Plan for Differences

Oktoberfest – the largest party in the world is currently being held in Munich. As a project manager, I would love to see the project plan details for preparing and hosting a party attended by 7 million people and dealing with the drunken patrons locally called “Bierleichen” (German for beer corpses).

It would also be interesting to see what the original project plan looked like back in 1810 when Oktoberfest first started as a celebration of the wedding of Prince Ludwig. Imagine how much historians and anthropologists would learn if they were able to review and compare project plans for historical events such as Oktoberfest? Think about how the Oktoberfest project planning requirements have changed over time to reflect new technologies such as electricity, refrigeration, transportation or how regulations related to health, sanitation, crowd control, and security issues have been integrated into the project requirements.

ECM project may take years for enterprise deployment and start out as departmental solutions – with the first CM project typically implemented to address the business concerns of a high volume content area such as Legal, AP, Contracts, or Human Resources. Later CM projects are added (hopefully) over time as budget and resources are available until eventually there is a true ECM system within the organization.

How have your subsequent CM project plans changed over time after the first rollout? Underlying this question is the assumption that your organization has a central governance structure responsible for information assets to insure that subsequent CM projects maintain corporate standards for content or records management. Additionally does each of your CM project plans include standards reviews to reflect business, legal, compliance and audit standards? Just as the planners for Oktoberfest revise their plans every year, do you continually revise each CM project plan

• To include new content sources and document types
• To reflect new information requirements imposed by enterprise/federated search
• To address new BI or reporting tools implemented within the organization
• To leverage new technologies such as cloud storage
• To optimize content retrieval from new sources such as smart phones and pad devices

Prior to the next CM rollout project phase – spend some time upfront thinking about what has changed within your organization since the last rollout – and how those changes may present opportunities (or risks) to your upcoming endeavor.

Prior to refrigeration – beer was not produced in the summer months in Germany and would spoil by the end of summer. To avoid such a calamity – a large party was held at the end of summer to consume the old stock of beer! As noted previously – this beer drinking party officially became Oktoberfest in 1810.

Steve Kissinger

ImageSource, Inc.

Work-Life Balance

I read an article today written by Dr. James T. Brown, SEBA® Solutions. I subscribe to his newsletter. It really made me reflect on some things in my career.

When I was just starting my career as a manager my mentor said to me “if you are spending day after day working long hours, you are doing it wrong”. Until I started working in my new role as a manager it really did not sink in what he was trying to tell me. At first I tried to “do it all”.

I finally awakened to the fact that I would soon burn out if I continued down that path.

The biggest thing I learned early on that helped with this balancing act was learning to delegate. Giving the people I worked with an opportunity to grow. Providing them with the tools and knowledge to be successful and at the same time allowing them to make mistakes. Some of the best lessons learned come from the times when we make mistakes. I have certainly had my share of learnings through that method. Mike’s comments in the article regarding delegation helped solidify my thoughts on the topic.

To see Dr. Brown’s article that sparked my thoughts today go to: “The Truth About Work-Life Balance” by Dr. James T. Brown

Dr. Brown will also be a keynote speaker at ImageSource Nexus ’11.

Regards,

Al Senzamici, PMP
Program Manager
ImageSource, Inc.

  

Ramp up your Records Management Program with GARP

A while back I had a discussion with an Eastside ARMA member about the challenges of making recommendations for ERM systems and that I was looking for a standard to help drive the importance of good recordkeeping and governance.  She suggested I look at the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principals (GARP) standards to use as part of the analysis.  The GARP principals fit perfectly with my established process and added an industry standard component that gives creditability to the ERM analysis.  Now, for the first time it was not just me saying that Enterprise Records Management needed standard taxonomy, better organization, and executive oversight of the records program.  There was a standard that could be referenced and provide meaningful advice from the non-profit RIM Professional Organization – ARMA International.

The purpose of GARP is to give organizations a baseline for current Records Management practices that can be compare against other organizations and used to help develop a roadmap for the future.  The eight GARP principles address the primary components needed to develop an information governance best practices plan for the organization’s Records Management Program.

The following eight principals can be used to determine the level of development of a records management program and to analyze how the organization is positioned to take on new projects and benchmark against other organizations.

The goal of the GARP analysis is to overcome the functional, technological, and business issues associated with developing a Records Management Program and introduce a structure for guidance when implementing or maintaining ECM systems overall.  Managing records and information according to the GARP principles will increase the effectiveness of information governance and aid in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.

When getting started in ERM or looking at process improvement it is important to review the GARP principals along with the records policies and procedures that are critical components for information governance.  I have found that the GARP analysis helps as an ERM Professional to define the challenges in the as-is state of records management and quickly identify areas that require recommendations to achieve better governance.  My next Blog will cover how to perform the GARP analysis.

Leigh Woody ERM^M
Program Manager
ImageSource