Ilmhours

Ilmhours is a unit of measure used in information lifecycle management (ILM) to quantify the time and effort devoted to data governance, storage tiering, retention, and disposal tasks. It is intended to supplement traditional time-tracking by incorporating the cognitive load and context-switching associated with knowledge-intensive data management.

In practice, ilmhours are calculated as clock_hours × complexity_factor. Complexity_factor is assigned per task and may depend on data sensitivity, regulatory constraints, and tool usage. This yields non-integer values and aligns with how teams account for cognitive effort. For example, 3 hours of routine tagging with factor 0.8 equals 2.4 ilmhours; 2 hours on a legal hold workflow with factor 1.6 equals 3.2 ilmhours.

Origin and usage: The term emerged in IT governance discussions in the 2010s as a way to model ILM work more accurately for budgeting and capacity planning. It remains a niche concept and is not part of standard accounting; many organizations still report hours in standard human hours or FTE-equivalents.

Uses and limitations: The concept supports capacity planning, budgeting, and service level agreement design for ILM tasks, but it faces criticism for lacking a universal definition and relying on subjective complexity factors that can hinder comparability across teams.

Related topics include information lifecycle management, data governance, data retention, and data archiving.