Information Governance and a Broader Look at Records Management

of the organization or the amount of data under management. The right solution shouldhelp address IG needs in three key areas:

• Retention management of records and vital knowledge assets;
• Email management; and
• Automation of data discovery, classification and management.

A robust RM solution should enable an organization to not only know what is being added to the system but also enforce record classification. Ideally, it will allow users to make decisions regarding what is a record, but not burden them with the organizational responsibility of applying retention rules and policies indicating the details of the document life cycle.

Roadblocks to Reaching RM Nirvana

One of the biggest problems with managing records is determining who decides what is a record. Ideally, organizations prefer a less human method—one that is simpler, automatic and transparent. And there are also challenges to user adoption. Often it boils down to this: the more clicks required, the lower the adoption rate. But there are ways to avoid these speed bumps. For higher adoption, choose a system that gets the user where they live, in their familiar applications such as Microsoft Outlook. Folders can be mapped to the application, and it becomes easier to work within the system than to avoid it. A solution that can become part of a user’s standard behavior and seen in the context of their work environment is much more likely to take hold.

When it comes to user adoption, companies can further entice users to embrace the system by choosing a solution that supports transparent rules and analytics. This minimizes the user’s records management responsibilities, and instead works behind the scenes to apply policies and capture information. This functionality simplifies records processes by making them more automatic—and makes it easier to implement critical policies enterprise-wide and at varied degrees.

Knowing what policies and how best to implement them can be achieved in a number of ways—one of which is via a team of members from key departments such as records, legal, compliance and IT. The team can periodically access needs, review changing regulatory requirements and revamp the retention program as appropriate. The team should also discuss creative ways to increase user adoption, awareness programs and communication methods necessary within their organization.

Finally, to enable a high level of preparedness, an organization should be able to anticipate, capture, find and present information while standing ready to respond to changing technologies. Finding a solution that offers the flexibility to solve today’s challenges, address future ones and adjust appropriately with infrastructure and technology shifts can be critical to future success.

A Comprehensive RM Solution

Selecting a records management solution and implementing best practices can help an organization to effectively govern its information. Following are some of the features that make up a solid records management solution:

• Integrated physical, electronic and email records management: Unifies and integrates all records under one file plan/ management console for consistent application of policy, legal holds, search, etc.
• Federated RM: Effectively manages disparate ‘silos’ of corporate content. A Federated RM approach meshes with corporate goals of consistency, centralized management, risk mitigation, and faster information access.
• Records lifecycle management and policy controls: Manages and retains records according to legal, regulatory and business requirements throughout their lifecycle. Securely applies disposition holds to records associated with litigation or regulatory/
  administrative investigations to override any scheduled disposition or destruction.
• Robust security: Whether managed in-place or moved to a records repository, all records should be preserved in their original format to ensure authenticity. Solid preservation of record authenticity and chain of custody is critical to meeting regulatory and legal requirements. Enhanced security features include access control, ethical walls, hierarchical security for classification levels and supplemental markings.
• Report and audit: Flexible, extensive monitoring and reporting functionality are required for complete audit trails to provide chain of custody of business records.
• Instantaneous access: Finding records quickly and easily increases productivity and offers a competitive advantage. Searching should be flexible, easy to use and comprehensive to include all records, including content in managed and unmanaged locations for discovery purposes (i.e., shared drives, files systems).
• Ease of use: Users should be able to rely on the intuitive, user-friendly interfaces of their familiar work environment via the Web and desktop applications such as Microsoft Explorer, Word or Outlook to ensure adoption and support the organization’s RM goals, policies, procedures and best practices. The declaration process must also be as transparent as possible, whether supported by automated rules, or favorites, to minimize or eliminate user impact.
• Integration with widely used applications and productivity tools: Integration ensures the convenient capture of records via common office applications and productivity tools such as Microsoft Office and Outlook, IBM Lotus Notes, Novell GroupWise, DM and ECM systems, intranet and extranet portals, imaging solutions, archive, storage and mobile devices.
• Automation: For some organizations, automated declaration may be a consideration to increase capture rates. For administrators, automated lifecycle approvals and workflows, reviews, candidates and tools that can provide "what-if " scenarios can streamline processing.
  u Physical records, circulation and warehouse management: These features provide greater control over physical records. Tracking circulation of physical records is often required via barcodes and RFID tags. The additional ability to configure and manage warehouse space, calculate utilization and provide for chargeback is an added benefit.
• U.S. DoD 5015.2 certification: A product with DoD certification is particularly useful, and often required by many organizations.

At the end of the day, companies that wish to implement a true IG program and take charge of records and compliance efforts within their organization will need to choose a vendor who can effectively address current strategies and remain flexible enough to meet future challenges as the organization evolves. The right solution will, if at all possible, work within an existing infrastructure and not require replacement of the infrastructure. Companies that want to facilitate IG best practices, maintain control over their enterprise and meet business obligations should consider implementing an enterprise-level solution for archiving and records management. The solution should provide oversight across all physical and electronic records, email, attachments, instant messages and file systems. A solution of this depth and breadth is the answer for promoting business agility that addresses the needs of today and provides a smooth pathway to tomorrow. 

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CA is one of the world’s largest IT management software providers, delivering software and expertise to unify and simplify complex IT environments in a secure way across the enterprise for greater business results. CA information governance provides records management, email management, file management and discovery solutions to help clients proactively reduce risk, improve information governance and respond effectively to e-discovery and audits—with minimal disruption to the business—lowering cost, improving returns, and promoting business agility. CA Records Manager is certified under the U.S. DoD 5015.2 Std for records management applications (Ch. 2/4).