Impact of information use architecture on load and usability

Information use is defined as the application of acquired and transmitted information in the decision making of an organization at the strategic and tactical levels. The purpose of the research is to investigate how information use architecture impacts information load and usability at the operational level of manufacturing where machines, humans and the production processes are information users. A new approach to information load is introduced which takes all the characteristics of information use (tacit, mechanical, paper and digitized) and possibilities of users (machine, operator and process) into consideration. Information use nodes are conceptualized building blocks for information use architecture which impact information load and usability. The results suggest that information use load is sensitive to information encoding/decoding. A combination of the federated and integrated information use architectures tends to result in a low information use load and can become a strategic tool for waste reduction. How information usability relates to load varies depending on the usability characteristic in view. The major conclusion is that a holistic approach to information systems includes the consideration of information use architecture which is an important factor in the management of information load and usability at the operational level.