Implementing Electronic Records Management: A lot more than software

Electronic records management (ERM ) is more than technology, and implementing an ERM project requires more than purchasing software and hoping for the best. It requires 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 you move from your current way of doing business into an ERM-enabled way.

The global standard for records management – ISO/ TR 15489-2:2001; Information and documentation – Records management – Part 2: Guidelines – provides an implementation methodology which can help you achieve success. It includes the following 8 steps, which are composed of two separate cycles: planning/assessment, and design/implementation:

1. Conduct a preliminary investigation: Perform an initial high-level assessment of your administrative, legal, and business environments to determine how you will need to manage your records. This step helps you identify the records-related challenges you face and also helps you understand what is doable within a particular time frame. Once complete, you can define the program’s scope and develop a high-level program charter.
2. Analyze business activity: This serves as the baseline for your project in terms of establishing what needs to be done and how you should approach it. You’ll understand how the project should be structured and how it will help your organization work more efficiently.
3. Identify requirements for records: What does your organization need to do to create, keep, and receive records of its business activities? Document these requirements in a structured and maintainable form.
4. Assess existing systems: Determine what systems are in place and which ones capture records. Some of these will be records repositories, but many of them will be line-of-business applications that may create records but not manage them effectively. The assessment looks to determine whether records are being captured correctly and, if not, what needs to happen to ensure that they are. It also looks at both the technical and operational performance of those systems to determine whether they are as effective as they could be. Any gaps that are identified are noted and used as part of the business case for the new system, and inform the requirements definition.
5. Identify strategies to satisfy requirements: In this step, you determine which policies, procedures, and tactics are necessary in order to create the appropriate records control framework. At the end of this step, you should have a framework in place to ensure that records are created, used, and managed appropriately. This framework will then impact the design or updates to applicable records management systems.
6. Design records system: Work with subject matter experts and users to produce a detailed system design. Outputs from this stage might include detailed project plans, documentation of changes to requirements, the detailed system design (including architectural diagrams and models, file plans, and support plans), and the implementation plan.
7. Implement records system: Roll out the project.
8. Conduct post-implementation review: Step back and review the system as delivered and the delivery process to identify gaps and areas for improvement. On an ongoing basis, you’ll want to establish a monitoring regime so that small changes can be addressed before they require big changes and big changes can be anticipated and addressed in an orderly fashion.

Carl Weise is a Certified Records Manager and an Industry Advisor for AIIM.