RPIM: Remote Product Information Management
Acronym Definition
RPIM RCRA Public Involvement Manual
RPIM Remote Personal Information Manager
RPIM Remote Prodigy Instant Messaging
RPIM Repair Parallel Inference Machine
RPIM Relaxed Parallel Iterative Matching (algorithm)
RPIM Recursive Parameterized Ionosphere Model
RPIM Remote Parorrey Interactive Media
RPIM Relevance Partial Inductance Matrix
RPIM Read Passive Inter Modulation
RPIM Read Path of Intended Movement
RPIM Relevant Payload Integration Manager
RPIM Resource Pediatric Index of Mortality
RPIM Replay Penalties in Minutes (hockey)
RPIM Renew Penalty Minutes
RPIM Review Perpetual Inventory Method (economics)
RPIM Remote Personal Information Management
RPIM Remote Personality Interface Module
RPIM Remote Personnel Information Management
RPIM Remote Phytosanitary Issues Management
RPIM Remote Pilot's Information Manual
RPIM Remodeling Piping Instructions Manual
RPIM Resource Platform Independent Models
RPIM Remote Plug In Module
RPIM Red PMC Interface Module
RPIM Real Point of Intended Movement
RPIM Rank Poison Information Monographs
RPIM Rate Polymorphically Invoked Method
RPIM Remote Port Interface Module
RPIM Rank Position and Intended Movements
RPIM Remote Potential Improvements Matrix
RPIM Random Potentially Infectious Material
RPIM Remote Powder Injection Molding
RPIM Remote Power Interface Module (aerospace engineering)
RPIM Remote Presence and Interworking Mobility
RPIM Remote Preside Integrated Manager
RPIM Recruit Pretrained Individual Manpower
RPIM Remote Print Image Matching
RPIM Rebate Printing, Inserting and Mailing (center)
RPIM Remote Probabilistic Interactive Machine (cryptography)
RPIM Remote Procedural Instruction Message
RPIM Remote Process Improvement Model
RPIM Remote Process Integrated Mechanism
RPIM Remote Product Improvement Manager
RPIM Remote Product Information Management
RPIM Remote Product Interference Management
RPIM Remote Product Introduction Management
RPIM Remote Production and Inventory Management
RPIM Repay Program in Integrative Medicine
RPIM Record Programmer's Information Manual
RPIM Reconstruction Project Information Management
RPIM Remote Project Integration Meeting
RPIM Refined Protocol Independent Multicast
RPIM Reform Pulmonary Intravascular Macrophage (swine pathology)
RPIM Reflect Pulse Interval Modulation
Product Information Management or PIM refers to the providing of product
information for use in one or more output media and/or distribution channels,
potentially involving multiple geographic locations. PIM relies on
media-independent, multi-lingual administration, maintenance and modification of
product information within a centralized catalog to provide consistently
accurate information via any channel without prohibitive cost in terms of
resources.
The now common practice of maintaining and utilizing data creates the need for
product information management, as information kept by businesses is frequently
scattered throughout disparate departments and held by certain employees instead
of being bundled centrally – such as within R&D or Sales departments and
inventory management systems. Data are saved in various different formats or are
only available in hardcopy form. Information is utilized in varying environments
and contexts such as for detailed product descriptions with pricing info in
product catalogs or for size and weight data for calculating freight costs in a
logistics department. PIM in this example represents a solution for centralized,
media-independent data maintenance for providing purchasing, production and
communications data for repeated use on/in multiple IT systems, languages,
output media and publications. It also provides a solution for efficient data
collection, management, refinement and output. A new development in this area is
the development of open catalog, which can be defined here as a PIM under the
open content license agreement.
check out Product Information
Management
Information management is the collection and management of information from one
or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more
audiences. This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to that
information. Management means the organization of and control over the
structure, processing and delivery of information.
Throughout the 1970s this was largely limited to files, file maintenance, and
the life cycle management of paper-based files, other media and records. With
the proliferation of information technology starting in the 1970s, the job of
information management took on a new light, and also began to include the field
of Data maintenance. No longer was information management a simple job that
could be performed by almost anyone. An understanding of the technology
involved, and the theory behind it became necessary. As information storage
shifted to electronic means, this became more and more difficult. By the late
1990s when information was regularly disseminated across computer networks and
by other electronic means, network managers, in a sense, became information
managers. Those individuals found themselves tasked with increasingly complex
tasks, hardware and software. With the latest tools available, information
management has become a powerful resource and a large expense for many
organizations.
Context
Information Management (IM) is characterized by the phrase of 'Getting the right
information to the right person at the right place at the right time'. It does
not, however, address the question of what constitutes the 'right information'.
This omission can be addressed through the philosophy of Informational
management (IaM). IaM is characterized by the phrase, 'Knowing what information
to gather, knowing what to do with information when you get it, knowing what
information to pass on, and knowing how to value the result' {adapted from
G.Russell Swanborough}. This identifies the 'right information' and the
resulting whole solution is worth more than the sum of its parts.
Information Management concepts
Following the behavioral science theory of management, mainly developed at
Carnegie Mellon University and prominently represented by Barnard, Richard M.
Cyert, March and Simon, most of what goes on in service organizations is
actually decision making and information processes. The crucial factor in the
information and decision process analysis is thus individuals’ limited ability
to process information and to take decisions under these limitations.
According to March and Simon , organizations have to be considered as
cooperative systems with a high level of information processing and a vast need
for decision making at various levels. They also claimed that there are factors
that would prevent individuals from acting strictly rational, in opposite to
what has been proposed and advocated by classic theorists. Instead, they
proposed that any decision would be sub-optimum due to the bounded rationality
of the decision-maker.
Instead of using the model of the economic man, as advocated in classic theory,
they proposed the administrative man as an alternative based on their
argumentation about the cognitive limits of rationality.
While the theories developed at Carnegie Mellon clearly filled some theoretical
gaps in the discipline, March and Simon did not propose a certain organizational
form that they considered especially feasible for coping with cognitive
limitations and bounded rationality of decision-makers. Through their own
argumentation against normative decision-making models, i.e. models that
prescribe people how they ought to choose, they also abandoned the idea of an
ideal organizational form.
In addition to the factors mentioned by March and Simon, there are two other
considerable aspects, stemming from environmental and organizational dynamics.
Firstly, it is not possible to access, collect and evaluate all environmental
information being relevant for taking a certain decision at a reasonable price,
i.e.time and effort . In other words, following a national economic framework,
the transaction cost associated with the informating process is too high.
Secondly, established organizational rules and procedures can prevent the taking
of the most appropriate decision, i.e. that a sub-optimum solution is chosen in
accordance to organizational rank structure or institutional rules, guidelines
and procedures , an issue that also has been brought forward as a major critique
against the principles of bureaucratic organizations.
According to the Carnegie Mellon School and its followers, information
management, i.e. the organization's ability to process information, is at the
core of organizational and managerial competencies. Consequently, strategies for
organization design must be aiming at improved information processing
capability. Jay Galbraith has identified five main organization design
strategies within two categories - increased information processing capacity and
reduced need for information processing.
1. Reduction of information processing needs
2. Environmental management
3. Creation of slack resources
4. Creation of self-contained tasks
5. Increasing the organizational information processing capacity
6. Creation of lateral relations
7. Vertical information systems
Environmental management. Instead of adapting to changing environmental
circumstances, the organization can aim at modifying its environment. Vertical
and horizontal collaboration, i.e. cooperation or integration with other
organizations in the industry value system are typical means for reducing
uncertainty. An example for reducing uncertainty in the relation with the prior
or demanding stage of the industry system is the concept of Supplier-Retailer
collaboration or Efficient Customer Response.
Creation of slack resources. In order to reduce exceptions, performance levels
can be reduced, thus decreasing the information load on the hierarchy. These
additional slack resources, required to reduce information processing in the
hierarchy, are representing an additional cost to the organization and the
choice of this method is clearly depending on the alternative costs of other
strategies.
Creation of self-contained tasks. Achieving a conceptual closure of tasks is
another way of reducing information processing. In this case, the
task-performing unit has all the resources required to perform the task. This
approach is concerned with task (de-)composition and interaction between
different organizational units, i.e. organizational and information interfaces.
Creation of lateral relations. In this case, lateral decision processes are
established that cut across functional organizational units. The aim is to apply
a system of decision subsidiarity, i.e. to move decision power to the process,
instead of moving information from the process into the hierarchy for
decision-making.
Investment in vertical information systems. Instead of processing information
through the existing hierarchical channels, the organization can establish
vertical information systems. In this case, the information flow for a specific
task (or set of tasks) is routed in accordance to the applied business logic,
rather than the hierarchical organization.
Following the lateral relations concept, it also becomes possible to employ an
organizational form that is different from the simple hierarchical information.
The Matrix organization is aiming at bringing together the functional and
product departmental bases and achieving a balance in information processing and
decision making between the vertical (hierarchical) and the horizontal (product
or project) structure. The creation of a matrix organization can also be
considered as management's response to a persistent or permanent demand for
adaptation to environmental dynamics, instead of the response to episodic
demands.
Information Management Degree Programs
A growing number of universities (e.g. Syracuse University, US; Arizona State
University, US; Tilburg University, the Netherlands; University of Koblenz,
Germany, University of California at Berkeley, and University of Washington at
Seattle, to name a few examples) offer academic degree programs in Information
Management. The curricula often include not only Information Technology and
Systems, but also cover Human-Computer Interaction, Organizational Behaviour,
General Management, and Economics. Columbia University in New York City offers a
Master of Science in Information and Archive Management, with core courses that
include knowledge management, legal and policy issues, government systems, and
records and archives management. The International School of Information
Management_(ISiM), India, offers a an M. Tech in Information Systems and
Management. The core subjects offered in here is predominantly computer science
related. Courses like IT laws, cultural informatics and Knowledge society are
also blended.
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