| Information Technology (IT) groups
are generally adept at gathering vast amounts of
data. The data collected is not always used successfully
for analysis and decision-making, however. Very
often, the opposite is true. The processing of raw
data is sometimes a distraction, rather than a useful
activity. For example, many IT departments measure
and monitor every event on a Service Desk, yet they
may fail to notice that a key server is getting
close to capacity. Why? Service desk technologies
automatically collect and collate vast amounts of
data regarding Service Desk performance, whereas
measuring the growth of a server relative to its
capacity requires a different effort and intervention.
Let's look at how we can best leverage data to
provide both IT Managers and business managers with
useful tools that help them keep IT services closely
aligned with business goals.
Let's begin by looking at some commonly used terms
in Service Management: "data," "information," "knowledge,"
and to a lesser degree "wisdom." While these words
are often used, they are not always used in the
proper context.
The Merriam-Webster
Online dictionary defines these words as follows:
Data
1: factual information (as measurements
or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion,
or calculation <the data is plentiful and easily
available.>
2: information output by a sensing device or organ
that includes both useful and irrelevant or redundant
information and must be processed to be meaningful.
Information
2a (1): knowledge obtained from investigation, study,
or instruction (2) : intelligence, news (3) : facts,
data.
Knowledge
2b (2): the range of one's information.
Wisdom
1a: accumulated philosophic or scientific learning:
Knowledge.
2:a wise attitude or course of action.
According to these definitions, "data" is the basic
unit of "information," which in turn is the basic
unit of "knowledge," which itself is the basic unit
of "wisdom." So, we have four levels in our understanding
and decision-making hierarchy. The whole purpose
in collecting data, information, and knowledge is
to be able to make wise decisions. However, if the
data sources are flawed, then in most cases the
decisions will also be flawed. The relationships
between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom
can be illustrated graphically as shown in the following
diagram:
Figure 1: Building on data in
the Wisdom Hierarchy.
As illustrated, "packages" are passed from one
level to next. The "wisdom" level has all the required
components-data, information, and knowledge-to make
wise decisions. Of course, decisions can be made
at all levels, depending on the outcome and conditions
that exist. The following examples illustrate decision-making
at each level:
Data Level: A Service Desk manager
sees that there are twenty customers in the incoming
call queue. He may decide to increase the number
of front-line staff temporarily-a decision made
on a single piece of data.
Information Level: In a similar
scenario, 20 customers are in the queue, but in
this case the manager has more data. He knows that
a server is currently down but will be reinstated
momentarily. In this case, the manager may decide
to wait a little longer before increasing the front-line
headcount because he or she suspects that the two
issues are related. With multiple data sources,
the manager is better informed and bases the decision
on the information available.
Knowledge Level: The help desk
manager notices that the incoming queue is growing
and that a server is getting close to capacity level.
She has information explaining how this situation
can be resolved, so she can take appropriate action
to isolate and solve the Problem immediately. This
decision is based on knowledge.
Wisdom Level: IT Executives are
reviewing the previous month's knowledge and notice
a Problem with some servers from one vendor. They
decide to ask the vendor to evaluate all of their
servers to determine if the same Problem could occur
on other servers. This decision is based on wisdom.
Although these examples may be oversimplified,
they provide a reference point to understand the
Wisdom Hierarchy.
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