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You may be wondering what the status of MoReq2010 is, and when teh next vesion will appear. 

So am I.  Nobody is saying. 

The finished MoReq2010 was promised for the end of 2010.  But it has not appeared.  What has appeared is a consultation draft (published at http://contribute2moreq.eu); and several hundred consultation comments, many of them fundamental.  It became clear that (a) the current draft of MoReq2010 was not the promised “re-factoring” and simplification of MoReq2 – instead, the current draft is longer than MoReq2, more complex than MoReq2, and radically different to MoReq2 – and (b) the nature and number of consultation comments mean that the draft was very far from the almost-final version that would allow a final version to be completed in 2010.  So publication was halted – but it is unclear what is happening now.  

So far, there has been only one "announcement" from the DLM Forum about this(see http://tinyurl.com/VagueMoReq2010News), and that concentrates on thanking consultees and explaining what has happened rather than future plans or status.  The date it gives for publication of a plan has passed.    Most worryingly, however, the announcement refers to “finalisation” of the specification, and makes no mention of any further consultation.  It is very clear that this draft is so revolutionary that more consultation is essential.  Indeed, a period of more effective consultation is needed – not just using a web portal that is manifestly unsuited to such a long and complex document. 

I hope very much, as do most consultees who have studied the current draft, that the DLM Forum will find a way to hold more extensive consultations on the next draft.  if a “final” version is published without more consultation, it will be doomed to failure.  Getting it right, and getting the records management community to agree it is right, is more important than getting it done quickly.

 Marc Fresko