INFM 700 Session 9 The Real World Software

INFM 700: Session 9 The Real World: Software, Business and Process Issues Paul Jacobs The i. School University of Maryland Tuesday, April 21, 2009 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3. 0 United States See http: //creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3. 0/us/ for details

Today’s Topics ¢ Overview: Information Architecture in the Real World ¢ Software Tools l l l ¢ Content management systems Portals Others (storefronts, personalization, . . . ) Business Issues IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues i. School

IA in the “Real World” ¢ What is the Real World? l l l ¢ IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues Anywhere our work affects profits, social justice, public service, organizational efficiency, … Companies, universities, nonprofits, government services, … Almost anywhere but here! (Not class, not research) What’s the same (between the Real World and our in-class “textbook” experience) l l Fundamentals (concepts, web technology) Most of the methods (e. g. organization/navigation, card sort, blueprints, wireframes, …) i. School

IA in the “Real World” (cont’d) ¢ What is different? l l l Organizational issues (esp. , but not limited, to politics) Money (sometimes it’s there, sometimes not) Timelines and time pressures Diversity of backgrounds, views, ages, etc. (with respect to technology) More emphasis on getting it done, often less on novelty/leading edge IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues i. School

How Does This Affect IA? ¢ Organizations l l l Remember “information ecology” – content, users, context Web sites reflect organizational strategy, culture, and values Stakeholders need to be identified, included Approval process (e. g. business case, ROI) Legacy systems, predetermined choices IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues i. School

Refresher (from e. Bay Study) IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues i. School

Time & Money ¢ ¢ Business Issues That said, people are sometimes easier to come by than capital (“fixed” cost vs. incremental) ¢ Software Tools Skilled labor is a precious commodity ¢ IA & The Real World Most organizations are highly budget-driven Usually projects involve a mix of vendors, consultants, staff, but mix can be skewed (by budget, politics) ¢ “Twice as long and twice as much” mantra – little reward for optimism in the real world i. School

Working with Different Groups ¢ Explaining technical concepts, benefits to nontechnical people ¢ Embracing marketing ¢ Tolerating “bean counting” ¢ Managing the “FUD” factor (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues i. School

Software Tools: Overview ¢ Maybe the most important decision you make ¢ Trends in the industry l l l ¢ Key IA software tools l l IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues Increasing complexity Consolidation Interoperability (e. g. , objects, XML) l l l Back-end databases Content management systems Portals “Middleware” Personalization, other utilities i. School

Software Tools (Survey) Software products used to perform IA work: Automated Categorization (16. 2 %) Search Engines (56. 4%) Thesaurus Management (19. 7%) Portal or Enterprise Knowledge Platform (37. 6%) Content Management Systems (65. 8%) Web Analytics/Tracking (62. 4%) Diagramming Software (79. 5%) Prototyping Tools (70. 9%) User Research and Testing (not included in survey) IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues M&R, p. 355, also on line: http: //iainstitute. org/en/learn/research/survey_3_software_for_ia. php i. School

Software Tools (Survey) Software products used most to perform IA work: 26. 5%: Visio 11. 0% Excel 10. 1% Word 8. 0% Power. Point http: //iainstitute. org/en/learn/research/survey_3_software_for_ia. php IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues i. School

Software Tools: Apples & Oranges ¢ Tools used “behind the scenes” in IA, site design l l ¢ Platforms and key components of sites l l l IA & The Real World Software Tools ¢ Diagramming, prototyping, research, etc. Visio, Omni. Graffe, Survey Monkey, Dreamweaver, Websort, … Search engines, thesaurus, categorization Content management, portals Databases (why aren’t they in search results? ) Other site management tools Business Issues l Analytics (e. g. Web. Trends), SEO i. School

Web Content Management ¢ Helps organize, maintain, deliver web pages l l l ¢ Products and vendors l IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues Storage, tagging, version control and maintenance Dynamic page creation (usually from a database) Other features, such as advanced layout, personalization l l Interwoven (now part of Autonomy) – Live. Site, Team. Site, Metatagger EMC Documentum Vignette Microsoft CMS Open Source (Drupal, Joomla, Plone) i. School

Example: Vignette ¢ Teaser “Our integrated Web content management, portal and collaboration products and solutions create the backbone for online interaction that is vibrant, collective and dynamic. We help companies connect with their audiences online in ways that are personal, social, transactional and available across multiple channels. ” ¢ Example case study: Houston Community College (www. hccs. edu) IA & The Real World “After exploration and assessment, the cross-functional team set streamlining enrollment as its first and primary aim. An error-free and efficient process would go a long way to impress current and potential students. Software Tools ¢ Vignette's Content Management and Portal software would enable HCCS to: Business Issues ¢ Support a worldwide brand through Web-standard style management ¢ Dramatically increase the number of business owners managing their own content through decentralized content management ¢ Support a framework to which content can be added over time while maintaining a student-centric navigation and content experience ¢ Support HCCS's business processes and changes to those processes in a dynamic Web environment ” i. School

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Portals ¢ Like CMS, also integrates with other functionality l l ¢ Roles, locations, further customization Integration with legacy databases and systems Products and vendors l l l Microsoft Sharepoint IBM Websphere Oracle Plum. Tree IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues i. School

Example: IBM Web. Sphere ¢ Teaser: “Web portals allow partners, employees and customers to chose their user experience, with personalized applications based on role, context, actions, location, preferences and team collaboration needs. IBM Web. Sphere Portal software provides a composite application or business mashup framework and the advanced tooling needed to build flexible, SOA-based solutions, as well as the unmatched scalability required by any size organization. ” ¢ IA & The Real World Example case study (see also http: //www. demos. ibm. com/solutions/portal/ ) Software Tools Business Issues “By adopting the SOA approach using Web. Sphere Business Modeler, IBM Process Server and IBM Web. Sphere Integration Developer, there is no application or information that we cannot reach. " - Fred Nay, Director of Computing Services, Ball State University i. School

M&R on Portals “The vision of seamless, intuitive access to all enterprise and thirdparty content independent of geography, ownership, and format is compelling and completely unrealized. These tools claim to do everything. Make sure you know what they do well. ” M&R, p. 358 IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues i. School

Other Software ¢ Thesaurus management l l Help build custom lexicons, taxonomies, controlled vocabularies Examples: Multi. Tes, Data. Harmony "I have been searching for a thesaurus management tool that would aid me in the development of multiple taxonomies within a single structure and export in XML. When I researched the market, I saw Multi. Tes recommended more than any other package. After reviewing its price structure and available tutorial, I was sold. " Lydia Bauer Content Librarian H&R Block IA & The Real World “I've been using Multi. Tes 7. 1 for several years to create thesauri for my journal indexes and have found it quite useful. I just started to use the new release, Multi. Tes 2005 Pro, and everything from data entry to reports, including output in HTML or XML, and importing of text files is much simpler and more intuitive. It's definitely worth checking out if you're in the market for thesaurus software. ” Carolyn Weaver Indexing Service www. weaverindexing. com Software Tools Business Issues ¢ Others i. School

Business Issues (Early On) ¢ Many mentioned already (e. g. , politics, enlisting stakeholders, money, existing infrastructure. etc. ) ¢ Making the business case: l l l ¢ Defining the strategy l IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues ROI vs. “Columbus and the New World” Budgets and total cost of ownership “Buy in” l l Align actions with business goals Show examples Iterate, and involve users i. School

Business Issues (What Goes Wrong) ¢ We’re late, and we’re over budget – why? l l Overly optimistic projections Done in by the vendor/consultant sales team Client doesn’t supply needed input Can’t find the right people (“mythical person month”) ¢ Nothing seems to work – why? ¢ Other vendor/people issues ¢ It looks great to me, but the client doesn’t agree IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues l l l Requirements creep Management changes Business changes i. School

Recap ¢ IA in the “real world” is as we study it, but with strings attached (time, money, bureaucracy) ¢ Software tools are a necessary ingredient of any technical solution: l l IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues ¢ Must be approached very carefully Often make things much easier Can make this much more complex, especially with large, disparate sites “Point solutions” are expeditious, “Integrated solutions” favored by IT can be big wins, or big losers Long-term business success depends on focus, buy-in, careful vendor selection, constant user & stakeholder involvement i. School