Information silo

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An information silo, or a group of such silos, is an insular management system in which one information system or subsystem is incapable of reciprocal operation with others that are, or should be, related. Thus information is not adequately shared but rather remains sequestered within each system or subsystem, figuratively trapped within a container like grain is trapped within a silo: there may be much of it, and it may be stacked quite high and freely available within those limits, but it has no effect outside those limits. Such data silos are proving to be an obstacle for businesses wishing to use data mining to make productive use of their data.

Contents

Typical information silos in a hierarchic structured organization Information silo.png
Typical information silos in a hierarchic structured organization

Information silos occur whenever a data system is incompatible or not integrated with other data systems. This incompatibility may occur in the technical architecture, in the application architecture, or in the data architecture of any data system. However, since it has been shown that established data modeling methods are the root cause of the data integration problem, [1] most data systems are at least incompatible in the data architecture layer.

In organizations

In understanding organizational behaviour, the term silo mentality [2] often refers to a mindset which creates and maintains information silos within an organization. A silo mentality is created by the divergent goals of different organizational units: it is defined by the Business Dictionary as "a mindset present when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company". [3] It can also be described as a variant of the principal–agent problem.[ clarification needed ]

A silo mentality primarily occurs in larger organizations and can lead to poorer performance and has a negative impact on the corporate culture. Silo mentalities can be countered by the introduction of shared goals, the increase of internal networking activities and the flattening of hierarchies. [4]

Predictors for the occurrence of silos are

Gleeson and Rozo suggest that

The silo mindset does not appear accidentally ... more often than not, silos are the result of a conflicted leadership team ... A unified leadership team will encourage trust, create empowerment, and break managers out of their "my department" mentality and into the "our organization" mentality. [3]

Etymology

The term functional silo syndrome was coined in 1988 by Phil S. Ensor (1931–2018) who worked in organizational development and employee relations for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and Eaton Corporation, and as a consultant. "Silo" and "stovepipe" (as in "stovepipe organization" and "stovepipe system") are now used interchangeably and applied broadly. Phil Ensor's use of the term "silo" reflects his rural Illinois origins and the many grain silos he would pass on return visits as he contemplated the challenges of the modern organizations with which he worked. [5] [6] [7] [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

Information architecture (IA) is the structural design of shared information environments; the art and science of organizing and labelling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability; and an emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design, architecture and information science to the digital landscape. Typically, it involves a model or concept of information that is used and applied to activities which require explicit details of complex information systems. These activities include library systems and database development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IDEF</span> Family of modeling languages

IDEF, initially an abbreviation of ICAM Definition and renamed in 1999 as Integration Definition, is a family of modeling languages in the field of systems and software engineering. They cover a wide range of uses from functional modeling to data, simulation, object-oriented analysis and design, and knowledge acquisition. These definition languages were developed under funding from U.S. Air Force and, although still most commonly used by them and other military and United States Department of Defense (DoD) agencies, are in the public domain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Systems development life cycle</span> Systems engineering terms

In systems engineering, information systems and software engineering, the systems development life cycle (SDLC), also referred to as the application development life cycle, is a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system. The SDLC concept applies to a range of hardware and software configurations, as a system can be composed of hardware only, software only, or a combination of both. There are usually six stages in this cycle: requirement analysis, design, development and testing, implementation, documentation, and evaluation.

Enterprise application integration (EAI) is the use of software and computer systems' architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.

Data migration is the process of selecting, preparing, extracting, and transforming data and permanently transferring it from one computer storage system to another. Additionally, the validation of migrated data for completeness and the decommissioning of legacy data storage are considered part of the entire data migration process. Data migration is a key consideration for any system implementation, upgrade, or consolidation, and it is typically performed in such a way as to be as automated as possible, freeing up human resources from tedious tasks. Data migration occurs for a variety of reasons, including server or storage equipment replacements, maintenance or upgrades, application migration, website consolidation, disaster recovery, and data center relocation.

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a business function concerned with the structures and behaviours of a business, especially business roles and processes that create and use business data. The international definition according to the Federation of Enterprise Architecture Professional Organizations is "a well-defined practice for conducting enterprise analysis, design, planning, and implementation, using a comprehensive approach at all times, for the successful development and execution of strategy. Enterprise architecture applies architecture principles and practices to guide organizations through the business, information, process, and technology changes necessary to execute their strategies. These practices utilize the various aspects of an enterprise to identify, motivate, and achieve these changes."

Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is computer software used to satisfy the needs of an organization rather than individual users. Such organizations include businesses, schools, interest-based user groups, clubs, charities, and governments. Enterprise software is an integral part of a computer-based information system.

A systems integrator is a person or company that specializes in bringing together component subsystems into a whole and ensuring that those subsystems function together, a practice known as system integration. They also solve problems of automation. Systems integrators may work in many fields but the term is generally used in the information technology (IT) field such as computer networking, the defense industry, the mass media, enterprise application integration, business process management or manual computer programming. Data quality issues are an important part of the work of systems integrators.

Business process interoperability (BPI) is a property referring to the ability of diverse business processes to work together, to so called "inter-operate". It is a state that exists when a business process can meet a specific objective automatically utilizing essential human labor only. Typically, BPI is present when a process conforms to standards that enable it to achieve its objective regardless of ownership, location, make, version or design of the computer systems used.

Data architecture consist of models, policies, rules, and standards that govern which data is collected and how it is stored, arranged, integrated, and put to use in data systems and in organizations. Data is usually one of several architecture domains that form the pillars of an enterprise architecture or solution architecture.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to business management:

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to technology:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of thought</span> Overview of and topical guide to thought

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to thought (thinking):

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enterprise modelling</span>

Enterprise modelling is the abstract representation, description and definition of the structure, processes, information and resources of an identifiable business, government body, or other large organization.

System integration is defined in engineering as the process of bringing together the component sub-systems into one system and ensuring that the subsystems function together as a system, and in information technology as the process of linking together different computing systems and software applications physically or functionally, to act as a coordinated whole.

An integration competency center (ICC), sometimes referred to as an integration center of excellence (COE), is a shared service function providing methodical data integration, system integration, or enterprise application integration within organizations, particularly large corporations and public sector institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">View model</span>

A view model or viewpoints framework in systems engineering, software engineering, and enterprise engineering is a framework which defines a coherent set of views to be used in the construction of a system architecture, software architecture, or enterprise architecture. A view is a representation of the whole system from the perspective of a related set of concerns.

In information technology, a disparate system or a disparate data system is a computer data processing system that was designed to operate as a fundamentally distinct data processing system without exchanging data or interacting with other computer data processing systems. Legacy systems are examples of disparate data systems, as are heterogeneous database data systems. A disparate system is often characterized as an information silo because of the data system's isolation from or incompatibility with any other data systems.

A metadata repository is a database created to store metadata. Metadata is information about the structures that contain the actual data. Metadata is often said to be "data about data", but this is misleading. Data profiles are an example of actual "data about data". Metadata adds one layer of abstraction to this definition– it is data about the structures that contain data. Metadata may describe the structure of any data, of any subject, stored in any format.

Data defined storage is a marketing term for managing, protecting, and realizing value from data by combining application, information and storage tiers.

References

  1. ↑ "Incompatible Data Silos" . Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  2. ↑ Halas, Michal (2020-04-05). "Bajka o 2 silosach - TRIZ - Baza Wiedzy, Szkolenia, Warsztaty, Wdrożenia Feed". TRIZ (in Polish). ODITK. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
  3. 1 2 Quoted in Gleeson, B.; Rozo, M. (2 October 2013). "The Silo Mentality: How To Break Down The Barriers". Forbes. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  4. ↑ "Silo mentality in companies". Rotize. Archived from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
  5. ↑ Ensor, Phil (Spring 1988). "The Functional Silo Syndrome" (PDF). AME Target: 16. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
  6. ↑ AME Study Group on Functional Organization (Summer 1988). "Organizational Renewal – Tearing Down the Functional Silos" (PDF). AME Target: 4-16. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
  7. ↑ Pullin, James (Winter 1989). "Breaking Down the Functional Silos: Motorola Paging Division "Bandit" Plant" (PDF). AME Target. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
  8. ↑ Zimmer, Benjamin (2006-03-27). "Of Silos and Stovepipes". Language Log. University of Pennsylvania . Retrieved 2013-10-19.
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