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Unlock & harness the power of your information
with Information Fitness®
Self-assessment "Information fitness®" questionnaire
Take our quick and easy, three minute self-assessement to check what your current level of core "Information Fitness®" is...
1 - Understanding your Information "Plumbing"
It’s important to have a good, shared understanding of your Information “Plumbing” so that you understand what risks you might be taking with your data and can assure your customers and any other key stakeholders that you are in control of, and be trusted with, their data.
It also makes it easier to spot and take advantage of potential improvement opportunities across your key data flows in terms of your people, processes and technology.
1a - Do you have centrally maintained documents for:
- Your high-level IT Overview (showing the key IT systems and data stores that your organisation depends upon and how information flows between them, also whether they are hosted in-house or elsewhere)?
- More detailed Data Flows Documentation for your most important data flows? (showing how your data flows across your people, processes & technology - whether this is to support GDPR and personal data processing, data being used as "fuel" for AI, or as part of planning major changes such as Digital Transformation)?
If you do have some or all of the above in place then:
1b - have these been reviewed and agreed with relevant senior/top-level management?
1c - are these kept under regular, formal review (at least annually) as part of wider organisational governance and oversight - and updated, re-approved and re-published if there are any significant changes?
1d - are the latest, published versions of these key documents made available to those working with your organisation? (to provide a common, shared understanding of your organisation's information "plumbing" & key data flows across all relevant employees, 3rd parties, contractors, etc)
2 - Understanding your wider Business Context
To identify your key datasets you also need a clear, shared understanding of your wider Business Context (in addition to your Information “Plumbing” and key data flows) to establish what data is most important to drive value creation for your customers and other key stakeholders.
2a - Do you have centrally maintained documents for:
- Your key User Journeys (showing how your customers and any other key stakeholders interact with and experience your organisation)?
- Your core Business Processes (the highest-level internal view of how your organisation "works" and creates value)?
- Your Business Glossary (the commonly used, organisation-wide, key terms and concepts used in the above User Journeys and Business Processes, along with agreed definitions & any relevant examples)?
If you do have some or all of the above in place then:
2b - have these been reviewed and agreed with top-level management? (your Business Context should be jointly agreed, owned & signed off by all members of your top-level management team, i.e. at Board level)
2c - are these kept under regular, formal review (at least annually) as part of wider organisational governance and oversight - and updated, re-approved and re-published if there are any significant changes?
2d - are the latest, published versions of these key documents made available to all those working with your organisation? (to provide a common, shared understanding and terminology across all employees, relevant 3rd parties, contractors, etc)
3 - Identifying your Key Datasets and their Owners & Stewards
Once you have a good, shared understanding of your wider Business Context, Information “Plumbing” and key dataflows then you will be able to identify your most important key datasets, which should be seen and looked after as business-critical assets - in the same way that you would your key people, buildings, equipment, customers, technology or intellectual property.
As part of this it’s also important to assign owner(s) & steward(s) for each of your key datasets to ensure clear accountability and responsibility for data quality, data usage (including data security, protection & privacy considerations), overall running costs (across data storage, technology - including AI - and people) and maximising the value your organisation gets from each dataset.
3a - Do you have a centrally maintained:
- Key Datasets Register, along with who each key dataset's owners(s) & steward(s) are?
(owner(s) are overall accountable for key datasets as business-critical assets, steward(s) are responsible at a more day-to-day level – including monitoring key dataset usage, security and data quality
- Key Datasets Ranking, showing which of your key datasets are the most important or valuable to your organisation? (not just in terms of any financial value, also in terms of how important they are operationally or strategically to your organisation - i.e. what would the impact be if they weren't available or of poor data quality?)
If you do have some or all of the above in place then:
3b - have they been reviewed and agreed with relevant senior/top-level management?
3c - are these kept under regular, formal review (at least annually) as part of wider organisational governance and oversight - and updated, re-approved and re-published if there are any significant changes?
3d - are the latest, published versions of these made available to all those working with your organisation? (to provide a common, shared understanding of your organisation's key datasets, their relative importance or value, and who their owner(s) & steward(s) are)
3e - are your key datasets seen and treated as business-critical assets, alongside others such as key people, buildings, equipment, customers, technology or intellectual property? (with the risks & controls around your key datasets being formally & regularly reviewed and considered alongside those for other business-critical assets as part of your wider organisational risk management & risk appetite?)
Your total self-assessment score:
Your core information fitness score indicates you need improvements in many areas to get the most benefit for your organisation (score < 25%)
The wider benefits of good core Information Fitness
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