Monthly Focus

In the following article, Anna McCrea, senior consultant at Davis Langdon Management Consulting, highlights the need to consider data management issues as central to a data storage strategy.

The amount of data storage capacity required by companies is continuously increasing. New and pending legislation, for instance, to enforce corporate authority, requires organisations to hold on to certain data for longer and in such a way that it can be accessed quickly at any time. The wide variety of new types of data, such as voice-over-IP systems that capture calls digitally, or RFID tags that transmit location data throughout the supply chain, adds to the complexity and volume of data.

When developing data storage strategies, a company should look not only at the size and type of data but the legacy infrastructure. It must also have a clear vision of the future, allowing for flexibility and for, as yet, unknown future storage architectures. The legacy issues can be particularly painful to resolve. Traditionally storage is added ad hoc with businesses buying more storage capacity with every new application. This approach makes the data both difficult to classify and to manage for rapid business responsiveness. It has to be readily available throughout a company's many systems and business units.

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Contributors from industry and research, including the editors, show how managing construction knowledge can bring real benefits to organisations and projects. They cover a wide range of issues, from basic definitions and fundamental concepts, to the role of information technology.

Once again we have negotiated a special discount for our members - this time on a new book on knowledge management in construction edited by Chimay J. Anumba, Charles Egbu and Patricia Carrillo. Sir Michael Latham says the book provides practical guidance and adds, "I consider it essential reading for all participants in the construction process".

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An edited extract will appear in the next issue of insITe to be published early in 2005 but you can read the introduction to the book now at www.blackwellpublishing.com/1405129727. To claim your discount call 01235 465550 and quote the code ANB2.

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