E-Discovery: RM to the Rescue

Unfortunately the session on RM training and education we hoped to get to this afternoon wasn’t available. It’s too bad because another very common talking point at this conference has been about what a big challenge it is to get individuals in any organization to buy into and follow RM programs, so we were hoping to get a fresh perspective on it.

If other members of the team managed to get another seminar on it, we’ll report back.

We went instead to What’s Electric About Electronic Discovery? with Don Swanson and Scott Carlson. Pretty informative stuff. They walked us through the Electronic Discovery Reference model, demonstrating and emphasizing the role RM has to play in minimizing the impact of litigation on organizations.

Interestingly, Carlson asked the group (about 200 people) how many of their organizations had been involved in litigation in the last five years, and easily 90% of the room raised their hands!

The basic message was that the less unnecessary information an organization keeps, and the better organized what they do keep is, the less the cost of any discovery will be.

Both presenters worked outside the RM industry, and they both commented on how they have seen the value proposition of RM explode in the last 5 years. Good news!

They did leave us with an interesting question to ponder: in the event of discovery (or similar event) when copies of your records go “outside your for walls”, what happens to it? How do you ensure that they are being managed properly?

If you’ve got any thoughts or experience on this, let us know.

Taxonomy and Metadata are Fun!

Day 3 of the ARMA Conference is well under way here in Las Vegas and we have had lots of visitors to the booth for our presentations and just to chat.

What really comes through here is that the people who have come to this conference are here to learn.    There is so much happening right now when it comes to managing information that to stay ahead of the game you have got to be open to new ideas and be prepared to learn from your peers.  That goes for exhibitors and vendors as well!

And perhaps because this is such a dynamic time for RM, we’ve met and talked to a lot of people who truly have a passion for what they do.  Say “taxonomy” or “metadata” to the average soul and you can expect a confused glazing of the eyes.  But Denise Bruno, a librarian by trade currently doing RM in the public, is passionate about both topics.

At one of this morning’s educations sessions, Metadata and Taxonomies-Tying the Two Together Denise delivered a lively and informative talk on these two crucial RM topics that was actually…entertaining!  How we logically construct and order information so that people can find and use it is at the very heart of what we do, and this seminar was full of clear explanations and best practices on both.  We’ll be covering what Denise talked about in an upcoming edition of OnRecord.

Now it is off to lunch, then fitting in a couple more seminars before the booth teardown!

IT and RM

Talk to people here and most will tell you some of their biggest challenges are handling the huge volume of emails and electronic documents their organizations are currently generating. So it makes sense that in walking around the Expo Hall, you notice that there as some really exciting things going on with respect to IT and RM. The good people at Google, for instance, are doing some pretty impressive things with enterprise e-mail archiving. Another company, a.k.a., has got a taxonomy software offering that you can imagine larger enterprises everywhere wanting to get their hands on A.S.A.P.

We are going to sit down with both vendors tomorrow and get the scoop on what exactly they are going and get their take on what role these types of tools will be playing in RM going forward.

And this steadily increasing IT oriented presence in RM is ironic because there is an age-old tension between RM and IT traditionally. There was a seminar this afternoon on just that subject, called Communicating with IT given by Tim O’Keefe, Ph.D.

It was a great presentation. As an IT professional himself, he probes the extremes of the stereotypical IT persona and how the traits that make people self-select for that line of work also make it more difficult for disciplines like RM to communicate with them.

And beyond conflicting communication styles, there are some fundamental differences on how both groups view the basics, like the definition of a record. For RM it is about content, while for IT it is data, what IT sees as a source document is a record for RM, and so on.

And while you might take issue with some of O’Keefe’s characterizations on both sides, his approach to bridging the gap is quite interesting.

Fundamentally he believes that IT folks are focused on achieving and growing within their jobs, and they are much less concerned about how people perceive them. So it is up to RM to offer an olive branch, understand the IT mindset, and use that understanding to build RM goals into IT’s strategic plans. You have to make the case for why IT needs RM, but whatever you do, don’t say compliance, according to O’Keefe.

At a time when so many RM challenges originate in the digital domain, when even IBM is building RM functions into IT infrastructure, and given the neat new software tools that are out there, maybe reconciliation between RM and IT won’t be far behind.

Big Buckets: Next Big Thing?

Back at it early this morning after a great party last night, where our own Katy Wheeler rocked the house in her “Hybrid Environment Hydra” monster costume. There were also Vegas showgirls, awesome celeb impersonators, and a whole lot of karaoke singing! Who says that RM people don’t know how to have fun? A good time was indeed had by all.

Catching up with the team and we notice some themes emerging from seminars and discussions with other vendors and participants. One of those is definitely the “big bucket” approach to records management, especially when it comes to dealing with email and electronic records. Below are some quick notes from two presentations that looked at this approach.

Records Retention Requirements for Electronic Records

Donald Skupsky, JD, CRM, FAI

Donald Skupsky is as close to a record management icon as you are likely to find, and the packed seminar room (over 550 people) came as no surprise.

He framed his discussion around a central problem: electronic records are clogging our IT infrastructures. Where once they were seen as a solution, electronic records are fast becoming a problem for many organizations.

You’ve got to control your electronic records by classifying them and linking them to your retention schedule, something that many people are having trouble with. They simply don’t have the knowledge and are confused by what to do with both structured and unstructured data, as well as the attendant metadata.

The solution, in part, is using a “big bucket” records classification strategy approach (see below), which allows for easier classification and linking to the retention schedule, thereby beginning to eliminate the clogging effect of electronic records.

Using this as a base, he then outlined the following items as critical for a successful retention strategy for electronic records:

• implementation
• EDMS
• rules-based records retention schedule
• complete support of upper management, especially legal
• full employee cooperation
• audits and other controls

Big Buckets for Enterprise Records Management

Susan Cisco, Ph.D., CRM, FAI; Sue Trombley

So what exactly is the big bucket approach? Basically, it is founded on the idea that more choices means more complexity, and by streamlining taxonomy and retention options for RM users you make it easier for them to make the right choice.

In this approach, records series or “buckets” have the same or similar:

• business processes
• legal and regulatory requirements
• business requirements
• retention periods

What is a reasonable number of buckets? The average company should come in around 50 to 70, with 100 as a maximum.

This means that there is less effort needed than in more granular retention schedules in inventorying and scheduling routine records. Not surprisingly, big buckets are getting traction in meeting the challenge of the daily classification of large volumes of e-records.

And because it is easier for users to manually classify content for retention, it mitigates the risk of retaining records for too long, lowering your total cost of operation and making it easier for your software to categorize your e-records.

Of course, there are questions around how the approach can handle case-type files and event-driven retention, but in the ongoing effort to bring compliance to the desktop, the big bucket approach may be the next big thing.

Records Management: The Time Is NOW!

Day 1 of the 53^rd Annual ARMA conference here in Las Vegas is winding down, and as we gear up for tonight’s welcome party, here are a few notes on the days events.

There is a palpable “the time is now” buzz in the air here. This idea was the thrust of the great presentations at this morning’s opening event by John Frost, President of ARMA international, and keynote speaker David Weinberger, author of Everything is Miscellaneous.

We live in an information-rich age where mismanaging this information can have serious consequences for organizations, and it is the job of records managers everywhere to step up to the plate. Records and information management is now truly in the spotlight as a discipline!

After the opening event, conference-goers streamed into the exhibit hall, and we were very, very excited by the number of people that came by the booth. There were new faces and some old friends, and it was a great day of learning and sharing. Despite the crush at the booth we did manage to get out to some of the excellent seminars in the afternoon. Some highlights:

Global Records Management- The P&G Story

Randy Moeller; W. Ray Beecraft

You think you’ve got a challenge trying to get your people to stick to your RM program? Imagine the up-hill battle facing Proctor & Gamble, with approximately 122, 000 employees spread over 80+ countries.

They wanted to establish a 100% complete records management review every year, and they certainly had their work cut out for them!

After a few iterations, they developed a highly successful model that relied on a web-based resource and training component (i.e. a site that all employees could access that would answer RM questions from the most basic to the most complex) combined with a hands-on training element they would conduct with key-stakeholders in person, in their offices.

The most interesting thing though was they said the key ingredient in the success of their program was the backing of the CEO, COO, and Chief Legal Office. The message here is that you can frame the importance of RM in terms of drivers like efficiency and cost until the cows come home, but until you have the boss behind it, your chances of success of success are limited.

RIM: The Next Three Years

April Dmytrenko, CRM, FAI; Wendy Shade, FAI; Deb Gearhart, CRM; Julie Gable, CDIA, CRM, FAI; Jim Coulson, CRM, FAI; Christine Ardern, CRM, FAI; TAD Howington, CRM, CA, FAI

This was an excellent, excellent joint presentation by seven leading RM professionals looking at what is ahead for in the next three years. Here are some of the points they raised, definitely food for thought:

• IDC is saying by 2011 there will be 10 times the info generated in 2006

• Gartner says that in the U.S. right now there are 8500 regulations that affect the management of records

• RM that focuses on paper alone will lose out to IT

• There will be exponential growth as regulations expand outside the finance industry, and legal and compliance issues will be at the forefront

• Organizations are going to base RM decisions and spend on risk management, probability and outcome will inform what they tackle, so the focus will be on high-risk areas that can be solved with technology

• RM will continue to have to create tangible ROI, including litigation and compliance, cost avoidance, and improved business process, and RM MUST deliver on this within 18 months

• Legal and IT groups will give way to RM-we are now at the implementation phase, the rules have been set, but in economic climate only hard dollar ROI projects will get greenlighted

• Projects around compliance risks will only get funded in those cases where the penalties are high

• RM is going to be leading the way because they are going to translate business processes to IT and legal

• In future, records managers will have to be come more nimble and adaptable, with the foresight to see what is coming even before your vendors do

• Business are beginning to realize that socialization of information makes that information more valuable

Tomorrow is Day 2, and we will be bringing you further updates from the floor of the show, as well as summaries of the seminars we can get to. Stay tuned!

TAB’s Free In-Booth Seminars

The ARMA Expo officially begins Monday, October 20th and we are excited! While you roam the expo floor, don’t forget to visit booth #303, where TAB will be presenting on several RM hot topics throughout the show. Attend one of our Keynote Seminars, conveniently scheduled during beverage breaks:

• The Roadmap to Compliance: Monday, October 20 at 3:05 PM
• Corporate Buy-In to RM Programs: Tuesday, October 21 at 9:35 AM
• Reducing Risk with Physical Records: Tuesday, October 21 at 3:05 PM
• The Roadmap to Compliance: Wednesday, October 22 at 9:35 AM

Can’t make one of those times? TAB will be running ongoing presentations on Space Planning in RM, Environmentally-Friendly RM tips and Hybrid Records Management. Just stop by and let us know which topic you’re interested in.

We’ll be at Booth #303 – will we see you there?

Don’t Miss TAB at ARMA 2008

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Check back at show time, October 20-22 to read all the latest happenings directly from the show floor at ARMA. If you will be attending the show, be sure to visit TAB at Booth #303 where you can pick up a free gift! Take our questionnaire to receive a coupon for 11 free white papers loaded on a FREE 1 GB flashdrive!

 

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