Managing Paper and Electronic Records

Donna Read, CRM, CDIA+Florida Gulf Coast ARMA Chapter

October 2015

AGENDA

Where we stand now

How did we get here

Is it working for you?

What does it take to fix it

Current Situation Decentralized control of records & information

Records & data kept too long – is this still true?

Unprotected “vital” records

Technological advances not being applied to data management

Information explosion

99.99999% of data born in digital environment – but we still print

Humans still like paper

Minimal knowledge of Records & Information management

More Than Just A Management of

Records Issue

Structured or Unstructured Data Records Documents Assets Information Knowledge - Context Content Big Data and Data Pools

What About Media?? Enough Choices?

WORM DrivesOptical DiskCD-ROMDVDDAT TapesMagnetic StorageRAIDDVD – Blue Ray

Where Does The Electronic stuff Live?

Servers and Networks Disk Drives Laptops/Desktops The Cloud in Iceland? Jump/Thumb/Flash Drives Smart phones/Tablets Cameras On a contractor’s (or your company’s)

server in India

What Does The Paper World Look Like?

• 19 copies of documents printed for each meeting

No one is making sure the copy says “COPY”

• Humans still want to use yellowhighlighters and pens to reviewdocuments

• Computer screens are hard on the eyesfor lengthy reading so people print

Offices and Paper

• The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year.

• The United States alone, which has less than 5% of the world's population, consumes 30% of the world's paper.

• Over 40% of wood pulp goes toward the production of paper.

• Printing and writing paper equals about one-half of U.S. paper production.

• The costs of using paper in the office can run 13 to 31 times the cost of purchasing the paper in the first place!

Reduce.org

Where Does the Paper Live?

Filing cabinets Tops of desks Inside of credenzas Under the desk In the file room On top of the filing cabinet In your briefcase In boxes stacked in the corner In boxes at the local records

center

Are There Too Many Choices?

Information was easier to control

Gatekeepers (secretaries) knewabout file plans and how tocreate and use them

Only “special” people could create business information/records

Volume was limited and controlled

The Way It Used To Be

• If no one took responsibility, records got misfiled, neglected, or worse.

Not Always Perfect Though

Then The 80’s Came Along

Pandora introduced an powerful box to everyone’s office

Management thought secretaries were no longer needed (the staff who understood file management)???

Information has distributed ownership

Gatekeepers are a thing of the past

Everyone with access to a computer or mobile device can create business information and records

Volume is out of control, unlimited, and growing exponentially

The Old Way was Replaced With Electronic Chaos

World’s information doubling every 2 years

Over the next 10 years the number of servers in the world will increase 10-fold

Amount of data managed by data centers will increase by 50-fold

7.9 zettabytes (ZB) will be created in 2015(in decimals = seventh power of 1000 – 1 ZB = 1 billion terabytes)Library of Congress estimated to equal 10 terebytes

Statistics

Where Did We Go Wrong?

Not exactly a good filing system…

This

With This

We Forgot To Equate

So What Do We Do Now?

• Get Management On Board!!!• Gather Data – Data Call & Data Maps• Analyze the Data – build business case to take

action• Research Solutions that fit your organization• Present to Management all solutions with your

recommendations and cost estimates• Depending on funding move forward

What Will Real Solution Look Like?

• A mixed bag of nuts• Never unlimited funds• Have to prioritize what gets digitized• Business units with the most clout will get the

most help• Seldom an enterprise level solution is put in place• You will most likely remain a hybrid organization

with some functions moving to digital only and others remaining a mix

• May depend on individual managers

Elephant in the Room• You need tools in your tool box to get the job done• Tools cost money• Tools require maintenance & training• Tools take resources to implement• Tools take up space – on the server - in people’s

lives• Tools must be used properly in order to work

correctly• Tools used incorrectly could kill you or at least do a

lot of damage

What Type Of Tools Do You Need?

• Depends on your business requirements…..• Deduplication software• Electronic Document Management System• Records Management • Workflow• Email management• Baiting numbering feature• Business Analytics• Auto classification• Case File Management System

Questions To Ask Stakeholders – IT big time – users

How is the enterprise going to implement and control the data/information/records/content

Are they going to move to a digital world only?

Are they going to continue to manage a hybrid animal?

Are they going to ignore the problem and accept the associated risks?

Are they going to ignore the past and leave the legacy data behind?

Questions cont. How is the migration of data going to be carried out

and by whom?

Who is responsible for security of the data and how is it carried out?

If a system is purchased what are the characteristics of the system – RM/email/workflow…?

How are people going to be trained and who pays for it?

Backup and archiving – define and outline

Next Step Stakeholders -Senior Mgt – IT – employees –

customers – public – investors

Organizational Charts – who is generating the information/data/records/content

Business analysis – workflow to determine how the information/data/records/content etc. moves within the office/division/organization

Data Maps – maps of where the information /data/records/content lives, owners, formats…

Data Maps

Spreadsheet or a database or a chartType of data – records, documents, raw

data, non-records, etc.Who is the owner of the dataWhat is it used for Is it used for program or administrative

needsWhat format is it in – include information

about proprietary software and versionsWhat media does it reside in – paper,

electronic, microform

Data Maps cont. Where is it located – servers, hard drives, file cabinets, in

the basement, under the desk…

If it is electronic what is the name of the system where it lives

What is the volume – linear feet or terabytes

Is it a record, if yes then it is a vital record, does it have a disposition assigned to it

What is the date range of the data – record or non-record

Which version is the official record

Prioritize Stakeholders – who needs to be involved – IT is

always at the table, include Legal, Finance, anyone who has a record or system.

Use workflow and data maps to perform risk analysis and prioritize the data

** Where is the most valuable information** What form is it in** Are there any burning buildings that

need immediate attention

Analysis Use data maps & file plans to

determine what is the “official” record – duplicates abound – usually 40% of holdings

How much protection for litigation does the organization need?

What business processes can be automated – which ones cannot?

Decisions

Is the organization going to digitize legacy data – draw a line in the sand?

How is the data going to be migrated in the future?

What are we doing with the paper after we scan it?

Do we have legal requirements to hang onto the native format?

Are we going to outsource some of the work?

Finance & Budget

Stakeholders – Senior mgt. – employees – investors – IT – customers…..

Use ROI to determine best use of your funds

Scanning – will it save you $$$ or cost you $$$

Real Estate – using office space tostore records is more costly than offsite storage

Finance & Budget cont.

Staffing – do I need to increase staff if I purchase more software

Hardware/software cost – 17% of initial cost every year thereafter

Keeping data culled on servers saves $ and time

Has the cost of migration of the data been taken into account

Logistics – Efficient Flow of

Goods, Information & Other

Resources

Records retention schedules & file plans Metadata captured – classification schemes Metrics determined Naming conventions Specifications for scanning, importing, and other

technological processes - RFID, etc. Reporting requirements

Manual Way to Manage Electronic

Records• You can manually manage your records in all formats

– but………

• Time intensive• Subject to human error• Becomes increasingly more difficult over time• Very few have resources to get a handle on the

legacy data• Requires a lot of training • Must be monitored constantly• If only key staff can do RM duties then they become

the points of failure in the system

NARA-Basic Records Operations 6

Sample of Uncontrolled Shared Drive

**Note folder names with no meaning to anyone but the creator, loose documents not even placed in a folder

Electronic files can be structured like record filing cabinets...

29

Information ServicesFinance

Facilities

Emergency MgmtCommunicat

ionsBudget

Asset Mgmt./Property

Administrative

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• Your File Plan is your decoder ring

• A File Plan….what’s that?

A subset of your retention schedule that covers only your area of responsibility.

So where do you get the file folder structure from?

Partial GRS 14 File Structure

• Use your organizational chart to determine functional areas of responsibility.

• If the records/documents are managed by the calendar year then you can set up high level files by the year.

• If the records/documents are managed by the FY, then set up by the FY.

How You Do Business Determines How You Set Up

Your Files

• How you do business should determine the level of granularity that is required

• If your office gets 7000 public records requests in a year you need the granularity of individual folders (down to the folder level being an individual case name or number)

• If your office gets 8 public records requests in 3 years then you need less granularity of the folder structure

Let Your Business Be The Driver

• No software is plug and play

• You still have to have a file structure determined first

• The software needs a map of where to place the data

What If You Have Software Tools In Place Already?

So You Use SharePoint – You Really Need Governance

SummaryThe current environment is usually the wild

west

Rectifying the situation requires specific skill sets, tools, lots of planning, tenacity, patience, creativity, and resources

Hard choices have to be made and these are sometimes driven solely by funding

It will take time to win this battle and the troops may threaten to mutiny on occasion

Your plan will change – it is inevitable

Questions?????Donna Read, CRM, CDIA+

Florida Gulf Coast ARMA ChapterOctober 2015

dlread@verizon.net