Smart Data

The authors advocate attention to smart data strategy as an organizing element of enterprise performance optimization. They believe that “smart data” as a corporate priority could revolutionize government or commercial enterprise performance much like “six sigma” or “total quality” as organizing paradigms have done in the past. This revolution has not yet taken place because data historically resides in the province of the information resources organization. Solutions that render data smart are articulated in “technoid” terms versus the language of the board room. While books such as Adaptive Information by Pollock and Hodgson ably describe the current state of the art, their necessarily technical tone is not conducive to corporate or agency wide qualitative change. Foreword.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction: A Comprehensive Overview.

Predictive Management.

IDEF Lexicon for Executives.

Organization of This Book.

Smart Data in Three Dimensions.

Business Rule.

Case Study: IT Capital Budgeting Using a Knapsack Problem.

Case Study: Better Decision Making: Field Testing, Evaluation and Validation of a Web-Based MedWatch Decision Support System (MWDSS).

Engineering an Ubiquitous Strategy for Catalyzing Enterprise Performance Optimization.

What Smart Data Provides.

References.

1 Context: The Case and Place for Smart Data Strategy.

1.1 Value of Data to the Enterprise.

1.2 Enterprise Performance Versus Enterprise Integration.

1.3 Current Problems and Deficiencies from Poor Data Strategy.

1.4 New Technologies.

1.5 Breaking from Tradition with Improved Results.

References.

2 Elements: Smart Data and Smart Data Strategy.

2.1 Performance Outcomes and Attributes.

2.2 Policy and Business Rules.

2.3 Expectations: Managerial and Technical.

2.4 Capacity for Change and Improvement.

2.5 Iteration Versus Big Bang.

References.

3 Barriers: Overcoming Hurdles and Reaching a New Performance Trajectory.

3.1 Barriers.

3.2 Overcoming Barriers.

3.3 Top–Down Strategy.

3.4 Balance of Consequences and Reinforcement.

3.5 Collaboration.

3.6 Enterprise Performance Optimization Process.

3.7 Enterprise Performance Optimization Architecture.

3.8 Scoping, Scheduling, Budgeting, and Project and Program Management.

References.

4 Visionary Ideas: Technical Enablement.

4.1 Today’s Possibilities.

4.2 Calibrating Executive Expectations.

4.3 Five Years from Now.

4.4 Ten Years From Now.

References.

5. CEO’s Smart Data Handbook.

5.1 Strategy.

5.2 Policy.

5.3 Organization.

5.4 Actions.

5.5 Timing.

5.6 Funding and Costing Variables.

5.7 Outcomes and Measurements.

References.

Index.

Wiley Series in Systems Engineering and Management.

JAMES A. GEORGE is a performance improvement consultant to the federal government and commercial customers. He is presently Director at SAM, Inc., Rockville, Maryland.

JAMES A. RODGER, PhD, is a professor in the MIS/Decision Sciences Department of the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He has done consulting work for the Department of Defense, among many other federal agencies.

A clear, actionable approach to employing an enterprise-wide smart data strategy

"Smart data" is the combination of interoperable characteristics in a system of data exchange that is agreed upon by the user community. It enhances and optimizes enterprise performance, enables more timely and responsive decision-making, and lowers IT costs. Smart Data provides a practical framework for this essential strategy, equipping the reader with the necessary tools to maximize the wealth of information in their corporate databases. James George and James Rodger persuasively address the problem of "data whose life cycle often outlasts the information technology (IT) paradigm under which it was created," paving the way for IT to once again propel an organization's advancement. The authors:

• Make smart data strategy explicit and understandable, closing the knowledge gap between enterprise executives and enabling technologists
• Identify the elements essential to optimizing performance, explain how to overcome the barriers, and present visionary ideas to aid in implementation
• Provide a detailed plan that includes roles, responsibilities, and accountability
• Employ two types of case studies—scientific/academic and anecdotal/programs—to support and illustrate the authors' idea
• Engineer high-impact results through collaboration between executives, operations management, and technologist
• Help government enterprise executives to improve their ability to achieve faster result
• Show commercial enterprise participants how to maximize their demonstrated value to government enterprise as members of the supply chain of prime contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers

Government executives, such as CIOs and managers of major information systems, will find tremendous value in Smart Data, as will their counterparts in the commercial sector. CEOs, CTOs, and other senior executives interested in maximizing the value of information in their corporate databases can also benefit from this work. In addition, MBA students as well as project management and IT students will appreciate discovering the unique performance improvement advantages that the adoption of a smart data strategy provides.