AIIM Knowledge Center Blog

With Change Management, There’s more to it than Just Providing Communication and Training

In implementing an ERM system and new ways of working, we hear that there is the need for communication and training.  But, there is much more to it than that.

In AIIM’s Certificate ERM course, we discuss setting objectives for our efforts, identifying who our different audiences are, determining the communication and training approaches that should be used and getting feedback on our efforts.

First, looking at the objective of our communication and training, it could be to simply inform our audiences of our current information handling practices and how they can be improved, it could be to inform our audiences that changes need to be made, and will be made, or it could be to let staff know what improvements are being planned.  Another objective would be to get senior management endorsement for the changes that are necessary with the organization.  Another one is to educate the users on what actions are taking place and get their buy in.

Other objectives will include providing the users and other audiences with the necessary knowledge they need to carryout their work in the new ERM environment.

Within our organization, we will be addressing different audiences.  Before we provide the communication and training, we need to identify the particular audience that we are working with.

The different audiences consist of:

• Senior management and other stakeholders,
• Business unit leaders
• ERM administrators
• Help Desk staff
• Floor-walkers
• IT support staff
• Super-Users
• General Users

With the specific objectives in mind, and identifying our particular audience, we need to select the appropriate communication and training approaches.

The different means of providing communication and training include:

• Awareness briefings
• One-on-one interviews
• Workshops
• Focus groups
• Team meetings
• Email distributions
• Intranet and internet postings

Each of these means has its benefits and drawbacks.  Recognizing that there are different approaches to communication and training, we need to pick the most appropriate means for the particular audience that we are addressing to achieve the identified objectives.

As we carryout our communication and training, we need to collect feedback on our efforts.  This feedback can be collected immediately after the effort has been made or at a later time.  The means of collecting feedback include:

• Questionnaires
• Interviews
• Workshops
• ERM system reports and statistics

We need to learn from the feedback and act on it.  We can identify what changes need to be made.  Talk about the issues with our audiences and make changes to our communication and training.  We need to continue to review, learn and improve our efforts.

By Carl E. Weise

What’s wrong with using the Big Bucket approach to Records Retention Schedules?

There have been discussion in the records management professional about limiting the number of different record categories (records series) in an organization’s retention schedules.  The arguments are that there are just too many different categories of records in a large organization and that not enough records management resources are available to identify and analyze them all.  It is also felt that fewer categories of records would make the classification of records easier for the users.

The fewer records series could be established using a project management approach – follow the work flow and group the different records series by how they are associated at the different stages of the work flow.  Others suggest identifying records series based on the years of retention.  Establish one records series for two-year retention, another for five years, etc. and matching the different records to the most appropriate records series.

It is suggested that records management theory is fine, but we must address the reality of the current situation in organizations these days.

In my many years of establishing retention schedules in organizations, I have held many discussions with senior members of management who argue that retentions schedules are unique and, basically, they have never had to deal with them in the past.  I have said that the structure of retention schedules is not unique.  In fact, those of us managing information are stealing the management control structures that have been proven successful in other areas of the organization.

When I teach the AIIM’s ERM certification course, I am met with silence when I ask the students what the parallel management control structures are in Human Resources and Finance.  These parallel structures are the Organization Chart and the Chart of Accounts, respectively.

I simply ask has anyone seen a truncated Organization Chart or Chart of Accounts in large organizations.  I don’t think so.  In the same, and in this information age, it is absolutely necessary to compile a comprehensive records retention schedule.

My students can tell you my number one general management principle.  That is that you can not manage what you don’t know about.  The different records series must be identified and a value analysis must be carried out on each one.  While I agree that establishing retention periods is important, what is even more important is documenting the value of the records series to the organization.  This is parallel to the Organization Chart in which each job position is supported by an approved job description.

I agree that organizations do not have the records management resources they need.  In this information age, that must change.  For those organizations that are concerned about their levels of staffing, I am happy to suggest they reduce staffing in the HR and Finance areas.  Policies in these areas are well established.  There management control structures are developed and taken for granted by the operating managers.  Fill these positions with records management professionals who need to establish records management policies, including the handling of e-mail and instant messaging, along with the many other information management practices.  There is also the critical need to establish a comprehensive records retention schedule across the enterprise and to provide the necessary communications and training and to enable enforcement of these policies.

There is also the issue of getting employees’ cooperation.  What is currently going on is that organizations are establishing corporate control over their information assets.  This also parallels the corporate control over the human resources and financial assets of organizations that began after the Second World War.

Believe me, staff screamed and hollered when these efforts were first introduced.  For example, having to provide receipts to get reimbursed for business expenses was considered impossible to do.  Employees argued that this idea was ridiculous.  Yet, years later, this practice is taken for granted.  In the same way, individual users will take it for granted that they need to capture their own records into an electronic records management repository.

Is this effort to instill corporate control over the information assets of organizations easy?  Absolutely not!  Senior management will have to buy into the need for this to be done.  Reading the current literature on the damages experienced by organizations, including the negative impact on their reputations, because of poor email management, their inability to handle e-discovery and their inability to protect personal information, I have no doubt that management has no other alterative.

We, as records management professionals, will need to stick to our guns (remain convinced that what has been successful in our practices, Human Resources and Finance is the right approach to follow), we will need to implement enterprise content management (ECM) and electronic records management (ERM) solutions within our organizations and we will have to use all the change management knowledge and skills that we can muster.

By Carl E. Weise.

New Ways of Working - WOWs

The agricultural age has come and gone.  The industrial age has done the same.  There is little disputing that we are now in the information age.  It is said that there will be more information created in the next two years than in the whole history of civilization.  A theme that is discussed is that successful companies will not be the ones that have the best information, anymore, but the ones that can manage the avalanche of information – separating the valuable information from the rest.

This will require new ways of working in our offices, homes and such places as airports, where we are doing work while waiting for flights.

In the Concepts of Operations module of AIIM’s ERM Process course, we discuss ten records management principles that will need to be followed for organizations to be successful in this new information age.

These ten principles include:

• Records will be routinely created, shared, used and stored in electronic form
• There will be an increase in individual responsibility for managing information; only one copy of an information object will be stored; there will be greater use of short cuts and hyperlinks; a the culture of sharing information encouraged
• Access to information will be controlled;  there will be increased oversight using audit trails; there will be backup and recovery of computer systems (actually testing recovery processes before they are needed); users will share information except where access cannot be permitted for a defined reason (such as sensitive information)
• ‘Capture’ is the process of declaring, classifying and storing a record; information will be indexed (metadata will be applied to the records); indexing will be based on the organization’s taxonomy and thesaurus; ERM will require the minimum possible effort from users
• File structures (classification scheme) will increase sharing, improve access and collaborative working; users will be able to define file structures suitable for their local business needs; records management professionals will ensure that the file structure in constantly updated
• Powerful searching capabilities will be available and will operate across the entire IT infrastructure; search capabilities will find information without precise details; search capabilities will be subject to access controls
• Every information item will have an 'owner' responsible for its management, protection and eventual disposal; owners will provide guidance on use of the information; information governance will need regular reviews
• Retention schedules will govern information removal; archiving and disposal actions will be scheduled automatically; retention schedules will be reviewed annually
• Collaborative working features,“a working practice whereby individuals work together to a common purpose to achieve business benefits”, will be available to users who need them; will requires a flexible culture; workflow will be used for routing records; different workflow capability levels will be implemented; collaboration will be implemented alongside ERM
• The software and organizational structure will support the environment envisaged in the ERM policy statement

Will these new ways of working be adopted immediately – absolutely not.  Will this require a change in the culture of our organizations – absolutely.  Will this transition be easy – no way.

However, for businesses and other organizations to be successful in this new information age, the principles, listed above, must be adopted.

Will this transition to new ways of working take place – there is no other alternative.

By Carl E Weise.

Let the IT department manage your electronic records?

It looks like IT is assuming responsibility for electronic records in many large organizations according to this year’s “State of the Industry” survey. It was conducted in March 2007 using an on-line instrument, and a total of 1,226 end users participated in this year’s survey. It is also frightening to see that 20% report that no department has specific responsibility for managing electronic records in our organization

 

Proper education is then key to ensure that your IT staff understands records management principles and best practices, and we have seen a lot IT people attending our ERM Certificate Program. Press here to access an online presentation describing this training program.

What do you thing about the above statistics? Let me know.

By Atle Skjekkeland.

What is "Capture"?

Capture is the process of getting information from a source into an ECM environment or system so it can be managed. This can include converting paper documents into a digital form. Some examples of information that can be captured are: web pages, email, office documents (e.g., spreadsheets, text documents), instant messages, and scanned documents (including images). After capturing the information, it must be recorded. To record the information in an ECM system, you must include data about the document or object that has been captured. This information is known as “metadata” and the common definition for metadata is “data about data”.

 

The term “document” does not refer to only text-based documents. A document can be a spreadsheet, presentation slides, etc. Some of the documents that are captured may be scanned in. Scanned images can be difficult to track and maintain unless specific metadata procedures are applied. An ECM solution will help to establish consistent standards and controls and will aid in the search and retrieval process.

For successful capture capability in your ECM solution, be sure that your solution is compatible with all of the office document types you might use, both now and in the future (including graphic object types, such as JPEG, TIFF, etc.). Most ECM products will be able to save any object or document type, even if the application associated with the type is not present on the system.

By Thedra White

What is a Record?

With the growth of electronic records management (ERM) and lead by the ISO Records Management standard, ISO 15489, there has been a lot of discussion over what is a business record within an organization.

What a novel concept – a business record!

In fact, it is not a novel idea. For decades, employees have been determining what is important to both themselves and their organizations. The result has been that paper records were systematically filed in their desk drawers and file cabinets. The paper records that were not deemed to be important were tossed out, either sooner or later.

Certainly, with electronic records there has been an exponential increase in the volume of information that passes across our desks and computer screens. The ease of creating information has lead to many more records and much more information that is of little value to us or our organizations. This requires much more of our attention than in the past.

Electronic records are also more difficult to manage than paper records. As we look at electronic records, including emails, we only see the name of the file or the subject of the email. To properly manage electronic records, we often have to open them up to look at the contents because the names and subject descriptions are so vague. This is more cumbersome that just looking at folders or sheets of paper and immediately being able to identify the type of record that they are and knowing that we either need to keep them or to throw them out in the trash.

In AIIM’s ERM and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Certificate courses, we address the need for controlled vocabularies within organizations. ISO 15489, the international standard on records management defines records as: “information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business”. This definition is useful in making it clear that we are not talking about only old, archival records, but everyday information that we create or receive in our work situations.

As we get inundated with information, we need to understand what is important to us and our organizations. As we work in different positions, we should have training on what information is important and how it should be properly handled. As we gain experience in our positions, we get a better understanding of what is required. This can be considered determining what a record is “by the seat of our pants”.

The secret to improving productivity, as well as comfort on the job, is to get away from arbitrary decisions on separate pieces of information on what should be retained and what should be thrown out. It is valuable to write down what our decisions are and to refer to those decisions in the future. This is illustrated so well in the accounting profession. Having a Chart of Accounts makes it so much easier to allocate the different revenues and expenses for ourselves or our organizations. Instead of constantly rethinking the issues and making arbitrary decisions, you develop a structure to make your decisions easier.

As you look at the information in front of you, whether it is in the form of an email, a product of a computer application or even audio and video format, you can use the ISO 15489 definition and consider if the information is associated with legal obligations or support, or document, transactions. If it does than the information is a record.

In the ERM and ECM certificate courses, we provide an analytical approach to determining what a record is by identifying if there are:

• legal requirements to retain the information,
• industry standards that relate to the information,
• continuing relevance of the information to you and your organization,
• public interest, including the historical value of the information,
• and future need.

Another interpretation of the requirements is, looking at the information,

• what is the administrative value of the information
• what is the legal value, both regulatory requirements and protection in litigation,
• what is the fiscal value, and
• what is the historical value of the information.

If you have meaningful answers to any of these questions, the information is a record. This can be considered as taking an analytical approach to determining what a business record is. As I said above, employees have been determining what a business record is and what is not for decades.

What I would like to make clear is that arbitrary decisions on records are not good for employees or their organizations. Like all business decisions, some are going to be correct and some are not. Individual employees should not be responsible for these business decisions. At the same time, there is case law that clearly shows that consistent practice in handling records is important to defend yourself, and the organization, from charges of obstruction of justice. Therefore, records need to be identified enterprise-wide and the consistent handling of them must be enforced.

Employees who are creating and receiving information that they are not familiar with should work with the organization’s records management professionals to properly identify the information and determine how it should be handled and for what period of time. The determination of what are an organization’s records should be a corporate decision and not an individual’s one.

So, what is a record? It’s any information that’s important to you in carrying out your work and to your organization.

What is important is that you document your decisions as to what information is important and what is not. Secondly, you need to work with the records management professionals and carryout an analytical appraisal of the information and come up with an organization decision on how they should be handled.

by Carl Weise

Putting the pieces together

For the second time AIIM held its Pre-conference ECM Practitioner training in Boston. Not only was the room filled to capacity, but those that were there had loads of questions and also added their own experiences to the content of the course.

A very mixed crowd of vendors, consultants and end-users from Boston around the corner, Texas, Florida and California, but also internationally from Canada, Germany, France, Brazil and the UK showed up despite the horrendous weather.

There were Information managers, IT people, Service-bureaus, Professional Services, Exhibitors, as well as representatives from Utilities and Manufacturing, Healthcare, Hardware Manufacturers, Banking and even Government, both local as well as Federal. Debate was occasionally lively and the interest in the Concepts of Enterprise Content Management was high.

Using the ECM Road-map as the basis for the structure, we covered all the parts of this Road map and tried to relate it to real business needs at the same time.

Some of the comments that came back from the participants were:

“One of the keypoints learned was to think globally but act locally and this is very true for an ECM strategy as well.” – Susan

“I came to learn about how to control my data and define my companies workflows and I learned a lot in one day. “ – Robert

“We are in the process of looking for a Document Management product and I thought this would provide a good overview – and it did “ – Ruth

“I learned about classification and also filled in some gaps in other areas.” – Dan

“I am a beginner on the subject of ECM and I needed to get a quick overview – which I did!” – Ana

“I realized we need the ECM Strategy Workshop to help us implement the project we are currently running.” – John

“I now realize that we really need to get our business processes done before we can go forward with the ECM project, and why.” - Bridget

To all that asked for more information, this blog touches upon a lot of the subjects also covered in the Specialist part of the AIIM ECM course. There are also additional workshops on eDiscovery and Compliance available all over the USA, as well as full Masterclasses and Master Prep classes. Watch this blog for more educational feedback from participants of AIIM Educational Services.

by Hanns Köhler-Krüner

Centralized or Distributed Scanning?

There are benefits of centralizing your scanning in Scanning Hubs or Centers with dedicated staff, but there are also benefits of going for distributed scanning by users using MFPs or scanning stations.

Possible questions to identify best solution;

• Location of paper documents
• Necessary access to files during conversion
• Necessary document preparation
• Necessary quality control
• Necessary metadata or data extraction
• Necessary security
• Etc

Which questions would you ask to identify best solution?

What to scan depends on…?

It is often easy to identify the benefits of scanning paper documents, but our scanning budget may not allow us to do a complete backlog conversion. It is then important to identify the value of scanning different sets or classes of paper documents to plan a partial backlog conversion.

Possible questions to identify the value of scanning sets or classes of paper documents;

• Retrieval profile; how often are the documents retrieved over time?
• Simultaneous access; how many people retrieve it at the same time?
• Speed of access: how quickly do people need access to it?
• Volume: how much volume is it?
• Quality: what is the existing quality?
• Etc.

Which questions do you prefer to ask to identify set or classes of paper documents that should be scanned with a limited budget?

Scanning process & technologies

The first step in managing your content is getting it into your IT infrastructure. While many internal company documents are born digital, and remain, digital throughout the lifecycle, organizations still need to ingest a tremendous amount of paper-based communications from outside. Invoices, application forms, customer letters, etc. all need to be turned into digital form for insertion into an electronic workflow or directly into storage. AIIM Europe has just produced a new Capture poster that explains the scanning process and relevant technologies. Press here to access the Capture poster.