foryouandyourcustomers: So you believe that substandard communication between the levels of the company is the actual problem? Stefan Berner: This is how I describe the issue in my book: Experience has shown that inadequate understanding by experts is the main cause of poor software and failed IT projects.

Computer engineers need to grasp what the users need. In turn, users must understand how they will use the information and what they should ask IT to do. Often this leads to a “missing link”, the unanswered questions: how do you find the gap between the user of information and the manager of data, and how do you channel the necessary information out of the database and back to the user? My information model closes the gap in this missing link. It is the interface that connects the structured information level with the very structured data level and in doing so fixes many problems that companies are facing.

foryouandyourcustomers: Did you develop the information model specifically to do this? Stefan Berner: The relational model from which the information model originated – or on which it is based – was developed by Codd for data management back in 1972. My contribution is to extend use of the model to the business level. It comprises seven elements that can be used to describe the entire informational world within a company simply and comprehensively. Put differently: My information model from the user’s perspective and my data model from the IT perspective can be transported between the levels unchanged, which is a massive advantage for any company. And I find it difficult to image that there will ever be a simpler way of addressing the issue.

foryouandyourcustomers: How does the model help in practice? Stefan Berner: In more than ten projects last year, we demonstrated how the model can create shared understanding in companies: for structures, workflows, dependencies and needs at the various levels. Let’s take the term “article”, for example: It is not unusual in business settings for the word article to mean something different in production than it does in sales. In production, for instance, it would be a physical object. But in sales it could just as well be a service provided by the company. So both sides are using the same term for different things. Problems like this can create a lot of frictions and problems within companies, and applying the information model is a good way of preventing these issues. It provides clear definitions for particular environments, like a glossary, so every department and all employees understand immediately what is meant. Alternatively, a company may decide to roll out a new system and so needs to understand how it should be configured and modified to suit the corporate culture. We use our model to pick up the company where it is and then analyse what its sales process looks like and which information is needed to ensure satisfied customers. In a nutshell: the information model creates a perfect match between technical solutions and business requirements.

foryouandyourcustomers: What other benefits are associated with using the model? Stefan Berner: The external benefits are preventing the problems and frictions I described earlier, which in turn improves quality and therefore creates a financial benefit for the company.

foryouandyourcustomers: And the internal benefits for a company? Stefan Berner: I would say that it gives the departments a tool to improve communication with each other and IT. The understanding this creates across all levels – from management to business departments and IT – is an immense benefit for any company, quite aside from the improved clarity. Quite possibly the benefit cannot be quantified, but it will enable vastly improved collaboration throughout the organisation, which in turn will increase staff satisfaction. I would also assert that the quality of the model correlates directly with the costs of software. Used correctly, the software will become easier to use and require less maintenance.

foryouandyourcustomers: What role does the Exploded View developed by foryouandyourcustomers play in all of this? Stefan Berner: The model was what prompted me to work with foryouandyourcustomers in the first place. Ultimately there are plenty of parallels between the two: both models look at things from the ‘customer perspective’; information is paramount in both of them; and they both address all layers of information, right through to the customer. In the end, my information model creates a conduit through the individual levels of the foryouandyourcustomers model, as it enables the conversion and use of IT’s data into information that can be applied in the business departments and by management.

foryouandyourcustomers: How was the experience of working with information modelling in the projects? Stefan Berner: The results of the workshops were consistently positive. Our model has been put up as an A0 poster in many departments – even in the CEO’s office at a multinational company. The following customer feedback says it all, I think: “This model is the DNA of our company”. “Since introducing the workshops, we have been able to hold interdepartmental meetings without getting embroiled in disputes about terminology”. “In one of the workshops we solved a problem that has plagued our company for three years”. This kind of response encourages me to keep working on and with the model.