Home What's New
Inmagic Software
Consulting Services
Web Publishing Products
WebPublisher Examples
For IT Professionals
Web Database Hosting
Training Workshops
Bar Code Services
About Crew-Noble
Site Index Contact Us
|
Mallinckrodt, Inc. |
||
Competitive Intelligence Early in the millennium, if a Sovereign wanted to know what was happening in a neighboring realm, s/he would discharge loyals on horseback to put "their ears to the ground" and return with the desired information, be it agricultural, assessment of military might, economic innovation, or simply to take the pulse of the population. Today, competitive intelligence has been elevated to a science, and CEOs are looking more closely at how business intelligence is collected and analyzed. They are developing a new awareness of the tremendous resources their corporate librarians are able to provide, and what role they can play in this important strategic asset. Grace Brill, Manager of Information Resources at Mallinckrodt, Inc., talks about how she uses Inmagic DB/Text WebPublisher to publish and manage competitive files on the intranet and also automate her library. Mallinckrodt was established shortly after the end of the Civil War in 1867 on a small farm in St. Louis, Missouri. Today Mallinckrodt, Inc. is a multi-billion dollar company manufacturing medical products and pharmaceuticals, and employing over 12,000 people worldwide. During its 130-year history, Mallinckrodt has been involved in the development of everything from pain relievers, to flavors, to the Manhattan Project. The library Grace manages, the Information Resource Center or IRC, was established in 1972. Located at the company’s headquarters in Hazelwood, Missouri, it is one of three libraries serving the company. Why Inmagic? The five-member Corporate Library reports to the company’s Corporate Information Services function. Grace was part of a team responsible for planning and implementing Mallinckrodt’s corporate intranet in 1995. "I was eager to be among the first to put an interactive application on our intranet. The Inmagic IRC catalog followed the telephone directory as the first searchable applications to go live on our intranet," said Grace. "IS personnel were receptive because they didn’t want us to have to contract to do a lot of custom programming for the web interface. The fact that DB/Text WebPublisher was an ‘out of the box’ application was attractive." "When I was evaluating software I considered Inmagic, Datatrek, Cuadra Star and a few others. The primary thing that guided my decision was the reality that I have a staff of 5 people, and we’re running a million different projects. I needed software that was flexible and easy enough to use so that if there’s something that needs to be done, I or one of my staff can do it. I don’t want to have to spend time solving a problem, deploying IS, or hiring a contractor if I need to design a form, launch a database on the Web, or whatever. I wanted to feel like I would be able to do 98% of what needed doing. And that has proven very true with Inmagic." More than just Library Automation The first database to be launched on the intranet was IRC’s Resource Catalog. "When our company made the move to a Windows-based, client/server system, we already had a somewhat automated library catalog," Grace pointed out. "But it was running on a VAX computer, with some proprietary software that was not really meeting our needs. I needed to get data off of the VAX fairly quickly, but wanted something that could also go beyond a library application." Grace and her staff maintain numerous other databases. One contains full-text competitive files, and another is an index of the volumes of technical reports in the library. "Many of the ‘off the shelf’ library automation packages would have been okay, as far as the library catalog was concerned," Grace pointed out, "but they couldn’t provide the flexibility to let us do all of the other things we’re able to do with Inmagic." Skip the Windows Interface--Go Direct to the Web! Easy implementation and maintenance were key factors in the decision to use Inmagic software. Grace’s third requirement for the new software was that it allow her to publish her library catalog and other data on the corporate intranet. "By implementing DB/Text WebPublisher from the start, we skipped the desktop Windows interface step, and jumped right onto the Web," Grace said. "Our IS staff didn’t have the unwanted and time-consuming task of installing software on everybody’s desktops, let alone troubleshooting ongoing problems and installing upgrades." Naturally, Mallinckrodt has a very specialized collection, heavily focused on its industries, with a library catalog of roughly 3,500 records. "Over the years we’ve acquired a lot of books, annual reports, videos, etc. Although we’ve had these resources, many employees remain unaware that these resources are available." When people call Grace up to ask her if the library has a certain book, she takes the opportunity to let them know that the catalog is on the Web and introduces them to the other resources as well. "It’s more than just maximizing the investment we’ve already made in books; it’s about making an investment in each person who calls and helping them to realize what we’ve made available to them on their desktop," said Grace. "That’s where the rubber meets the road. Likewise with the competitor information. Someone will call me and ask if a certain competitor’s product is in phase I or phase II. That’s usually the point when I say, ‘now boot up your browser,’ and then I’ll walk them through it. I leave them with, ‘now you can do this at your desk,’ and they’re delighted! I tell them it’s a great way to look smart real quick. Inmagic’s query response time is really fast." "Taking our library applications straight to the Web was easy. I knew that Inmagic DB/TextWorks provided a lot of library functionality and with the Library Guide, a lot of the work’s already done for you. That was attractive to me because I didn’t want to have to start from scratch designing a library system, but wanted to be able to customize it to my needs. And the WebPublisher really sealed the decision. The two programs work so seamlessly that you approach it almost as one – that was very useful. One of the downsides of the software we had been using on the VAX was that it didn’t allow for validation or importing pre-formatted MARC records. As a result, our data was so dirty and full of errors that it made sense to purchase bibliographic records from a utility. Once we had these, using the new MARC Transformer from Inmagic, we were able to easily transfer our new records to Inmagic textbases and customize from there." From Library Catalog to Competitive Intelligence Most of Mallinckrodt’s Inmagic applications, including the catalog, were designed exclusively for its corporate intranet. One of the other areas in which Grace spends a lot of time is building and managing the competitive files database. She and her staff read numerous relevant industry news publications, gleaning product and market information. This information is then supplemented with data from online searches, using news alerting mechanisms. "We try to act as ‘news filters’ for the divisions that we support," said Grace. "We create an intelligence news report that is e-mailed to staff around the world where we summarize pertinent news items. We might read a two-page story, and condense it into two sentences for the intelligence report, which then gets posted to the intranet." "We wanted people to be able to not just view our newsletters, but be able to search them as well. So our new software needed to allow us to break the publication down to the story level. One competitive newsletter might have 30 stories ranging from one to 40 sentences. Using Inmagic DB/TextWorks, we were able to segment the newsletter at the story level, and load it into a database so users could search and sort stories for desired information. It was an easy process, but the database is an important resource that people use all the time." "When we had the database on our VAX-based system, only about 200 people had access, and, unfortunately, those weren’t the people who would be interested in competitive information," said Grace. "Now we have it on our intranet, and I have heard from staff in Canada, Minnesota, all over, who have made a point to let me know how useful they find the information." Before Mallinckrodt implemented the intranet, Grace says users would put in a research request to her or her staff. Now they clearly see that by conducting preliminary research on their own using the intranet research databases, they can ask the staff better, more specific questions. "If the request requires that the library staff conduct an online search of fee-based databases, the more specific the requesters can be, the less money we spend, and the higher the quality of the results delivered," she says. "So we’re trying to expand our offerings where users can do a certain amount on their own, while our time is freed up to provide more value-added high-end services." In the Web Publishing Queue at Mallinckrodt’s Library Grace has a number of potential databases in mind for publishing on the intranet. She foresees an interest in having not just news stories, but brief profiles of competitors, or possibly including analyzed assessments as well. Grace is also conceptualizing two projects that would utilize Inmagic’s image management properties. One is a patent application, and the other an expansion of the already existing R&D Technical Report ‘locator’ database that currently contains over 6,000 records. At present the database functions as a "finding aid" to technical reports that have been written over the past 20 years. "While we probably won’t include the actual full report," said Grace, "it could be extremely useful to search and view the table of contents of all reports and notebook contents. There are numerous approaches to these projects, and we must ask ourselves all the tough database planning questions that we ask our library customers before embarking upon the projects." "I think we got out of the gate very quickly. Once we got the WebPublisher in here, probably within a month we had our catalog and competitive applications out there on the intranet. I was very fortunate to have initial help from two IS staff members, one from the applications side and one from our network group. They helped put us in the right direction. Because they were people who were familiar with what the IRC was trying to accomplish, they immediately saw the utility of our DB/TextWorks plus WebPublisher approach," said Grace. "Once they got the WebPublisher set up on the server and showed me how to export a QBE (Query By Example) screen, I didn’t need to go back to them for a lot of hand holding. I know our staff has really enjoyed the projects that we’ve done with Inmagic--just the beauty of having validation lists, the ability to structure to your needs, and the ability to publish on the Web without being totally dependent on outside assistance. Inmagic is just so easy to use. That’s great!" BIOGRAPHY Grace Brill Like many library professionals, Grace Brill brought to her library environment a diverse, but uniquely relevant, educational background. After receiving a B.S. Degree in Biology from the University of New Mexico, she went on to obtain a Masters Degree in the History of Science from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1989, she was awarded her MLS from the University of Missouri. When Grace first started at Mallinckrodt 8 ½ years ago, she was fresh out of library school. Since then, she has progressed from searcher/reference professional to head up the library as Manager of Information Resources, a position she has held since 1992. Her background in biology and chemistry has proven to be a tremendous asset, since Mallinckrodt is a world leader in the manufacture of healthcare products. It is this blend of applied science and library science that enables Grace to help Mallinckrodt increase its strategic use of corporate information assets. "You know what I think is interesting, and that I’ve encountered a lot," says Grace, "is that ‘the general person’ doesn’t understand much about databases. Often, the fact that database management software is available impels them to create a database rather than undertake an in-depth evaluation of the information they need. People invariably underestimate the effort necessary to create, index and maintain a database. The risk is that someone might create a resource and think it’s terrific only to realize six months later they haven’t added any data to the database because it was too hard, or they found that only three people used it because they couldn’t get it up on the Web." On a related topic, Grace points out that people often don’t understand how language and vocabulary impacts information retrieval. "Even though the topic of indexing or controlled vocabulary may put some people to sleep, you can get their attention when you provide real world examples that are relevant to their needs," said Grace. "I once gave a presentation where I used a specific chemical that we use in some of our products and came up with a list of about 15 different ways to represent it when searching a patent database, including abbreviations. It really got people to sit up and think about the issue of retrievability." The IRC staff is always alert for opportunities to share this and other knowledge. "When my staff and I encounter someone who is convinced they need
a database, and may have already begun the process and look to us for
help, we start by backing up and asking them questions, most often
questions they had never considered. We are planning on drafting a
document to put on our intranet site with the title, "THE 10 THINGS
YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START A DATABASE PROJECT"
The Mallinckrodt IRC staff is keeping a close eye on the rapid advancements in document management and knowledge management. Grace, like many people, is skeptical. "I’m curious to see when this whole knowledge management thing is going to shake out. Is it just hype, is it just stating the obvious? Or, is it just a place where a lot of high- priced consulting companies can try to make a lot of money? A lot of the discussion points to bigger issues like the culture and values of an institution. Since these issues seem so formidable for a lot of people, I think it comes down to, ‘Okay, tell me applications that really work.’ Since it appears that the industry is still trying to build consensus on what knowledge management really means, that’s probably the best we, at the end-user level, can do at present. More interesting to me right now is document management, with associated issues like meta data, XML, etc. I feel that we librarians, as content experts, will bring a lot to the table as our institutions undertake document management projects. "I believe that as this knowledge management dialogue expands, and as the boundaries get a little looser, I think you’re going to see a convergence of information management issues that special librarians have always been concerned about with emerging knowledge management concepts that are of growing importance to people in other parts of companies or organizations," Grace commented. "Even though I know, as a librarian, some of our concerns with library details are total nit-picky, weird stuff that nobody in their right mind would care about, the fact is, librarians have been managing knowledge long before it became fashionable." Grace is an active member of the Special Libraries Association. She finds authors Thomas Davenport and Thomas Stewart excellent resources for information on knowledge management. She keeps up on trends in the IS field by reading Information Week and CIO and makes a point of reading several SLA divisional newsletters, particularly that of the IT division as well of as those of the business & finance and pharmaceutical divisions. Grace can be reached at gebrill@mkg.com. Resources to check out, compliments of Grace:
Preferred Authors: Thomas H. Davenport, Director of the Information Management Program at
the University of Texas at Austin. Author of Working Knowledge. Davenport
is also a regular contributor to CIO Magazine’s "Think Tank"
column.
Inmagic software | Crew-Noble services | Training Dates Crew-Noble Information Services Revised: 10/03/05 |