Importance of data
Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge.
Daniel J. Boorstin
We rely on constant data flow, various information and technology which enables us to make sense of all this. The main problem with data is that there is a lot of it, and a lot of data requires good data management. There are various companies which offer great data management tools, however many assume that data handling is unified and centralised. Well, it isn’t. I found out that data and information is random, scattered and [insert any other statistics related word here] across big companies.
Data handling and management should reflect the structure of the company. Think about it this way, a CEO is your central data storage with every piece of information feeding into it. CFO, CTO, COO and other executives are your subsystems, all responsible for their area but feeding into the CEO. In a big corporation data should have a flat organisational structure promoting quick and smart access and handling.
Naturally this would be too easy.
In our interconnected world, connecting all pieces of software, access databases and google docks is a task for an efficient IT department, but it is doable. Yet, IT always seems to be busy solving problems which wouldn’t exist if the infrastructure and data management was built right in the first place. With greater amount of information comes greater responsibility and confusion, but if data was in-fact based upon the organisational structure we wouldn’t have such big problems.
It’s hard to introduce anything new in an old, big and resilient company but I am still going to propose a solution.
1. Define what will go into the database. Look at the main flow of information and all the subsystems.
2. Build your own custom database with a user friendly UI, or outsource the work to someone who can build custom, efficient and well designed databases. Sorry SAP! You’d be surprised how much difference a good UI makes, especially in an engineering company.
3. Unify the data input and link all the pieces of software together. If you pay megabucks for licences, the company will give you few lines of code to unify data and link it to your database. Combining a lot of already existing databases shouldn’t really be a problem.
4. Have a good set of analytics tools and a data mining / query manager.
5. Maintain a flat organisational structure. The CEO receives the most important info, the executive committee can have all the data relevant to their sections.
6. Fix the inputs! Once there is a ‘free field’ options engineers will write down anything that makes sense to them, only to them. Fix all the choices and use drop down lists or similar.
7. Enjoy a structured solution to your data problems.
If work at big corporations was this easy…
