Back in the dark ages (1993) I wrote a book focused on the value of data in an attempt to move funding for data management from being a participant in the annual project funding melee to being funded as an asset of the enterprise. Our team went back through a decade of annual budgets of a telephone company to determine through time and motion studies the actual cost of organizing the physical assets in the telephone company's network on a cost per line basis and comparing it with the projected cost per line established on year one. The number of lines supported over the ten-year period had increased substantially and the technology had changed significantly but the data in the Line Information Database had been carried forward over the entire period.
As you might expect, the comparison between the actual cost per line and the projected cost differed significantly. We then calculated the average annual savings realized from having the data collected and organized and subsequently used the cost saving to determine the size of a bank certificate of deposit required to generate that amount of savings.
The size of the CD was over a billion dollars. Numbers like that have a way of grabbing the attention of upper management. Going through this process took a lot of time and effort, but it was valuable from two standpoints:
1. The funding approach to the data and the systems that used it led to changes in the way they were funded.
2. The method we used was easily comprehended by management, in part because both the approach and the numbers were not surrounded by any technobabble.
That’s a ton of effort John, but I love it! I think I wrote about companies not realizing business value from their data in my last issue on predictions, and basically said they wouldn’t realize value because of the effort it takes to calculate and figure it out like what you did. But if you do it, you can find it!
What’s the name of the book? Interested to give it a lookup
Dylan - Thank you for your comment. The book is out of print but the title is "The Information Asset - Rational DP Funding and Other Radical Notions" published by Yourdon Press/Prentice-Hall PTR. The ISBN is 0-13-457326-9. If you can't find a copy, I'll root around in my library and see if I can find one.
When you get to the point where you want to put your essays into a book you'll find that life has changed for authors and that publishers today will expect you to provide services that were once offered when your book was accepted for publication. I'd suggest that you directly contact authors of books that have impressed you and find out about their experiences before submitting your manuscript.
Thanks, appreciate you sharing, and I do see a few second hand ones online. And yeah, definitely a consideration for when the book version of these essays comes out. Still have about 50% of the data ecosystem left to write about, but I'm starting to think about how it all comes together
Back in the dark ages (1993) I wrote a book focused on the value of data in an attempt to move funding for data management from being a participant in the annual project funding melee to being funded as an asset of the enterprise. Our team went back through a decade of annual budgets of a telephone company to determine through time and motion studies the actual cost of organizing the physical assets in the telephone company's network on a cost per line basis and comparing it with the projected cost per line established on year one. The number of lines supported over the ten-year period had increased substantially and the technology had changed significantly but the data in the Line Information Database had been carried forward over the entire period.
As you might expect, the comparison between the actual cost per line and the projected cost differed significantly. We then calculated the average annual savings realized from having the data collected and organized and subsequently used the cost saving to determine the size of a bank certificate of deposit required to generate that amount of savings.
The size of the CD was over a billion dollars. Numbers like that have a way of grabbing the attention of upper management. Going through this process took a lot of time and effort, but it was valuable from two standpoints:
1. The funding approach to the data and the systems that used it led to changes in the way they were funded.
2. The method we used was easily comprehended by management, in part because both the approach and the numbers were not surrounded by any technobabble.
That’s a ton of effort John, but I love it! I think I wrote about companies not realizing business value from their data in my last issue on predictions, and basically said they wouldn’t realize value because of the effort it takes to calculate and figure it out like what you did. But if you do it, you can find it!
What’s the name of the book? Interested to give it a lookup
Dylan, what software do you use to make your charts and graphics?
https://excalidraw.com/
It's a bit finicky and takes some getting used to, but I love the output/ look of it!
Thanks!
Dylan - Thank you for your comment. The book is out of print but the title is "The Information Asset - Rational DP Funding and Other Radical Notions" published by Yourdon Press/Prentice-Hall PTR. The ISBN is 0-13-457326-9. If you can't find a copy, I'll root around in my library and see if I can find one.
When you get to the point where you want to put your essays into a book you'll find that life has changed for authors and that publishers today will expect you to provide services that were once offered when your book was accepted for publication. I'd suggest that you directly contact authors of books that have impressed you and find out about their experiences before submitting your manuscript.
All the best,
John Boddie
Thanks, appreciate you sharing, and I do see a few second hand ones online. And yeah, definitely a consideration for when the book version of these essays comes out. Still have about 50% of the data ecosystem left to write about, but I'm starting to think about how it all comes together