Infokäitlemine

Infokäitlemine is the Estonian term for information handling or information management. It refers to the systematic management of information in order to support operations, decision-making, accountability and transparency. It covers both information produced within organizations and information acquired from external sources.

The information lifecycle is central to infokäitlemine. Key stages typically include creation or capture, organization and storage, processing and analysis, retrieval and dissemination, archiving, and eventual disposal. Effective infokäitlemine aims to ensure information is accurate, accessible when needed, secure, and preserved for the appropriate length of time.

Principles guiding infokäitlemine often include data quality, integrity, confidentiality, availability, and privacy. Interoperability and standardization of metadata and formats are important to enable sharing and reuse across systems and organizations. Information governance and stewardship assign responsibility for policies, roles and accountability, while information architecture and metadata management help structure information for efficient access and use.

Practices and technologies used in infokäitlemine include data management systems, content and records management, databases, metadata standards, information security measures, and governance frameworks. It is applied across sectors such as government, business, healthcare and science, and it is shaped by legal and regulatory contexts, notably privacy and data protection laws in the European Union.

Challenges in infokäitlemine include data fragmentation and silos, privacy and security concerns, data quality issues, retention policies, and resource constraints. Effective infokäitlemine requires coordinated policy, technology, and organizational practices.