Evaluating information management systems and processes

The most important aspect of any information management 'system' is that it works for you. In the earlier pages of this tutorial, we have listed some of the advantages and disadvantages of the 3 broad management and retrieval systems. Would one of these, or a combination of a manual, computer or BFS-based system suit your information management needs?

The following checklist may give you a guide or some questions to ask when evaluating an information management system

• How easy is the system to use? Are you comfortable with it? Will it take you many hours to become comfortable with it?

• What 'help' is available? When you get stuck, do you have someone to ask for help? Does the software package provide some online help or support?

• If you are looking at a software package, the following prompts may be helpful:
  • ease of opening files
  • ease of adding to, deleting and changing data in files
  • ease of searching files for information. Does the package allow searching of all, or only specific fields?
  • does the software allow you to easily export data to a word-processing package?
  • does the software allow you to import the kinds of data you will regularly be using, or using in large volumes?
  • is the database easily backed-up?
  • can you easily merge files in the database, and does this merge automatically?
  • can you delete duplicate records?
  • can you easily share records with other users of the package?
  • what are the hardware and software requirements of the package?
  • how many reference styles are available?
  • can the package cope with Web-based references

   

• Does the 'system' really suit your purposes and needs - all of them? Are there ways of adapting the system to meet your needs? Could a combination of systems be more appropriate?

The key question here is 'does the package or the system you have chosen, meet your information management needs?'

Each of us will have a 'unique' system - based on our area of research, our discipline, our personal preferences and our 'hooks'.