Information Management

Information is the term we use to stand for all forms of preserved communication that organizations care to produce, store and distribute. If we communicate it and record it, it is information. So, for us, information is anything from sales figures in a database to a video on philosophy viewed on a mobile phone.

We define information management as the organized collection, storage and use of information for the benefit of an enterprise.

Our definitions are intentionally wide enough to cover content, document, asset, data, records and all other ‘information managements’ that organizations do. We believe that while each of these “sub-disciplines” has its own tools and types of information, there is much more that unites them than divides them.

Our definitions are intentionally quite practical. For us, information management simply means moving pieces of recorded communication from creation to consumption to retirement. Our definitions are crafted to carve out a niche for the information manager. Information managers make sure that recorded communication can be amassed and distributed in a way that benefits their organization. Finally our definitions are crafted to be a simple guiding principle. Any person working in any information project can use this definition to remain focused on the ultimate aim of their particular kind of work.

Information Management? TIMAF!

The field of information management is currently fractured and incoherent. Each sub discipline (content, document, asset, data, records management to name just a few) has its own practitioners, applications and professional communities. We believe that behind the seeming differences between these ‘managements’ there is a deeper unity that will eventually define a strong and clear foundation for all of them.

We do not believe that all managements will or should merge, but rather that just as business underlies a variety of business practices including accounting and finance, there is a common foundation for the various forms of information management.

The Information Management Foundation (TIMAF) tries to provide this foundation by publishing these information management best practices. In addition, TIMAF develops and maintains an information management framework that brings the commonalities between sub disciplines to light and helps to organize the best practices that we publish.

Best Start? Best Practice!

Just as business is practiced within a more specific context, information management is also practiced in context. Thus, we believe that the best way to illustrate the concepts and practices of information management is within the context of one or more sub disciplines. So, our best practices editions try to show global principles of information management in the context of projects in one or more of the sub disciplines.