©2005 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved.

1©2005 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved.

Enterprise Information Architecture Methodology

Louis Rosenfeld

IA Summit 2005

March 6, 2005


What’s an Enterprise?

Large, distributed organization made up of multiple business units

Operates multiple businesses (e.g., HR and marketing, hardware and software)

Permanent state of war between centralized and local management over who’s in charge of what


The Enterprise Challenge:Cutting across departmental silos


Example: filing an expense report


Information Architects and the Enterprise

What’s bad for managers and users…

…is wonderful for information architects--lots of new opportunities

Prediction: one of two major growth venues for IA (with global IA)


Information Architecture and the Enterprise

What’s good for IAs…

…is a problem for the field; we’re under-prepared to work in enterprise settings• IA Design: needs to become less agnostic,

more proscriptive• IA Skill set: little training for organizational

design and navigating politics• IA Methodology: Traditional canon of IA

methods not designed for large, distributed, highly political environments


Traditional IA Methods can be Problematic in Enterprise SettingsScale: volume of users, content, and

complexity of business context causes headaches

Distribution: hard to do card sorts with a sample distributed in six sales regions

Sampling: political divisions can have an unholy impact on sampling

Timing: neat (re)design cycle not typical in enterprises


Rethinking IA Methods for Enterprise Use 1/2

Repurpose and reexamine existing methods:Using existing methods (e.g., card sorting,

free listing) in combination with digital tools (e.g., WebSort, SurveyMonkey) for broader distribution, greater number of responses

Greater reliance on log analysis

Content Inventory


Rethinking IA Methods for Enterprise Use 2/2Invent new methods:

2-D User SamplingValue Tier Approach

Mine other fields for appropriate methods, such as:• Zachman IA• Knowledge Management• Organizational Behavior• Social Network Analysis• Others?


Content Inventory: Enterprise challengesDifficult to achieve representative

samples in the face of these difficulties:• Awareness: What’s out there?• Volume: How much is there? Can we

cover it all?• Costs: Can we afford to investigate at this

order of magnitude?• Politics: Which content owners will work

with us? And who will try to get in the way?


Content Inventory:Enterprise work-aroundsGreater reliance on automated tools• Search log analysis: can provide sense of popular

content; but difficult to find, acquire, and merge multiple logs

• Spider can uncover unlinked content

Manual efforts• Examine directories• Poll content owners• Look for content areas that answer users’ common

information needs • Perform inventory from your own memory (identifies

major content areas)• Account for “squeaky wheel” content owners


Content Inventory Reconsidered:Embracing uncertainty

No method--or collection of methods--promises comprehensive snapshot

Instead, treat content inventory as an ongoing process--the “Rolling Content Revue”• Repeat frequently, rather than a one-shot

deliverable• Acknowledge reactive nature--content will come to

you

Let content--through its users and owners establish--its own importance


Content Migration Strategy:Value Tier ApproachDetermine value tiers of content quality that

make sense given your users/content/context• Answer “what content is important to the

enterprise?”• Help determine what to add, maintain, delete

How to do it?1.Prioritize and weight quality criteria2.Rate content areas3.Cluster into tiers4.Score content areas while performing content

analysis


Value Tier Approach:Potential quality criteria

Select appropriate criteria for your business context, users, and content• Authority• Strategic value • Currency• Freshness• Usability• Popularity/usage• Feasibility• Presence of quality existing metadata


Value Tier Approach:Weighting and scoring


Value Tier Approach:Prioritization


Dealing with Sampling Politics:2D User SamplingCombines alternative, apolitical methods

for determining segments to sample, e.g.:• Role-based segmentation• Demographic segmentation

Distracts stakeholders from “org chart-itis,” to purify sampling

Enables evaluation methods (e.g., task analysis, card sorting)


2D User Sampling: Role-based segmentation

Roles cut across political boundaries• Profile core enterprise-wide business

functions• Why does the enterprise exist?• Examples: Sell products, B2B or B2C

activities, manufacture products, inform opinion, etc.

• Determine major “actors” in each process


2D User Sampling: Demographic segmentationStandard, familiar measure; also cuts

across political boundaries• Gender• Geography• Age• Income level• Education level

Your marketing department probably has this data already


2D User Sampling:Combining roles & demographics

TEST

SAMPLE

SIZE

Demo. Profile

A

Demo. Profile

B

Demo. Profile

C

Demo. Profile

DTOTAL

Role 1 1 3 3 2 9

Role 2 2 2 1 1 6

Role 3 3 4 2 1 10

Role 4 0 3 4 0 7

TOTAL 6 12 10 4 32


2D User Sampling:Incorporating contextual bias

Role/demographic “scorecard” is pure• Serves as a structure that doesn’t have to

change substantially• But how to incorporate stakeholder bias?

Stakeholder bias can be accommodated• Poll/interview stakeholders to determine

how cell values should change• Axes and totals stay mostly the same• Distraction is our friend


2D User Sampling:After stakeholder input

TEST

SAMPLE

SIZE

Demo. Profile

A

Demo. Profile

B

Demo. Profile

C

Demo. Profile

DTOTAL

Role 1 1 2 5 1 9

Role 2 1 1 3 1 6

Role 3 3 4 2 1 10

Role 4 0 3 3 1 7

TOTAL 5 10 13 4 32


Summary

Science takes a beating from politics and pragmatism

These methods are straw men: not ideal, but represent a step forward

Shortcomings in IA methods for enterprise use suggest a major new genre of IA, and an area that requires significant effort on part of the IA community


Contact Information

Louis Rosenfeld LLC902 Miller AvenueAnn Arbor, Michigan 48103 USA

[email protected]

+1.734.663.3323 voice+1.734.661.1655 fax

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