Records management has traditionally been considered a support function within legal and compliance departments. However, with the almost daily headlines of deleted emails, missing records, and shredded memos, many organizations have begun addressing records management at the organizational level.

The new view is that records management is not just about long-term storage, but rather end-to-end management of company records from creation, use, and storage, to final disposition. Increasingly, it is being added as a key step in business processes, wherein records are created and controlled right from the start of the transaction.

In the old model, records management was the “after step” in most business processes. Records were created, edited, reviewed, and approved throughout the process, yet records management came into play only at the very end. In today’s environment, that process is viewed as ineffective. Records need to have content, context, and structure, and in the traditional model, records ended up with content and structure, but only minimal context, since the business process had already ended.

During the contract process, for instance, a contract was created, edited, reviewed, and then approved by many parties. At the end of that process, the business was left with a final contract, i.e. content and structure, but there was minimal information that went along with record itself, such as what type of contract it was, who was authorized to make edits, who the signatories were, etc.

Those breadcrumbs, known as metadata, were often missing from the record itself and had to be added afterwards. That introduced the problem of gaps in the metadata as the records were often incorrectly tagged, or—worse—left untagged. That often created difficulties in locating records and also impacted searchability and proper retention.

One of the ways to ensure sound management of records is introduce the concept of business-process-driven records management (BPRM), wherein records are no longer a one-off step disconnected from the business process but rather baked-in as an underlying component. Records management thus simply becomes part of the normal course of business and not some special step that has to be done by a separate group of people using specialized tools.

What is business-process-driven records management (BPRM)?
Simply put, BPRM entails embedding records management into a business process to create a symbiotic relationship. Consider the case of creating contracts. Under the older, non-BPRM model, the record began with a business unit and some third party or agent acting on their behalf, discussing the terms and conditions of a contract. Then, typically, a standard organizational template was leveraged and appropriate changes were iterated through both parties.

At some point in time, an agreement was generally reached and both parties would agree to sign off on the contract. The contract would now have been an official record—but consider, for a moment, all of the records management activities that had been neglected.

When the first draft of the contract was created using a standard template, the users knew that the document was a contract record. And as they edited and reviewed the document, they knew metadata such as the title, organization, contract type, counterparty names, effective dates, and so on, and they could have captured that information.

As the contract was modified and content finalized, they could have also updated the metadata with appropriate information. And, when the contract was signed, they could have updated the metadata once again, capturing the signatories’ names and dates.

Finally, when the record was ready for storage, the users already had enough information to determine which location, folder, retention policy, and disposition method they needed to apply to the contract. And, had they done so, storing the record in the appropriate repository would have required minimal effort on the part of the business or the records management team.

On the other hand, if BPRM had been employed, finding the contract when needed would have been much simpler, because the right keywords, location, and other bits of information would already be associated with it. Hence, tying records management into business processes generates a tremendous value-add, both to the business process and to records management.

Benefits of BPRM
In today’s world, the myriad record types, formats, and storage options make the task of managing corporate records fairly challenging. Tying the records management aspects to business processes may seem fairly obvious, but it is not always addressed as such in some organizations.

There are several benefits to using BPRM, including:

•  Better usage and acceptability within the user community. Business users are loathe to be asked to use yet another system, and proper records management may not be a priority for them on any given day. By intertwining business processes with records management, the act of identifying, classifying, storing, and managing records becomes a natural part of the business process cycle and may not be perceived as an additional burden.
• Formalized relationship between processes and records. Allows a better understanding of the flow of records and information through the various organizational channels, to ensure that all such channel points are appropriately addressed from a records perspective.
• Ability to capture record information during the information lifecycle and not at the end of it. No matter how many sophisticated systems are put in place, it becomes very difficult to manage the collection of record data in isolation. Also, the quality of metadata suffers—frequently end users are far too busy to verify, validate, and input the exact metadata. But if record metadata is captured as part of the business process, it alleviates largescale reliance on end users.
• Easy adaptability as business processes change. Ongoing maintenance of records inventory and figuring out new records can become a time-consuming task, especially for large, distributed organizations. With BPRM, however, any changes in business processes, such as new steps, modified or deleted steps, will result in updates to the records inventory as there is a clear association between the two.
• Lower cost of ownership. This may not be so apparent, but if processes and records are tied to each other, the cost of developing and managing records management may be lower. Additionally, the cost of managing records is baked into the overall cost of executing the business process, and is thus no longer a separate line item.
• Better compliance and auditing. These days everyone has a long list of compliance and audit requirements. By weaving records management into the business process, compliance can be demonstrated through the management of processes, because it can be clearly shown that records are indeed being managed throughout the entire process lifecycle.

Implementing BPRM Implementing BPRM requires some thought and a well-defined approach. Most business processes tend to be fairly well-documented and a lot of design and practice have generally gone into ensuring that that process is robust, consistent, and, most importantly, repeatable. However, most business processes are geared towards executing a business function and are not necessarily designed to accommodate the management of documents or records. So how does one fit records management into a business process?

Determine the right business processes to address: Many organizations have a large number of business processes— some more critical than others. The records management team must work with business unit leadership and corporate to determine what business processes have the most value to the organization and incorporate records management into these processes. Not all business processes can or should be candidates for records management, so it is important to prioritize and adopt a phased approach to implementation.

Determine input and output records: Once the list of processes has been identified, determine what records form what part of the business process. This may be easier said than done—a typical large business process may have several records outputs. It is therefore crucial to involve the business to understand the intricacies of the process and determine the inputs and record outputs. As each record is identified, map the record to the corresponding step in the process. At the end of this step you will have completed a preliminary records inventory for the business process.

Determine record metadata: Document the metadata required for the record—this will include determining the custodian of the records, active/inactive storage, format of the record, office of the record, whether the record is vital, does it contain any personally identifiable information, and so forth. Update the record metadata in parallel with the inventory step above. Also, note whether the record is currently stored in a structured, unstructured, or semi-structured location.

Map record to record series and types: Records identified through the business-process records inventory can now be mapped into corresponding record series and record types. It is useful at this step to leverage industry standards and common record series and recordtype definitions. Many organizations maintain standard record series and type, including the U.S. government's National Archives and Records Administration. Classifying records into series and types results in a hierarchy of the records within the organization and serves as a template to store them in the appropriate folders and sub-folders in the records repository.

Determine records risk, including business, legal, operational, and financial: All records are not created equal, and as records managers, we are required to understand the hierarchy. The criticality of records plays a part in how much time, level of effort, and, eventually, cost has to be expended in securing these records. A good case in point is HR records. Clearly, information such as salary records and employee files are highly confidential, and therefore extra controls need to be established in order to ensure that only a limited group of authorized individuals are able to access and view these records.

Determine retention schedule: For each record series, determine the retention periods, specifically addressing the business retention requirements. Again, the business process comes into play to understand the specific retention requirements. Keep in mind that not all records within a business process should have the same business retention requirement.

Update associated procedures to reflect record management steps: This is a key step—all affected business processes and their associated procedures must be updated to address how each record will be stored. In order for records management to be successful, it is critical that procedures clearly spell out, in sufficient detail, each of the required records management steps. As an example, the contract procedure should stipulate that after the contract is finalized, it must be stored in a specific repository in the contract type folder and then in a specific sub-folder. It should also provide the list of metadata that must be captured prior to storage in the repository. A maintenance process to update procedures on a periodic cycle would also need to be developed and enforced.

Socialize the process and procedures with all business unit users: Once processes, records, retention, and procedures steps have been completed, the records management team needs to socialize the deliverables with all of the business users. Obtain buy-in from management but also from your key users. Nothing beats pockets of support in your key business units. Business users must understand the new and improved procedures and know how to follow the records management guidelines.

Key guidelines
Some key guidelines to follow when developing a BPRM policy:

• Keep it simple and manage expectations— keep the business process and record relationships simple and easy to understand. Manage expectations with stakeholders and users.
• Ensure that there is a business value first—document specific benefits to users and business units prior to rollout. Communicate that these benefits are real and will actually help business users by making their jobs just a little bit easier.
• Focus on user acceptance—this is the central theme—no records management program is ever going to be successful if end users are unhappy or, worse, unwilling to use your records system. By focusing on the eventual customer there is a better chance of success.
• Obtain senior management buy-in— a key objective of any records program is to obtain senior management buy-in at the start of the program and, more importantly, during the implementation and deployment phases of the program.
• Start small and use the pilot approach—conduct a pilot with a mid-size business process to prove that the records management process works and that all systems and controls work as designed.

The bottom line
A BPRM program brings records management into the mainstream. Far too many good records management programs are suffering from lack of user acceptance and one way of solving the puzzle is by developing a program that is tightly coupled with the underlying business processes. The authors welcome your feedback. Contact them via their addresses below.

Nishan DeSilva is the global director of the records management program at Watson Wyatt and is in the process of implementing a global records management program. He is an experienced records management expert with more than 15 years of business and technology leadership in a variety of financial services verticals and is a certified electronic records management master (ERM^M).

Ganesh Vednere is a manager with a global financial services company and is experienced in implementing enterprise-wide content and records management programs. He has been involved in all aspects of their records management program including strategy, policy, records retention, and technology implementation. He has over 12 years of industry experience in various business and technology areas and is a certified electronic records management master (ERM^M).