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Sounds silly, right?  Nobody I know who is worth their salt as a contractor or builder would build any structure without a foundation.  The foundation holds it up, keeps the structure from falling apart or collapsing in on itself.  Home inspections require a check of the foundation.  Common sense, right?

But, time and time again, organizations try to put in electronic systems to create, store and manage our information starting in the middle, without the walls and without the understanding of what is underpinning the system that could cause problems later.  Starting in the middle seams to save time and money, and maybe in the short term it does, but not in the long term.  Systems become over loaded with information with nowhere to go, the number of versions proliferate like rabbits, and IT often just adds more storage, fixing a symptom not a problem.

 Retention:  The rules and structure that list and govern what types of information are  used and needed by the organization.

Taxonomy:   A way of classifying the information that comes in, or is created within the structure of the retention schedule.

FilePlans:   A control structure where documents can be placed, rules applied and managed with or without human intervention.

Once you have the foundation built you then select the technology to manage all of it and define the business processes that feed into, or use the foundation. The technology automates the rules—just like the heater in your house.  With the thermostat, you set the rules for what the temperature should be; this causes the heater to turn on and off.  It does not come on before then and shuts off after your home has warmed to a certain temperature.

Electronic systems are like that in that they automate the rules.  But if you have no rules, well then your house has the windows and doors open for anything to come in and/or out and the heater just keeps on running.  Then we wonder why it is not working the way the vendor told us it would work.  There is no wonder; it is not starting from the beginning identifying the real problems or developing the best solution to fix the problems of too much data, duplicate data, silos of data, or outdated data in a system with no rules.