Updated Q2 2011: Simplifying Information Architecture

It has been more than five years since Forrester first published this report outlining a simple approach to information architecture, but this domain of enterprise architecture (EA) has matured little in that time. All too often an enterprise's information is still an unmanaged asset — businesses can't find consistent information, and IT struggles under the resulting weight of project delays and ballooning storage costs. Information architecture (IA) helps IT address business needs by providing a framework to map and describe an enterprise's information assets and their relationship to processes and systems. While the need for IA seems obvious, Forrester's September 2010 Global State Of Enterprise Architecture Online Survey showed that only about 21% of the 404 firms surveyed have a fairly complete architecture. IA programs fail if not approached the right way. This report discusses how to be successful by building iteratively, focusing on pain points, and executing from the top down.