Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Depending on the technologies used, the cost of handling such a
change differs. It is safe to assume that some business logic, screens,
reports, and workflows are likely to change. A project manager must treat
changes to a data model as one of the more expensive change requests.
Recognizing System Boundaries
The conversion of data to information happens at system boundaries
(Figure 6.1). Let us take the conventional example of someone asking us
for directions to our home or office. If they were planning to make a trip
to visit you, and you gave them the physical route only — take Freeway
X, Exit Y, turn right and so on — you would be excluding at least a few
additional pieces of information that would be required to make the trip
successfully, that is, actual road conditions, parking locations, toll fees,
other dependencies. In other words, if the user's “business” objective is
to make the trip, then the route information is only partial information.
Even if you do not have the other information, you could do two things:
(1) inform the person that he or she needed to get those pieces of
information before proceeding on the trip, and (2) point them to some
reliable sources where the information could be obtained directly or
indirectly. A satisfying Web page gives you the information it can provide
and points you to the information it knows you need even if it does not
provide it itself. The conventional reports that come out of IT departments
look weak in front of these formats, primarily because they ignore the
missing but required information. They are weaker than even this because
IS reports continue to churn out views of data based on only what they
he conversion of data to information
happens at system boundaries.
Figure 6.1
System boundaries.
