Designing Web Based Information Architecture for Information Sharing and Integration: The Case Of Ethiopian Leather Industry Development Institute
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Date
2015-10-13
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Information sharing is a key prerequisite and an essential activity in all collaborative work, and helps to bind groups and communities together. In the current information-driven and technology based global economy, organizations are becoming increasingly dependent on the cumulative knowledge of their employees, suppliers, customers, and other key stakeholders. This research is conducted at Ethiopian Leather Industry Development Institute (ELIDI).
The main objective of this research is to design web based Information Architecture (IA) to promote information sharing among the employees of ELIDI and with the leather industries. The study attempted to answer the basic questions of what the key information sharing practices in ELIDI are, what leather and leather product-information contents are required in ELIDI’s IA according to ELIDI’s line directorates’ requirement and how a suitable IA can be designed for ELIDI.
The study was conducted using design science research and case study. TOGAF was also used as a tool to identify actors in the Web based IA. The data collection was done through interview and personal observation for qualitative survey. Key informants were selected from the Directorates that are involved in the leather and leather product development on the basis of TOGAF. Secondary data were also collected during the field work.
The challenges and practices identified during the research were mainly the absence of standardized central database at ELIDI which forced the directorate to work in isolation, to collect and share information only through traditional methods like emails, faxes and personal contact. The absence of centralized database was confirmed by the interview and personal observation .This has tremendously affected the data quality, security, accuracy, consistency, and completeness. This calls for the design of a Web Based Information Architecture which is used as a platform to share and exchange information among the directorates of ELIDI and the leather industry players.
Therefore, this research attempts to design a Web Based Information Architecture. The architecture has covered all the information required regarding leather and leather products. The architecture is believed to create a better way of information sharing mechanisms that will contribute to the sustainable growth of the leather sector. The prototype was evaluated by experts from ELIDI. The evaluation result showed that 87.5% of the experts believe that the web based IA is useful.
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Keywords
information sharing, information architecture