{"@context":{"@language":"en","Affiliation":"http:\/\/vivoweb.org\/ontology\/core#departmentOrSchool","AggregatedSourceRepository":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/dataProvider","Campus":"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/terms#degreeCampus","Creator":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/creator","DateAvailable":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/issued","DateIssued":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/issued","Degree":"http:\/\/vivoweb.org\/ontology\/core#relatedDegree","DegreeGrantor":"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/terms#degreeGrantor","Description":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/description","DigitalResourceOriginalRecord":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/aggregatedCHO","FullText":"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2009\/08\/skos-reference\/skos.html#note","Genre":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/hasType","IsShownAt":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/isShownAt","Language":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/language","Program":"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/terms#degreeDiscipline","Provider":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/provider","Publisher":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/publisher","Rights":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/rights","ScholarlyLevel":"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/terms#scholarLevel","Title":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/title","Type":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/type","URI":"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/terms#identifierURI","SortDate":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/date"},"Affiliation":[{"@value":"Business, Sauder School of","@language":"en"}],"AggregatedSourceRepository":[{"@value":"DSpace","@language":"en"}],"Campus":[{"@value":"UBCV","@language":"en"}],"Creator":[{"@value":"McCririck, Ian Bryce","@language":"en"}],"DateAvailable":[{"@value":"2010-03-03T22:05:13Z","@language":"en"}],"DateIssued":[{"@value":"1979","@language":"en"}],"Degree":[{"@value":"Master of Science in Business - MScB","@language":"en"}],"DegreeGrantor":[{"@value":"University of British Columbia","@language":"en"}],"Description":[{"@value":"The object of this study was to survey large Canadian organizations in order to:\r\n1) determine the extent to which these organizations have established a separate Data Administration function,\r\n2) empirically test Nolan's Stage Model of EDP Growth as a predictor of a separate Data Administration function, and\r\n3) survey the characteristics of the Data Administration function in those organizations that have formally established such a speciality. A survey package containing two questionnaires was sent to 555 large Canadian organizations in the private and public sectors. The \"EDP Profile Questionnaire\" was directed to the Manager of the EDP Activity in the surveyed organizations. This questionnaire is concerned with the EDP growth process and the existence of a Data Administrator. The \"Data Administration Questionnaire\" was directed to the Data Administrator in the surveyed organizations. This questionnaire is concerned with the characteristics and responsibilities of the Data Administration function. Analysis was performed on 254 EDP functions and 69 Data Administration functions. The results obtained indicate that the Data Administration function is not prevalent in large Canadian organizations; where the function does exist its role is a fairly minor one within the EDP activity. This study found that organizations with very large EDP activities and many years of experience with computers were more likely to have established a Data Administration function than-smaller and less experienced ones. Certain organizational types (those with discretionary funds available) were more likely, to have a Data Administration function than other types. The \"maturity\" of the organization's EDP activity was not found to be- a good predictor of the existence of a Data Administrator. The sampled Data Administration functions exhibited a wide dispersion in both the activities performed and the amount of time spent on each. Few policy setting activities were performed by the Data Administrators. The Data Administration function appeared to be focused on those \"data bases\" using a Data Base Management System. Organizational conflicts and a general misunderstanding of the function by EDP Management have likely held back the development of the function beyond one involved primarily with the support of DBMS application systems. Future research should be directed at- understanding these conflicts and misperceptions through an analysis of the decision process involved in establishing the Data Administration function. An attempt- should be made to more fully understand the data resource and how it might differ among organizational types. Before further use is made of Nolan's Stage Growth model, serious thought should be given to determining in more precise terms what the EDP growth process variables are and how they might best be measured.","@language":"en"}],"DigitalResourceOriginalRecord":[{"@value":"https:\/\/circle.library.ubc.ca\/rest\/handle\/2429\/21452?expand=metadata","@language":"en"}],"FullText":[{"@value":"A SURVEY OF THE DATA ADMINISTRATION FUNCTION IN LARGE CANADIAN ORGANIZATIONS by IAN BRYCE MCCRIRICK B . S c , U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1967 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION i n THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Commerce and Business Administration) We accept t h i s t h e s i s as conforming to the r e q u i r e d standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA June 1979 \u00a9 Ian Bryce M c C r i r i c k , 1979 In presenting th i s thesis in pa r t i a l fu l f i lment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the Univers ity of B r i t i s h Columbia, I agree that the Library shal l make i t f ree ly avai lable for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of th i s thesis for scholar ly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It i s understood that copying or publ icat ion of th i s thesis for f inanc ia l gain shal l not be allowed without my written permission. Department of C&7?lr?^tM> ur^c\/ Sua^Pss AzUr^oniS. The Univers ity of B r i t i s h Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 DE-6 B P 75-51 1 E i i ABSTRACT The object of t h i s study was to survey large Canadian organizations in order to: 1) determine the extent to which these organizations have established a separate Data Administration function, 2) empirically test Nolan's Stage Model of EDP Growth as a predictor of a separate Data Administration function, and 3) survey the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the Data Administration function in those organizations that have formally established such a s p e c i a l i t y . A survey package containing two questionnaires was sent to 555 large Canadian organizations i n the private and public sectors. The \"EDP P r o f i l e Questionnaire\" was directed to the Manager of the EDP A c t i v i t y i n the surveyed organizations. This questionnaire i s concerned with the EDP growth process and the existence of a Data Administrator. The \"Data Administration Questionnaire\" was directed to the Data Administrator i n the surveyed organizations. This guestionnaire i s concerned with the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of the Data Administration function. Analysis was performed on 254 EDP functions and 69 Data Administration functions. The r e s u l t s obtained indicate that the Data Administration function i s not prevalent i n large Canadian organizations; where the function does e x i s t i t s role i s a f a i r l y minor one within the EDP a c t i v i t y . This study found that organizations with very large EDP a c t i v i t i e s and many years of experience i i i with computers were more l i k e l y 'to' have'\u2022 e s t a b l i s h e d ' a Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n t h a n - s m a l l e r and l e s s experienced ones. C e r t a i n o r g a n i z a t i o n a l types (those with d i s c r e t i o n a r y funds a v a i l a b l e ) were more l i k e l y , t o have a Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n than other types. The \"m a t u r i t y \" of the o r g a n i z a t i o n ' s EDP a c t i v i t y was not found to be- a good p r e d i c t o r of the e x i s t e n c e o f a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r . , The sampled Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n s \" e x h i b i t e d - a wide d i s p e r s i o n i n both the a c t i v i t i e s performed and the amount of time spent on each. Few p o l i c y s e t t i n g * a c t i v i t i e s were performed by the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s . The Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n appeared to be focused on those \"data bases\" u s i n g a Data Base Management System. O r g a n i z a t i o n a l c o n f l i c t s and a gene r a l misunderstanding of the f u n c t i o n by EDP Management have l i k e l y held back the development of the f u n c t i o n beyond one i n v o l v e d p r i m a r i l y with the support of DBMS a p p l i c a t i o n systems* Future r e s e a r c h should be d i r e c t e d at- understanding these c o n f l i c t s and misperceptions through an a n a l y s i s of the d e c i s i o n process i n v o l v e d i n e s t a b l i s h i n g the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n function;, An attempt- should be made to more f u l l y understand the data resource and how i t - might d i f f e r among o r g a n i z a t i o n a l t y p e s . Before f u r t h e r use i s made of Nolan's Stage Growth model, s e r i o u s thought should be given to determining i n more p r e c i s e terms what the EDP growth process v a r i a b l e s are and how they might best be measured. . -Robert C . G o l d s t e i n i v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTEE I.. INTRODUCTION ................................. T Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n . 1 O b j e c t i v e s 3 Scope of the Study . . . . i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Data Resource ^ . . ^ , 4 \u00ab..i . 4 Stage Model of EDP Growth ......................... 7 CHAPTER I I . HYPOTHESES 'i, ...... . 11 The Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n i n l a r g e Canadian O r g a n i z a t i o n s ......................... 11 Nolan's Stage Model c f EDP Growth ... .............. 12 Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n S p e c i a l i z a t i o n \u00bb .. i,i ,\u00ab, ......... . 12 Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ................. 14 CHAPTER I I I . METHOD ii .. . 16 Qu e s t i o n n a i r e s .......... ................ . ..... 16 The EDP P r o f i l e Q u e s t i o n n a i r e ........................ 17 The Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n P r o f i l e Q u e s t i o n n a i r e ........ 19 The P r e t e s t .......................................... 21 The Sample ........................................... 21 Survey Package 22 Follow Up ........... ... ......... .. . . . , ... ... - . . 23 CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 24 P r e l i m i n a r y S t a t i s t i c a l A n a l y s i s ..................... 24 Survey Package Response ............................. 24 The Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n Function i n Large Canadian O r g a n i z a t i o n s 27 Hypothesis T e s t s 39 Stage Model of EDP Growth 39 Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n S p e c i a l i z a t i o n ................. 43 Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s .. 50 CHAPTER V.. SUMMARY, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIIONS ........ 55' Survey Package Response 55 The Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n F u n c t i o n i n Large Canadian O r g a n i z a t i o n s .. 57 Stage Model of EDP Growth,.., i.. 59 Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n S p e c i a l i z a t i o n . . ... ..>i-. . . . . . - .. 60 Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s .................. 63 Role of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r ....................... 66 Conc l u s i o n s ......... ......... ............ .- . i , , * . * . ...... 69 REFERENCES ............ L i ..... . ... ....................... 71 APPENDICES 74 V APPENDIX A. EDP P r o f i l e Questionnaire ............... 74 APPENDIX E. Data Administration P r o f i l e Questionnaire ......... ...... ...... \u2022>\u2022.. . ............. 81 APPENDIX C. Covering Letter 90 APPENDIX D. Follow Up Card .................. ........ 92 v i LIST OF TABLES Page TABLE I . Response T a b u l a t i o n ................ ..... - 24 TABLE I I . P r i v a t e S e c t o r Responses .................... 26 TABLE III. P u b l i c Sector Responses 27 TABLE IV. Responses t o Question 7 of EDPPQ ............. 28 TABLE V. DA vs Number of EDP Employees ................ 30 TABLE VI DA vs Number of EDP Employees-O n e - t a i l e d T - t e s t ...................................... 30 TABLE VIIw DA vs Montby Hardware Expenditure .......... 32 TABLE V I I I . Da vs Monthly Hardware Expenditure-O n e - t a i l e d T - t e s t , 3 2 TABLE IX., DA vs Experience With Computers ............. 34 TABLE X. DA vs Experience With Computers-O n e - t a i l e d T - t e s t 34 TABLE XI.. DA vs O r g a n i z a t i o n a l Type (Freguencies) ..... 37 TABLE XII* DA vs A v a i l a b i l i t y o f Funds 38 TABLE X I I I . EDP Employees vs A v a i l a b i l i t y of Funds .... 33 TABLE XIV. C o r r e l a t i o n s of DA with M a t u r i t y V a r i a b l e s . 42 TABLE XV. Reporting L e v e l o f DA ........,.......,,..,..>.. 44 TABLE XVI. Siz e of DA- Number of Employees ............ 44 TABLE XVII. Experience of DA .......................... 45 TABLE XVIII. Scope of DA- F r a c t i o n of Machine-Readable Data Under DA R e s p o n s i b i l i t y 46 TABLE XIX. S i z e of Machine Readable Data Resource 46 v i i TABLE XX. Sharing of Data ............... 47 TABLE XXI. Use of DA Tools ............................ 48 TABLE XXII. Computer Applications Using DBMS .......... 48 TABLE XXIII. DA Experience vs Use of Tools ............ 49 TABLE XXIV. Background of Data Administrator ........... 49 TABLE XXV. DA Experience and Time Spent on Technical and Administrative R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s 51 TABLE XXVI. DA Experience and Time Spent on Technical R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s - One-tailed T-test 52 TABLE XXVII. DA Experience and Time Spent on Administrative R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s - One-tailed T-test 53 TABLE XXVIII. R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s 54 V l l l LIST OF FIGORES Page FIGURE 1. Roles of the Data Administrator 65 FIGURE 2. Relationship of Players i n the Decision to Form a Data Administration Function ................. 68 ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study would not have been possible'without the much appreciated help, advice, and encouragement of my thesis committee: Dr. Robert C* Goldstein (chairman) , Dr. Albert I. Dexter, and Dr. Craig C* Pinder. I would also l i k e to thank my employer, B. C. Hydro and Power Authority f o r their help in printing the questionnaires. The f i n a n c i a l support for the mail survey was provided from the Accounting Development Fund* Of course a l l the organizations that returned questionnaires deserve mention, as without their responses t h i s study could not have been performed* 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Data Administration In the past few years many organizations have recognized that data are a valuable corporate resource and have taken steps to manage and control t h i s resource. For some of these organizations, action has resulted i n the establishment of a separate group to manage the data resource. 1 The most important manifestation of the i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z a t i o n of the data resource function i s the appearance of the Data Base Administrator position i n organizations. 2 In general, the Data Administration function has been associated c l o s e l y with the EDP a c t i v i t y . Clearly the computer has been the major impetus to s p e c i a l i z a t i o n i n the data resource. 3 This rel a t i o n s h i p evolved because of the large volume of computerized, or machine readable, data that application systems used. 1 Throughout t h i s study the terms Data Administrator and Data Administration w i l l be used to refer to the separate organizational unit concerned with managing the corporate data resource. 2 Richard L. Nolan, ed. # Managing The Data Resource Function, West Publishing, 19:74, page 5. 3 loc* c i t . 2 During the 1960's, : the computerized a p p l i c a t i o n systems were designed with t h e i r own data f i l e s . . Both the data and the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r the data were fragmented - and many of those are s t i l l o p e r a t i n g today. During the 1970's one major trend has been towards the use of the shared-data-base t h a t serves m u l t i p l e a p p l i c a t i o n s . Numerous b e n e f i t s are being obtained from data bases, i n c l u d i n g the r e d u c t i o n of u n d e s i r e d redundancies and i n c o m p a t i b i l i t i e s of data* But, a t the same time, data bases have brought i n t o focus the need f o r assigned r e s p o n s i b i l i t y and c o n t r o l of the o r g a n i z a t i o n ' s data r e s o u r c e . The data a d m i n i s t r a t o r f u n c t i o n i s being s e t up and given t h i s r e s p o n s i b i l i t y . * In s h o r t , the EDP a c t i v i t y has r e v e a l e d t o c o r p o r a t e management the need f o r b e t t e r management and c o n t r o l of the c o r p o r a t e data r e s o u r c e . The p o s i t i o n of Data a d m i n i s t r a t o r i s a p o l i c y o r i e n t e d job concerned with c o r p o r a t e p l a n n i n g and s t r a t e g y . The Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r i s the c u s t o d i a n of the c o r p o r a t e data resource, much as the f i n a n c i a l e x e c u t i v e or accountant i s the c u s t o d i a n of c o r p o r a t e funds; s\/he has the job of s e t t i n g up the i n f r a s t r u c t u r e and c o n t r o l l i n g the e v o l u t i o n of data base systems (not n e c e s s a r i l y l i m i t e d to machine readable data) i n a c o r p o r a t i o n . In summary, the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r i s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r understanding, m a i n t a i n i n g , d e v e l o p i n g , employing and i n t e g r a t i n g the p o t e n t i a l i n the resource d a t a . s * Canning,Richard G., \" I n s t a l l i n g a Data D i c t i o n a r y \" , EDP Analyzer, (16:1), 1978 January, page 1. 5 Nolan, i b i d , page 24. 3 O b j e c t i v e s The o b j e c t of t h i s study was to survey l a r g e Canadian o r g a n i z a t i o n s i n order t o : 1) determine the extent to which these o r g a n i z a t i o n s have e s t a b l i s h e d a separate Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n , 2) e m p i r i c a l l y t e s t Nolan's Stage Model\"5 of EDP Growth as a p r e d i c t o r of a separate Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n , and 3) survey the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n i n those o r g a n i z a t i o n s t h a t have f o r m a l l y e s t a b l i s h e d such a s p e c i a l i t y . Scope of the Study T h i s study surveyed the 500 l a r g e s t Canadian o r g a n i z a t i o n s i n the p r i v a t e and p u b l i c s e c t o r s . 'Largeness' was determined by s a l e s , a s s e t s , number of employees or s i z e of computers used. According t o K i m b e r l y 7 there has been l i t t l e t h e o r e t i c a l development of the concept of s i z e i n s t u d i e s of s i z e and s t r u c t u r e ; He contends t h a t a contingency approach i s r e q u i r e d when s e l e c t i n g a measure of s i z e t o use i n a n a l y z i n g o r g a n i z a t i o n a l s t r u c t u r e . . The optimum measure f o r a n a l y z i n g the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n was not e s t a b l i s h e d a p r i o r i 6 The model i s d i s c u s s e d l a t e r i n Chapter I A ; 7 John E. Kimberly* \" O r g a n i z a t i o n a l S i z e and the S t r u c t u r a l i s t P e r s p e c t i v e , A Eeview, C r i t i q u e , and P r o p o s a l \" , A d m i n i s t r a t i v e Science Q u a r t e r l y , (21:4), December 1976, pages 571-579. 4 because a m u l t i p l i c i t y of o r g a n i z a t i o n a l types were being surveyed. Consequently, a number of known measurements of s i z e were used t o s e l e c t respondents. The Data Resource S e v e r a l terms are i n general use when d i s c u s s i n g the c o r p o r a t e data r e s o u r c e , f o r example, 'data*, \u2022*information', or \u2022data base*. Data may be d e f i n e d as groups of non-random symbols which r e p r e s e n t q u a n t i t i e s , , a c t i o n s , t h i n g s , e t c . Data i s formed from c h a r a c t e r s * These may be a l p h a b e t i c , numeric, or s p e c i a l symbols such as *, $, and %. a Thus data may take the form of c h a r a c t e r s on documents, e l e c t r o n i c impulses, a manager's knowledge, and so on. The q u a n t i t y o f data t h a t e x i s t s i n any o r g a n i z a t i o n i s o b v i o u s l y voluminous and beyond the comprehension and processing c a p a c i t y of an i n d i v i d u a l . A subset of the t o t a l o r g a n i z a t i o n a l data resource i s of i n t e r e s t t o the manager. T h i s subset i s u s u a l l y known as i n f o r m a t i o n , or data t h a t has been processed i n t o a form t h a t i s meaningful to the r e c i p i e n t and i s of r e a l or p e r c e i v e d value i n c u r r e n t or p r o s p e c t i v e d e c i s i o n s . 9 Thus the data base i s a l l the data (or information) which i s maintained 8 Gordon B. Davis, Manaqement Information Systems-Conceptual Foundations, S t r u c t u r e , and Development^ McGraw-Hill* 1974, pages 32-33 . 9 O P . c i t . ,page 32. 5 by an o r g a n i z a t i o n i n order t o f a c i l i t a t e i t s o p e r a t i o n s . 1 0 C l e a r l y , managing the data resource i s an important f u n c t i o n i n any o r g a n i z a t i o n , as data are the raw i n p u t t o managerial d e c i s i o n s . In order t o study the c o r p o r a t e data r e s o u r c e , i t i s u s e f u l t o c l a s s i f y data a c c o r d i n g to the f o l l o w i n g dichotomies: 1) P u b l i c \/ P r i v a t e , 2) Formal\/Informal, and 3) Machine Readable\/Non Machine Readable* P u b l i c data r e f e r s to data that i s a v a i l a b l e t o anyone who i s a u t h o r i z e d t c o b t a i n the data, whereas p r i v a t e data i s u s u a l l y c o n f i n e d t o an i n d i v i d u a l ' s personal c o l l e c t i o n s of data i n * black books'. Formal data r e f e r s t o data t h a t has r e g u l a r r o u t i n e s or processes a s s o c i a t e d with i t s capture, storage, maintenance and d i s s e m i n a t i o n . Examples of formal data are job b u l l e t i n s , pay cheques and i n v e n t o r y r e c o r d s . . Informal data r e f e r s to data of an 'ad hoc' n a t u r e , f o r example, s p e c i a l s t u d i e s conducted to assess a product market, c o r p o r a t e ' p o l i t i c s ' and 'one-shot' computer programs. The dichotomy of f o r m a l \/ i n f o r m a l data i s s i m i l a r to ,the. dichotomy of programmed and nonprogrammed d e c i s i o n s : 1 1 programmed d e c i s i o n s are repeated and w e l l d e f i n e d whereas nonprogrammed d e c i s i o n s - are o c c a s i o n a l and unique. Machine r e a d a b l e data r e f e r t o data t h a t can be processed by computers or s i m i l a r machines. l \u00b0 R. C. G o l d s t e i n , i n Nolan, i b i d x pages 349-350. . 1 1 For a d i s c u s s i o n of- programmed and nonprogrammed d e c i s i o n s see Davis, i b i d , pages 144-145. 6 In any one o r g a n i z a t i o n , the categor y of p u b l i c data i s g e n e r a l l y l a r g e r than t h a t of p r i v a t e d a t a * 2 . More of the informal\/non-machine-readable data w i l l l i k e l y become formal\/machine-readable data as computer technology and management e x p e r t i s e evolve t o new l e v e l s . In understanding the data r e s o u r c e , i t i s a l s o u s e f u l to co n s i d e r i t from the p e r s p e c t i v e of Anthony's management d e c i s i o n making l e v e l s 1 3 - o p e r a t i o n a l , management c o n t r o l and s t r a t e g i c planning. For example, a l a r g e . f r a c t i o n of the machine-readable category i s used f o r o p e r a t i o n a l d e c i s i o n making whereas a s i m i l a r p r o p o r t i o n of the non-machine-readable category i s used f o r s t r a t e g i c d e c i s i o n making. 1* Info r m a t i o n used i n s t r a t e g i c planning i s u s u a l l y developed from 'ad hoc' s t u d i e s , p e r s o n a l c o n t a c t s and ' e x t e r n a l d a t a ' . 1 5 As a consequence, the importance of managing the data r e s o u r c e f u n c t i o n as p e r c e i v e d by top management may be q u i t e d i f f e r e n t from tha-t p e r c e i v e d by o p e r a t i o n a l l e v e l management i 1 2 Davis, i b i d T page 19 9. 1 3 Robert N. Anthony, Pl a n n i n g - and C o n t r o l Systems: A Framework f o r A n a l y s i s , Harvard Graduate School of Business A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , Boston, 1965. *\u2022 B i c h a r d L. Nolan, \"Managing t h e . C r i s e s i n Data P r o c e s s i n g \" , Harvard Business Review, (57:2), M a r c h - A p r i l , 1979 , page 119.. 1 S For a d i s c u s s i o n comparing the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of data used i n s t r a t e g i c p l a n n i n g , management c o n t r o l , and o p e r a t i o n a l l e v e l d e c i s i o n making, see A. Gorry and M. S. S c o t t Morton, \"A Framework f o r Management Information Systems\", Sloan Management Review^ F a l l 1971. 7 H i s t o r i c a l l y , the EDP function has developed around the public\/formal\/machine-readable\/operational-level data resource category. As a conseguence, top and middle management are probably not well aware of the data resource concept. The privacy and security of data, however, are two Data Administration.issues that should be of major concern to them.. For example, the inadvertent disclosure of customer data could result i n the loss of a valued c l i e n t ; the destruction of f i n a n c i a l data could make an organization insolvent.. Stage Model of EDP Growth Nolan* 6 contends that data i s an organizational resource and, as such, should be managed as any other corporate resource (manpower* money, material e t c . ) . In organizing to manage the data resource, a certain degree of s p e c i a l i z a t i o n (or d i v i s i o n of labour) w i l l emerge. Nolan asserts that the data resource function w i l l emerge from the EDP function, which i s , i n f a c t , the i n i t i a l organizational structure established to manage the corporate data resource. He has developed a six stage model 1 7 of the evolution cf . the data resource function in organizations. Several variables are used to determine where 1 6 Nolan, Managing The Data Resource Function, page 22. 1 7 Nolan o r i g i n a l l y conceptualized a four stage model but now has expanded the model to six stages. Over the l a s t six years several a r t i c l e s on t h i s model have appeared i n the l i t e r a t u r e . In addition to the work referenced in footnotes above, Nolan has also published, \"Thoughts about the F i f t h Stage\", - Data Base, (7:2), 1975, pages 4-10; and \"Organizational Response and Information Technology\", Proceedings of the National Computer Conference 1978. pages 517-524. 8 an organization's EDP function i s on a 'maturity' scale* Nolan contends that the appointment of a Data Administrator i s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the f i f t h stage of maturity; Dearden* 8 on the other hand, contends that c e n t r a l i z i n g the control of a company's information system i s simply not feasible* He suggests that i t i s impossible to f i n d an i n d i v i d u a l whc combines the requisite s k i l l s i n computing technology with an understanding of a l l the. functional application areas of business and a knowledge of the management process. Thus, i t i s impractical to centralize control over the corporate data resource. Dearden begins with the assumption that management information i s a subject for s p e c i a l i z a t i o n ; that i s , the data resource i s s u f f i c i e n t l y homogeneous for a set of pr i n c i p l e s and practices to be established for evaluating a l l management information needs and s a t i s f y i n g them. He then counters that a complete information system consists of such a huge assortment of d i f f e r e n t types of a c t i v i t i e s that no single person can possess a broad enough set of s k i l l s to apply to even a small portion of them. Nolan's assertion i s supported by A c k o f f 1 9 who suggests that managers do not r e a l l y know what information they need to manage successfully. Ackoff suggests that there i s a place for 1 8 John Dearden, \"MIS i s a Mirage\", Harvard Business Review, (50: 1), 1972 January-February, pages 30-99. . 1 9 Russell Ackoff, \"Management Misinformation Systems\", Manaqement Science, (14:4), 1967 December, pages B147-156. 9 the s p e c i a l i s t to work with the manager i n determining h i s i n f o r m a t i o n needs. N o l a n 2 0 s t a t e s t h a t s p e c i a l i z a t i o n r e f e r s t o the d i v i s i o n between l i n e and s t a f f group r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s f o r managing the data resource* For example, the l i n e group may perform the data e n t r y a c t i v i t y but the s t a f f group would e s t a b l i s h r u l e s , r e g u l a t i o n s and p o l i c i e s governing the e n t r y of data to computers. According to Nolan, the growth of the EDP a c t i v i t y has s i x s t a g e s - I n i t i a t i o n , Contagion, C o n t r o l , I n t e g r a t i o n , Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n and M a t u r i t y , and four growth processes-A p p l i c a t i o n P o r t f o l i o Development, Data P r o c e s s i n g O r g a n i z a t i o n , Data P r o c e s s i n g P lanning and C o n t r o l , and User Awareness 2 1 w i t h i n each stage. A number of v a r i a b l e s determine the stage of growth f o r each process. Nolan, however, has never made e x p l i c i t what these v a r i a b l e s are or how they are to be measured. His d i s c u s s i o n of v a r i a b l e s l a c k s p r e c i s i o n and consequently r e p l i c a t i o n of h i s s t u d i e s i s d i f f i c u l t . The present study draws upon the work of Mantha 2 2 and Nolan, i n b u i l d i n q a s u i t a b l e l i s t o f v a r i a b l e s t o measure the staqe of development of the EDP a c t i v i t y . The major v a r i a b l e s to be used as i n d i c a t o r s of the EDP qrowth process are: 2 0 Nolan, Managing the Data Resource Function* paqe 23. 2 1 Nolan, \"Manaqinq the C r i s e s i n Data P r o c e s s i n q \" , i b i d 2 2 Robert Mantha, \"An A n a l y s i s of S k i l l Requirements i n Data Processinq Environments\", unpublished master's \" t h e s i s , U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1978. 10 1) EDP a c t i v i t y s i z e as measured by the number of EDP employees and\/or monthly computer hardware expenditure, 2) user awareness as measured by involvement of top management and EDP users i n computer system development a c t i v i t i e s , 3) planning and control mechanisms as measured by the existence of a chargeback process, standards for system development tasks, project reviews, a Strategic Planning Committee and a corporate data flow model, 4) position of EDP a c t i v i t y in the organizational structure as measured by the reporting r e l a t i o n s h i p to top management, 5) age of the EDP a c t i v i t y as measured by the number of years since computers were f i r s t used by the organization, 6) applications p o r t f o l i o development as measured by the fr a c t i o n of the EDP budget spent on operational l e v e l type computer systems, and 7) EDP function performance evaluation as measured by the importance of c l e r i c a l s t a f f savings, meeting budgets, user s a t i s f a c t i o n and contibution to organizational goals. 11 CHAPTER II HYPOTHESES The Data Administration Function In Large Canadian Organizations According to Canning 2 3 a large f r a c t i o n of organizations should now have established a Data Administration function because the net benefits are s u b s t a n t i a l . 2 4 This study w i l l estimate the f r a c t i o n cf organizations that have established a Data Administation function, and compare these organizations with those that don't have the function, f o r differences i n EDP a c t i v i t y s i z e , experience and organizational type. Since the Data Administrator i s to play a coordinating role in the management of the data resource, one might expect organizations with very large EDP a c t i v i t i e s to be more l i k e l y to have established the function than smaller ones. Experience refers to the number of years that the organization has been using computers* Various organizational types, because of the nature of t h e i r business, may assimilate computer technology d i f f e r e n t l y . For example* point of sale terminals impact department stores more than they do metal producers. 2 3 Canning, i b i d 2 * For a discussion of benefits see G* K. Wiorkowski and J . J. Wiorkowski, \"Does a Data Base Management System Pay Off?\", Datamation, A p r i l 1978, pages 109-114; and GOIDE International Corporation, Establishing the Data Administration Function, 1977. 12 Consequently, 'the emergence of the Data Administration function may occur at d i f f e r e n t stages of EDP growth i n d i f f e r e n t organizational types. Nolan 1s Stage Model of EDP Function Growth Nolan's Stage Model of EDP Function Growth posits a Data Administrator position emerging at the f i f t h stage; i f his assumptions are correct, those organizations that score high i n growth process^ variables should be more l i k e l y to have formally established a Data Administrator than those that score low. This study w i l l test the hypothesis that: H1: More mature organizations are more l i k e l y to have established a Data Administration function than l e s s mature organizations. The term, mature, as applied to the EDP a c t i v i t y , w i l l mean a l e v e l of s o p h i s t i c a t i o n with respect to Nolan's growth process variables. Data Administration S p e c i a l i z a t i o n For those organizations that have established a separate Data Administration function* the following c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the function w i l l be reported to determine the degree of s p e c i a l i z a t i o n that has evolved i n the function- organizational structure, experience, data sharing, scope, and t o o l s . Generally, the higher the reporting position of the Data Administrator, the more specialized the function. For example, i t i s not unusual to see a Vice President f o r Finance (money resource). Experience i s a measure of s p e c i a l i z a t i o n as time 13 i s required to learn about and apply the concepts. 2 5 Since a reduction i n the amount of data redundancy i s a major benefit at t r i b u t a b l e to Data Administration 2 6 the Data Administrator should attempt to integrate data where feasible and p r a c t i c a l . As the Data Administration function becomes more specialized, more application systems should have been i n t e g r a t e d , 2 7 and as a consequence data redundancy reduced. The evidence of integration of the data resource as manifested i n the concept of shared f i l e s , i s a possible measure of the degree of data redundancy. As the Data Administration function becomes more spec i a l i z e d , one might expect i t s role to expand i n scope to include, for example, the non-machine-readable data resource. The application of new tools to manage the data resource i s a measure of the degree of s p e c i a l i z a t i o n in the f u n c t i o n . 2 8 This assertion could be rephrased as the hypothesis: H2: More experienced Data Administration functions w i l l be more l i k e l y to use certa i n tools (e.g. Data Dictionary\/Directory) than le s s experienced ones. \"Experience\" i s the number of years a separate Data Administration function has been established i n the 2 5 C. Babbage, i n Nolan, Managing the Data Resource Function, page 7. 2 6 wiorkowski, i b i d . 2 7 Richard L. Nolan, \"Computer Data Bases: The Future Is Now\", Harvard Business Review, September-October. 1973, page 113-114. 2 8 Babbage, i b i d . 14 organization. The study w i l l also report the experience and background of the Data Administrators., Data Administration R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s For - those organizations that have established a separate Data Administration function, hypotheses about the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and experience of the Data Administration function w i l l be tested; \"Experience\" refers to the number of years the group has been i n existence* H3: More experienced Data Administration functions w i l l spend a larger f r a c t i o n of thei r time on administrative r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s than l e s s experienced ones. H4: More experienced Data Administration functions w i l l spend a smaller f r a c t i o n of th e i r time cn technical r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s than l e s s experienced ones. H5: A l l Data Administration functions w i l l spend a^ larger fracti o n of t h e i r time on administrative r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s than technical r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ; The time currently spent on diff e r e n t r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s w i l l be compared to the expected time to be spent on the same r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s twc years hence. Administrative r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s are concerned with managerial or c l e r i c a l tasks (policy setting or data dictionary maintenance). Technical r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s are concerned with computer technology (the physical storage of data or maintaining a Data Base Management System). This dichotomy of tasks i s put forth 15 by S e c r e s t 2 9 without any i n d i c a t i o n of the importance of each a c t i v i t y . If Data Administration i s concerned with managing the data resource, an emphasis on administrative as opposed to technical tasks would be expected. Furthermore, i f Data Administration i s an evolving s p e c i a l i t y * as suggested by Nolan, a trend should develop towards administrative r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and away from technical r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . 2 9 Richard D. Secrest, \"The Data Administrator\", i n McFarlan & Nolan, The Information Systems Handbook* Dow Jones-Irwin, 1975, pages 647-658. 16 CHAPTEH I I I METHOD Que s t i o n n a i r e s T h i s study planned t o survey 500 g e o g r a p h i c a l l y d i s p e r s e d o r g a n i z a t i o n s ; Since time and funds were at a premium, a technique that gives wide coverage at minimal expense was r e q u i r e d * The q u e s t i o n n a i r e approach was s e l e c t e d as the best means f o r ofctaininq data.. S e v e r a l disadvantages i n h e r e n t i n the technique i n c l u d e , f o r example, the f o l l o w i n g p o s s i b i l i t i e s : 3 0 1) a low response r a t e , which may b i a s the sample being examined, 2) q u e s t i o n s may be m i s i n t e r p r e t e d by the respondent, 3) answers may be missing, and 4) answers may be p u r p o s e f u l l y or i n a d v e r t e n t l y d i s t o r t e d i n a d i r e c t i o n f a v o u r a b l e to the sponsor of the survey or the respondent. S e v e r a l counter measures can be taken to minimize the occurrence of these events which tend t o j e o p a r d i z e the 3 0 The l i s t i s not exhaustive* A more e x t e n s i v e d i s c u s s i o n of the mail survey method can be found i n L,. Charach, \"An E x p l o r a t o r y I n v e s t i g a t i o n Toward The Development Of A Besearch Design For The Study of Youth Work T r a n s i t i o n \" , unpublished master's t h e s i s . U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1977. (Mantha, i b i d , i n a study concerning EDP managers of B r i t i s h Columbia based companies used Charach's methodology and achieved a response r a t e of 57 %)<. 17 r e l i a b i l i t y and v a l i d i t y of a mail survey. A well presented and professional looking questionnaire that a t t r a c t s the i n t e r e s t of the respondent, a covering l e t t e r from a person who has c r e d i b i l i t y i n the subject area* a pre-paid self-addressed return envelope and a follow up card af t e r the i n i t i a l mailing are prerequisites to obtaining a good reponse r a t e , 3 1 Two questionnaires were designed, developed and pretested. The \"EDP P r o f i l e Questionnaire\" (Appendix A) was directed to the Manager of the EDP A c t i v i t y i n the surveyed organizations. This questionnaire i s concerned with the EDP growth process and the existence of a Data Administrator; The \"Data Administration Questionnaire\" (Appendix B) was directed to the Data Administrator i n the surveyed organizations. This questionnaire i s concerned with the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of the Data Administration function. Because of the p o s s i b i l i t y that the positions of EDP Manager and Data Administrator are held by d i f f e r e n t i n d i v i d u a l s , two questionnaires rather than one were developed. The EDP P r o f i l e Questionnaire The f i r s t questionnaire consists of a cover page followed by f i v e pages of questions and three blank pages. The cover i s purposefully pink to distinguish i t from the yellow Data Administration P r o f i l e Questionnaire. The blank pages were provided to allow the respondent to express extended answers, 3 1 Charach,.cp. c i t . 18 i f desired. Twenty-five (25) questions are contained i n the body of the questionnaire. A l l but questions 1, 4, 6, and 8 are concerned with measurinq the \u2022maturity 1 of the EDP a c t i v i t y . . Question 1 i s a simple qraphic question on the EDP a c t i v i t y orqanizational structure desiqned to invoke the c u r i o s i t y of the respondent. As far as Data Administration i s concerned, certain organizational structures (eg* segmented by application areas or decentralized system analysis) may not be conducive to establishing a Data Administration function. In these types of structures, functional, rather than corporate perspectives are held by the EDP activity,. Questions 4 and 6 are used to v e r i f y the size of the responding organization i n terms of number of employees, sales and assets. Question 8 addresses organizational type. The \u2022maturity\u2022 questions were o r i g i n a l l y drawn d i r e c t l y from Mantha 3 2. After a pre-test, however, several of these questions were revised because the repondents found them unclear or d i f f i c u l t to answer without considerable research. The questions on chargeback and project development standards were expanded i n scope because the researcher suspected that a wide range of actual situations could e l i c i t p o s i t i v e responses. User awareness measures were considered f o r each phase in the system development l i f e cycle. 3 2 Mantha, i b i d . 19 The Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n P r o f i l e Q u e s t i o n n a i r e T h i s q u e s t i o n n a i r e i s d i v i d e d i n t o two p a r t s . Part 1 c o n s i s t s of 34 ques t i o n s about the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n , the t o o l s used, and the background of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r . Part 2 c o n s i s t s of 38 gues t i o n s about the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r . I n s t r u c t i o n s are given with each q u e s t i o n i n Part 1 to ensure t h a t the respondent knows how to r e p l y . Questions 1 through 11 attempt to determine where the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r r e p o r t s i n the o r g a n i z a t i o n , how long s i n c e the f u n c t i o n was e s t a b l i s h e d * the number of employees i n the f u n c t i o n , and whether the o r g a n i z a t i o n a l group r e s p o n s i b l e f o r the t e c h n i c a l a c t i v i t i e s r e p o r t s to the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r . Question 12 i s concerned with the machine readable\/non-machine-read a b l e dichotomy; The quest i o n measures the f r a c t i o n of the co r p o r a t e data resource that f a l l s under the c u s t o d i a n s h i p of the Data Administrator,. Quesion 13 measures t h e . a b s o l u t e s i z e of the machine-readable data resource;. Question 14 measures how f a r the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r has progressed i n reducing data redundancy. Question 15 through 30 are concerned with some of the t o o l s used by the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r : Data Base Management System, Data D i c t i o n a r y , Query F a c i l i t i e s and i n f o r m a t i o n Requirements A n a l y s i s (IRA) Methodology. 3 3 For a l l but the IRA procedure, these questions 3 3 For a d i s c u s s i o n of v a r i o u s t o o l s used by the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r see: GUIDE I n t e r n a t i o n a l , Data Base A d m i n i s t r a t i o n P r o j e c t , The Data Base A d m i n i s t r a t o r . November 3, 1972, pages 2.1-2.15. 20 ask, how long has the t o o l been used and what f r a c t i o n of the machine-readable resource has i t been a p p l i e d a g a i n s t ? Question 31 i s concerned with the work experience and formal education of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r . Question 32 i n d i c a t e s how i n f l u e n t i a l the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r i s i n the EDP a c t i v i t y . Question 33 i s concerned with the e x i s t e n c e of formal standards (a management t o o l ) , f o r the major processes i n the l i f e c y c l e of a p i e c e of data. Question 34 i s concerned with how c l o s e l y the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r i s i n v o l v e d with developing i n f o r m a t i o n systems and i s d i r e c t l y r e l a t e d t o Question 3 3 ( a ) - the d e f i n i t i o n of data i n the o r g a n i z a t i o n . Questions 35 to 72 ask whether or not the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r i s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r a number of p a r t i c u l a r a c t i v i t i e s , how much time i s spent on those a c t i v i t i e s , and how that amount of time i s expected to change two years from now. Again, each a c t i v i t y r e f l e c t s the a d m i n i s t r a t i v e \/ t e c h n i c a l dichotomy of the Data A d m i n i s t a t i o n f u n c t i o n . These a c t i v i t i e s were s e l e c t e d from v a r i o u s sources but heavy use was made of S e c r e s t 3 * . The p r e - t e s t r e s u l t e d i n some minor changes t o the o r i g i n a l statements c u l l e d from the l i t e r a t u r e . The m a j o r i t y of these changes e f f e c t i v e l y s p l i t a question i n t o s e v e r a l q u e s t i o n s because the o r i q i n a l statement contained more than one a c t i v i t y . 3 4 S e c r e s t , i b i d 21 The P r e t e s t A p r e t e s t was conducted on three Vancouver based o r g a n i z a t i o n s i n the sample p o p u l a t i o n . I t c o n s i s t e d of a t h i r t y minute s e s s i o n with the EDP a c t i v i t y manager and a f o r t y - f i v e : t o s i x t y minute s e s s i o n with the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r . While the respondent completed the a p p r o p r i a t e g u e s t i o n n a i r e the r e s e a r c h e r s a t s i l e n t l y and answered g u e r i e s as they arose. A l l d i f f i c u l t i e s encountered by the p r e t e s t respondents were noted on a blank q u e s t i o n n a i r e . These s e s s i o n s were i n v a l u a b l e i n e s t i m a t i n q the time r e q u i r e d to complete the q u e s t i o n n a i r e s ; an important c o n s i d e r a t i o n i n determining how many persons would respond. One o r g a n i z a t i o n i n the p r e t e s t had a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r , one had r e c e n t l y d i s c o n t i n u e d the f u n c t i o n because of a l a c k of top management i n t e r e s t and one had not yet e s t a b l i s h e d the f u n c t i o n because of a l a c k o f funds and top management commitment. S e v e r a l changes t o the d r a f t q u e s t i o n n a i r e s r e s u l t e d from t h i s p r e t e s t ; The Sample O r g a n i z a t i o n s i n the sample came from both the p r i v a t e and p u b l i c s e c t o r s . P r i v a t e s e c t o r companies were s e l e c t e d from the F i n a n c i a l Post Survey of I n d u s t r i a l s ( 1 9 7 8 ) and the F i n a n c i a l Post Survey of the 300 L a r g e s t Canadian Companies(1978). P u b l i c s e c t o r o r g a n i z a t i o n s were s e l e c t e d from the 1978 Corpus Almanac of Canada. This book was scanned f o r job t i t l e s r e l a t e d to the EDP a c t i v i t y (eg.. D i r e c t o r , Data Processing) i n p r o v i n c i a l and f e d e r a l m i n i s t r i e s ; To ensure 22 that organizations with large computer i n s t a l l a t i o n s were not l e f t o f f the l i s t s , the 1978 Canadian Information Processing Society's Survey of Computers was compared to the l i s t s extracted from the aforementioned publications*. A survey package consisting of a covering l e t t e r (Appendix C) , a self-addressed pre-paid return envelope, an EDP P r o f i l e Questionnaire and a Data Administration P r o f i l e Questionnaire was mailed to the 555 organizations selected i n the sample*. The survey package was directed either at a President (private sector only) or a manager in the EDP a c t i v i t y . Names of EDP a c t i v i t y managers were obtained from a Canadian Information Processing Society membership l i s t and the 1978 Corpus Almanac of Canada (provincial and federal ministries only). Where the name of the EDP manager in the private sector was not available, the package was addressed to the President of the company* The President was selected instead of the EDP Manager for two reasons. F i r s t , EDP Managers have various t i t l e s , and in large organizations a package simply addressed to the 'EDP Manager* could be misdirected. Second, a package coming down the line.from top management to the EDP manager i s more l i k e l y to be receive appropriate attention. The covering l e t t e r followed the format and content of the covering l e t t e r in Mantha's 3 S survey. The i n s t r u c t i o n s and 3 5 Mantha, i b i d 2 3 confidentiality\/anonymity d e t a i l s were placed on the cover of the questionnaires. E s s e n t i a l l y , the coverinq l e t t e r stated b r i e f l y the purpose of the survey and i n s t r u c t i o n s for determininq who i n the organization was to complete the questionnaire. The package was mailed on January 10,1979, requestinq that completed questionnaires be returned by February 6,1979. Follow rjp On January 26, 1979 a follow up card (Appendix D) was sent to a l l orqanizations, whether they had r e p l i e d or not. A follow up l e t t e r was sent to 4 respondents who returned a Data Administration P r o f i l e Questionnaire without an EDP P r o f i l e Questionnaire and to 1 respondent who had returned an EDP P r o f i l e Questionnaire, i n d i c a t i n g the existence of a Data Administrator, but f a i l e d to return a Data Administration P r o f i l e Questionnaire; One add i t i o n a l survey package was mailed to a respondent who received a follow up card but did not, apparently* receive a survey package. 24 CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND RESULTS P r e l i m i n a r y S t a t i s t i c a l A n a l y s i s Survey Package Response Table I g i v e s a breakdown of the responses to the survey. r \" 1 1 1 I TABLE I | I Response T a b u l a t i o n I | 1. I n i t i a l m a i l i n g s . .555 | I 2. Second m a i l i n g (by r e q u e s t ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 | | 3.. D u p l i c a t e i n i t i a l m a i l i n g s * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 | | 4. Returned l e t t e r s or telephone c a l l s i n d i c a t i n g I | that no response would be f orthcoming;;;.* , v\u00bb \u00ab 33 | j 5. T o t a l returned EDPPQ with or without DAPQ I | attached,. .................................... . .,. ...262 | | 6. Returned EDPPQ with or without DAPQ r e c e i v e d j J more than 3 weeks a f t e r reguested r e t u r n date;..... 4 | | 7* D u p l i c a t e EDPPQs returned 4 | j 8. EDPPQs used i n the a n a l y s i s (5-6-7)........ .....254 | | 9. Returned DAPQs..................................... 101 | 110. DAPQs returned by o r q a n i z a t i o n s i n d i c a t i n g t h a t j | they d i d not have a Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n . . . 47 | 111. Returned DAPQ r e c e i v e d more than 3 I | weeks a f t e r reguested r e t u r n date 1 | 25 Because the survey l i s t was compiled from several sources without an exhaustive comparison, 17 organizations were sent two survey packages. In a few instances, however, a second mailing was i n t e n t i o n a l , since more than one address was available. The Data Administration P r o f i l e Questionnaire(DAPQ) was completed by 47 respondents who stated on' the EDP P r o f i l e Questionnaire (EDPPQ) that their organization did not have a separate Data Administration function. Since organizations should not be able to respond to the DAPQ i f they do not have the function, the researcher examined these questionnaires more closely to determine i f the respondent simply did not follow i n s t r u c t i o n s or actually had some form of a Data Administration function* Note that Question 1 on the DAPQ asks where the Data Administrator reports i n the organization. As a r e s u l t of t h i s inspection, the researcher recoded 16 responses on the EDPPQ to indicate the presence of a separate Data Administration function. The recoding c r i t e r i a were the t i t l e of the person completing the DAPQ, the existence of a Data Base Management System and complete answers on Part 2. A p a r t i a l l y completed DAPQ was returned by 4 organizations that had indicated the existence of a separate Data Administration function on the EDPPQ. These organizations spent few d o l l a r s on computer hardware and used none of the Data Administration to o l s . Consequently, these responses were recoded to indicate the absence of a Data Administration function. These Data Administration functions were not, i n the opinion of the researcher, ones that the survey was attempting 26 to r e ach. As shown i n Table I , 33 o r g a n i z a t i o n s responded by l e t t e r or telephone t h a t they were not going to r e t u r n completed g u e s t i o n n a i r e s . The two prime reasons given were t h a t the o r g a n i z a t i o n d i d not have the time t o complete the g u e s t i o n n a i r e s or the o r g a n i z a t i o n , as a c o r p o r a t e p o l i c y , d i d not complete q u e s t i o n n a i r e s . To v e r i f y t h a t a reasonable c r o s s s e c t i o n of the t o t a l p r i v a t e s e c t o r was r e c e i v e d , the l i s t of respondents was compared to the l i s t s cf companies used to s e l e c t respondents. As shown i n Table I I , t o t a l responses were u n i f o r m i l y d i s t r i b u t e d over the sample. TABLE I I P r i v a t e Sector Responses Out of l a r g e s t 120 Canadian I n d u s t r i a l s by s a l e s . ................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i 58 responses Out of l a r g e s t 6 Real E s t a t e Companies by a s s e t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i . .......... i .... 5 responses Out of l a r g e s t 10 Merchandising Companies by s a l e s * ........... ... J \u2022\u2022 ........... \u2022 \u2022 7 responses Out of l a r g e s t 25 F i n a n c i a l Companies by a s s e t s . ....... . ... .......... . ... . .... .. ...... .12 responses Out of l a r g e s t 15 Insurance Companies by a s s e t s . ........ 9 responses To v e r i f y t h a t a reasonable c r o s s s e c t i o n of the t o t a l p u b l i c s e c t o r was r e c e i v e d , a simple comparison of responses to t o t a l m a i l i n g s was made._ As shown i n Table I I I , the c r o s s s e c t i o n of responses 'was a l s o evenly d i s t r i b u t e d over the 27 sample,. There was only one response from the Quebec p r o v i n c i a l government m i n i s t r i e s . T h i s was to be expected, as the q u e s t i o n n a i r e s were not t r a n s l a t e d i n t o French* i 1 \" i | TABLE I I I I I I I P u b l i c Sector Responses I Responses I 17 | 32 I 15 I 6 I The Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n F u n c t i o n i n Large Canadian O r g a n i z a t i o n s D e t a i l e d a n a l y s i s Of the EDPPQ was performed on 254 c a s e s 3 6 . Table IV g i v e s a frequency d i s t r i b u t i o n of responses to Question 7, on the e x i s t e n c e of a separate Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n * Only 60, or 24% of the respondinq o r g a n i z a t i o n s had p o s i t i v e reponses to t h i s q u estion. Even c o n s i d e r i n q the recodinq of Question 7 answers, only 72, or 28% of the responding o r q a n i z a t i o n s i n d i c a t e d t h a t they had a separate Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n . Consequently, the 3 6 A l l s t a t i s t i c a l a n a l y s i s was performed usinq the software product S t a t i s t i c a l Package f o r the S o c i a l Sciences (SPSS). . A d e s c r i p t i o n of the package can be found i n Norman H. Nie et a l , S t a t i s t i c a l Package : f o r the S o c i a l S c i e n c e s , second e d i t i o n , McGraw H i l l Book Company, 1975; Item Mailed F e d e r a l Government \u2022 27 P r o v i n c i a l Government 67 U n i v e r s i t i e s 23 C i t i e s 8 28 concept cannot be considered to be pervasive i n large Canadian organizations. A new variable, DA, was computed from Question 7 responses. A DA value of 1 was assigned i f a separate Data Administration function exists i n the organization, a value of 0, otherwise. i ~ ' ; 1 | TABLE IV I I Besponses to Question 7 of EDPPQ | i (Do you have a Data Administration function?) I | Response Freguency Percentage | | No 84 33 | | No,: because... 22 9 I | No, we used to... 4 2 I | No, but we are thinking 67 26 I j Yes 56 ' 22 I | Recoded from No to Yes 16 ' 6 I 1 Recoded from Yes to No 4 2 I | 253 100 | | Missing cases= 1 I | Total analysed 254 j | Note: 1. Total YES = 56 + 16 = 72 I I 2. Total NO =84 + 22 * 4 + 67 + 4 = 181 | Total analysed 254 Note: 1. Total YES =56 + 1 = 72 3. 3 organizations answering YES did not return a DAPQ. L. 29 EDP A c t i v i t y Size and the Existence of a Data Administrator To test for a possible rel a t i o n s h i p between the existence of a separate Data Administration function and the size of the EDP a c t i v i t y , a crosstabulation was performed between DA and the number of EDP employees (Question 2). Responses to Question 2 were divided into three groups by the number of EDP a c t i v i t y employees, so that the groups were about egual in siz e * The crosstabulation between DA and the transformed Question 2 resulted i n a chi-sguare of 40.84966 with 2 degrees of freedom a-hd p < .001 (Table V). This res u l t suggests that organizations with a very large number of employees i n the EDP a c t i v i t y are more l i k e l y to have a separate Data Administration function than smaller ones. The Pearson correlation c o e f f i c i e n t between DA and number of EDP employees (Question 2) i s , however, only .1890 (n=251, p=.001), suggesting that the two variables are not highly correlated. A one-tailed t - t e s t was performed to test i f the mean number of EDP employees (Question 2) for DA value 1 i s greater than the mean of number of EDP employees (Question 2) f o r a DA value of 0. As shown in Table VI, there i s a s i g n i f i c a n t difference i n means. Because the n u l l hypothesis that the variances of each population are equal was rejected, a t - t e s t based on a separate variance estimate was used rather than one based on a pooled variance estimates. 3 7 The larqe variances in the populations may be attributed to the wide ranqe of responses to Question 2 ( 3 to 3 7 Nie et a l , i b i d , page 270. 30 2800),, witii several respondents at the extreme top and bottom ends of the scale not having a Data Administrator. DA=0 DA=1 Column Total TABLE V DA vs Number of EDP Employees EDP Function Employees < 28 2 9 - 7 9 > 79 83 5 56 24 42 41 181 70 i . 88 80 Chi-square= 40.84966 with 2 df. Missing cases= 3 83 n=251 (p=0. 0000) TABLE VI DA vs Number of EDP Employees One-tailed T-test Item Number of cases Mean number of EDP employees Standard deviation F Value 2 - t a i l probability T Value Degrees of freedom 1 - t a i l probability DA=1 70 191 376. 4000 683 DA=0 181 83.5525 183. 533 4. 21 0.000 -2. 29 81.99 .012 As another approach to testing for a possible relationship between the existence of a separate Data Administration 31 function and the size of the EDP a c t i v i t y , a crosstabulation was performed between DA and Question 15 (monthly computer hardware expenditure). Responses to t h i s question were divided into three qroups by d o l l a r s of monthly computer hardware expenditure, so that the three qroups were of about equal s i z e . The crosstabulation between DA and the transformed Question 15 resulted i n a chi-square of 30.00696 with 2 deqrees of freedom and p <_ .001 (Table VII). This res u l t suggests that organizations that have very high monthly hardware expenditures are more l i k e l y to have a separate Data administration function than those that have low monthly hardware expenditures. The Pearson c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t for Da and Question 15- i s , however, only .1722 (n=244, p=.004), suggesting that the two variables are not highly correlated., A one-tailed t - t e s t showed a s i g n i f i c a n t difference i n means (Table VIII). The t-test was based cn a separate variance estimate because the assumption that the population variances are equal was violated; The r e s u l t s of the above analysis suggest that only large Canadian organizations with large EDP functions are l i k e l y to have formed a separate Data Administration function. But size i s by no means a good predictor of the existence of a Data Administration function. Only 43% of organizations with a monthly hardware expenditure of $100,000 or more had established a Data Administration function. 32 TABLE VII DA vs Monthly Hardware Expenditure Monthly Hardware Expenditure < 32 ($000's) 32-100 > 100 DA=0 r r I 79 | r 50 | \u2022 46 | 175 DA=1 I 6 | 28 | 35 | 69 I L L\u2014 1 T o t a l 85 78 81 n=244 Chi-square= 30.00696 with 2 df. Mi s s i n g cases=10 (p=0.0000) i TABLE VIII DA vs Monthly Hardware Expenditure O n e - t a i l e d T - t e s t Item Number of cases Mean monthly hardware expenditure ($ OOO's) Standard d e v i a t i o n ($ OOO's) F Value 2 T a i l p r o b a b i l i t y T Value Degrees of freedom 1 T a i l p r o b a b i l i t y DA=J 69 251.749 518.004 DA^O 175 115.513 260.592 3.95 0.000 -2.08 81.93 .02 33 Experience with Computers and the Existence of a Data administrator To t e s t f o r a possible rel a t i o n s h i p between the existence of a separate Data Administration function and the experience of the organization with computers, a crosstabulation was performed between DA and Question 16 (number of years that the organization has used computers). Responses to Question 16 were divided into three groups* by years of computer usage in the organization, so that the three groups were about equal in size,; The crosstabulation between DA and the transformed Question 16 resulted i n a chi-square of 12.85600 with 2 degrees of freedom and p < .002 (Table IX). This res u l t sugqests that orqanizations with many years of experience with computers are more l i k e l y to have a separate Data Administration function than less experienced ones. The Pearson correlation c o e f f i c i e n t i s , however, only .2020 (n=252, p=i001), i n d i c a t i n q a weak l i n e a r r elationship; A one-tailed t - t e s t showed a s i q n i f i c a n c t difference i n means (Table X). The re s u l t s of the above analysis suqqest that organizations with many years of experience with computers are more l i k e l y to have established the Data Administration function than those with few years of experience with computers. However, even among the EDP functions with 16 or more years of experience with computers, only 30% had established a separate Data Administration group (Table IX) ,. 34 TABLE IX DA vs Experience With Computers Number of years experience < 10 10-15 > 15 DA = 0 I 68 | 60 | 53 | 181 DA=1 | 11 | 37 | 23 I 71 J _ |_ t i Column t o t a l 79 97 76 n=252 Chi-square= 12. M i s s i n g cases= 85600 with 2 2 df.
because of the l a r g e number of Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s i n t h i s category and because government agencies can u s u a l l y f i n d the funds somewhere. The second group 3 8 A comparison over the l a s t few years of the \"Earnings Adjusted t o Index\" i n d i c a t o r of the Toronto Stock Exchange '300' Stock P r i c e Index System f o r these o r g a n i z a t i o n a l types showed t h a t these o r g a n i z a t i o n s d i d not s u f f e r a d v e r s e l y over the l a s t few years. The i n d i c e s showed t h a t the other o r g a n i z a t i o n a l types did-have reduced p r o f i t l e v e l s over the l a s t few years. 36 (without funds) consisted of a l l other types i n the sample, except \"other\" (response of 24) . The crosstabulation resulted in a chi-square of 5.96955 with 1 degree of freedom, p < .02 (Table XII). This r e s u l t suggests that organizations \"with funds\" are more l i k e l y to have a Data Administrator than those \"without funds\". A crosstabulation between the transformed Question 2 (number of EDP employees) and t h i s same dichotomy of types resulted i n a chi-square of 20.32210 with 2 deqrees of freedom, p < .001 (Table XIII), suqqesting that those organizations \"with funds\" also have more EDP employees. TABLE XI DA vs O r g a n i z a t i o n a l Type (Freguencies) Type Frequency DA=1 (%) 1. Wood, pulp and paper 9 0 ( 0) 2. Primary metals and f a b r i c a t i o n 11 2 (18) 3. Petroleum and c o a l products 19 7 (37) 4, Chemical and chemical products 11 3 (27) 5. Food, beverage and tobacco 18 4 (22) 6. Accomodation and food s e r v i c e s 1 0 ( 0) 7. E l e c t r i c a l products 1 0 ( 0) 8. Automotive products 4 0 ( 0) 9. P r i n t i n g and p u b l i s h i n g 6 0 ( 0) 10. M i s c e l l a n e o u s manufacturing 1 0 ( 0) 11. I n d u s t r i a l equipment 3 1 (33) 12. C o n s t r u c t i o n 3 1 ( 0) 13. T r a n s p o r t a t i o n 7 0 ( 0) 14. Telecommunications, communications 8 5 (63) 15. Department, supermarket, v a r i e t y s t o r e s 10 1 (10) 16. Household and p e r s o n a l products 3 1 (33) 17. Property development, management 5 1 (20) 18. I n f o r m a t i o n p r o c e s s i n g equipment 2 1 (50) 19. E l e c t r i c , gas or water u t i l i t y 14 6 (43) 20. Bank, d e p o s i t or c r e d i t agency 12 5 (42) 21. L i f e insurance 13 4 (31) 22. Government department or agency 40 10 (25) 23. U n i v e r s i t y 15 7 (47) 24. Other 37 12 (32) 253 71 (28) 38 TABLE XII DA vs A v a i l a b i l i t y of Funds Funds A v a i l a b l e ' Yes No DA=0 | 70 | 87 | 157 I I I DA=1 | 38 | 21 | 59 I I I I u , 1 I Column T o t a l 108 108 n=216 Chi-sguare= 5.96955 with 1 df. ( p=.0146 ) M i s s i n g cases= 1 With Funds= Question 8 responses 03,14,18,19,20,21,22 Without Funds= A l l other responses except 24 TABLE XIII EDP Employees vs A v a i l a b i l i t y of Funds EDP Employees < 28 With Funds Without Funds Column t o t a l 25 49 74 29- 79 > 80 i T \u2014 \u2014 ~~ 1 31 I 50 | 38 | 21 __i 69 71 106 108 n=214 Chi-square= 20.32210 with 2 Df. ( p=0.0000 ) Mis s i n g cases= 3 IWith Funds= Question 8 responses 03,14,18,19,20,21,22 | I Without Funds= A l l other responses except 24 I 39 Hypothesis Tests Stage Model of EDP Growth Hypothesis H1 : More mature organizations are more l i k e l y to have established a Data Administration function than le s s mature organizations was tested using l i n e a r regression. The dependent variable was DA with values of 0 (no Data Administrator) and 1 (a Data Administrator). The independent variables were the EDP growth variables referred to i n Chapter I. In general, multiple regression requires that the variables be measured on an i n t e r v a l or r a t i o s c a l e . 3 9 Because the possible responses to Question 3 (EDP reporting position) and Question 9 (chargeback process) did not exhibit such c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , responses to these questions were transformed to \"dummy\" variables; The variable LEVEL with values of 0 or 1 was computed from Question 3.. A value of 1 indicated an EDP a c t i v i t y reporting to top management (answers of 3 or 4) while a value of 0 indicated an EDP a c t i v i t y not reporting to top management (answers 1 or 2)- Wherever a response of 5 was coded, the researcher c l a s s i f i e d the answer as 1, 2, 3, or 4 by examining the charts or descriptions supplied by the respondent,* The variable CHARGE with values of 0 or 1 was computed from Question 9. A value of 1 indicated the existence of a chargeback procedure for use of EDP a c t i v i t y resources (answers 3 and 4) while a value of 0 indicated the nonexistence 3 9 Nie et a l , i b i d , page 320. 40 of a chargeback procedure (answers 1 and 2). Wherever a response of 5 was coded, the r e s e a r c h e r c l a s s i f i e d the answer as 1, 2, 3 or 4 by examining the e x p l a n a t i o n given by the respondent f o r answering '5'. A new v a r i a b l e , SSCALE, r e p r e s e n t i n g standards f o r systems development, was computed from a composite of Question 10 responses (items 1 through 7 ) . F i r s t , answers to these seven questions were converted t o Z s c o r e s (mean of 0, v a r i a n c e of 1). S t a n d a r d i z i n g the raw s c o r e s f o r each of the 7 responses w i l l g i v e 'yes 1 answers a higher weighting i f there are r e l a t i v e l y few 'yes' answers to the q u e s t i o n . T h i s i s a c c e p t a b l e , as each 'yes* on the 7 q u e s t i o n s i s seen as a measure of 'maturity'. The b i a s i s i n the proper d i r e c t i o n . Next, a r e l i a b i l i t y test*\u00b0 was performed on the sum of these s t a n d a r d i z e d v a r i a b l e s . The Alpha score was .80055, i n d i c a t i n g t h a t the items form a homogeneous s c a l e * A new v a r i a b l e , OSCALE, r e p r e s e n t i n g user awareness of the EDP a c t i v i t y , was computed from a composite of Questions 19(a), 19(b), 20(a), 21(a), 22(a), 22(b), 23(a) and 24(a). F i r s t , answers to these 7 guestions were converted t o Z s c o r e s . S t a n d a r d i z a t i o n i s r e q u i r e d so t h a t each q u e s t i o n i s based on the same s c a l e and t h e r e f o r e d i r e c t a d d i t i o n can be performed \u2022\u00b0 A d e s c r i p t i o n of the r e l i a b i l i t y t e s t can be found i n the SPSS updates to Nie e t a l * (1975) Alpha i s a s i n q l e index of the s t r e n g t h of the r e l a t i o n s h i p between v a r i a b l e s . I f a number of v a r i a b l e s purport t o measure a p a r t i c u l a r c o n s t r u c t (in t h i s case ' e x i s t e n c e of system development s t a n d a r d s ' ) , then they should be h i g h l y i n t e r c o r r e l a t e d . 41 without one question weighting the sum disproportionately.* l Next, a r e l i a b i l i t y test was performed on the sum of the standardized variables. The Alpha score was .80247, i n d i c a t i n g that the items form a homogeneous scale. No attempt was made to construct from Question 11 responses a single measure of the c r i t e r i a used by Senior Management i n evaluating the performance of the: EDP a c t i v i t y because the objectives can c o n f l i c t with each other. For example, user s a t i s f a c t i o n may reguire that the budget be exceeded. The l i n e a r regression equation then becomes: DA = AO \u2022 A1 (Question 2) + A2(Question 13) + A3 (Questionl 4) + A4 (Question 16) + A5 (Question 17(a)) + A6 (Question 11(a)) + A7 (Question 11(b)) + A8 (Question 11(c)) + A9 (Question 11(d)) + A10 (LEVEL) + A11 (CHAEGE) + A12(0SCALE) + A13 (SSCALE) . Question 15 was not included i n the regression eguation because i t correlated highly with Question 2 (over .8). The regression analysis indicated that E Squared (proportion of the variance accounted for by the l i n e a r regression) was only .12890. The re s u l t indicates that the li n e a r combination of 'maturity' variables cannot be used to predict the existence of a Data Administrator. The correlation between each independent variable and DA i s shown i n Table XIV. \u2022 i Nie et a l , i b i d , page 187. 42 There i s no reason to b e l i e v e , based on these data, t h a t there i s a r e l a t i o n s h i p between any of the so c a l l e d 'maturity' v a r i a b l e s and the e x i s t e n c e of a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r . In view o f these r e s u l t s , a r e l i a b i l i t y t e s t was performed to see i f the \" m a t u r i t y \" v a r i a b l e s were, i n f a c t , i n t e r c o r r e l a t e d , a necessary but not s u f f i c i e n t c o n d i t i o n f o r the v a r i a b l e s to measure a common c o n s t r u c t . The Alpha was .53896 i n d i c a t i n g t h a t these v a r i a b l e s are not as p e c t s o f a common \"ma t u r i t y \" concept. TABLE XIV C o r r e l a t i o n s of DA With M a t u r i t y V a r i a b l e s Maturity Variable Number of EDP employees S t r a t e g i c Planning Committee Data Flow Model Experience with computers F r a c t i o n of EDP budget spent on o p e r a t i o n a l l e v e l systems User awareness Systems development standards EDP r e p o r t i n g l e v e l Chargeback of c o s t s Eerformance-cost s a v i n g s Performance-user s a t i s f a c t i o n Performance-meeting budgets P e r f o r m a n c e - o r g a n i z a t i o n a l goals C o r r e l a t i o n . 1890 (n=251, p=. 001) . 1373 (n=252, p=. 015) .0793 (n=251, p=. 105) .2020 (n=252,p=i 001) .0919 (n=239,p=. 078) .1530 (n=251,p=. 008) .1427 (n=247,p=. 012) .1157 (n=253,p=. 033) .1059 (n=253 , p=. 046) *0762 (n=253,p=. 113) .0324 (n=253, p=. 304) .0602 (n=253,p=. 170) .0614 (n=2 52 , p=. 166) I Since l a r g e r EDP a c t i v i t i e s were more l i k e l y to have a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r than s m a l l e r ones, as shown above, the res e a r c h e r c o n s i d e r e d t h a t perhaps \"maturity\" a p p l i e d only to the very l a r g e EDP a c t i v i t i e s . The same l i n e a r r e g r e s s i o n was performed on a s e l e c t e d subset of the sample - Question 2 \"greater than 28 employees\". The r e s u l t i n g E Sguared was onl y 43 .12244. Based on t h i s a n a l y s i s , the r e s e a r c h e r must conclude t h a t t h e r e i s l i t t l e i f any r e l a t i o n s h i p between the e x i s t e n c e o f a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r and sco r e s on s e v e r a l \"maturity' v a r i a b l e s . Hypothesis H1 must be r e j e c t e d . Data A d m i n i s t r a t i c n S p e c i a l i z a t i o n A n a l y s i s was performed on 6 9 cases comprised o f 53 o r g a n i z a t i o n s whc answered \u2022yes\" to Question 7 on the EDPPQ and 16 o r g a n i z a t i o n s who answered *no* but were recoded to 'yes' answers. Three o r g a n i z a t i o n s , although they 'responded p o s i t i v e l y t c Question 7 on the EDPPQ, d i d not r e t u r n a DAPQ. O r g a n i z a t i o n a l S t r u c t u r e Only 5 o r g a n i z a t i o n s i n d i c a t e d that the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r di d not r e p o r t w i t h i n the EDP a c t i v i t y (Question 1 answer of \u2022no'). Table XV g i v e s a frequency d i s t r i b u t i o n t o Question 3, the r e p o r t i n g l e v e l of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r i n the o r q a n i z a t i o n i The number of employees i n the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n ranqed between 1 and 21. Over 80% of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n s c o n s i s t e d of 5 or fewer i n d i v i d u a l s (Table XVI). Experience Experience of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n (Question 6) ranqed from 0 t o 8 years with almost 70% havinq 3 years or l e s s experience (Table XVII). A response of 0 i n d i c a t e d t h a t the f u n c t i o n was i n the process of beinq e s t a b l i s h e d when the survey packaqe was r e c e i v e d . 44 | TABLE XV | I Reporting Level of DA I | Number of Levels j | Between DA and' Relative I | Head of Frequency I | Orqanization Frequency (%) I 1 4 5.8 2 18 26,. 1 3 28 40.6 4 16 23.2 5 2 2.9 6 1 1.4 69 100.0 TABLE XVI Size of DA-Number of Employees Number of DA Relative Employees Frequency Freguency (%) 1 1 15 21.7 2 15 21.7 3 16 23.2 4 3 4; 3 5 6 8.. 7 6 4 5i8 7 3 4.3 > 7 5 7.0 67 100.0 45 I TABLE XVII Experience of DA Years of R e l a t i v e Experience Frequency Frequency (%) 0.0 3 4.3 0. 5 5 7i2 1.0 15 21.7 1.2 1 1.4 1. 5 3 4.3 2.0 14 20:3 2.5 2 2.9 3. 0 5 7; 2 3.5 1 1.4 4.0 9 13.0 5.0 6 8.7 6. 0 3 4*3 7.0 1 1.4 8,0 1 1.4 69 100.0 Scope Responses to Question 12(a) i n d i c a t e d t h a t few Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s are r e s p o n s i b l e f o r non machine readable data (53 or 77% responded 0%) ; Responses to Question 12(b) i n d i c a t e d t h a t Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s are not even r e s p o n s i b l e f o r a l l the machine read a b l e data (Table X V I I I ) . The responses to Question 13 ranqed between 15 and 110,000 m i l l i o n s of c h a r a c t e r s of data (Table XIX). L i t t l e of t h i s data i s shared between a p p l i c a t i o n s but there i s some e x p e c t a t i o n t h a t more cou l d be shared i n the absence of t e c h n i c a l and other c o n s t r a i n t s (Table XX). TABLE XVIII Scope of DA F r a c t i o n of Machine Readable Data Under DA B e s p o n s i b i l i t y F r a c t i o n cf E e l a t i v e Machine Frequency Readable Data Frequency (%) 25 % or l e s s 20 29 26 - 50 35 10 14 51.- 75 % 6 9 76 % cr more 30 44 missing 3 4 69 100 TABLE XIX Size of Machine Eeadable Data Besource M i l l i o n s of E e l a t i v e C h a r a c t e r s Frequency Frequency < 500 12 17 500 - 1000 12 17 1001 - 1500 6 9 1501 - 3000 7 10 3001 - 7500 10 15 > 7500 13 19 missing 9 13 69 100 47 i Table XX Sharing of Data Number of Respondents Range (%) Actually Shared Potentially Sharable 0 - 2 5 26 - 50 51 - 75 76 -100 missing answer 44 16 3 3 3 16 16 18 12 7 69 69 L I Tools Questions 20 (Data Dictionary), 25 (Online Generalized Query F a c i l i t y ) , 26 (Batch Generalized Query F a c i l i t y ) , 27 (Online Parametric Query F a c i l i t y ) , 28 (Batch Generalized Query F a c i l i t y ) , and 30 (Information Requirements Methodology) were transformed to dichotomous variables with a value of 1 in d i c a t i n g the use of the tool and 0 indicating the non-use of the t o o l . Table XXI gives a freguency d i s t r i b u t i o n of the usage of the various t c c l s . The Data Base Management System i s not used extensively for the management of data (Table XXII)*. Hypothesis H2, was tested using Pearson c o r r e l a t i o n analysis. As shown i n Table X X l l i , Data Administration function experience i s not highly correlated with the use of any of the tools* Hypothesis H2 must therefore be rejected. TABLE XXI Use of DA T o o l s Tool With Without Dafa Base Management System 64 5 Data D i c t i o n a r y D i r e c t o r y 44 25 Online g e n e r a l i z e d guery f a c i l i t y 31 38 Online parametric guery f a c i l i t y 31 37 B a t c h - g e n e r a l i z e d guery f a c i l i t y 45 22 B a t c h parametric guery f a c i l i t y 24 44 Info r m a t i o n reguirements methodology 28 40 Table XXII Percentage o f Computer A p p l i c a t i o n s Using DBMS Percentage Number Frequency (%) < 20 28 40.6 21 - 40 13 18.8 4 1 - 6 0 10 ' 14.5 6 1 - 8 0 10 14.5 81 -100 3 7.2 no DBMS 5 7.2 69 100.0 49 TABLE XXIII DA Experience vs Use of T o o l s Tool Pearson C o r r e l a t i o n Data Base Management Systems Data D i c t i o n a r y D i r e c t o r y O nline G e n e r a l i z e d Query F a c i l i t y Batch G e n e r a l i z e d Query F a c i l t y O n l i n e Parametric Query F a c i l i t y Batch Parametric Query F a c i l i t y I n f o r m a t i o n Reguirements Methodology . 2179 .0623 ,.0798 .0303 . 2369 .2270 .0617 (n=69, (n=69, )n=69, (n=69, (n=68, (n=68, (n=68. p=. 036) p=. 306) p=.257) p=.404) p=.026) p=. 03 1) p=.308) Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r Background and Experience Table XXIV suggests t h a t Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s have s t r o n g computer technology backgrounds and experience.but they do not have s t r o n g managerial backgrounds or experience,. TABLE XXIV Background of Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r Item No. (%) Computer technology background 61 (91) 1 year's exp. i n a f u n c t i o n a l area 12 (18) >2 years' exp. i n a f u n c t i o n a l area 24 (35) Bachelor degree-Computer Science 20 (30) Bachelor degree-Business Admin. 11 (16) Bachelor degree-Arts 5 ( 8) Bachelor degree-Science 13 (19) T e c h n i c a l s c h o o l diploma 6 ( 9) Post grad degree-Business Admin. 3 ( 5) Post grad degree-Computer Science 8 (12) Post grad degree-other 2 ( 3 ) >3 y e a r s ' s u p e r v i s o r y experience' 51 (76) DBMS experience 41 (61) Systems development experience 62 (93) M i s s i n g cases= 2 50 Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s In order t o t e s t hypotheses H3 and H4, Questions 38 to 72 f i r s t had to be c l a s s i f i e d as e i t h e r \" a d m i n i s t r a t i v e \" or \" t e c h n i c a l \" r e p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Second, a s i n g l e measure of the time spent on each s e t of r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s was r e q u i r e d - The r e s e a r c h e r performed the c l a s s i f i c a t i o n using S e c r e s t ' s dichotomy (see Chapter I I ) . . Questions 38 to 49, 51 to 55, 57, 66, and 68 to 72 were c l a s s i f i e d as \" a d m i n i s t r a t i v e \" r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s while a l l others were c l a s s i f i e d as \" t e c h n i c a l \" . In order to determine i f the c l a s s i f i c a t i o n was done c o r r e c t l y , r e l i a b i l i t y t e s t s were performed on the \" a d m i n i s t r a t i v e \" and \" t e c h n i c a l \" r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s (responses to \"A Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n R e s p o n s i b i l i t y ? \" ) . Alpha f o r \" a d m i n i s t r a t i v e \" r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s was .81700., Alpha f o r \" t e c h n i c a l \" r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s was .86117. These r e s u l t s suggest t h a t the questions had been c l a s s i f i e d c o r r e c t l y . A l l responses to 'PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY* w e r e . f i r s t adjusted t o a f r a c t i o n of 100%, i f the t o t a l percentage f o r a l l questions exceeded 100%. Where the t o t a l was l e s s than 100%, no adjustment was made because these respondents were assumed to be spending time on other a c t i v i t i e s not q u e r i e d i n t h i s q u e s t i o n n a i r e . Before a d j u s t i n q the percentaqes, f r a c t i o n a l responses (eg. .5%) were rounded up to the next whole number (eg. 1%). Second, a l l responses to the adjusted 'PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY* were transformed to Z s c o r e s (mean of 0, v a r i a n c e of 1). T h i r d , APSCALE was computed as the sum of the a d j u s t e d and s t a n d a r d i z e d responses to the ' a d m i n i s t r a t i v e ' 51 quest i o n s 'PEBCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY'. For ' t e c h n i c a l ' q u e s t ions, a s i m i l a r sum, TPSCALE, was computed.. Table XXV g i v e s the c o r r e l a t i o n between the composite s c a l e s and Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n experience (Question 6 ) . The low c o r r e l a t i o n s suggest that there i s l i t t l e r e l a t i o n s h i p between t h e years of experience of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n and the time spent on a d m i n i s t r a t i v e or t e c h n i c a l a c t i v i t i e s . The time spent on t e c h n i c a l a c t i v i t i e s would, however, appear to be g r e a t e r f o r more experienced f u n c t i o n s than l e s s experienced ones; F u r t h e r t e s t i n g of the experience versus r e s p o n s i b i l i t y hypotheses (H3 and H4) was done using o n e - t a i l e d t - t e s t s . | TABLE XXIV I I J3A Experience and T i me Spent on I i T e c h n i c a l and A d m i n i s t r a t i v e B e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s I I Pearson C o r r e l a t i o n I | Composite V a r i a b l e C o r r e l a t i o n with Experience | .0716 (n=63, p=. 288) \u2022 | . 2589 (n=64., p=.019) I I I I ; I A o n e - t a i l e d t - t e s t was performed on p a r t i t i o n s of Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n experience (Question 6) a g a i n s t TPSCALE and APSCALE. Table XXVI and XXVII show the r e s u l t s of a p a r t i t i o n of Question 6 i n t o 2 groups- those with 2 years or l e s s of experience and those with more than 2 years e x p e r i e n c e . There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e i n means f o r TPSCALE but not f o r APSCALE TPSCALE 52 APSCALE. The re s u l t s suggest that more experienced Data Administration functions spend a greater percentage . of t h e i r time on technical r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s than l e s s experienced ones. There i s l i t t l e difference i n the times spent by experienced and inexperienced functions on administrative r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s * The analysis indicates that the two hypotheses on experience.and r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s (H3 and H4) must be rejected. r 1 TABLE XXVI DA Experience and Time Spent Technical R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s One-tailed T-test on Item < 2 Years Experience >= 2 Years Experience Number of cases Mean time spent (Standardized) Standard deviation F Value 2 t a i l e d probability T Value Degrees of freedom 1-tailed probability 35 -1.5684 27 2* 0432 4.486 4.490 1.000 .983 .0015 53 TABLE XXVII DA Experience and Time Spent on Administrative R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s One-tailed T-test < 2 Years >= 2 Years Item Experience Experience Number of cases 34 27 Mean time spent -.0090 .7117 (Standardized) Standard deviation 6.888 5. 544 F Value 1.54 2 t a i l e d probability .258 T Value -.44 Degrees of freedom 59 1-tailed probability .165 The sum of the mean times spent on administrative r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s was 63.971% whereas the sum of the mean times spent on technical responsibilities.was 19.257%. Overall then Data Administation functions.spend more time on administrative r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s than technical ones; The hypothesis (H5) must be accepted; The mean times spent on the a c t i v i t i e s are evenly dis t r i b u t e d and no one a c t i v i t y stands out above the others (Table XXVIII). Most respondents indicated that they would be spending more time 2 years from now on nearly a l l the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Questions 42, 45, 49, 50 and 55 can be viewed as s t a r t up tasks and therefore one might expect less time to be spent on them 2 years from now. 54 TABLE XXVIII B e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s I Mean Time Standard 2 Years Hence {%) |Question Besp. (%) Spent (%) D e v i a t i o n LESS MOEE | | 35 66.7 2.277 3.720 2.9 58.0 | J 36 82.4 5.263 5.572 0. 0 68.1 | | 37 79.7 3.832 4.406 2.9 66.7 | | 38 79.7 2.011 2.508 2. 9 63.8 | | 39 69.6 1.194 2. 157 2.9 65.2 | 1 40 97. 1 3.901 3.92 8 0.0 71.0 | | 41 76.8 3.076 4.822 1.4 68.1 | I 42 92,. 8 4.389 4.688 5. 8 60.9 | | 43 65.2 1.059 1.706 1. 4 47.8 | | 44 84. 1 1.567 1.945 0.0 53.6 | j 45 82.6 2.687 3^425 5* 8 44.9 | ] 46 49.3 .999 1.695 0;. 0 46.4 | | 47 91.3 3.043 3.367 2.9 53.6 | | 48 53.6 1.035 2.097 2* 9 50.7 | | 49 82.6 2.900 3.585 7*2 34.8 | I 50 76.8 2.833 3.840 11.6 36.2 | I 51 68. 1 2.487 6.567 219 60.9 | I 52 17.4 .194 .721 1. 4 17.4 | I 53 76.8 5.672 7*603 1.4 50.7 | | 54 68. 1 1.609 3.063 1. 4 46.4 | | 55 78.3 4.586 5.117 8.7 37.7 | I 56 75.4 3.929 4.444 4. 3 36.2 | | 57 46.4 .599 1.675 1.4 46.4 | | 58 82.6 1.659 3.303 1.4 59.4 | I 59 76.8 1.318 1^ 852 2.9 55.1 | | 60 63.8 .902 1.619 1.4 49.3 | I 61 82.6 1.920 2.916 1.4 42.0 | 1 62 72.5 1.321 2.003 0. 0 36.2 | | 63 58*0 .95 8 1.577 1*4 33.3 | | 64 63.8 1.896 3.137 1.4 37.7 | 1 65 79.7 1.067 1.600 1*4 37.7 | | 66 31.9 .340 1.004 0,. 0 36.2 | 1 67 55. 1 1.433 2.437 2. 9 33.3 | | 68 31.9 .333 .969 0.0 33.3 | 1 69 43.5 .527 1.641 1.4 36.2 | 1 70 81.2 5.228 10. 203 2. 9 50.0 | 1 71 50.7 1.179 3.337 1.4 46.4 | | 72 66.7 1.163 1.485 0. 0 50.7 | 55 CHAPTER V SUMMARY, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Survey Package Response The mail survey achieved a response rate of 47.12% (Table I ) . As shown i n tables II and I I I , the responses were evenly d i s t r i b u t e d over the private and public sectors,. The need to recode several responses to Question 7 on the EDPPQ (dealing with the existence of a Data Administration function) leads to speculation that the r e l i a b i l i t y of t h i s guestion i s low. A r e l i a b i l i t y index could have been constructed from a random sample of the respondents; unfortunately time and funds were not a v a i l a b l e . j Nevertheless, the r e l i a b i l i t y of t h i s guestion i s probably high enough to warrant use of the data for projections over the entire population. The measurement \"error\" in t h i s question can res u l t only i f respondents answer 'yes' when the \"true\" answer i s \u2022no', or respondents answer \"no1 when the \"true\" answer i s \u2022yes'. In the f i r s t s i t u a t i o n , the researcher can e a s i l y v e r i f y the r e l i a b i l i t y of the answers by examininq the returned DAPQs or the explanations given for f a i l i n g to return a completed DAPQ. Only 3 organizations answered 'yes* and did not return a DAPQ. One of , these organizations explained that t h e i r Data Administration function had only recently been established and, as a consequence, they did not want to spend the \"great deal of time\" that might be required to research the 56 answers to the DAPQ. Only 4 o r g a n i z a t i o n s with 'yes' answers t h a t r e t u r n e d a DAPQ were recoded t o 'no*. T h e i r answers to the DAPQ i n d i c a t e d t h a t they d i d not have a separate Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n (ss Chapter IV) . In the second s i t u a t i o n , the r e s e a r c h e r c o u l d v e r i f y the response i f a DAPQ was re t u r n e d . The res e a r c h e r recoded 16 cases where the respondent had i n d i c a t e d the non-existence o f a Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n but returned a.completed DAPQ (see Chapter I V ) . In many of these cases the person completing the DAPQ had a t i t l e of \"Data Base - A d m i n i s t r a t o r \" . Some r e c e n t l i t e r a t u r e * 2 d i f f e r e n t i a t e s between a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r and a Data Base A d m i n i s t r a t o r . The l a t t e r r e p o r t s t o the former and i s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r the more t e c h n i c a l a c t i v i t i e s a s s o c i a t e d with managing data*. Since the r e s u l t s of t h i s study suggest that t h e r e may be s e v e r a l \" d i f f e r e n t \" t y pes of Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s , * 3 i t i s h i g h l y probable t h a t these recoded o r g a n i z a t i o n s had i n mind a \" c o r p o r a t e \" Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r when responding to Question 7 of the EDPPQ. I f t h i s q u e s t i o n was s i m i l a r i l y i n t e r p r e t e d by other respondents who d i d not r e t u r n a DAPQ, the r e s u l t s o f t h i s study, c l e a r l y , would not be m a t e r i a l l y a f f e c t e d . Since c o n s i d e r a b l e i n t e r e s t i n the * 2 GOIDE, E s t a b l i s h i n g the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n F u n c t i o n , i b i d , page 25. * 3 T h i s c o n c l u s i o n i s dis c u s s e d l a t e r i n t h i s c h a p t e r . 57 r e s u l t s was shown by the p a r t i c i p a n t s , * * i t i s not l i k e l y t h a t responding o r g a n i z a t i o n s with a \" c o r p o r a t e \" Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r p u r p o s e f u l l y answered 'no'. The Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n F u n c t i o n i\u00a3 Large Canadian O r g a n i z a t i o n s The r e s u l t s of t h i s study suggest t h a t : 1. Few l a r g e Canadian o r g a n i z a t i o n s have a Data Admin i s t r a t o r . 2. O r g a n i z a t i o n s with very l a r g e EDP a c t i v i t i e s are more l i k e l y to have a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r than s m a l l e r ones. 3. O r g a n i z a t i o n s with more than 10 years of experience with computers are more l i k e l y to have a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r than those with l e s s experience, 4. O r g a n i z a t i o n a l types that c o u l d be c o n s i d e r e d to have d i s c r e t i o n a r y funds a v a i l a b l e are more l i k e l y to have a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r than those with more l i m i t e d funds. The c o r r e l a t i o n between the e x i s t e n c e of a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r and the s i z e of the EDP a c t i v i t y , and the c o r r e l a t i o n between the e x i s t e n c e of a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r and the experience of the o r g a n i z a t i o n with computers are both very low, s u g g e s t i n g t h a t s i z e and experience are probably necessary 4 4 A comment r e c e i v e d from a l a r g e i n t e g r a t e d mining company i s t y p i c a l of many responses r e c e i v e d . . \" I f e e l t h a t the s u b j e c t of Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n - as p e r c e i v e d by your study - i s a l c n g overlooked e s s e n t i a l component needed to s u c c e s s f u l l y b r i n g computer \"based Management Information Systems t o play t h e i r expected r o l e i n l a r g e o r g a n i z a t i o n s . \" Only two o r g a n i z a t i o n s bothered to r e t u r n g u e s t i o n n a i r e s with negative commentary (a l a r g e s t e e l producer and a l a r g e t r u s t company), 58 but n o t s u f f i c i e n t c o n d i t i o n s f o r the presence o f a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r * A c c o r d i n g t o GUIDE, 4 5 c o n s i d e r a b l e funds might be r e q u i r e d t o e s t a b l i s h a Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n . GUIDE a l s o s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e b e n e f i t s a t t r i b u t a b l e t o the i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of a Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n a r e a c h i e v e a b l e o n l y t h rough the i m p l e m e n t a t i o n and enforcement o f c e r t a i n d a t a management p o l i c i e s . Some o f thes e p o l i c i e s cannot be e n f o r c e d w i t h o u t a \" r e w r i t e \" o r r e d e s i g n of e x i s t i n g a p p l i c a t i o n systems. As a consequence, t h e e x p e n d i t u r e o f c o n s i d e r a b l e f u n d s , beyond merely s t a f f i n g t h e Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n and p u r c h a s i n g a Data Base Management System* would be r e q u i r e d t o a c h i e v e such b e n e f i t s as improved d a t a a v a i l a b i l i t y , reduced d a t a redundancy, improved d a t a s e c u r i t y , and a h i g h e r degree of data i n t e g r i t y ; I n s h o r t , the c o s t s a re v e r y v i s i b l e . i n t he s h o r t r u n , but t h e b e n e f i t s a re more i n t a n g i b l e and pr o b a b l y n o t r e a l i z a b l e f o r many y e a r s a f t e r the e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f t h e Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n . T h e r e f o r e , o r g a n i z a t i o n s w i t h d i s c r e t i o n a r y f u n d s a v a i l a b l e would be more l i k e l y t o embark on the path towards a c h i e v i n g the l o n g term b e n e f i t s o f Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n . Some o t h e r r e a s o n s f o r the low occurence o f Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s i n l a r g e Canadian o r g a n i z a t i o n s a r e d i s c u s s e d l a t e r i n t h i s c h a p t e r . , \u2022 5 GUIDE, i b i d . 59 Stage Model of EDP Growth The \"maturity\" of the organization's EDP a c t i v i t y was not found to be a good predictor of the existence of a Data Administrator; Furthermore, the v a l i d i t y of the \"maturity\" construct used must be guestioned since the \"maturity\" variables were not found to be highly p o s i t i v e l y intercorrelated* The researcher could not, however, validate the \"maturity\" measurement c r i t e r i a used i n t h i s study against Nolan's studies because Nolan has never published an e x p l i c i t formulation f o r h i s measurement of \"maturity\", nor any psychometric evidence of the construct v a l i d i t y of t h i s concept or i t s measure. Nolan's writings also f a i l to mention the size of the companies (EDP employees or hardware expenditures) he studied. United States organizations are, as a whole, larger than si m i l a r Canadian organizations.* 6 Therefore, i t i s possible that Canadian organizations are just not 'large enough* for the problem of data management to have become serious. Several other reasons were given by the respondents to explain why they didn't have a Data Administrator: a) a lack of top management support and therefore the necessary budget, b) organizational decentralization (functional and\/or 46 j n \"The Fortune Directory of the 500 Largest US Industrial Corporations\"-, the 500th organization had sales of $379,948,000 ( FORTUNE, May 7, 1979). This would have placed t h i s organization at about the 80th position i n the top 400 Canadian Indu s t r i a l organizations ( Canadian Business. July 1978). 6 0 geographical) i s not compatible with the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n concept, c) a high degree of user involvement i n the systems development process i s not compatible with the establishment of a Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n , d) user departments- are r e s p o n s i b l e f o r managing t h e i r data r e s o u r c e , e) a Data Base Management System i s necessary before t h e r e i s a need f o r a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r . The comments about d e c e n t r a l i z a t i o n and user involvement suggest t h a t the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n concept may not be well understood by the sampled o r g a n i z a t i o n s . C l e a r l y , f o r example, d e c e n t r a l i z a t i o n does not hinder the establishment of a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r as Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n i s a p o l i c y s e t t i n g and c o o r d i n a t i n g f u n c t i o n . Nolan does not seem t o have i n c l u d e d the p o s s i b i l i t y of such i n d i v i d u a l m i sperception i n h i s model. C l o s e l y r e l a t e d to the misperception i s s u e i s corpora t e \" p o l i t i c s \" , which a l s o does not seem t o be accounted f o r by Nolan. These items w i l l be d i s c u s s e d l a t e r i n t h i s chapter. Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n S p e c i a l i z a t i o n O r g a n i z a t i o n a l S t r u c t u r e The r e s u l t s of t h i s study suggest t h a t : 1. Very few Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s r e p o r t o u t s i d e the EDP 61 a c t i v i t y . 2. The Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s r e p o r t f a i r l y low i n the o r g a n i z a t i o n a l h i e r a r c h y . 3. Few people work i n the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n . Experience The sample Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n s were found to be q u i t e i n e x p e r i e n c e d as most had e x i s t e d f o r l e s s than 3 y e a r s . The f i r s t p u b l i s h e d l i t e r a t u r e on the Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n only began t o appear i n 1971, or about 8 years ago. Perhaps a l o n g e r time p e r i o d i s r e q u i r e d f o r o r q a n i z a t i o n s to become aware of and e v a l u a t e the concept. Scope Th i s study found t h a t : 1. Except f o r a few ca s e s . Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s were not r e s p o n s i b l e f o r any of the non-machine-readable data resource* 2. Only o n e - t h i r d of the Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s were r e s p o n s i b l e f o r the e n t i r e machine-readable data resource. 3. The s i z e of the machine-readable data resource v a r i e d c o n s i d e r a b l y among.the sampled o r g a n i z a t i o n s . 4. L i t t l e of the machine-readable data resource was shared among a p p l i c a t i o n systems. 5. There was l i t t l e agreement among the sampled Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s as t o how much o f the data resource was p o t e n t i a l l y s h a r e a b l e . 62 Tools This study found that: 1. Nearly a l l the respondents used a Data Base Management System (DBMS) and there were 14 organizations that used more than one DBMS. 2. The Data Administration function was established a f t e r the acqui s i t i o n of a DBMS i n 67% of the cases. 3..-. The DBMSs were not used extensively by the sampled Data Administration functions. 4.. Many of the respondents did not have a Data Dictionary\/Directory.. Only 7 respondents ventured a quess as to the number of data elements that e x i s t i n t h e i r organization. 5. About 50% of the Data Administrators had online query f a c i l i t i e s but t h e i r use was limited to a small f r a c t i o n of the machine-readable data resoure. 6. In 59% of the cases the approach to be used for determining the information needs of managers was l e f t to the d i s c r e t i o n of the systems analyst. 7. The use of c e r t a i n t o o l s was not related to the l e v e l of experience cf the Data Administration function. Data Administrator Background and Experience Most of the Data Administrators had a strong computer technology background and a strong systems development background with several years of supervisory experience. Few had any experience i n the functional areas of management or a university degree i n business administration* 63 Data Administration R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s This study found that: 1. A l l but 5 Data Administrators were responsible for the technical a c t i v i t i e s associated with managing the data resource (Question 7 of the DAPQ). 2. Few Data Administrators had implemented standards for the capture, maintenance or dissemination of data, but most had developed standards for the d e f i n i t i o n and storage of data. 3. A l l Data Administrators spent considerably more time on administrative r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s than technical ones. 4. More experienced Data Administrators spent r e l a t i v e l y more time on technical a c t i v i t i e s than le s s experienced ones; 5. The r e l a t i v e amount of time spent by Data Administrators on administrative a c t i v i t i e s was not a function of their experience. 6. The major administrative tasks performed by the Data Administrators were associated with providing a lia s o n function between the \"data bases\" and system analysts and users. Few of the policy setting a c t i v i t i e s were performed by the Data Administrators. 7. About 20% of the time spent by Data Administrators was unaccounted for by the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s queried i n t h i s survey. 8. The sampled Data Administration functions exhibited a wide .dispersion i n both the a c t i v i t i e s performed and the amount of time spent on each. 64 9-i Very few Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r s i n d i c a t e d t h a t they would be spending l e s s time 2 years from now on any of the a c t i v i t i e s . Depending on the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y , anywhere from one-^third t o two-thirds of the respondents i n d i c a t e d t h a t they would be spending more time on the a c t i v i t y 2 years hence. I t i s i n t e r e s t i n g to note, however, t h a t although a l l the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s gueried were descibed i n the l i t e r a t u r e as c o n s t i t u t i n g the major r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of a Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r , there was no concensus among the respondents that these a c t i v i t i e s were i n f a c t t h e i r r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Many a c t i v i t i e s t h a t are s t r o n g l y managerially o r i e n t e d had fewer than 75% cf the respondents answering *yes\u00bb;. The above r e s u l t s would suggest t h a t t h e r e may be \" d i f f e r e n t \" types of Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n s . * 7 The l a c k of a trend away from \" t e c h n i c a l \" and towards \" a d m i n i s t r a t i v e \" r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s may a l s o be e x p l a i n e d i n t h i s way. O r g a n i z a t i o n s can choose one of s e v e r a l r o l e s f o r t h e i r Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r . T h e r e f o r e a f u n c t i o n with l i t t l e experience c o u l d e x h i b i t the same c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s as one which has been i n e x i s t e n c e f o r s e v e r a l years. F i g u r e 1 d e p i c t s the d i f f e r e n t r o l e s of the Data Adminis-* 7 In a study of 25 Data A d m i n i s t r a t i o n f u n c t i o n s i n the New York area, Weldon obtained s i m i l a r r e s u l t s ( J* L. Weldon, Data Base A d m i n i s t r a t i o n : O r g a n i z a t i o n and Tasks, Working Paper #78-143, November 1978, New York U n i v e r s i t y , Graduate School of Business A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ) 65 t r a t o r ; . In t h i s s i m p l i f i e d view, the scope of the data under the control of the Data administrator can either be application s p e c i f i c or corporate wide. S i m i l a r i l y , the tasks performed can be categorized as either technical or administrative* an organization can choose either an application or corporate perspective and then can assign technical and\/or administrative r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s to the Data administrator. I f the Data administrator i s to play a support or advisory role within the EDP a c t i v i t y , then the benefits attributable to a corporate Data Administration function are not l i k e l y to be achieved: p o l i c i e s can not be created at t h i s l e v e l . * 8 FIGUBE 1 Roles of the Data Administrator PERSPECTIVE TASKS Application I Corporate | Technical 1 | 2 I Administrative 3 i 4 | * 8 A large insurance company replied that they had made two f a l s e s t a r t s at getting the Data Administration concept established i n the EDP a c t i v i t y . They are now convinced that the function, i f i t i s to manage the corporate data resource, must be set up outside the EDP a c t i v i t y . This company i s now establishing the function i n i t s corporate planning department. 66 Bole of Data Administrator The above results suggest that the Data Administration function in large Canadian organizations i s not at an advanced stage of \"evolution. The high incidence of DBMSs suggests that the function was probably formed around the acgui s i t i o n of a DBMS. Note that the sampled \"functions were staffed by persons competent in \"the use and application of a DBMS.. The extent to which t h i s t o o l i s used, which seems to be small, may indicate the role that the Data Administrator i s expected to play i n the organization. That i s , i f the DBMS i s used to manage a small f r a c t i o n of the machine-readable data resource, then the Data Administrator l i k e l y has a minor role i n the EDP a c t i v i t y . This minor role w i l l be discussed more l a t e r i n the chapter. The lack of a pos i t i v e and high c o r r e l a t i o n between the use of Query F a c i l i t i e s and the experience. of the Data Administration function may be explained by an \"application\" perspective to the design of systems. Some applications, such as banking, may require the use of Online Query F a c i l i t i e s for routine transaction processing so that the existence of t h i s t o o l does not necessarily indicate an \"advanced\" Data Administration function. The low incidence of use of Data Administration tools, other than the DBMS, plus the fact that the tools tend to be applied to a small f r a c t i o n of the data resource, suggest that the Data Administrators are not taking a coordinated approach to the management of the machine-readable data resource. In order to explain the finding that the Data 67 Administration function usually occupies a r e l a t i v e l y minor role within the EDP a c t i v i t y , we consider the following hypothetical decision: Should our organization form a separate Data Administration function? I f so, what role should i t perform i n managing the data resource? Since very few small EDP a c t i v i t i e s ( i . e . < 28 persons) had separate Data Administration functions, those organizations have either not considered t h i s decision or concluded that the coordinating r c l e of a Data Administrator i s unlikely to be required when so few people are involved i n the management of the data resource. The researcher was therefore primarily interested in the larger EDP a c t i v i t i e s i n the sample. If the Data Administration function i s to perform a minor role i n the EDP group, then EDP Management can probably implement the function without consultation with Users or Senior Management. Some EDP Managers might have done just t h i s , a n t i c i p a t i n g that the role would l a t e r expand i n scope* The l i t e r a t u r e , however, stresses that the Data Administrator should perform a coordinating and policy setting r o l e . Therefore Senior Manaqement should be the \"choice unit\" the one to make the decision to have a Data Administrator. The Users and EDP Manaqement are considered to be \"information units\"-suppliers of information to the choice unit* and \"action units\"-implementors of the choice unit's decision (see Figure 2). Having l i t t l e exposure to the Data Administration concept and perhaps being r e l a t i v e l y uninterested i n the problems associated with managing the data resource. Senior Management 68 i s unlikely to i n i t i a t e the implementation of a corporate Data Administrator (see Chapter I ) . FIGURE 2 Relationship of Players i n the Decision to Form a Data Administration Function I I | SENIOR | CHOICE UNIT | MANAGEMENT| i I I I I I | USERS | I EDP | | | | MANAGEMENT] I I I I INFORMATION AND ACTION UNITS Misperceptions of the Data Administrator role by Users and EDP Management or c o n f l i c t s between them may also account f o r the low l e v e l of Data Administration a c t i v i t y i n large Canadian organizations. Three possible scenarios i l l u s t r a t e t h i s conclusions 1. EDP Management, because of i t s involvement with a l l functional areas of management and exposure to the Data Administration concept, perceives a need f o r a separate Data Administration function. This need i s corporate wide and therefore requires the support of Users.. As with any other project, the Users and EDP Management develop a 69 cost\/benefit statement* Benefits are found to be e n t i r e l y intangible i n the short run yet costs are extremely visible.. As a consequence, the Data Administration project i s placed at the end of a lonq l i s t of projects with measurable benefits. When t h i s backlog has been reduced. Data Administration w i l l be implemented. 2. When approached by EDP Management about a Data Administration project. Users suggest that they are already performing the function, and very well at t h a t . 4 9 Without the support of Users, EDP Management would be unlikely to make a presentation to Senior Management* for fear of weakening the User-EDP a c t i v i t y relationship so necessary f o r successful implementation of computer systems. 3. EDP Management examines the Data Administration l i t e r a t u r e and concludes that the concept i s not applicable to th e i r organization (eg. the decentralized environment of the i r company i s considered to be incompatible with a corporate Data Administration concept). Conclusions The r e s u l t s of t h i s study suggest that Data Administration has not emerged tc any large extent as a separate functional s p e c i a l i t y i n large Canadian organizations.. Organizational 4 9 The accounting and finance departments have t r a d i t i o n a l y played a major r o l e i n supplying information to management f o r decision making purposes. These groups l i k e l y have i n s t i t u t e d over many years several p o l i c i e s and procedures f o r the control of the non-machine readable data resource. 70 c o n f l i c t s and a general misunderstanding of the function by EDP Management have l i k e l y held back the development o f the function beyond\" one involved primarily with the support of DBMS application systems. Future research should be directed at understanding these c o n f l i c t s and misperceptions through an analysis of the decision process involved in establishing the Data administration function; i n p a r t i c u l a r , how a cost\/benefit analysis of the Data Administration i s or might be performed. An attempt should be made to more f u l l y understand the data resource and how i t might d i f f e r among organizational types. Indepth interviews could be conducted within the very large Canadian EDP functions using t h e i r responses to t h i s survey as a point of departure* Before further use i s made of Nolan's Stage Growth \"model, serious \"thought\u2022should be given to determining i n more precise terms what the EDP growth process variables are. and how they might best be measured. Without such a base, empirical testing of the model i s not possible. 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J.17\/J Kimberly, John E. , \" O r g a n i z a t i o n a l S i z e and the-S t r u c t u r a l i s t P e r s p e c t i v e : A Review, C r i t i q u e , and P r o p o s a l \" , A d m i n i s t r a t i v e Science Q u a r t e r l y . (21:4), December 1976, pages 571-597. J.18\/J Lyon, John K. , The Data Base A d m i n i s t r a t o r . John Wiley & Sons, New York 1976. \u00a319] Lyon, John K., \"The Role of The Data Base A d m i n i s t r a t o r \" , Database, Winter 1971, pages 11-12. \u00a320] Mantha, Robert W. , An A n a l y s i s - o f S k i l l Reguirements In Data P r o c e s s i n g Environments, unpublished master's t h e s i s , U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1978. 121Q M a r t i n , James, P r i n c i p l e s of Data Base Manage met. P r e n t i c e H a l l , Englewood C l i f f s , N.^~J. 1976. \u00a322] Nie, Norman H. et a l . S t a t i s t i c a l Package f o r the S o c i a l S c i e n c e s . Second E d i t i o n , McGraw H i l l Book Company 1975. \u00a323] Nolan, R i c h a r d L., \"Computer Data Bases: The Future I s Now\", Harvard Business Review^. September-October 1973, pages 98-114. [24;] Nolan, Richard L., Managing the Data Resource F u n c t i o n . West P u b l i s h i n g Co. 1974. \u00a325] Nolan, Richard L., \"Thoughts About the F i f t h Stage\", Database, (7:2), 1975, pages 4-10. \u00a326] Nolan,: Richard L., \" O r g a n i z a t i o n a l Response and Information Technology\", Proceedoings of the N a t i o n a l Computer Conference 1978, pages 517-524; \u00a327] Nolan, Richard L,., \"Managing the C r i s e s i n Data P r o c e s s i n g \" , Harvard Business Review, (57:2), March-April 1979. J.28Q Oppenheimer, A. N., Q u e s t i o n n a i r e Design and A t t i t u d e Measurement B a s i c Books, Inc. New York, 1966. J.29.JJ S e c r e s t , R i c h a r d D., \"The Data A d m i n i s t r a t o r \" , i n McFarlan, F. W. and Richard L, Nolan, ~The Information Systems Handbook. Dow Jones-Irwin, Inc* Homewood, I l l i n o i s , 1975. \u00a330!]Seltiz, C. e t a l . Research Methods i n S o c i a l Relations,, 73 Holt, B i n e h a r t and Winston, Inc, Bevised E d i t i o n , 1967. \u00a331] Sprowls, B. C l a y , Management Data Bases, Wiley Hamilton, Santa Barbara, 1976. i 32 J T i l l i n g h a s t , J . , \" E s t a b l i s h i n g a Framework f o r Data Base P l a n n i n g \" , Auerbach P u b l i s h e r s Inc. 1976. \u00a333] Weldon, J.L. , Data Base A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , O r g a n i z a t i o n and Tasks, Working Paper #78-143, November 1978, New York U n i v e r s i t y , Graduate School of Business A d m i n i s t r a t i o n . \u00a334.] Wiorkowski, G. K. and J . J . Wiorkowski, \"Does a Data Base Management System Pay O f f ? \" , Datamation, A p r i l 1978, pages 109-114. \u00a335] Y a s a k i , E. K., \"The Many Faces of the DBA\", Datamation, May 1977, pages 75-79. 74 A P P E N D I X A E D P P R O F I L E Q U E S T I O N N A I R E DATA RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SURVEY EDP PROFILE QUESTIONNAIRE (TO BE COMPLETED BY THE MANAGER OF THE EDP ACTIVITY) Name of organization Please indicate your job position\/title This questionnaire is designed to assess the stage of development of the Electronic Data Processing (EDP) activity in large Canadian organizations. For the sake of this study, the EDP activity is considered to be the development, operation and maintenance of computer based information or data processing systems. This questionnaire will be used to generate a profile of the EDP activity in large Canadian organizations. Throughout the questionnaire the phrase \"your organization\" will mean your entire company, agency or institution. If we want information about only the EDP activity, we will indicate that explicitly. Please answer all of the questions asked. You may be assured that all information obtained will be used specifically for research purposes and under no circumstances will individual responses be disclosed. The questionnaire will not take more than 30_ minutes of your time. Once completed, please mail the questionnaire in the attached prepaid self addressed envelope. We would be grateful if you could return the completed questionnaire to us by 6 February, 1979. If you wish to receive a copy of the research results please attach your business card to the-returned questionnaire. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for taking part in this study and to emphasize that we do need your cooperation. Dr. R. C. Goldstein Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration The University of British Columbia Page 1 SOME QUESTIONS ON ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Which of the following best describes the structure of the EDP a c t i v i t y i n your organization? Please c i r c l e a l e t t e r . C. I EDP I IEXECU- I I TIVE I I I I USER I IEXECU- I I TIVE | I I A. I I I EDP | I EXECU- I | TIVE| IOPERAT- I I IONS I I I I I I |DEVELOP-I I MENT I I I I IDEVELOP-I I MENT | I I I IDEVELOP-I MENT I IOPERAT- | I IONS\/ | IMAINTEN-I | ANCE I I I I I I I I I I I I I I PROGRAMMERS I I I I I I I ANALYSTS I I I I I I I I I I I I I PROJECTS CONSISTING OF ANALYSTS AND PROGRAMMERS I I I I I I I I I I I I ANALYSTS AND PROGRAMMERS D. I I | EDP | | EXECU- I I TIVE I 8. I I I EDP | IEXECU- I I TIVE I IDEVELOP-I I MENT\/ I IMAINTEN-I j ANCE I IOPERAT- | | IONS I I I I I I IDEVELOP-I IOPERAT- | IMAINTEN-I MENT I I IONS I I ANCE I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I PROJECTS CONSISTING OF ANALYSTS AND PROGRAMMERS I I I I I I I I I I I I I ANALYSTS AND PROGRAMMERS E. I I I I I I I I I I I I APPLICATION AREAS CONSISTING OF ANALYSTS AND ... PROGRAMMERS None of the above describes the structure of your EDP a c t i v i t y . Please describe your structure on the back page of the questionnaire. A l t e r n a t i v e l y , please attach a copy of the organization chart for the EDP a c t i v i t y i n your organization. OVER Page 2 What is the total staff complement reporting to the Manager of the EDP activity in your organization? individuals What is the total number of employees in your organization? employees Please indicate, with reference to the following structure, the organizational location of the EDP activity in your organization. Please circle a number . 1- In Accounting\/Finance department. Is your organization a subsidiary of a larger one? No. Yes, parent organization is 3. 5. In Operating department such as Marketing, Manufacturing, or Engineering. Service bureau or eguivalent. Independent operating department reporting to Top Management. None of the above. Please describe the organizational location in the space following or on the back page of the guestionnaire. Alternatively, please attach a copy of the organizational chart for your your organization depicting the location of the EDP activity. I TOP IMANAGE-I MENT What is the approximate value of your organization's assets and annual sales? Assets Annual sales Not applicable, dollars Not applicable dollars In the past few years, many organizations have recognized that data are one of their most valuable corporate resources and have taken steps to better manage and control this resource area. For some organizations, these actions have resulted in the establishment of a separate group to manage the corporate data resource. This group is often known as the Data Administrator. Has your organization formally established such an organizational unit? Yes, the name of the group is I I IOPERATING DEPT. | |ACCOUNT-| Keg. MARKETING, | | ING\/ \\ I MANUFACTURING, | | FINANCE] I ENGINEERING) | | | No, but we are thinking of establishing such a' function. No, we used to have such a function but we decided to discontinue the function because No, because I I No. Page 3 Which of the following best describes the SOME QUESTIONS ON PLANNING AND CONTROL business environment of your organization? Pleases circle a number. 1. Wood, pulp and paper 2. Primary metals and fabrication 3. Petroleum and coal products 4. Chemical and chemical products 5. Food, beverage and tobacco 6. Accomodation and food services 7. Electrical products 8. Automotive products 9. Printing and publishing 10. Miscellaneous manufacturing 11. Industrial equipment 12. Construction 13. Transportation 14. Telecommunications, communications 15. Department, supermarket, variety stores 16. Household and personal products 17. Property development, management 18. Information processing equipment 19. - Electric, gas or water u t i l i t y 20. Bank, deposit or credit agency 21. Life insurance 22. Government department or agency 23. University 24. Other. Please specify 9. Which of the following best describes the accounting for EDP activity expenditures in your organization? Please circle a number. 1. EDP costs are treated as corporate overhead and are not allocated proportionately to users. 2. EDP costs are treated as corporate overhead and are allocated proportionately to users. 3. Users are charged (in real dollars) for some of the EDP resources used and some costs are treated as corporate overhead. 4. Users are charged (in real dollars) for the amount of EDP resources used. 5. None of the above describes accounting for EDP expenditures in your organization. Please specify in the space below or on the back page of the questionnaire. 10. For each of the following functions in the EDP activity, please indicate whether formal standards, which are enforced, have been established in your organization. Circle either Yes or No. 1. Yes No Project management 2. Yes No Systems definition 3. Yes No Systems design 4. Yes No Programming 5. Yes No Systems operation 6. Yes No Systems maintenance 7. Yes No Systems documentation OVER Page 4 Please indicate how important the following criteria are in senior management's evaluation of the performance of the EDP activity in your organization. Circle a number from 1 to 5 where 1 indicates UNIMPORTANT and 5 indicates VERY IMPORTANT. A. Cost savings due to clerical staff reductions or increased efficiency of operation support systems. UNIMPORTANT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY IMPORTANT B. User satisfaction. UNIMPORTANT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY IMPORTANT C. Meeting budgets. UNIMPORTANT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY IMPORTANT D. Contribution to organizational goals as stated in the overall organizational plan. UNIMPORTANT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY IMPORTANT Has your organization established Project Review Boards to review the progress of new systems development projects? Yes No Has your organization established a Long Range or Strategic Planning Committee (or equivalent) to develop the EDP activity strategy for your organization? Yes No Has your organization developed a model of the organization that shows data flows across functional areas and hierarchical management levels? Yes No SOME MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS 15. Please indicate the approximate average monthly rental cost of computing hardware, including communication expenditures, in your organization for the past 12 months (use rental eguivalent i f leased or purchased). dollars per month 16. Indicate the approximate number of years your organization has been using computers. years 17. What approximate percentage of the EDP budget is spent on the following three categories of systems (includes development, operation and maintenance)? 1. % Operational Support Systems. Systems which perform the routine transaction level activity required in the daily operation of the organization and report on the operational status of the firm so that management is aware of day-to-day activities, (includes order entry systems, invoicing, payroll, etc.) 2. % Management Control Systems. Systems which provide control information required by managers of departments, profit centres, etc to measure performance, track the efficiency and effectiveness of operations, decide on control actions, formulate new decision rules to be applied by operational personnel, allocate resources and provide for coordination between several departments, (includes manufacturing cost control systems, sales analysis systems, etc.) 3. % Planning Systems. Systems which provide information for strategic level management (top management). This information will permit these managers to carry out their planning activities, such as formulating and revising company objectives, determining long-term goals (over 3 years) and establishing company policies, (includes financial planning systems, corporate models, etc.) 100 % TOTAL Page 5 18. What approximate percentage of the EDP activity budget is spent producing ad hoc reports for users for which special or \"one-shot\" programs are developed? 1. Less than 5% 2. 6% to 15% 3. 16% to 25% 4. More than 25% 22. Ranking or prioritizing new systems development projects. USER NOT 1 INVOLVED SENIOR NOT 1 MANAGEMENT INVOLVED THE EDP ACTIVITY NOT 1 INVOLVED 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 VERY INVOLVED VERY INVOLVED VERY INVOLVED ********** Questions 19 to 25 are concerned with the degree that Users, Senior Management and the EDP activity are involved in various new system development activities. Please circle a number from 1 to 5 to indicate the degree that the group is involved in the activity, where '1' indicates NOT INVOLVED and '5' indicates VERY INVOLVED . ********** 23. Developing a project schedule for new systems development projects. USER NOT INVOLVED THE EDP ACTIVITY 1 2 3 4 5 SENIOR NOT 1 MANAGEMENT INVOLVED NOT 1 INVOLVED 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 VERY INVOLVED VERY INVOLVED VERY INVOLVED 19. Identifying new systems development projects. USER NOT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY INVOLVED INVOLVED SENIOR NOT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY MANAGEMENT INVOLVED INVOLVED THE EDP NOT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY ACTIVITY INVOLVED INVOLVED 24. Managing a new systems development project. USER NOT 1 INVOLVED SENIOR NOT 1 MANAGEMENT INVOLVED THE EDP ACTIVITY NOT 1 INVOLVED 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 VERY INVOLVED VERY INVOLVED VERY INVOLVED 20. Determining costs of new systems development projects. USER NOT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY INVOLVED INVOLVED SENIOR NOT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY MANAGEMENT INVOLVED INVOLVED THE EDP NOT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY ACTIVITY INVOLVED INVOLVED 21. Determining benefits of new systems development projects. USER NOT 1 2 3 4 5 VERY INVOLVED INVOLVED 25. Designing a new computer based information or data processing system. USER NOT INVOLVED THE EDP ACTIVITY 1 2 3 4 5 SENIOR NOT 1 MANAGEMENT INVOLVED NOT 1 INVOLVED 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 VERY INVOLVED VERY INVOLVED VERY INVOLVED SENIOR NOT MANAGEMENT INVOLVED 1 2 3 4 5 VERY INVOLVED THE EDP NOT ACTIVITY INVOLVED 1 2 3 4 5 VERY INVOLVED Thank you for your time, please use the back cover. If you have anything to add which is not covered by this questionnaire, APPENDIX B DATA ADMINISTRATION PROFILE QUESTIONNAIRE DATA RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SURVEY DATA ADMINISTRATION PROFILE QUESTIONNAIRE (TO BE COMPLETED BY THE DATA ADMINISTRATOR OR SIMILAR POSITION) Name of organization Please indicate your job position\/title In the past few years many organizations have recognized that data are a valuable corporate resource and have taken steps to better manage and control this resource. This survey is designed to assess the extent to which managing the data resource in large Canadian organizations has been recognized as a separate functional speciality, and to determine how this is being accomplished. Throughout this questionnaire the phrase \"your organization\" means your entire company, agency or institution. For the sake of this study, the EDP activity is considered to be the development, operation and maintenance of computer based information or data processing systems. The questionnaire is divided into two (2) parts. Part 1 is concerned with various characteristics of the Data Administration function such as organizational structure, tools, planning and controlling. Part 2 is concerned with the activities of the Data Administration function in your organization. Please answer a l l of the questions asked. You may be assured that a l l information obtained will be >>sed specifically for research purposes and under no circumstances will individual responses be disclosed. This questionnaire will not take more than 60 minutes of your time. You may not be able to answer some of the questions precisely without considerable research. For these questions please give an approximate answer. Once completed, please mail the guestionnaire in the attached prepaid self addressed envelope. We would be grateful i f you could return the completed questionnaire to us by 6 February, 1979. If you wish to receive a copy of the research results please attach your business card to the returned guestionnaire. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for taking part in this study and to emphasize that we do need your cooperation. Dr. R. C. Goldstein Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration The University of British Columbia PART 1 Page 1 SOME QUESTIONS ON ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Does the Data Administration function in your organization report within the EDP activity? Please check one. Yes CONTINUE WITH QUESTION 2. No SKIP TO QUESTION 3. How many levels of supervision are there between you (Data Administrator) and the Manager of the EDP activity? For example, i f your supervisor reports directly to the Manager of the EDP activity there is one (1) level of supervision between you and the Manager of the EDP activity. levels 8. Does your organization have a separate organizational unit, not reporting to the Data Administration function, that is responsible for the more technical activities associated with managing the data resource? Please circle a number. 1. Yes CONTINUE WITH QUESTION 9 2. No SKIP TO QUESTION 12 9. How many levels of supervision are there between this group and the Manager of the EDP activity? levels 10. What is the name of this organizational unit? How many levels of supervision are there between you (Data Administrator) and,the head of your organization (eg. President, Deputy Minister)? For example, i f your supervisor reports to the Vice-President of Administration, who in turn reports to the President, there are two (2) levels of supervision between you and the head of your organization. levels What is the job t i t l e of your immediate supervisor? How many full-time clerical, technical, professional and management individuals are employed within the Data Administration function in your organization? people How long ago was the Data Administration function established in your organization? years Is the Data Administration function responsible for the more technical activities associated with managing the data resource(eg. Data base design, selection of storage and access methods)? Please circle a number. 11. How many full-time clerical, technical, professional, and management individuals are employed within this organizational unit? people SOME QUESTIONS ON THE TYPE OF DATA MANAGED BY THE DATA ADMINISTRATOR Data, for the sake of this questionnaire, are groups of non-random symbols which represent quantities, actions, things, etc. We refer to data that has regular routines associated with its definition, capture , storage, maintenance and dissemination as Formal data. Formal data can be further categorized as being Machine Readable or Non Machine Readable. 12. What percentage of your organization's Formal data f a l l s under the responsibility of the Data Administrator. 1. % of Non Machine Readable Data. 2. % of Machine Readable. 1. Yes PLEASE SKIP TO QUESTION 12 2. No PLEASE CONTINUE WITH 'QUESTION 8 OVER Page 2 1 3 . What is the approximate size of the Machine Readable data resource in your organization? To answer this guestion, you may want to consider the number of disk packs of storage your organization has on its computers. millions of characters. 14 . What approximate percentage of the Machine Readable data is actually shared among application systems m your organization? What percentage of this data, in terms of characters, could in the absence of technical or other constraints, usefully be shared among application systems? 1 . % is actually shared among applications. 2. % could usefully be shared among applications (in the absence of technical or other constraints). 18. Was the Data Administration function established before or after the aguisition or development of a DBMS? Please circle a number. 1. Before. 2. After. 19. What percentage of your organization's computer applications use the DRMS's. Compute an approximate percentage by estimating what portion of the EDP activity budget is spent on the development, operation and maintenance of computer applications that use the DBMS's. Circle a number. 1. Less than 20% 2. 21% to 40% 3. 41% to 60% 4. 61% to 80% 5. 81% to 100% SOME QUESTIONS ON TOOLS USED BY THE DATA ADMINISTRATOR Data Base Management System (DBMS) is the software that handles a l l access to the data base. A DBMS can be characterized as a generalized software tool that provides a single, flexible fa c i l i t y for accomodating different data files and operations, while demanding less programming effort than convential programming languages. A DBMS facilitates operations on data (definition, capture, storage etc.); i t facilitates reference by name rather than by physical location; and i t provides an environment that is not tied to a particular set of application programs or f i l e s . 15. Does your organization use a DBMS? Please circle a number. 1. Yes CONTINUE WITH QUESTION 16. 2. No SKIP TO QUESTION 20. ********** Data Dictionary \/ Directory (DD\/D) is a software tool used to l i s t , describe, and locate each data element in a data base. It provides a centralized repository of information about each data element in order to facilitate management of, control of, and access to the data base. The DD\/D may also contain information about f i l e s , transactions, source documents, reports, systems, programs, users, departments, projects, standards, security levels and personnel. 20. Does your organization use a DD\/D to record the characteristics of the data resource? Please circle a number. 1. Yes, a commercial package. 2. Yes, an inhouse developed package. 3. Yes, a manual record keeping system. 4. No . SKIP TO QUESTION 25. 21. What is the name of your DD\/D? 16. Does your organization use more than one DBMS? Yes we use DBMS' s. No we use only one DBMS. 17 . For each DBMS your organization uses, please indicate the name of the package, whether the package was obtained commercially or developed inhouse and the number of years since the package was f i r s t installed in your organization. NAME COMMERCIAL INHOUSE YEARS SINCE FIRST (Please tick one) INSTALLED 22. How long ago was the DD\/D acquired or developed in your organization? years and months 23. How many data elements are there in your organization? 1. don't know 2. data elements 24. How many data elements are recorded in your DD\/D? data elements Page 3 ********** Query f a c i l i t i e s can be considered as batch or inline and parametric or generalized . Periodic processing of queries is generally referred to as 'batch processing', as contrasted with immediate or 'online processing'. Parametric means that the jser interfaces with the system in an anticipated and highly structured way by invoking transactions or procedures which have been predefined to the system. Generalized means that the user interacts with the system in an unstructured, unanticipated and ad hoc manner. 27. Does your organization use an online parametric query f a c i l i t y software package? If so please indicate the name of the package, the years since i t was f i r s t installed at your organization and the percentage of the Machine Readable sector that is accessible by the package. l.\"Yes a commercial package NAME YEARS I % Does your organization use an online generalized query f a c i l i t y software package? If so please indicate the name of the package, the years since i t was f i r s t installed at your organization and the percentage of the Machine Readable sector that is accessible by the package. \"Yes an inhouse developed package No \"Yes a commercial package \"Yes an inhouse developed package No NAME | YEARS I % 26. Does your organization use an batch generalized query f a c i l i t y software package? If so please indicate the name of the package, the years since i t was f i r s t installed at your organization and the percentage of the Machine Readable sector that is accessible by the package. 28. Does your organization use a batch parametric query f a c i l i t y software package? If so please indicate the name of the package, the years since i t was f i r s t installed at your organization and the percentage of the Machine Readable sector that is accessible by the package. \"Yes a commercial package \"Yes an inhouse developed package No NAME I YEARS | % \"Yes a commercial package 2.\"Yes an inhouse developed package NAME I YEARS | % OVER 3. No Page 4 ********** Data Definition Language (DDL) is a software tool that provides the means for writing and describing the storage structure and access strategy for the data base. 29. Does your organization use a Data Definition Language (DDL) for defining storage structures and access strategies? Is the DDL a commercial package, an inhouse developed package or built into the DBMS? How long ago was the package acquired or developed? What percentage of applications, by EDP budget, use the DDL? 1. 'Yes a commercial package 2. 'Yes an inhouse developed package 3. \"Yes built into the DBMS 4. No NAME YEARS SINCE ACQUIRED DEVELOPED ********* Information Requirements Analysis (IRA) is the process of determining the information needs of managers. Examples of IRA techniques are interviews, questiqnnaires, flowcharts, decision tables, simulation models and data base tracking. 30. Does your organization have a standard methodology or approach for determining the information needs of managers? Please indicate i f the methodology was developed inhouse or acquired as a commercial package. Circle a number. 1. Yes an inhouse developed methodology. 2. Yes an acquired package methodology. 3. No the approach is left to the discretion of the analyst. 4. Other please describe in the space below or on the back page of the questionnaire. SOME QUESTIONS ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE DATA ADMINISTRATOR 31. For each of the following statements please circle YES i f the statement applies to you and NO i f the statement does not apply to you. 1. Yes No - a technical background in computer technology 2. Yes No - at least 'one year's experience in each of the major functional areas of management (Personnel, Accounting, Marketing, Logistics, Manufacturing, etc.) 3. Yes No - more than two year's experience in at least one of the functional areas of management. 4. Yes No - a college bachelor's degree or equivalent in computer science. 5. Yes No - a college bachelor's degree or equivalent in business administration. 6. Yes No - a college bachelor's degree or equivalent in the Arts. 7. Yes No - a college bachelor's degree or eauivalent in the Sciences other than computer science. 8. Yes No - a technical school diploma in computer science or business administration. 9. Yes No - a post graduate degree in business administration. 10. Yes No - a post graduate degree in computer science. 11. Yes No - a post graduate degree in a discipline other than computer science or business administration. 12. Yes No - more than three years supervisory experience. 13. Yes No - a background in DBMS software technology. 14. Yes No - a background in the definition, design, and implementation of computer based information systems. Page 5 32. Is the Data Administrator a member of the EDP Long Range or Strategic Planning Committee or similar group? Yes No 33. Does the Data Administrator maintain a formal set of standards or procedures governing the following activities? Circle either Yes or No. 1. Yes No the definition of data in the organization. 2. Yes No the capture of data in the organization. 3. Yes No the storage of data in the organization. 4. Yes No the maintenance of data in the organization. 5. Yes No the dissemination of data in the organization. 34. Which of the following best describes how your organization processes requests from the User community to develop sets of data? Please circle a number. 1. The application systems analyst, working with Users, decides what data should be collected and how the data should be stored. 2. The Project Manager reviews the analysis of the application systems analyst and users, and then decides what data should be collected and how the data should be stored. 3. The Data Administration function reviews the analysis of the application systems analyst and users, and then decides what data should be collected and how the data should be stored. 4. None of the above. Please describe in the space below or on the back page of the questionnaire. THIS IS THE END OF PART 1 OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE. IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU WISH TO ADD, PLEASE USE THE SPACE BELOW. OTHERWISE, PLEASE PROCEED TO PART 2 ON THE NEXT PAGE. PART 2 Page 6 In this part you will be asked to indicate whether an activity is the responsibility of the Data Administration function in your organization. For each activity, you will also be asked to indicate the relative amount of time that the Data Administration function spends on the activity and whether you think that the Data Administration function will spend more, less or the same amount of time on the activity two years from now. ***** EXAMPLE ***** Document and communicate what data is available to information system users. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW A. If this activity is a responsibility of the Data Administration function in your organization then you would circle YES. On the other hand, i f this activity is not a responsibility of the Data Administration function m your organization then you would circle NO. B.^ If no time is currently spent by the Data Administration function on this activity then you would enter '\u00b0'\u2022 I n a 1 1 o t n e r cases, enter the approximate percentage of the Data Administration function's time spent on this activity. C. If you feel that 2 years from now the Data Administration function will spend less, the same or more time on the activity than you have indicated for the present, then you would circle LESS, SAME, MORE respectively. Page 7 35. Know how the corporation conducts business 39. from general and overall points of view. Understand the general thrust, policies, goals and objectives of the corporation. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO \u2022 B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 40. 36. Understand information requirements of the users of the information system. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE -FROM NOW 41. 37. Identify effective corporate data base applications (through understanding of present applications and planned direction of future growth). A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY . % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 42. 38. Mediate conflicting data needs and requirements of information system users. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW Establish criteria for determining the ownership of data in the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW Integrate users' data requirements for common information to ensure data non-redundancy as well as security and privacy. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW Develop tactical and strategic plans regarding the evolution of the corporate data base and information system. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW - \u2022 Establish, communicate, and control the policies and procedures governing operations upon,the corporate data base and related dictionaries,, profiles, glossaries, libraries and logs. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW Page 8 43. Control the definitions and rules which provide for the privacy of information system users. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 44. Control the definitions and rules which provide for the security of data within the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 45. Control the definitions and rules which provide for the integrity of data within the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 46. Define and control the auditing and monitoring reguirements of the information system with respect to the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY 47. Insure standardization of terminology and codes associated with the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 48. Control the content of the corporate data base by reviewing and authorizing a l l related maintenance specifications. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 49. Define backup, recovery, restart and reorganization reguirements associated with the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 50. Develop backup, recovery, restart and reorganization processes associated with the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW Page 9 51. Document and communicate what data is available to information systems users. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 52. Define and control the priorities and scheduling of computer processes against the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 53. Provide consultation and help to information system users. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 54. Define information system user educational requirements which will contribute to proper maintenance and utilization of the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 55. Design the logical data structures in the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 56. Design the optimal physical storage schemes and access strategies for supporting computer processes against the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 57. Develop and maintain a model of the organization that shows data flows, including sources and uses, across functional areas and hierarchical management levels. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY '_ % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 58. Formulate synchronized maintenance procedures which will ensure the integrity of the corporate data base and related dictionaries, profiles, glossaries, libraries and logs. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 59. Define parameters to be measured and used in predicting, monitoring, and optimizing the performance of the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 60. Establish f a c i l i t i e s for conducting meaningful simulation and performance analysis activities as each relates to the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY . % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 51. Evaluate and recommend the disposition of software technologies interfacing with the corporate data base, including DBMS, DD\/D and query packages. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 52. Participate in corporate configuration planning (hardware and software) to ensure that the corporate data base needs are adequately met. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW Page 10 63. Define modifications and enhancements which will improve the software technologies interfacing with the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 64. Establish a flexible, reliable, and efficient corporate data base operating environment. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 65. Provide for efficient migrations from one technological environment to another as these movements relate to the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 66. Determine the cost of aguisition of various types of data and relate this cost to the usage of that data. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW Page 11 67. Provide a testing f a c i l i t y for computer processes interacting with the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 70. Participate, as a consultant, in the conduct of feasibility studies and Information Requirements Analyses for the development of application systems. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 68. Establish, communicate and control the policies and procedures governing the capture of data for the application systems. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 69. Establish, communicate and control the policies and procedures governing the archiving of data. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY . % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 71. Establish, communicate and control the policies and procedures relating to the accuracy and currency of data. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE FROM NOW 72. Establish, communicate and control the policies and procedures governing access to the corporate data base. A. A Data Administration responsibility? YES NO B. PERCENT OF TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITY % C. TIME 2 YEARS LESS SAME MORE I FROM NOW Thank you for your time. If you have anything to add which is not covered by this questionnaire, please use the back cover. A P P E N D I X C C O V E E I N G L E T T E R 92 APPENDIX D FOLLOW UP CASD ","@language":"en"}],"Genre":[{"@value":"Thesis\/Dissertation","@language":"en"}],"IsShownAt":[{"@value":"10.14288\/1.0094590","@language":"en"}],"Language":[{"@value":"eng","@language":"en"}],"Program":[{"@value":"Business Administration","@language":"en"}],"Provider":[{"@value":"Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library","@language":"en"}],"Publisher":[{"@value":"University of British Columbia","@language":"en"}],"Rights":[{"@value":"For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/terms_of_use.","@language":"en"}],"ScholarlyLevel":[{"@value":"Graduate","@language":"en"}],"Title":[{"@value":"A survey of the data administration function in large Canadian organizations","@language":"en"}],"Type":[{"@value":"Text","@language":"en"}],"URI":[{"@value":"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2429\/21452","@language":"en"}],"SortDate":[{"@value":"1979-12-31 AD","@language":"en"}],"@id":"doi:10.14288\/1.0094590"}