Information Easily Delivered Across Departments With PolySpot Connectors

Employees working on information management projects sometimes face struggles that deal with two issues: software and communication or personality clashes. On Open Methodology, Phil Simon has decided to discuss the Seven Deadly Sins as they relate to these projects. His most recent post, "The Seven Deadly Sins of Information Management, Part 3" acknowledges that for different reasons, people actively refuse to share information, train employees, or generally cooperate with others.

This article explores the vice of sloth. This 'sin' usually manifests as greed, according to the author.

He informed us of what this looks like in context:

To be sure, on information management (IM) projects, the ultimate effects of sloth often resemble those of greed–i.e., work just doesn’t get done in a timely manner, if at all. Alternatively, work is just sloppy. However, the motivations behind sloth and greed are typically quite different. Greed inheres a certain defiance and even anger. For instance, consider Barry, an employee who isn’t happy that his job is changing. No one asked him what he thought.

Sure, a break in the repertoire of discussion on technological challenges of information management may be welcome. However, the fact is that some project managers may not have employee information greed as their primary concern: there is often a lack of connectors in enterprise infrastructure. Fortunately, there is a fix because PolySpot delivers information straight to each and every user's computer.

Megan Feil, October 12, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Agile Infrastructure Solutions Put Information Intelligence to Work

Open source has long been a go-to when coders needed a quick fix, however now there are a few detours along the way. TechCrunch's article “Open Source Fear Mongering Is Ridiculous with the Advent of Open APIs” talks about how the beacon of open source has faded and consumers are taking a shine to open API’s.

Despite the lack of barriers in open source, API’s limited accessibility has surpassed it in popularity. However, open source and API’s actually correlate and combining the two can increase the chance of success:

The advent of loosely coupled applications for exchanging data is giving proprietary software providers the opportunity to maintain that open APIs have more importance than open source. It’s not a black and white issue. Open APIs do provide a way for companies with proprietary platforms to open up its technologies to a legion of third party partners and developers. But open source remains critical as the foundation for development with companies that build open platforms, proprietary technologies or a mixture of both.

Open source will continue to provide a stable foundation but API limitations may lesson in the near future as their popularity increases. Businesses that use an agile infrastructure solution that can adapt to a variety of applications while preserving a simple, coherent architecture will discover the most benefit in either situation. Open search or API, the goal is to put information intelligence to work in order to increase efficiency and ROI in the future.

Jennifer Shockley, October 12, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Information Management Ensures Smooth Data Integration and Sustainable ROI

Board room, conference call or business luncheon, the end result is to strategize about company endeavors. The big topic lately is the high potential for success with Big Data when starting out with a sound business plan and proven information management technology. Information Management's article “Don’t Make These Integration Strategy Mistakes” talks about how unreliable data integration strategies can lead to information retrieval issues, and an angry IT department in the future.

Here are the five most common integration strategy mistakes that can prevent future integration problems:

*Misidentifying Metadata Definitions- Concept identifiers retain communication but avoid ambiguous tags that can get lost in integration.

*Missing the “Machine” Behind the Business- Give data as much value as the tools and hardware. 

*Taking Document Architecture for Granted- Consider all architecture during an integration roll-out.

*Mistaking Data Needs with Latest Hype- Utilize an extensive integration or BI program instead of the latest trend.

*Loading Based Solely on Cost- Break coding and ETL options down by productivity, methodology and documentation rather than a cost-first approach.

In order to improve efficiency and generate ROI with Big Data, companies must evaluate all their options and implement a structured business plan. The most secure strategy is to embrace information management software to quickly and efficiently evaluate, separate and store data while providing enterprise wide access in a secure environment. Information intelligence will improve efficiency by eliminating many of the basic IT functions and ultimately lead to smooth data integration and a sustainable ROI.

Jennifer Shockley, October 12, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Put Big Data Information to Work with Insight Enabling Infrastructures

The vastness of Big Data has become so infinite that government agencies are asking for outside help by initiating a Big Data challenge. NASA, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation have invited analytic experts, coders and geeks alike to join together and participate in a contest series.

The goal of the competition is to crowd source solutions to the increasing fragmented and incompatible federal data issues. The announcement was made in GigaOM’s article “NASA Tries to Free Creativity with Big Data Challenge”, along with the first challenge question for participants:

How can we make heterogeneous (dissimilar and incompatible) data sets homogeneous (uniformly accessible, compatible, able to be grouped and/or matched) so usable information can be extracted? How can information then be converted into real knowledge that can inform critical decisions and solve societal challenges?

Variances in government software platforms have caused data solutions to be elusive or inefficient:

The dream of creating spectacular algorithms, beautiful visualizations and uncovering hidden insights often only comes after untold man-hours spent cleaning and munging data (often with Hadoop) into formats that a software system can work with.

The Big Data challenge should prove quite efficient since no one is tracking man-hours, however challenges could be avoided were NASA utilizing software with an insight enabling infrastructure that puts Big Data information to work. Government security is of the utmost importance and this technology provides secure, enterprise wide access to relevant information while continuing to break down fragmented or incompatible data. Challenge completed.

Jennifer Shockley, October 11, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

PolySpot Sofware Solutions Deliver Information After Digitizing Data

The end goal in terms of how technology should fit into the workplace lies in increased productivity and government workplaces are no exception. Paper files must be transformed into digital archives in order for users to be able to work with information intelligently. Federal Computer Week reported on research collected after 150 government managers were polled ranging from defense to civilian agencies, as stated in "Managers Knock Information Management Efforts."

This polls comes a year after President Barack Obama signed a memorandum that pushed for a 21st century information management to be developed and implemented.

In the article, learned of the struggles that government workers have dealt with:

Several managers said the use of paper records rather than digital solutions hampered agency record-keeping. Inadequate resources were deemed the largest obstacle to agencies in their efforts to overhaul information management. Another roadblock was the absence of a comprehensive strategy: 66 percent of managers said information management requires an agencywide approach. Despite the heavy focus on paper in the federal government, some agencies have pushed forward on their digitalizing efforts in hopes of seeing an IT transformation, the survey report noted. 

The kicker comes when data has been digitized and users must locate and analyze data to make decisions. Organizations, whether in the business or government sector need information delivered in near real-time. Solutions from innnovative firms like PolySpot are the software packages to keep in mind.

Megan Feil, October 11, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext