Mission Statement, Chronos Goals and Applications, Essay Example

An example of a good mission statement is taken from Purdue (2005). It is a database mission statement for Chronos, an academic project. The mission statement is:

“The mission for creating this integrated chronostratigraphic database is:
to produce a dynamic, global timescale to frame Earth history events and processes for societal benefit.”

An example of a poor mission statement was found from EFT (2010). It is a database for an investment company. The mission statement is:

“ETF Database is committed to giving our audience, consisting of both active traders and buy-and-hold investors, information that, to our knowledge, is truthful and non-biased.”

The rationale for selecting the two databases were based on the pointers given by Connolly and Begg (2005), that a database mission statement must be informative but succinct, and be able to answer what the database provides and who the database is for. The Chronos database fulfills these criteria. It is objective, pointing out precisely what a user can find in the database. It explicitly states what the database intends to produce and who is to benefit from this. On the other hand, the ETF database is vague. It identifies its beneficiaries but it does not identify what “information” it will actually provide. There is also no clarity on what benefit the information that the database provide would actually grant to its target audience. Unlike the Chronos database mission statement which specified what it would give, “a dynamic, global timescale to frame Earth history events and processes,” the ETF database mission statement simply says that the information it provides is “truthful and non-biased.” There is no clear indication what good this information would do to active traders and investors.

References

Connolly, T., and Begg, C. (2005). Database systems: a practical approach to design, implementation, and management. Addison-Wesley.

EFT (2010). Mission Statement. Retrieved November 15, 2010 from: http://etfdb.com/mission-statement/

Purdue (2005). Mission Statement, Chronos Goals and Applications. Retrieved November 15, 2010 from: http://www.purdue.edu/eas/chronos/mission_statement.htm