Information Architecture

Overview

Too often, information systems developed by public health agencies have been developed in isolation from enterprise-wide needs and the needs of stakeholders. Such systems have tended, as a result, to lack interoperability with other systems, to be difficult to maintain, and inefficient to develop and support. Implementation of the concept of information architecture provides a solution to the problems created by such piecemeal systems development. Information architecture is a metaphor for a systematic, planned approach to building enterprise-wide information systems. It offers a myriad of benefits, including enhanced system interoperability, ease of support, efficiency, and reduced redundancy of data entry. It also returns the locus of control of information systems development to the executive level. Information architectures can be developed though a process called information resource management (IRM) planning. Although it is ultimately concerned with the management of an enterprise’s information resources, IRM planning may be considered synonymous with business planning itself. IRM planning in public health involves understanding, simplifying, and integrating the public health enterprise itself. IRM planning uses information resource models and development of an implementation/migration plan as tools to help a public health organization develop and build its coherent systems, gradually moving toward an improved information architecture. While public health agencies have taken a largely piecemeal approach to information systems development in the past, many agencies are now using the concept of information architecture as a guiding metaphor in developing coherent and well-integrated information systems.