AIIM Knowledge Center Blog

Content Control and Access Still at Issue

It is June of 2009, and businesses continue to struggle with the ever growing issue of managing content of all types from all sources. Content is still unmanaged and out of control. Organizations have become somewhat paralyzed in moving forward with implementing or enhancing their ECM environments due mainly to an uncertainty of where to begin or how to improve what they have in place. This is supported by AIIM's recently released State of the ECM Industry 2009 Report that shows 75% of the organizations polled do not currently address content created or contained in Instant Messages, Blogs and Wikis and email is still out of control with 55% of organizations reporting they have little or no confidence that important emails are recorded, complete and retrievable.

These numbers, while not surprising are somewhat alarming in the sense that as technology and the ability to create and share information is advancing, organizations are lagging behind in accepting and addressing them appropriately which in turn can put them at risk of non-compliance and increase their costs to find and defend information in times of audit, discovery, and litigation.

AIIM Essentials Programs provide targeted training for organizations trying to address their growing content issues

AIIM expanded its online Essentials programs, providing focus on business critical topics related to best practices in Enterprise Content Management (ECM). Available immediately, these programs can benefit students looking to increase their knowledge base as standalone programs or as an enhancement to the internationally recognized AIIM Certificate programs.

• Fundamentals of Web Content Management Technologies
• Evaluating SharePoint
• Evaluating SharePoint for Enterprise Deployment
• Fundamentals of Digital Asset Management Technologies
• Fundamentals of Electronic Discovery
• Introduction to Web Analytics Technology
• Imaging and Recognition
• Fundamentals of Enterprise Portal Technology
• PDF/A

As business climates change and technology evolves, we will continue to monitor the industry and add to our AIIM Essentials offerings in the months and years to come.

What say you? Have you in the past or are you still struggling with content? How have you or are you dealing with it? I want to hear from you and learn what you and your organization are doing.

Bob Larrivee – AIIM

 

Email research from 800+ organizations

AIIM Email Management Industry Watch presentation

View more documents from Atle Skjekkeland.

The full report is available for FREE from AIIM research.

How bad are you?

AIIM do a lot of research and some of the findings are quite scary;

• 34% of organizations never delete emails, 31% have no policy, 8% delete when running out of storage space, 27% delete after 1- 24 months
• Some 45% of organizations do not have a policy on Outlook “Archive settings” so most users will likely create .pst archive files on local drives.
• 33% of organizations have no policy to deal with legal discovery, 40% would likely have to search back-up tapes, and 23% feel they would have gaps from deleted emails.
• 18% had been exposed to a legal challenge in the last 12 months and a further 15% in the last 3 years – a one-in-three chance.

The above findings are from our AIIM Email Management Industry Watch, and we are now planning the Electronic Records Management Industry Watch that will be introduced in September 2009. Solution providers interested in sponsoring the research (lead gen) should contact jryan@aiim.org ASAP. 

The Power of Open Source: Implementing ECM with MIKE2.0

When you hear the term Open Source, it is often related to software as this is where the initial concept began. Open Source software is typically developed outside of the normal realm of a corporation, by several individuals, with the intent of providing it for free to any and all willing to use it. This includes the source code itself and if you are able to enhance it, the modifications are welcome and provided back to the community to be shared with others. Software is not the only element to leverage this concept. Today, there is the sharing of methodologies to include as part of the Open Source community. MIKE2.0 is one of these elements.

Originally developed by Bearing Point, MIKE2.0 is an Open Source delivery framework for information management across an enterprise that provides project level flexibility using a 5 phased framework.  This strong and proven implementation methodology provides a very practical step-by-step approach for implementing ECM. The 5 phases to the MIKE2.0 methodology are:

 

Phase 1 - Business Assessment and Strategy Definition Blueprint
Phase 2 - Technology Assessment and Selection Blueprint
Phase 3 - Information Management Roadmap and Foundation Activities
Phase 4 - Design Incrementally
Phase 5 - Incremental Development, Testing, Deployment and Improvement

This iterative approach of MIKE2.0 divides the development and rollout of an entire system into implementation cycles defining and prioritizing portions of the system for construction and deployment. Each iterative step has feedback mechanisms to evaluate results and initiate improvements on future implementation cycles ensuring the project remains focused and delivers the expected results. This approach ensures higher levels of success and user acceptance.

AIIM has chosen the MIKE2.0 methodology to be the foundation for the AIIM ECM Specialist Certificate program. Not only is it a recognized and proven methodology, the fact is Open Source means that over time it will become more refined and evolve to continue meeting the stringent demands of successful implementations and on going continuous improvement for ECM environments.

The time is now to take the necessary steps to learn about implementation approaches based on Open standards. The time is now to register for the AIIM ECM Certificate program, until August 31 you can book selected AIIM ECM Master Class for 30% discount, contact training@aiim.org for the details.

What say you? Have you or are you using MIKE2.0 as your implementation standard? If not, why? I want to hear from you and learn what you and your organization are doing.

Bob Larrivee – AIIM

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee and remember to visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org, AIIM’s free social network created just for you.

 

 

 

 

MONDAY MADNESS - Name your price for the online AIIM IOA Practitioner course!

On Monday June 29, AIIM is letting you name your price for the online IOA Practitioner course – Learn how to improve Findability and Enterprise Search – Regular price to members $600

Pay what you think it is worth; Pay what you can afford – receive 24-7 access to AIIM's Information Organization and Access (IOA) Practitioner course for 6 months.
 
Course?
The IOA Practitioner course provides you with a thorough understanding of;

• Finding, Inventorying, and Analyzing Content
  
• Metadata and  Taxonomy
  
• Ontologies, Topic Maps, and Semantic Networks
  
• Content Modelling
  
•  Access and Search Techniques
  
• Advanced Topics in Findability and Information Retrieval
  
• User Experience of Information Access 
  

Earn the AIIM IOA Practitioner (IOAp) designation after passing the online exams. For further details go to www.aiim.org/ioatraining

Feedback? 

• "The class was truly the best training class I have ever taken!", Attendee from Chicago, IL 
  
• "I would recommend this course to both vendors and customers of ECM solutions." Attendee from Cleveland, OH 
  
• "I would like to take the opportunity to thank all at AIIM for delivering an excellent course from which I have learnt an enormous amount of invaluable information." Attendee from Reading, UK   

Why?
Because times are tough and we are committed to being your information management resource while assisting you in making informed and efficient business decisions. No strings attached.
 
How Does It Work?
It's too crazy an idea for our IT infrastructure to support, so we are going to get personal and have you contact the AIIM Training team at +1 301 755 2631 or +1 301 755 2674  alternatively email us training@aiim.org to make the transaction.
 
Only credit cards can be accepted. Leave a voicemail with your name and number if all lines are busy.
 
We will accept your price even if we are not able to get back to you by end of the day as long as it is logged between 8am and 8pm EDT June 29.

To learn more about AIIM training, please visit www.aiim.org/training 
  

Required functionality for Enterprise 2.0?

Enterprise 2.0 (E2.0) or social software for an enterprise must according to Andrew McAfee, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School have the following functionality to work well:

• Search: allow users to search for other users or content
  
• Links: group similar users or content together
  
• Authoring: be easy to produce content
  
• Tags: allow users to tag content 
  
• Extensions: recommendations of users or content based on profile, preferences, and/or behavior.
  
• Signals: allow people to subscribe to users or content
  

McAfee recommends that the software must be easy to use and not impose any rigid structure for users. The roll-out should be informal, but on a common platform to enable future collaboration between areas. He also recommends strong and visible managerial support to achieve this.

The above list was expanded upon by Dion Hinchcliffe in 2007 by adding the following 4 functions: 

• Freeform: no barriers to authorship, i.e. free from a learning curve or restrictions.
• Network-oriented: all content must be Web-addressable.
• Social: stresses transparency (to access), diversity (in content and community members) and openness (to structure)
• Emergence: must provide approaches that detect and leverage the collective wisdom of the community.

The McAfee’s model is called the SLATES framework, and Hinchcliffe’s model is called the FLATNESSES framework. Learn more about these models, but also how well does different E2.0 technologies support these frameworks, by signing up for the AIIM Enterprise 2.0 Certificate Program.

Question, - what else is needed for Enterprise 2.0? Any missing functions?

What are the benefits of Enterprise 2.0?

AIIM defines Enterprise 2.0 (E2.0) as a system of web-based technologies that provide rapid and agile collaboration, information sharing, emergence and integration capabilities in the extended enterprise. What does this mean for you? AIIM introduced last year an Enterprise 2.0 Certificate Program that covers the WHY, WHAT and HOW to implement E2.0, and the below matrix provides you with a few examples on how different E2.0 tools can support your business.

Press here to access a free presentation that explains E2.0 in more detail, but I also recommend you to sign up for the AIIM Enterprise 2.0 Practitioner course. E2.0 is coming (its already impacting the industry), and you can prepare for the future by becoming an AIIM Enterprise 2.0 Practitioner.

Win an evening with the President!

Sign up for an AIIM Certificate Program to be part of a draw for a private dinner with AIIM's president Mr. John Mancini in DC. All course attendees in June, July and August will be part of this draw, and you can use this dinner to discuss industry trends, challenges, and opportunities, or the latest baseball results. 

Please note that you have to cover your own travel and accommodation to DC, but AIIM can also offer you a $200 gift card if you are not able to travel to DC, or if you prefer a dinner with a friend or spouse.

Do you need presentations to educate colleagues?

Visit Slideshare (require registration) do download free presentations that explain ECM, ERM, BPM, E2.0, IOA, EMM, and E2.0. The presentations are from the AIIM's Certificate programs, and please feel free to use the presentations to educate staff and customers about the benefits and necessary steps achieve the benefits. 

What Is ECM?

View more OpenOffice presentations from Atle Skjekkeland.

Ensure that you know the real story behind the slides by becoming an AIIM Practitioner, Specialist or Master. Register now by visiting www.aiim.org/training

Beyond Technology: ISO/TR 15489 and Electronic Records Management

Implementing electronic records management (ERM) solutions is more than introducing technology – it’s more than purchasing software and hoping for the best.  It requires development of records management processes and controls.  It requires creation of records management instruments with a lot of change management and communication as the organisation moves to an ERM-enabled way of working. ISO/TR 15489-2:2001 recognizes this.

The standard argues for the implementation of a sustainable records system including people, processes, and technologies.  According to section 8.3 of the standard, such a system should be able to document records transactions; protect physical records and media; support distributed management of records; provide for conversion and migration of records; allow users to access, retrieve, and use records; and facilitate retention and disposition of records throughout the lifecycle.  It also argues for a design and implementation methodology for such a system so it can be implemented uniformly. 

ISO/TR 15489-2 provides such an implementation methodology, including the following 8 steps:

A.  Conduct preliminary investigation

B.  Analyse business activity

C.  Identify requirements for records

D.  Assess existing systems

E.  Identify strategies to satisfy requirements

F.  Design records system

G.  Implement records system, and

H.  Conduct post-implementation review

AIIM revised and updated the course material for its ERM Specialist and Master courses.  These courses address the implementation of ERM environments using the implementation approach provided in the global standard for records management, ISO/TR 15489-2:2001, Information and documentation -- Records management -- Part 2: Guidelines.

The time is now to take action to tighten control over your vital business records before litigation starts and before chaos strikes. The time is now to take the necessary steps to learn about implementation approaches based on industry standards. The time is now to register for the AIIM ERM Certificate program.

What say you? Have you or are you using ISO/TR 15489 as your implementation standard? If not, why? I want to hear from you and learn what you and your organization are doing.

Bob Larrivee – AIIM

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee and remember to visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org, AIIM’s free social network created just for you.