Definition

Information Before we provide our definition of an information system, we first explain the term
“information,” which can mean any of the following:

1. The communication act of one agent—the term “agent” may refer to any entity ranging from a
person or a software component to an organization— informing another agent (e.g., by exchanging
messages);

2. The knowledge or beliefs of agents as a part of their mental state;

3. (Data) objects that represent knowledge or beliefs.

Resource A re-usable source of supply to produce something. Example includes human, financial,
material, and information resources. To maximize the efficient a effective use of resources, they
must classified in order to share them and eliminate unwanted redundancy, and controlled in order
to receive, store and distribute them properly

Management A set of activities (including planning and decision making, organizing, leading and
controlling) directed at an organization’s resources (human, financial, physical, and information)
with the aim of achieving organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner.

Information Resource Management IRM can be stated simply as a process to manage information
efficiently and effectively in fulfilling the objectives of the firm. IRM concepts rest under the premise
that information, information related activities, technologies and personnel are important
organizational resources that deserve to be managed like any other resources in the organization
(Trauth, 1989).

Adaptive Organization An organization that modifies its business practices in response to the
changing needs of its stakeholders (customers, employees, and stakeholder). It rapidly adapt to
changes in its operating environment, it doesn’t take the time to determine the underlying patterns
of change within the environment.

Knowing Organization The Knowing organization possesses information and knowledge so that it is
well informed, mentally perspective, and enlightened. Its actions are based on shared and valid
understanding of the organization’s environments and needs (Choo, Chun Wei, 1998)

Learning Organization: An organization in which everyone is engaged in identifying and solving

problems, enabling the organization to continuously experiment, improve, and increase its
capability. Changing employee behaviors and attitudes is key to the continuous organizational
renewal needed in today’s rapidly changing world. The organization as a whole is committed to
continual improvement of every facet of itself, its products and its services.

Scope of Information Resource Management

Information Resource Management (IRM) is the management (planning, organization, operations
and control) of the resources (human and physical) concerned with the systems support
(development, enhancement and maintenance) and the servicing (processing, transformation,
distribution, storage and retrieval) of information (data, text, voice, image) for an enterprise
(Schneyman, 1985). IRM is recognition by an organization that data and information are valuable
resources and the application of the same principles an managing data and information as are used
in managing physical resources such as personnel. (McLeod and Brittain-White, 1988).Information is
an asset that should be managed rigorously (Kerr, 1991).

SOFTWARE HARDWARE
DATABASE

INFO INFORMAT
SPECIALIST ION

USER

THE INFORMATION RESOURCES

Why we need Information Resource Management

It is necessary in Today’s Modern organization. The engine that is driving the information economy
whereby information and knowledge are intensively used. Information resources are important
resources. Therefore, it needs effective management.

Benefits of IRM

 Identifies gaps and duplication of information.

 Clarifies roles and responsibilities of owners and users of information.

 Provide costs saving in the procurement and handling of information

 Identifies cost/benefits of different information resources

 Actively supports management decision processes with quality information

Significance of Information Resource Management

Any organization that wants to survive in today’s turbulent dynamic environment need IRM in order
to be adaptive, knowing and learning. Information Resource Management (IRM) plays a significant
role due to following reasons:
  Challenge to perform better, effectively and quickly, sharing of information and knowledge
is critical for organizations
 Wherever and whenever possible information should be stored in a form that maximizes its
inherent usefulness.
 Information is a valuable resource and requires careful stewardship/Organizations that
handle information processes with people who regularly needs to access distributed
information in course of workflow such as data workers. Information workers, and
knowledge workers

Tools for implementing Information Resource Management (IRM

Enterprise Resource Planning: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of
core business processes, often in real-time and mediated by software and technology. These
business activities can include:

 Product planning, purchase

 Manufacturing or service delivery

 Marketing and sales

 Inventory management

 Shipping and payment

 Finance

ERP is usually referred to as a category of business-management software— typically a suite of

integrated applications—that an organization can use to collect, store, manage and interpret data
from these many business activities. ERP provides an integrated and continuously updated view of
core business processes using common databases maintained by a database management system.
ERP systems track business resources—cash, raw materials, production capacity—and the status of
business commitments:

orders, purchase orders, and payroll. The applications that make up the system share data across
various departments (manufacturing, purchasing, sales, accounting, etc.) that provide the data. ERP
facilitates information flow between all business functions and manages connections to outside
stakeholders. Enterprise system software is a multibillion-dollar industry that produces components
supporting a variety of business functions. IT investments have become the largest category of
capital expenditure in United States-based businesses over the past decade. Though early ERP
systems focused on large enterprises, smaller enterprises increasingly use ERP systems.

The ERP system integrates varied organizational systems and facilitates errorfree transactions and
production, thereby enhancing the organization's efficiency. However, developing an ERP system
differs from traditional system development. ERP systems run on a variety of computer hardware
and network configurations, typically using a database as an information repository.

Willard Model Identification:

Identification:- The discovery of information resources and the recording of their features in an
inventory Ownership- The establishment of responsibility for the upkeep of an information
resource.

Cost and Value- Assessment of the cost of an information resource and its value to the organization.
Development- The further development of an existing information resource to enhance its value to
the organization.

Exploitation- The processes which may allow a resource to generate further value through
conversation into an asset or an saleable commodity.