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Many of us who have had long careers in Records Management have the experience of trying to get our organization’s management to support records management efforts.  Many years ago, we recognized that management did not appreciate the importance of information and records and the means of managing them.  We realized that records management courses were not provided in MBA, and similar management, education programs.  We understood that as current senior managers rose through their careers, they had little exposure to records management.

Over the last decade and a half, records management systems were developed and became more sophisticated.  Except for the larger organizations in highly regulated industries, they were considered to be too expensive and complicated.

With both of these situations, it was as if our organization was at the community pool and either did not see the water or thought it would be too miserable to get wet.

Along came SharePoint, with its excellent capabilities for file sharing and collaboration.  Over time, there began the consideration of using it for records management purposes.  It fell within the mindset of many people that all we needed was technology and our problems would be solved.

SharePoint is seen as the seemingly low-cost solution to managing the content and records within our organizations.  As organizations are trying to succeed with this solution, they are being impacted by the awareness that they also require records management policies, structure and records series (content types) and records management support, either internally or externally.

SharePoint requires substantial customization to meet the needs of managing content and records.  Organizations are impacted by these requirements and efforts.  They are starting to learn, appreciate, develop and meet records management functional requirements in these customizations.

Using the analog I presented above, I am suggesting that SharePoint has gotten many organizations wading in the shallow end of the community pool.  We are closer to swimming in the deep end.

Will SharePoint, with the additional functionality in SharePoint 2010 and/or substantial customization by MS partners be the answer for everyone?

I can see that some customization versions of SharePoint will work for certain organization and that is great.  Along the way, there has grown the appreciation for records management and you have developed a sound solution.

I can see that other customizations of SharePoint, when bundled with more robust ERM solutions, will satisfy the needs of organizations.

I can also see that some SharePoint initiatives will fail.  Is that necessarily a bad thing? – No, because along the way, grew the awareness that records and information are very important and that there is need for investments in other solutions for organizations to manage their information assets.  I believe that this set back, not failure, will lead organizations to, perhaps, totally different approaches to managing your records.

Whether you think SharePoint is the answer to your records management needs within your organization, I think that SharePoint, and the ongoing efforts to make it work, are powerful awareness and educational tools.

I sincerely hope that your SharePoint solution works for you.  However, if it doesn’t, take advantage of the new appreciation for records and information management within your organization to drive increased information governance, the need for a records management program and the use of other solutions to satisfy your needs.

From the SharePoint implementation efforts, we have come a long way.  We are much closer to being able to dive into the pool.