Information Engineering

and Architecture
GROUP A | CE 4-7
INFORMATION ENGINEERING
Gartner defines Information Engineering (IE) as "a methodology for
developing an integrated information system based on the sharing
stem of common data, with emphasis on decision support needs as
well as transaction-processing (TP) requirements”

It is intended to unify and combine the different requirements that

must be engineered in any complex system or application. This
includes requirements for a database (data engineering), for ensuring
controlled access (security engineering), and for binding all application
components into a single system (software engineering).
01 Data Engineering
- focuses on the required information (input and/or output) for a given application, to
meet the needs of software engineers (who ‘build’ the system) and users (who utilize
the system)

02 Software Engineering
- refers to the organized process of producing a software application, from the original
idea to the final deliverable product. They utilize the data engineering results
(information), and apply methodologies in the design and construction of an application.

03 Security Engineering
-refers to the access of information, both by the software engineers and the end user,
clearly defining what each individual can do with what information at which times.
 HISTORY OF INFORMATION ENGINEERING
01 1976-1980
- IE originated in Australia
- Information engineering first provided data analysis and database design techniques that could
be used by database administrators (DBAs) and by systems analysts to develop database designs
and systems based upon an understanding of the operational processing needs of organizations
for the 1980s

02 May-June 1981
- Clive Finkelstein is acknowledged as the "Father" of Information Engineering (IE), having developed its
concepts based on original work carried out by him to bridge from strategic business planning to
information systems. He wrote the first publication on Information Engineering: a series of six In Depth
articles by the same name published by US Computerworld

03 1983-1987
- IE evolved further into a stronger business-driven variant of IE, which was intended to address a rapidly
changing business environment.
- The then technical director, Charles M. Richter, guided by Clive Finkelstein, played a significant role by
revamping the IE methodology as well as helping to design the IE software product (user-data) which
helped automate the IE methodology, opening the way to next generation Information Architecture.
HISTORY OF INFORMATION ENGINEERING
- The Martin thread was database design-driven from the outset and from
1983 was focused on the possibility of automating the development process
through the provision of techniques for business description that could be
used to populate a data dictionary or encyclopedia that could in turn be used
as source material for code generation.

04 Early 1990s
- The Martin thread incorporated rapid application development (RAD) and business
process reengineering (BPR) and soon after also entered the object-oriented field.

- Over this same period the Finkelstein thread evolved further into Enterprise Architecture
(EA) and his business-driven IE methods evolved into Enterprise Engineering for the rapid
delivery of EA.
 Characteristics of
Information Engineering (IE)
1. IE applies structured techniques on an enterprise-wide basis, or to a larger sector of an
enterprise, rather than on a project-wide basis.

2. IE progresses in a top-down fashion through the following stages:

• Enterprise strategic systems planning
• Enterprise information planning
• Business Area analysis
• System Design
• Construction
• Cutover

3. IE creates a framework for developing a computerized enterprise.

4. IE then separately developed systems ft into this framework. Within the framework,
systems can be built and modified quickly using automated tools. The enterprise-wide
approach makes it possible to achieve coordination among separately built systems and
facilitates the maximum use of reusable design and reusable code.

5. IE involves end users strongly at each of the stages above.

6. IE facilitates the long-term evolution of systems.

7. IE identifies how computing can best aid the strategic goals of the enterprise.

8. IE utilizes Integrated CASE (I-CASE) tools to support the complex data and
control the analysis and design process through crosschecking/consistency features
 4 Stages of Information Engineering
Stage 1: Information Strategy Planning. Concerned with top management goals and critical
success factors. Concerned with how technology can be used to create new opportunities or
competitive advantages. A high-level overview is created of the enterprise, its functions,
data, and information needs.

Stage 2: Business Area Analysis. Concerned with what processes are needed to run a
selected business area, how these processes interrelate, and what data is needed.

Stage 3: System Design. Concerned with how selected processes in the business area are
implemented in procedures and how these procedures work. Direct end user involvement is
needed in the design of procedures.

Stage 4: Construction. Implementation of the procedures using, where practical, code

generators, fourth generation languages, and end user tools. Desire is link to construction by
means of prototyping.
 INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

The term, ‘‘information architecture’’ (IA), was coined by Richard

Wurman in 1975 to describe the need to transform data into
meaningful information for people to use, a not entirely original idea,
but certainly a first-time conjunction of the terms into the now
common IA label.
BIG IA VS LITTLE IA
Big IA is used to describe those who Little IA refers to those who practice
practice or believe in IA as an all- or believe that IA is a far more
encompassing term for the process of constrained activity that deals with
designing and building information information organization and
resources that are useful, usable, and maintenance but does not involve
acceptable. From this perspective IA must itself in analyzing the user response or
cover user experience and even the graphical design of the
organizational acceptance of the resource information space.
WHAT DO INFORMATION ARCHITECTS DO?
• Illustrating key concepts or steps through graphics.
• Designing site maps.
• Creating metaphors to brand content and promote navigation.
• Developing style and formatting templates for elements of
information.
• Conducting user analyses.
• Creating scenarios and storyboards.
• Building taxonomies and indices.
• Testing user experience.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
AS PROCESS
 IA refers to the complete process of design with
specific methodologies for managing the deployment
of resources and sequencing of deliverables.

There are two main approaches to architecting

information spaces, which can be grossly characterized
as ‘‘top-down’’ and ‘‘bottom-up.’’ Each method is
more suited to certain situations and applications.
Top-down designs rely on process-driven stages
which are often thought to follow sequentially, as with the classic
‘‘waterfall’’ approach of software engineering. The process allows
for formalized tracking of deliverables and progress.

Bottom-up methodologies focus more on the end

product of the design and engage in a series of iterative design
proposals, each of which can be refined over time to meet known
or emerging targets. This approach may be more suitable for
smaller-scale projects with fewer team members.
 APPLICATIONS OF
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
 Information architects designing these
most common, now almost prosaic, sites
can fit their work into certain known
genres of web sites such as news, e-
commerce, entertainment, and
corporate.

WORLD WIDE WEB More user-specific domains are the areas

where IA is only beginning to make an
impact.

Each additional type of IA has its own

specific set of users, use cases, and
access environments.
Standard IAs on a corporate intranet would
include company directories, policy
guidelines, procedural information, and
document workflow access.

Increased use of application-level

technology has transformed the
organizational intranet into a knowledge
management tool with repositories of
institutional knowledge being created and
accessed on-line.
INTRANETS
The design of these information systems is
becoming the responsibility of information
architects, often under the aegis of the
management information system efforts.
 Some IAs are focused on specific industries or
vertical markets. These areas can include
government, healthcare, manufacturing,
education, retail, and finance— each with their
own characteristics for content, organization,
and intended use.

As the varieties of information access and

VERTICAL MARKETS functionality among these applications
increase, so do the complexities of the
information organization and user interfaces
that are possible. Because of this, information
architects are becoming progressively involved
in these vertical application development
efforts to both design and implement specific
architectures to support users as well as grow
organically as functionality increases.
Standards for organizing digital libraries are in
place including initiatives from both the public
and the private sectors, and mostly concern the
overall organization of the information along
traditional dimensions, such as the consideration
of digital information as an object for cataloging,
preserving, and archiving.

Information architecture in digital libraries will

grow beyond this traditional organization, but
still benefit from the approaches to collection
and management, possibly to the extent that
DIGITAL LIBRARIES
digital librarianship may be thought of as IA.

The growth of multimedia information also

pushes digital library research and development
toward practicing IA to provide a set of best
practices methods for displaying and organizing
video and audio.
 Information architecture may be the first
profession that focuses on what many call the
Semantic Web of information. Semantic Web
spaces represent deeper, more meaningful
relationships among discrete units of information
that have ‘‘well-defined meaning, better enabling
computers, and people to work in cooperation,’’
often according to user-driven tasks or
taxonomies.
SEMANTIC WEB It is semantically structured IAs that will
be acted on automatically by groups of software
agents empowered to act on behalf of individual
users or organizations.

In this case, IA will include a more complex analysis

of the information elements themselves, with a
perhaps less overt focus on the interfaces for
interacting with the information.
 THE FUTURE OF
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Information architecture seems assured of a long
future, even if the term itself ceases to gain formal
agreement. The current understanding of IA as a discipline is
likely to evolve as the profession grows and formal education
takes shape.

IA is likely to develop a set of roles that will offer an identity

to the profession that is shared by more than the rather
limited number of people with that job title currently. For
this to occur, it is likely that a more formal educational path
will need to emerge for this profession.

The term IA appropriately covers this terrain, and we should

not expect rapid formalism of credential or educational path
to emerge.

However, the trend to date indicates that IA has made

impressive progress down the path to recognizable status as
a professional role and this is likely to continue in the near
future.
Information architecture has grown steadily and securely from
a hot topic term to a credible application and research area
within the library and information science disciplines, though
formal definition of its meaning and boundaries is yet to be
agreed.

Core competencies in IA include the semantic organization of

information, the creation of navigation systems and the design
of user interfaces, with any individual professional tending to
CONCLUSION
have greater interest or strengths in one or other of these
areas. These skills are applied to the design of websites,
intranets, and digital libraries in multiple environments and
markets.

As research into user search behavior, navigation, content

management, information structures continues, it provides IA
with a growing body of findings on which to create a more
formal knowledge base, though the categorization of IA as a
craft discipline that extends beyond the LIS world is likely to
remain
GROUP A | CE 4-7
Group Members:

1. Abacan, Edward
2. Balmes, Armaine Janica D.
3. Del mundo, Harvey Jay
4. Isla, Jeanne
5. Matala, Erika Jill
6. Rey, Vincent