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Title:
Business Information Management: Improving Performance Using Information Systems
Review:
'Business Information Management' is an undergraduate-level student
textbook.
When I first cracked open the cover, I was very impressed with the
book's design. An illustrated tour of the contents, multiple chapter
summarizations, topics linked to related areas in the book, the
colour-coding, and even the astute selection of chapter header
illustrations all contributed to ease of navigation and comfort in the
book's environment.
The intent of the text is to introduce current concepts and state-of-
the-art on managing information in all its views, not just technology.
The content is divided into four sections: Introduction; Strategy;
Implementation; Management.
Two chapters in the Introduction provide a broad overview of corporate
software and hardware. The Strategy section contains a chapter each on
Information Management Strategy, Knowledge Management Strategy and
Information Systems Strategy - outlining the relationships among them
and how they map into organizational strategy. The Implementation
section looks at Managing Information Systems Projects, Managing
Change, and Building an Information Architecture. The final section
explores Information Quality, Information Services Quality, and
Ethical and Business Issues.
The preface states that this text is useful for practicing business
managers as well as students, and it is with that point of view that I
read the book. The content is well anchored in today's business
reality, touching on every key area, with the scope and depth of
theory perfect to apply in the organization. For each topic, there is
a consistent and accurate focus on issues managers face. The list of
further resources and websites given in each chapter make it easy to
delve deeper into any topic of interest to the student. The Glossary
and Index are excellent. It was effortless for me to find content
relevant to my own work.
Case studies, "research insights", and activities provide real-world
examples and build on specific topics described in the text. The
activities are excellent distillations of questions that are
frequently encountered in the corporate context. The tasks to
summarize key concepts into a single sentence reflect what one might
need to do in a boardroom discussion or presentation.
The book's companion website, ,
contains student resources for each chapter including multiple-choice
questions, flashcards, and web links from the book. Author Dave
Chaffey maintains a supporting blog with additional links to new
resources. The website includes the author's "Smarter Internet
Searching Guide", an introductory guide to using the web to find
information, with a strong endorsement of Google.
The book is UK-centric, as expected for a textbook written for a
specific market audience, with samples, models and frameworks
predominantly referencing the UK or European versions. This text is
worthy of expansion to an international edition.
Typos throughout the text and a small number of incorrect figure
labels detracted from the reader experience, especially on sections
about data quality! Something to remedy in the next edition.
Overall, this book is an excellent student textbook relevant to
today's Information Management landscape, and also valuable for
practitioners as a reference handbook of current standards,
frameworks, and models applied to Information Management.
Free Pint Reviewer:
Patricia Daze works as a Business Systems Analyst and Project Manager
in the Information Management group of a network communications
company in Canada. Her previous experience includes work as a
corporate librarian. An avid reader of non-fiction, she can be
contacted at .
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