Chapter 8 provides a deep dive into the key questions and decision points of the create and capture stage of the life cycle. We offer 39 more specific questions intended to guide your thinking. The questions also form the basis of an audit of information assets. An audit should ask and answer all of the questions listed in this chapter. From these answers you should be able to judge the strength or weakness of assets in this stage of their life cycles.
These questions are organized into five easy to remember categories to help you work through them as you work on your strategy. We do not offer answers to these questions because only you can determine which answers best suit your environment. There is no single right or wrong answer. Short explanations are provided for key concepts as background and context. These explanations also serve as a working reference source for both business and information professionals.
Your strategy should explain …
What kinds of information have business value for your organization?
How will you manage compound information objects, or items that are made up of or have linkages to other information objects? Does your strategy specify how these kinds of compound objects should be treated?
How will you manage content that is chunked, or content that is pulled from existing information assets and used to create new assets?
Do you generate information in series or create and issue information serially? If so, how will you track and manage items that are issued over time as part of the same compound object?
Do you redact content and create renditions of original assets? If so, how will you treat renditions in your strategy?
Will your strategy address the creation or prevention of copies?
Do you have information redundancy due to a proliferation of copies? If so, how will you manage this redundancy in your strategy?
Will your strategy include guidance for identifying and designating official record copies and convenience copies?
Is your information encoded and if so what standards or structures do you use?