Implementation and Planning
ERM Community Wiki
Once you create your strategy and make the business case to management, you have to make the vision of managing your records a reality. It’s not easy. There are numerous challenges and potential pitfalls that could make you stumble as you wrestle your records under control. One such pitfall is to equate electronic records management to technology. Another is to equate best practices for paper records with best practices for electronic records; they’re not always the same. Implementation requires the development of records management controls and processes. It also requires the creation of records management instruments. And it requires a lot of change management and communication as an organization moves from current business practices to ERM-enabled business practices. A quick checklist can help you get started.
In addition to preparing users for change, it’s also a good idea to build a system that employees will use. The right ERM technology must be applied to each business challenge and the users who must address that challenge. If users don’t use the system, it will fail. Before implementation of a records management system can begin, it’s a good idea to know WHERE all of your records are located. To do that, organizations should perform a records inventory. When performing this inventory, also include records that may not be currently managed as records but that live on the “edge” of the organization in laptop hard drives, USB drives, mobile devices, etc. By eliminating this “edge content,” organizations can realize a sizable return on investment. Making the effort to decide what is and is not a record will also make your ERM implementation more effective.
Essential to implementation is sound project management. ISO 15489 provides an implementation methodology that can help you succeed.
Additional best practices and cheat sheets include:
A roadmap to records management
Migrating records. As software and media ages, organizations need to plan to periodically refresh their records and decide if all, some, or no records need to be migrated to newer media or software.
Much like with compliance, the strategy and implementation of electronic records management is a continual implementation loop.
