Information Management

The information management area offers courses at undergraduate, master's and doctoral levels that covers basic business data processing, macro programming, data modeling, management information systems, BPR, knowledge management, electronic commerce etc.

Research is conducted in the following areas: IT-based business development, information systems implementation, multimedia technology and electronic commerce, knowledge-based information systems and ethics etc.

Areas of research

IT-based business development
This research area basically relates to the integration of IT and the organization. The main focus is on methodologies and models for effective business development, including integrated approaches to systems development, project management, and business process reengineering (BPR). Gunnar Christensen is currently engaged in a two-year ESPRIT project - BUSINES-LINC - the overall objective of which is to strengthen the competitiveness of European enterprises by collecting, describing, verifying, consolidating, adjusting, and disseminating business innovation cases where IT plays a key role. The project consortium has six partners from Germany, Italy, Holland, Denmark, Sweden in addition to NHH.

Information systems implementation
This research area is closely related to the previous one. The main focus is on the process of IT implementation as well as on the factors and preconditions for successful IT implementation. A variety of research questions have been raised and a number of implementation issues have been investigated. Some studies have focused on the implementation process while others have been preoccupied with key factors which may explain the success or failure of an IT implementation. Finally, we are currently involved in a research program at Statoil, which is related to their implementation of SAP R/3.

Multimedia technology and electronic commerce
Internet has changed the world of computing. From a focus on the computer as the basic facilitator for effective information processing, the focus is now on the network and the computer, so-called network computing. Furthermore, Internet facilitates multimedia processing of network computing, also known as computer mediated environments, raises new research questions and changes our traditional business concepts in general and computer information systems concepts in particular. Leif B. Methlie and other are currently engaged in a research project at SNF on multimedia banking where a new business concept for on-line banking in electronic networks (markets) is studied. On a more general level our faculty performs research on electronic commerce, marketing, sale and delivery of products and services through electronic channels. A current doctoral work investigate the advertising effectiveness of interactive multimedia.

Knowledge-based information systems
The work on knowledge-based information systems comprises two areas: 1) knowledge-based decision support systems (KB-DSS) and 2) knowledge-based (intelligent) search agents on open information networks. The work and KB-DSS is a spin-off of previous research on DSS. In a recent doctoral research, the cognitive paradigm of connectionism has been tested on financial diagnosis using the technology of neural networks. Work in the second area, intelligent agents on open information networks, has just started. It is closely related to the research on multimedia technology and electronic commerce described above. Primarily, intelligent agents for banking and finance will be studied.

Faculty - Information Management

Trond Vegard Johannessen

Heidi Buverud

Jan Vidar Håtuft

Randi Sande Vindegg

Honorary Member:

Kjell Grønhaug