Conducting An Effective Information Audit

About

COURSE OBJECTIVE
To give organisations direction in planning, evaluating and performing information audits that are accurate, consistent and reliable.

Most organisations these days depend heavily on the organised collection and use of information to perform their activities. Information is increasingly recognised as a key business resource in developing business strategies. To find out how and where information is created, frequency of use, quality and accessibility of information, an information audit is crucial to monitor the effectiveness of your organisation’s information strategy.

Conducting An Effective Information Audit is a comprehensive course designed to give you direction in planning, evaluating and performing information audits that are accurate, consistent and reliable. Needless to say, an effective and appropriate information audit can reveal time and money wasted on redundant information sources as well as detect strengths and weaknesses in the existing information services.

By attending Conducting An Effective Information Audit, you will learn how to get started on an information audit, articulate the link between audit outcomes and the business strategies, determine the boundaries of an information audit and much more. But most of all, you can walk away with a constructive approach to planning and performing a reliable information audit.

Who Should Attend?
• Information Manager
• Librarians
• Internet Manager
• Content Manager
• Knowledge Manager
• IT Manager
• Records Manager
• Archivist
• Business Analyst

Benefits of Attending Conducting An Effective Information Audit
• Develop a deeper organisational understanding of where, how and why information is created
• Learn to provide a proper diagnosis of the efficiency of the organisation’s overall use of information
• Be aware of common pitfalls and mistakes
• Mitigate time and money wasted on redundant information sources
• Discover how information can be managed and value extracted to support business objectives
• Learn to obtain senior management buy-in and support
• Learn how to successfully promote the findings of the audit

Outline

Day One

Demystifying the Information Audit
• Definition of information audit
• Why do organisations need an information audit and what is the value of an information audit to an organisation?
• Information audit vs. Knowledge Mapping and knowledge auditing
• Electronic Document & Records Management (EDRM), Freedom of Information (FOI), Corporate Governance, Data Protection - How they relate to the scope and intention of an information audit
• The impact of information audit on your key business resources and in defining your business strategies

Obtaining Senior Management Buy-In and Support
• Ensuring that resources are expended for the areas of greatest need and potential ROI
• Articulating the link between audit outcomes and the business strategy
• Being explicit about what the audit team wants and how the audit team plan to use the results of the audit
• The business case: Making an accurate assessment of the resource required and a cost benefit analysis

Defining the Scope of the Information Audit
• Setting objectives for the information audit
• Understanding the business drivers for the audit
• Examining the information form, context, processes, classifications, costs and values at any stage of the information lifecycle
• Identifying the degree of relevance and utilisation of the information collected
• Ascertaining the value of the total information resource - what is the market value for the information, how much it would cost the company if the information were lost?
• Determining the components of information to be formally controlled

Defining the Scope of the Information Inventory
• Establishing the definition, purpose and scope of an information inventory
• Understanding the different forms of information inventory
• Preparing an information inventory
• Inventory management and inventory performance
• Managing inventory recording, gap analysis, location and access issues

Planning and Preparing the Information Audit
• Identifying resources - people, time and money
• Establishing clear boundaries of an information audit to ensure a realistic balance between resources available, audit focus and the amount of data required
• Determining who to involve and who to be influenced by the audit and resources available
• Tracking key business processes and information, relevant records and documents
• Developing and adhering to information management policies, standards and procedures
• Ensuring that the relevant legislative requirements and standards for records management and archiving are adhered to
• Developing an information audit checklist

Day Two

Collecting and Analysing Relevant Data and Information
• Identifying significant trends and issues relevant to the intended outcomes of the audit
• Analysis and required outcomes to be considered
• Designing and creating the data collection tools
• Benchmarking the information inventory against the organisation’s goals and objectives

Performing the Information Audit
• Conducting assessments by comparing each item of information from information audit against the information audit checklist
• Documenting findings of the assessment
• Using gap analysis as an audit tool
• Identifying redundancies, under-utilised holdings and conflicting definitions
• Making recommendations to address deficiencies found by the assessment

Recommendation and Action Plans
• Linking recommendations to the expected benefits
• Testing analysis and recommendations with key stakeholders
• On-going developments to be taken into account during the audit
• Structuring and facilitating discussion groups for final testing

Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Mistakes
• Avoid mismatched expectations by ensuring that different departments within the organisation have a clear understanding of the purpose of the information audit
• Taking into account people concerns as well as the quantifiable data
• Understanding different personalities and working effectively with them e.g. dealing with people who prefer to hoard rather than share their information
• Structure your information audit around your organisation’s culture to ensure that it is in sync with your organisation operations

Presentation of Audit Results
• Factors to be taken into account when determining the form and style of presentation
• Ensuring that the benefits of any recommendations are clearly understood
• Practical exercise

Facilitator

In-house Training

Prices and Registration

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