Below are some recommendations for running your information survey. The steps are just guidelines and need to be adjusted for each case.
Step 1 – Define the Scope
Establish the scope of the survey
Limits on time and resources may require the scope to be reduced along the following dimensions:
The whole organization or a subset of offices, sites, or countries?
Electronic content and/or records only or legacy hard-copy documents and/or records too?
Just unstructured data or structured data too?
E-mail holdings?
Step 2 – Define granularity: Collections
Key points to decide:
At what granularity (detail) will the survey be conducted?
How much information will be collected?
Granularity, according to how content and records are stored:
By file
By shelf
By filing cabinet
By 'collection'
Step 3 – Define granularity: Users
Granularity according to content and records owner:
By functional area
By department
By business unit
By team / workgroup
By individual
Step 4 – Define metadata to be collected
The metadata that will be collected in the survey will depend on its scope and granularity
The bare minimum:
Content and records title
Unique identifier (for survey)
Location
Description
Important additional info:
Owner
Volume
Format(s)
Purpose
Other existing copies
Value
Rate of growth/shrinkage
Frequency of use
Uniqueness/overlap
Use by other units
Organization
Completeness
Retention
Sensitivity or classification
Step 5 – Determine how to best understand the business processes, activities, content and records
Pragmatic approach – study the flow of work:
Where does the work come from?
How is the task assigned?
How does the task file develop?
How is the file closed?
How is it indexed for later access?
Where is the file kept?
When is it destroyed or archived?
Paper process vs. electronic vs. hybrid
Look for information gaps
Step 6 – Determine appropriate information survey techniques
A small but dedicated team with authority from Senior Management
May be just 1 person
Three main techniques:
Questionnaires
Face to face visits
Automated data collection
Technique A: Questionnaire
Primary technique, but:
Rarely comprehensive
Frequently biased
Content in two parts:
Open questions
Matrix: record types vs. sources
Distribution:
On paper via the internal mail
On-line launched by an e-mail link
Technique B: Team visits
An authorized team visits workgroups to:
Discuss and document their content and records holdings
Review:
Their information needs
Their current difficulties
Possible areas for improvement
Conduct:
One-on-one interviews
Workshops
Focus groups, led by:
The project team
User representatives trained by the project team
Technique C: IT tools
Analysis of network statistics online
Volumes of files and e-mails
Identify owners by volume
Uncover duplication
User analysis tool
Step 7: Determine best way to analyse findings
Large volumes of data will be produced
Software support is essential
Spreadsheet?
Database?
Specialist application?
Prepare the software beforehand
Factors for success - how to undertake an Information survey
Design the survey
Including data collection and analysis techniques
'Sell' it and communicate well throughout
Test it and modify the design
Do it for real
Thereby gathering data and establishing what each business unit does and how the work flows through it
Analyse the results
Identify content and records for migration / deletion
Classify paper documents and records by frequency of use
Link documents and records to core business processes
Simplify the file structure
Tell us about your experience in carrying out an Information Survey?
What factors lead to your success?
What obstacles did you have to address?
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