With so much information tied up in databases or legacy systems, it is imperative for government to understand that until the information is converged by way of the human factor, it is useless. Many of the systems around the country were designed without consideration to employee needs. Without employee-friendly programs, governments risk wasting the resources they've invested and are not likely to realize the full benefits of that spending. Agencies need to cut to the heart of the information they need for reporting and analysis, so that they make better decisions, work more efficiently, offer consistency in their reporting and provide better service to their constituents. There must be an understanding of the distinction between knowledge and information.
Most people understand knowledge as a procedure for dealing with concrete, routine situations.
But few situations are repeated. Therefore, to deliver quality results, knowledge possessed by people must provide the understanding that can be used to generate appropriate ways of handling different situations. There's a difference between data, information and knowledge. Information is about taking data and putting it into a meaningful pattern. Knowledge is the ability to use that information.