busting the wild alaskan information silo
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Busting The Wild Alaskan Information Silo. Scott Miller (ARCN) & Josh Schmidt (CAKN). What’s an information silo?. An information silo is a management system incapable of reciprocal operation with other, related management systems. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Busting TheWild Alaskan Information Silo
Scott Miller (ARCN) & Josh Schmidt (CAKN)
What’s an information silo?
An information silo is a management system incapable of reciprocal operation with other, related management systems.
Information silo. In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 13, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_silo
Alaska: 4 Networks, 4 Organizational Structures, 4 Silos •Same I&M program
•Same Vital Sign•Presented different ways•Confusing to public•Duplication of effort
How silos affect people: An example
Hmmm, what’s a network?!?! Well,
I’ll click and see what I get.
I’d like I&M information on brown bears in Alaska
This looks pretty good. What’s this Southwest thing? I want to know about bears all over Alaska
I’ll click this ‘Networks’ link. Maybe there are more networks
Dang. No catalog.
Can I search all the networks? Double dang.
Well I’ll try this Southeast network thing.
What the heck is this? Looks like there are many of these network things.
Maybe there’s a national catalog?
Dang, no bears here. What the heck is a ‘Vital Sign?’ Is this a medical site?(Back up)
There was nothing on that Southeast thing. I’ll try Central. (Click)
But why does it look different than that other bear site?
Aren’t these all Park Service sites?
Am I lost?
(Why are they taking vital signs of moose?)
Well, there seems to be something about bears here.
Well, here’s an Arctic Network site that has info on brown bears
This one looks different, too. I don’t get it.
Aren’t these all the same program?
What’s going on?!?!
I could waste all day searching all these network things.
It’s all one program! Why isn’t there a catalog of these Vital Sign things?
Why do we inflict this torture? We have a silo-oriented architecture
• Silo #1: I&M Program Silo: Non-I&M People don’t think about I&M information the same way I&M people think about I&M information
• Silo #2: Network Silos: Our solutions make sense to people inside a network silo, but not to anyone outside a network silo.
The Solution• We have a good start with Service Oriented
Architecture and Web Services • Centralize what we can at national level– Vital Sign Profiles – Resource Briefs– Reports– Datasets (already doing this NPS Data Store)
• Focus talents more at national program applications, less at network-level apps
Alaska Region Current Model (Silos)
Arctic Network Website• Boilerplate I&M Program Info• Network info• Personnel info• Vital Signs• Reports• Projects• Datasets
Southeast Alaska Network Website
• Boilerplate I&M Program Info• Network info• Personnel info• Vital Signs• Reports• Projects• Datasets
Southwest Network Website
• Boilerplate I&M Program Info• Network info• Personnel info• Vital Signs• Reports• Projects• Datasets
Central Alaska Network Website• Boilerplate I&M Program Info• Network info• Personnel info• Vital Signs• Reports• Projects• Datasets
Alaska Region Proposed Integrated Model (Sans silos)
National I&M Website• Boilerplate I&M Program Info• Reports (NR Publications website)• *Datasets (NPS Data Store) Alaska Region I&M Website
• Regional Personnel info• Regional Vital Signs Catalog• Regional Projects Catalog & Tracking•*Dataset Catalog (from NPS Data Store web service)
Alaska SQL Server Arctic Network Website
• Network specific info• Network Personnel info• Network Vital Signs Catalog• Network Projects Catalog & Tracking•*Dataset Catalog (from NPS Data Store web service)
Central Alaska Network Website• Network specific info• Network Personnel info• Network Vital Signs Catalog• Network Projects Catalog & Tracking•*Dataset Catalog (from NPS Data Store web service)
Southeast Alaska Network Website
• Network specific info• Network Personnel info• Network Vital Signs Catalog• Network Projects Catalog & Tracking•*Dataset Catalog (from NPS Data Store web service)
Southwest Alaska Network Website• Network specific info• Network Personnel info• Network Vital Signs Catalog• Network Projects Catalog & Tracking•*Dataset Catalog (from NPS Data Store web service)
NPS OracleDatabase
Shared Catalogs
Web Services (Systems Oriented Architecture)NPS Data Store is great silo-busting example
Point # 1: If it can be cataloged and shared it goes up here
Point # 2: If it’s network specific it goes down here
Our Plan• Form regional website committee• Determine ‘one-size-more-or-less-fits-all’
website outline• Develop unified website template ‘look\feel’• Build back-end database & web catalogs• Populate database• Review info• Launch
Benefits• Silos minimized, info centralized & shared• Shared investment of effort• Minimal upkeep• Specialized talent is focused where needed
– Graphic design by graphic designer– Database design by data manager– Content written by coordinators and scientists
• Ready bake tools– Automatic accommodation of staff turnover– More use and buy-in minimizes loss of institutional knowledge