Records Management: Whose Job Is It Anyway?
It is more work on the front end to set up, but if accuracy and compliance are the main objectives, workflow provides the structure for more consistent results.
Knowledge Worker EducationInvesting in technology is important; investing in people to use technology is crucial to gain the return on investment and the increase in efficiencies expected.
Educate users on what to save and why it is important to save it. Explaining why certain documents are corporate assets helps people recognize information that will help them make better business decision in the future. Guidance on how to identify the object and where to save it will make people more efficient when it comes time to retrieve it. This "saving" step also includes a quick lesson on metadata.
Metadata can be a very complicated topic, but it does not have to be. Metadata is simply information about information. Many important elements of metadata (i.e. dates, author, title/subject line) can be collected automatically from the authoring application. When additional metadata is required for proper classification, the system should provide a pick list of options to the user to ensure consistency.
Of course the most important piece of metadata is identifying the correct folder/container in which the content will reside. The fewer options to choose from at this point, the more accurate the classification will be, and the easier it will be to retrieve. And another value containers can provide is that metadata can be managed at the container level and assigned to the contents. For example, giving a particular retention schedule to a container will automatically assign it to its contents. Should the retention policy change, it can be managed at the container level instead of the individual document level. That makes it easier for the administrator to manage and invisible to the end user who provided the content. Yet another value of containers is that users can go to them and review what others have contributed on that same topic and benefit from reusing existing content that has been saved in context.
The most often neglected piece of metadata is the label or title of the content. This is where corporate guidelines are so important to define what should be on this label. It is especially important for email management when the default title might the subject line of the email and it may have nothing to do with why the email is being captured.
Teaching users to provide quality information goes beyond the title to the content of the document. For example, a request is made via a voice mail message and the response comes in an email that has "Subject: voice mail" and the message is: "Approved, go ahead as you suggested." At the moment that email was received its message was clear about what had just been authorized. Save this email message as a record and what will it mean in six months or a year? Not much. Yes, it will take a few extra key strokes to document what this dialogue was about, but it may be just the documentation you need to prove your case in court.
Enable "power users" of the product, who are familiar with the classification system and business rules, to help guide other users to deal with exceptions as they come up. Their role is also to provide the feedback loop to help the record capture process improve over time.
Quality ContentIt isn’t enough to just drop information into a repository and hope for the best. Validation must be done to ensure that the knowledge framework created in the planning stage is aligned with business strategies, objectives and values. The business processes are created to assist in consistent results but even they have room for improvement over time.
Assign ownership within each line of business/department to a specific information steward. These people are accountable for the accuracy of their group’s information. To delegate this task outside the realm where the content was created opens the door to risks. These stewards are familiar with the processes that are within their work environment and can more readily identify misfiled or missing content. They are closer to the creation source and can fix problems before the knowledge is lost to lapses in memory or retiring/departing staff.
Finally, do periodic quality audits. Just as the financial assets of an organization get reviewed, so, too, should its information assets. Just as every parent of a teen learns, trust but verify; there should be spot checks of content in the information system. Find ways to reward departments with the highest quality scores and encourage the staff to do even better next time.
Yes, setting up a records management system takes lots of planning on the front end to simplify the process for the content users on the back end. In the short run it might be simpler to automate classification of documents or only apply RM disciplines to "official records" in a separate system. Unfortunately, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not differentiate between documents being declared a record or not; they are still discoverable and must be managed. Information is growing at unprecedented rates and everyone that contributes content needs to understand how to manage it or they will be overcome by it. That makes records management everyone’s job.
TOWER Software is a proven global leader in enterprise content management solutions, empowering customers to take ownership of their data, meet compliance demands and turn information into accessible and definable assets. The company’s award-winning TRIM Context software provides electronic document management, records management, Web content management, imaging, workflow and document-based collaboration in a single package. To learn more about how TOWER Software can empower you to achieve success through information management, please visit:
www.towersoft.com