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The Gimmal Group developed the SharePoint Certificate Training Program for AIIM.  The modules are full of very valuable information.  They presented many interesting thoughts on managing the information within our organizations.  On one specific topic, they suggested that to achieve records management compliance, a transition is needed in how we think about the challenges and how we use technology as part of the overall information management solution.

They suggest that we need to think differently about 4 key topics:

• Broaden the scope of information from business records to business information and content.

This is certainly very important.  With the attention given to ediscovery and electronically stored information (ESI), all information that is relevant to a legal action, except privileged, needs to be provided, even if an organization has not identify it, previously, as a record.  It is clear that all content needs to be managed.

There may be some individuals who still only want to manage paper files and boxes.  There may be a few who only want to manage the “official” records of their organizations.  The vast majority of records management professionals sees the need, and is capable, of managing all information in their organizations. 

• Change from a narrow definition of records management to retentionmanagement for all information

Retention management requires defining retention rules for the various types of information and applies to all information.  The goal is to apply the rules at the point of creation/receipt or information classification, so they can follow the information throughout its lifecycle.  Retention management rules can be assigned manually or via automated systems or workflows.  It is also important that they are defined consistently across both physical and electronic information.

To manage the terabytes of content in our organizations, sound records management principles work – break this information into aggregations, or groups, identify the values of these individual categories, and apply retention formulas.  Perhaps, the biggest difference between records and non-record content will be the event trigger to start the retention period.  With non-records, this even trigger would be the creation date.  

There is a theme in electronic records management that it is very difficult to train users to ‘declare’ which information is a record.  From my perspective, we can accomplish this by providing solid answers to the question: What’s in it for me (the user)?  With computer systems, we can also monitor activity and provide corrective action.  At the same time, we should consider appropriate design and configuration decisions, up-front, so that users do not have to assign retention rules to business information or content.  Retention management rules can be applied based on the classification approach and mapping of information to content categories behind the scenes.  As a result, retention management becomes transparent to the business users.

• Implement methods beyond information management to information governance frameworks.

We should consider the transition of thinking from a ‘management’ perspective to a ‘governance’ perspective.

Management is focused on control – behaviors such as planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling refer to management techniques. While governance focuses on ownership and accountability – this is evidenced by consistent management, cohesive policies, and delineation of processes and decision-rights for a given area of responsibility. When applied to information governance, we are referring to the multi-disciplinary structures, policies, procedures, processes and controls implemented to manage information on all media.

From a technology perspective, the controls need to be worked into the functional requirements for design.  This includes identifying the decision-rights to balance control and flexibility and maintain the integrity of an information governance framework.

Information governance requires a supporting multi-disciplinary organizational structure which may include:

Executive management;

Steering committee or governance council;

Corporate functions – Records Management, Legal, Compliance, Tax, Audit, HR, and IT;

Business Unit, or Line of Business, Managers; and  

Business unit roles – such as Records Management Professionals, Hold Order Managers, and Information Owners.

To the question of whether records management will be relevant in the future, the answer is a resounding ‘YES’.

Information governance includes policies, procedures, processes and controls including establishing information compliance models and rules.   Compliance models and rules depict the various information types, information states, and lifecycle rules that will be implemented consistently across the organization.  The objective is to embed these rules into the processes and tools so that compliance becomes a part of normal operating procedures.

• Think of records management not as a specialized function but as a generalized capability.

Records management – as the management discipline was initially defined is no longer a specialized function performed by a few people to support many users. Today, everyone in the organization is potentially an information owner who creates or receives information, has email accounts or mailboxes, and stores information on organizational information systems.

Records management is a generalized capability that can be designed within processes and tools so information owners do not need to know what information is a record.  Retention rules can be assigned automatically to achieve standardized retention across all information states and approved locations for information storage.

There are many technology solutions available to assist with records management compliance processes such as classification, retention management, information security, and integration with legal processes such as hold orders and eDiscovery.

These include traditional electronic records management solutions, integrated enterprise content and records management solutions, as well as platform solutions such as SharePoint.

However, these new perspectives of managing information, content and records are also very important considerations.

What are your thoughts on these perspectives?

Have similar perspectives helped you within your organization?

I will be speaking at the following event:

March 19^th– 22^nd, 2012 AIIM Conference in San Francisco, CA