Glossary Term: Enterprise Information Architecture Definition: Rosenfeld and Morville define Information Architect (IA) as applying to 'an information space', to 'web sites, intranets and all other organizational information repositories' and to 'the digital and paper-based landscape'. Yet, in the published literature on IA, scant reference is made to 'other organizational information repositories', the focus being consistently upon web sites and intranets. Moreover, a number of published resources describing IA in the latter scope, appear using the phrase 'Enterprise Information Architecture' (EIA). Those wishing to discover what IA is and how it differs from EIA are understandably confused when they can discern no apparent difference. This article proposes that the scope of IA and EIA be more clearly defined. Morville and Rosenfeld, as the founding fathers of IA, have indisputably established that IA addresses the organization, labelling, navigation schemes and retrieval mechanisms of web sites and intranets. This article proposes that the scope of EIA should be regarded as including the scope of IA, and in addition, all other organizational information repositories in the enterprise information space, irrespective of the technology employed. Most organizations today have a web site and an intranet. But many also have a variety of Database Management Systems (DBMSs), Lotus Notes databases, Business Objects databases (and other vendors' equivalents), Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMSs), Electronic Records Management Systems (ERMSs), Content Management Systems (CMSs) and Knowledge Management Systems (KMSs), and of course, legacy paper-based information systems. It is therefore proposed that 'Enterprise Information Architecture' be defined as having a scope including all of these disparate information systems which deal with 'explicit knowledge', ie. knowledge which can be externalized, out of the human brain, and onto paper or into some form of electronic information system. The resulting definition of 'Enterprise Information Architecture' might therefore be: "Enterprise Information Architecture (EIA) is a compound discipline which employs a structured approach to the design of the enterprise information space. It brings together and applies in a coherent manner, the various disciplines and techniques of organizing, labelling, navigating and retrieving information across all organizational information repositories, so that finding and managing information are more effective and efficient." IA Glossary Index | Back