Information Supply Chain: A Unified Framework for Information-Sharing

Abstract

Abstract. To balance demand and supply of information, we propose a framework called "information supply chain" (ISC). This framework is based on supply chain management (SCM), which has been used in business management science. Both ISC and SCM aim to satisfy demand with high responsiveness and efficiency. ISC uses an information requirement planning (IRP) algorithm to reason, plan, and satisfy needers with useful information. We believe that ISC can not only unify existing information-sharing methods, but also produce new solutions that enable the right information to be delivered to the right recipients in the right way and at the right time. The Information Supply Chain FrameworkInformation-sharing refers to activities that distribute useful information among multiple entities (people, systems, or organizational units) in an open environment. Sharing information should consider four questions: 1) what to share, 2) whom to share with, 3) how to share, and 4) when to share. Better answering these questions can greatly improve information-sharing results: avoiding overload or deficiency, reducing sharing cost, and being more responsive. To address those questions and achieve better information-sharing results, we propose a framework called "information supply chain" or ISC.The ISC framework is based on studies of supply chain management (SCM), which has been widely used in management science. A supply chain fulfills its customer's demand by a network of companies, mainly including suppliers, manufactures, and distributors. Fig. 1a shows a typical supply chain. A supply chain has two primary targets: to balance demand and supply and to improve efficiency and responsiveness. These are also the primary goals for sharing information. We, therefore, envision that the well studied SCM framework can work for information-sharing.Similar to a supply chain, an information supply chain 1 (ISC) fulfills users' information requirements by a network of information-sharing agents (ISA) that gather, interpret, and satisfy the requirements with proper information. Fig. 1b shows an information supply chain. 1 An ISC is different from the information flow of a supply chain.

Measuring information volatility in a health care information supply chain

“…As in manufacturing, the data products are in turn the raw material for a different data manufacturing process [2]. Thus, just like the inputs and outputs of several manufacturing processes create a product supply chain, the input and output of a series of data manufacturing processes create an information supply chain [17]. Similarly to the way a consumer purchasing an off-the-shelf product wishes to know information about the product (such as the ingredients, instructions for use, or date of expiration), data consumers should receive information on the quality of data products [8].…”

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“…The analysis of services is however sparse (Pinedo, 2009). Sun and Yen (2005) appear to be the first to have applied concepts from operations management and supply chain theory and in particular supply chain management to information flows in business, and to have been the first to coin the term "information supply chain". They define an information supply chain as: "an information supply chain (ISC) fulfills users' information requirements by a network of information-sharing agents (ISA) that gather, interpret, and satisfy the requirements with proper information" (see Figure 1).…”

“…If we examine the model depicted in Figure 1 (Sun & Yen, 2005), then there are information sources, three types of agents (scanning, interpretation, and information brokers), and finally users. A stylized model is depicted in Figure 1 and the impact of the introduction of iPaaS is depicted in Figure 2.…”

“…The information economy has been long studied by both management theorists and economists (Drucker, 1959) (Machlup, 1962), (Stigler, 1961), (Marschak & Radner, 1972). However, despite this few have attempted to consider the production and distribution of information from a supply chain perspective (Sun & Yen, 2005).…”

An Evaluation Model of Multimedia Composition Processes

“…Sun and Yen [9] consider information as an entity that is delivered in response to demands, and propose an information supply chain framework for information sharing. States of information has been studied by analogy to states of matter.…”