analysis supports the general theory that ‘the degree of business strategy alignment affects enterprise information management and time-related operating performance, and through these two intermediate constructs, improves business performance’. Enterprise information management is the key mediating variable in the causal model. Other insights based on statistical evidence are presented such as strategic business alignment, which do not directly improve time-related operating performance but must act indirectly through enterprise information management (the mediation construct) to improve performance.

Bu çalışmanın amacı yapay zekâ ve pazarlama alanında yapılmış araştırmaları bibliyometrik analiz yöntemi ile incelemektir. Scopus veri tabanında 1984-2022 yılları arasındaki yayınlarda “artificial intelligence*, marketing*” ifadeleri geçen çalışmalar taratılmış ve 447 adet çalışma bulunmuştur. 236 farklı kaynakta yayınlanan çalışmaların toplam referans sayısı 24436, toplam yazar sayısı 1092ve iş birliği endeksi 2.84’tür. En fazla çalışma yapan, atıf alan, iş birliği yapan ülke ABD’dir. İş zekâsı ve bilgi yönetimi konularının ön plana çıktığı tespit edilmiştir.

The purpose of this study was identified the influence of introducing Electronic Medical Records (EMR) on reception attitude, based on literature investigation, the study converted utility and serviceability from Davis TAM Model into awareness of effects in computerized database except attitude variable. The electronic survey for doctors, nurses, medical technicians of a general hospital located in Gangwon-do was performed for 4 weeks from Nov, 11th, 2009 to Dec, 2nd and the collected data was computerized through SPSS 12.0. The factors influencing reception attitude were divided into 4 categories; basic characteristics of the individual, awareness of privacy protection, awareness of effects in computerized database, technological preparation and measured detailed specific variables. As the result of this, the factors influencing reception intention were different depending on recognizing the effectiveness caused by computerization of medical information. Especially, in terms of the difference between basic characteristics of the individual and awareness of privacy protection, there were significant distinctions among 3 sectors; general, transactional, online information management. The significant effects were identified from information management related to business or online information management depending on experiencing security education.

Accountants and the accounting profession have always been users of information technology and the claim for enlarging levels of Information Technology/Information Systems (IT/IS) skills/knowledge in practitioners and accounting graduates is more powerful than ever. The use of Information Technology in support of business is widespread and becoming more so. Indeed, it is no longer possible to meet the expectations of users of financial and other business performance information without using Information Technology tools. Both academics and practitioners have recognised the value and importance of IT/IS in the achievement of success in the competitive business world and IT/IS skills/knowledge as being essential to longterm success for accountants. The challenges facing organisations now require the skills of a special kind of accountant, this research called the “Hybrid Accountant” (combining IT/IS competencies and mainstream accounting capabilities). A “hybrid” accountant blends different skills and knowledge of business management and information management. It is generally felt that today’s accounting education process fails to develop accountants who are able to serve in this type of demanding accountant.

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in business and management decision-making has become one of the most intensively studied areas in recent years. The present study conducts a bibliometric analysis based on 4,165 publications in the Web of Science database in order to map the main structural and thematic characteristics of the scientific discourse. It is possible to identify three dominant scientific clusters based on the co-occurrence of keywords, co-citation networks, and scientific collaborations between countries. The following three approaches have been identified: firstly, technology- and algorithm-focused approaches; secondly, organisational and human-centred interpretations; and thirdly, research based on business decision support and information management. The objective of the present study is to emphasise that AI is not merely a technological innovation, but rather an interdisciplinary phenomenon that fundamentally transforms the organisational, ethical and strategic frameworks of decision-making. The results obtained contribute to a more accurate understanding of research trends in the field and provide a basis for further analysis.

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