A STRUCTURED OPTIMIZATION METHOD FOR INFORMATION RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (MULTIPLE CRITERIA, MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM)

Information is the aggregate of facts, figures, text, voice and images, and their relationships. Organizational planning must include information and information systems early in the development process. Information Resource Management (IRM) is defined as a management function which develops and implements policies, programs and guidelines to plan for, manage and control information. IRM provides the integration necessary to meet system information needs.; Confusion regarding management of information as a resource has lead to time delays, lack of documentation and high costs. To improve this situation, a structured optimization method is developed which should improve IRM system performance.; This research develops an optimization methodology that has the structure to support the design and implementation of information systems that will consistently meet the needs of an organization. This method, part of a complete design-planning methodology, defines a sequence of activities which provides a set of performance indicators to evaluate IRM systems. Additionally, formal criterion modeling procedures are developed which specify IRM system design requirements by: (1) Developing criteria and their relative importance; (2) Defining parameters and estimating values; (3) Synthesizing a criterion model; and (4) Identifying the best alternative. Synthesis of the Criterion Model establishes relationships between criterion elements. The Criterion Function (CF) is the analytical function constructed from the criteria and their respective relative weights.; This structured optimization method meets the need for a practical evaluation procedure for information system design. While no method can guarantee a solution to every problem, this method provides the capability to identify the optimal system within available resources. Illustrative computations for the criterion function modeling procedures are presented.; A method for accomplishing a design space search to identify the optimal system from the set of possible systems is demonstrated with a computer routine which employs a dynamic programming-type heuristic search of the 35-dimensional design space created by the criterion function model of the illustrative data.; This research makes a contribution to the Information Resource Management concept by developing a structured optimization methodology that will efficiently guide the information system design process toward consistently meeting the IRM requirements of the organization.