Harvest Time in the Information Garden

Expanding the definition of information and keeping the

promises we’ve made

Background – What’s in a Title?

Programmer Analyst – Methods Analyst – Project Manager –

Consultant – Manager – Director – VP

What’s in a Job?Programmer Analyst – Methods

Analyst – Project Manager – Consultant – Manager – Director – VP• I managed people• I made processes more efficient• I brokered information• I helped people do their job!

What would you say…you do here? (1)

What’s in a Descriptor?• Development – SDM/70, Structured

Analysis, JAD, RAD, Scrum, Agile, Object-Oriented, Waterfall, Spiral, Rapid Prototyping, Extreme Programming…

• Data – Flat, Hierarchical, Network, Relational, Object-Oriented…

• Languages – Too many to list at 28 pt“Modern” is fleeting

And Yet…

We agonize over whether ECM is still a thing

Systems Development and

ECM – Not so different

What Did I Do?

Systems Development / ECM Design• Follow agreed upon best practices• Use best-of-breed technology• Teach people how to use the system• Drive (mandate) adoption• Focus on security• Monitor compliance

In an Ideal World

Business Process Technology Stack

(2)

In the Real World

Business Process Technology Stack

As a Result?• Data processing systems saved time & money• Reporting systems facilitated communication• Content management systems aided in

communication, compliance and governance, but…– Eye-roll-inducing terms abounded– We created better silos

However…

We did put stuff in those silos

Eureka

What if…

We reach inside the silos and give people the information they need to do their jobs?

A little bit of information about two solutions we’ve

built and one we’re building

Examples

Our approach to organizing and delivering information

for Emergency Response

Stuff We Have to Know

Emergency Response• It’s what we do• We have all the information we

need– It’s not enough to have it– It’s not enough to be able to find it

• We need to deliver “Situationally-Relevant Information”(3) It’s Thornton’s fault

SharePoint On-Prem• Everything we have• A place for everything• Everything in its place

• Everything you would expect from SharePoint

SharePoint Online• Everything we might need• A place for everything• Everything in its place

• Still, everything you would expect from SharePoint

iPad App• Everything we need• Everything where we want

it to be

• (Almost) Everything you would expect from an iPad app

iPad App

Build with and hosted on Seattle Cloud

SharePoint vs. SharePoint

“This is so much better than going into SharePoint”

Learn Through UsageiPad – user comment: “we had a lot of documents available at the drill, but there were no copiers. Is there any way I can capture this stuff through this app?”

– Yes, yes there is

It’s Not Pretty…But it Works

“If only HP knew what HP knows, we would be three times

more productive” (4)

Lew Platt

Stuff We Do Know

What ANI Knows (well, one thing, we know more than this)

• Entity relationships – Who owns what sites?• Site relationships – How many units?• Premium data – How much do we charge?• Rating information – Why do we charge

that?• Inspection & Recommendations – The story.• FMMR(5) – Can we mitigate the risk?

Delivering What We Know• Data created / imported

to SQL Server• Documents & metrics in

SharePoint• Collected by PowerBI• Delivered to SPO &

mobile devices

Delivering What We Know• Data created / imported

to SQL Server• Documents & metrics in

SharePoint• Collected by PowerBI• Delivered to SPO &

mobile devices

In a small organization, you never know who will have to

answer a question

What We Should Know

Stuff We Should Know (SWsK)• After Fukushima – required

reading list on SharePoint– Worked well, but most people

printed articles to read later– Lots of information like that – more

paper? No!• ANI sourced and curated

SWsK - Content• Attributes of:– Our business– Our members– The industry we insure

• Interesting items in the news– About the above and in general

SWsK – Implementation • Recommended articles

• RSS feeds

• Custom searchAutomated and manually fed

SWsK – Implementation • Prepared by Subject Matter Expert

• Curated news

• Driven by database systemsMostly static but news and analysis mixed in

SWsK – Implementation • Driven by user experience

• SharePoint Online and In-App

• Crowdsourcing Manual process up front but automatic from arrival in the app

SWsK – Process• Submit• Recommend• Archive• Share• * Veto *

10 Minutes (max) invested per article

Nothing earth-shattering, this stuff just makes sense

Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned• Don’t agonize over terms– They don’t matter!– Nobody wants to hear them

• Adapt faster– Keep an open mind and keep plans flexible– Roadmaps are so 1990

Lessons Learned• Technology only matters when it doesn’t work– People don’t care how cars, ATMs, Mass Transit,

Major Appliances (…) and the Internet work– Give them what they want and be happy

• Process doesn’t have to be permanent– An interim solution is acceptable to most people– Change as the technology involved changes

Lessons Learned• Level of detail should scale– Drill-down / Summarize options are important

• Sooner is better than perfect (in most cases)

– People appreciate having something– People like to influence the ongoing design– Maybe you never need the perfect thing

Lessons Learned• Focus on what they need – When they need it

– The device they want to use– We started with the stuff we already had– Added the stuff we could easily replicate into an

accessible form– Only then talked about what we had to add

It’s coming faster than you think with very little warning

Future

http://info.aiim.org/2017-state-of-information-management

Expand Sources & Capabilities• Build on success to date• Replicate additional data sources

into web-accessible platforms• Add GIS capability to Emergency

Response• Continue to explore Power BI and

Seattle Cloud capabilitiesThis does nothing but grow going forward

Daniel Antion Vice President Information ServicesAmerican Nuclear Insurers

dantion@nuclearinsurance.comhttp://noFacilities.com

Attributions1. Bob – From Office Space – Best IT movie ever

(this is a official review, I get to use photo)2. Noun Project (we subscribe)3. Situationally-Relevant Information – Thornton

May case study on ANI4. I heard Andrew McAfee (MIT) quote Lew Pratt

during a keynote address at the old Enterprise 2.0 conference.

5. Ed Everett VP Engineering, ANI – Find – Measure – Mitigate – Respond