What is MIKE 2.0? - Information Resource Management Association ...

What is MIKE2.0?MIKE2.0 (www.openmethodology.org) is a globalinitiative bringing together the best thinking frominformation management professionals around theworld. It does not belong to any one organisationalthough editorial oversight is provided by a nonprofitSwiss association, the MIKE2.0 GovernanceAssociation, which includes professionals from awide range of organisations.MIKE2.0 has the stated objective of assisting theinformation management profession by bringingtogether a body of knowledge and driving astandardised approach to allow professionals tomore effectively work together.If you were a CIO, this might be central to oneof your most important initiatives – gluingtogether all you information systems to deliver adependable picture of how your business isdoing. But let’s be fair – scratch the surface,and you’ll find this is hellishly complex stuff.Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff,“Groundswell”, Harvard Business Press2008The scope of MIKE2.0 includes the strategy,development and governance of both structured andunstructured information.MIKE2.0 benefits the industry by:Providing a common language forcustomers, software vendors, hardwarevendors and service providersCreating an Information Managementstandard that reduces risk and cost ofdelivering IM projects for customers,vendors and service providersImproving the quality and effectiveness ofIM projects by incorporating best practicesPromoting re-use of proven approaches,solutions and toolsEstablishing a long term vision of improvingInformation Management.MIKE2.0 benefits practitioners and teams by:Helping them learn about key informationmanagement approaches, terms,frameworks, solutionsProviding downloadable deliverabletemplatesHelping them to identify and close gaps intheir implementation approachProviding forums to seek support and advicefrom other IM practitionersFigure 1: MIKE2.0 Core Solution Offeringswww.openmethodology.org 1

Why focus on the information?Businesses must exploit opportunities to grow andremain competitive. Equally, the information whichsupports these opportunities is as important as theopportunity itself. Now, imagine if a businessdiscovers that their biggest asset was barelyunderstood by the majority of its executives; and,that their competitors were in exactly the sameposition. Imagine now that they have the opportunityto extract greater value from this asset at every levelof the enterprise and to do so before the rest of themarket. How much time should they be prepared todedicate to such an initiative? And more importantly,what value will be driven and attained?In an information economy, business leaders shouldalso change their view of information from seeing itas input to monitor their business, to thinking of it asbeing the business. Information exists in everyparadigm of every organisation. It is stored indocuments, databases, spreadsheets, applicationsand the knowledge of its staff. It is potentially one of,if not, the greatest asset across the organisation.Much of information management is not complex,but it can be approached in more than way. Byhaving a consistent terminology, work breakdownstructure (WBS) and techniques it becomes possiblefor practitioners from disparate backgrounds to worktogether. When everything goes well, the need isn'talways obvious. When things go wrong, the timespent getting everyone onto the same page canmake the difference between a rescue and adisaster. MIKE2.0 introduces this consistency.Managing information is rapidly becoming asimportant to the enterprise as a whole as managingfinancial information is to the accounting functions ofthe business. This is due to the fact that informationnow pervades every aspect of an organisation’sfunction including stakeholder reporting, marketing,product development, resource allocation andcustomer relation management. The expectation ofthe markets has changed. Currently they demandhigher transparency from public companies. Thisresults in the need for businesses to have an indepthunderstanding of their operations and theinformation which supports this so that a number ofmetrics can be analysed.Today the consolidation of financial informationlargely automatic, with accounting functionsfocussed mostly on the adherence to standards.However, external reporting now includes largeamounts of non-ledger information which requiresmanual aggregation and integration. The informationprofessionals who are responsible for managing thiscontent are the accountants of the 21st century.The value of a consistent approach to informationmanagementInformation management benefits can be measuredin terms of both tangible and intangible enterprisevalue. The three key areas of benefit are in businessimprovement, cost savings and risk reduction.Business processes will benefit from enterpriseinformation management in three capacities: Agility,Accuracy and Availability.Agility: Increase responsiveness toemerging opportunitiesAccuracy: Better information leads to moreaccurate decision makingAvailability: Minimise mechanics andimprove timeliness of information availability– where and when neededBusiness will cut cost through leanness andstandardisation.Leanness: Reduce process cycle time andimprove staff productivityStandardisation: Standardised and improvedenterprise wide processes reduce non-valueactivitiesBusiness can mitigate risk through accuracy andgovernance.Accuracy: Improved quality and integrity ofdata for complianceGovernance: Improved governancestructure for maintenance and translation oftransaction datawww.openmethodology.org 2

Take advantage of MIKE2.0 todayMIKE2.0 (www.openmethodology.org) is availabletoday to every organisation, business orgovernment. The content is available using acreative commons licensing model, which essentiallymeans that anything can be reused from the site inany way as long as its use is attributed. Forinstance, this brochure includes material sourcedfrom MIKE2.0.The earlier that an organisation starts usingMIKE2.0, the greater the value that can be gleaned.Perhaps start with a self-assessment, use thephases and work breakdown structure WBS) tosegment procurement and ask project contractors toadhere to the templates. A tender document basedon MIKE2.0 is much more readily understood byvendors than one that is based on a proprietaryapproach.Even more importantly, everyone can contribute toMIKE2.0. The information management profession isstill evolving. Everyone’s experience is valuable andinput will continue to grow the MIKE2.0 resource.What’s more, by encouraging teams to contributethey typically take ownership and pride in theapproach that they take in their projects.Professional bodies too have an important roleto play. With many different forums hostingprofessionals with an interest in informationmanagement, MIKE2.0 provides a conduit todevelop a common approach. Some bodies aredeveloping specialised MIKE2.0 training, furtherstrengthening their credentials and relationshipwith their membership in this area.www.openmethodology.org 3