Monday, 9am
Callum (Rex's new manager): Here's your laptop. And here's a map of our systems: everything we use, and how it all connects.
Who has clearly done this before.
Part 1 · The Place
The Town
Where am I?
Before you start
In the story
Nobody drew Rex a map, so he spent his first week lost. This lesson draws it: the hidden town, its districts and its buildings.
Back to the story
The right way: Rex's first week
Same Monday, with a map
Monday, 11am
Rex needs a drawing. The map says which system it's in. Five minutes, job done, kettle on.
Friday
Rex: Right, here's the map. Let me show you where everything lives.
A week in, showing the next new starter around like he owns the place.
Without a mapA month to find his way round, a template older than the coffee machine, and a different picture in every head.
With a mapOne picture everyone shares. Rex was useful by Monday lunchtime. Mostly.
Could you draw a map of your organisation's systems on one page? Try it now: what you use, how it connects, and who looks after each one.
Continue your journey
Story 2: Rex's first calculation
Rex's diary. Week 2. Found six different systems. Made my first calc today. It's on my desktop for now. I'll tidy it up later.
The right way, explained
Every organisation has a hidden town: the digital world where its work really happens. Each part of the business is a district, and each district has its own buildings, the systems where people make, save and find information. Rex's manager handed him a map of that town on day one. Most organisations have never drawn one.
In the town See it in the town: who looks after all of this?
The scene
Your hidden town
Behind the offices and desks you can see, your organisation has a hidden town: the digital world where its work really happens. Each district is a part of the business, a function or department like Pre-Construction or Operations. Each has its own buildings: the systems where its people create, save and find their information. The town was here before your current project began, and it'll still be here when the project ends. Tap a district on the map to look inside.
Look inside a districtTap one on the map
Operations
- Its buildings
- Makes and keeps
- Watch out for
Looking after this town is Information Management!
Information management means planning, building and running the town, so the right information reaches the right people at the right time.
Standards such as ISO 19650 are guidebooks for running parts of the town on construction and infrastructure projects. InfoTown shows you the whole town first, so the rules make sense when you see them all together in Lesson 12.
Fix it Lost in town? Start a map.
Lost in town?
Start a map.
- List the places where you keep and find information.
- Draw lines for how it moves between them.
- Write who looks after each place.
A note for whoever looks after the town (that's IM): make sure you draw out the town before you try to fix it! You can't improve routes nobody can see...
The map test Could you draw your town on one page?
Where does information live?
With a mapEvery building is on it, from the big shared systems to the shared drives.
Without"Ask Alex." Everyone knows a different part.
How does it move?
With a mapThe routes between buildings are drawn, including the shortcuts.
WithoutNobody can see the routes, so nobody can improve them.
Who looks after it?
With a mapEach building has a named keeper.
WithoutWhen something breaks, nobody knows who to call.
The real town Why does nobody have the map?
Because towns grow one building at a time, and nobody stops to draw them.
Towns grow, they aren't planned
Every new tool adds a building. Nobody updates the map.
Every project builds its own
New job, new places, same confusion.
The map lives in people's heads
And when they leave, it walks out of the door with them.
Maps go out of date
Drawn once for a bid, then never looked at again.
ISO 19650 The parts of the standard
| Part | What it covers | In the town |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 19650-1 | Concepts and principles: the words and ideas everything else uses | The town and its language |
| ISO 19650-2 | The delivery phase: managing information while a project is designed and built | One project, shared by several firms (most of this Site Induction) |
| ISO 19650-3 | The operational phase: managing information while the asset is in use | Life after handover |
| ISO 19650-4 | Information exchange: how information is checked and passed between parties | Passing work between firms (Lessons 8 and 9) |
| ISO 19650-5 | A security-minded approach to information management | Who is allowed to see what |
| ISO 19650-6 | Health and safety information | Keeping people safe, using information |
In the UK each part is published as BS EN ISO 19650, and Part 2 comes with a UK National Annex (the naming and status codes you'll meet in Lessons 7 to 11).
Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 and its UK National Annex are © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.