The project
The project owns its information, the same way it owns its safety. The project director makes sure the team follows the rules.
Helen's journey · Lesson 4
Whose job is it?
Before you start
In the story
Everyone's sure it's someone else's job. And the shopping centre faces the wrong way.
Back to the story
The right way: Owned by the project, joined up by Sam
Day one
Sam keeps everything joined up: the rules, the shared place for files, the signposts and the training. Who does what is written down at the start, so "that's IM's problem" isn't an answer anyone gets away with.
Monthly report
When something goes wrong, the project director fixes it and tells Sam what broke. Helen reads about it in the report, not on her phone.
"That's IM's problem"A circle of blame, an old drawing on site and a slab facing the wrong way.
Owned by the projectNamed owners, Sam joining it up, and a fix before the phone rings.
Ask this
Who on this project owns its information? Not IM. Who on the project?
Continue Helen's journey
Story 5: Can I trust this dashboard?
Quarterly review. The dashboard looks lovely. Nobody asks where the numbers came from.
The right way, explained
Sam is the town's planning department. Planning draws the roads and puts up the signs. It doesn't drive every car, and it can't stop people parking on the pavement.
If you're the information manager
Bring Helen the who-does-what list for one job and ask her to back it. A name on a page the director has seen is much harder to ignore.
In the town See it in the town: one page that ends "I thought that was yours". What is it?
Helen's view: the whole project team on one page, so nobody can say "I thought that was yours".
Solid lines. What's needed, and the information that comes back.
Dotted lines. Lead firms coordinating with each other.
Pick a groupWho works for whom
The client
- In the picture
- ISO 19650 calls it
- Watch out for
This is the Responsibility Matrix!
Who makes, checks and owns each piece, written down.
Sam's Heads Up I can't stop people parking on the pavement
I can set up the shared place, write the rules and put the signs up. I can't make a site team use them. That takes the project director, every week, like safety.
Ask your project directors one thing: who on your job owns its information? If the answer is "Sam", we've got a problem.
The briefing Four lines for the board
The point
The project owns its information. The information manager sets things up and keeps them joined up.
Why it matters
If it's "IM's problem", nobody on the project fixes it, and the client finds out first.
What the standard expects
ISO 19650 allows the information management work to be done by a specialist. The contract is still yours, though: if the work isn't done, it's the firm that signed who answers for it.
Your decision
Make information a named responsibility of every project leader, and check it the way you check safety.
For directors You can hand over the work, not the responsibility
ISO 19650 lets an organisation hand its information management tasks to someone else: a specialist, a consultant, an in-house team. The contract doesn't move with it, though: the firm that signed still answers for the result.
The standard also expects everyone's information duties to be written down, firm by firm and person by person, so nobody can say they didn't know.
| Who | Is responsible for |
|---|---|
| The firm that signed (us) | Delivering the information the contract promises |
| The project director | Making sure the project team works to the rules |
| The information manager | Setting up the rules, the shared place and the training, and keeping it joined up |
| Everyone on the job | Using the shared place, not their own |
Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 is © 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.