WHEN DOES A DOCUMENT BECOME A RECORD? ARMA NOVA – March 21, 2012 Mike Miller, PhD, CA, CRM

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WHEN DOES A DOCUMENT BECOME A RECORD?ARMA NOVA – March 21, 2012

Mike Miller, PhD, CA, CRM

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“I need someone well versed in the art of torture – do you know PowerPoint?”

WHAT ADVICE CAN THESE FOLKS OFFER US ABOUT RECORD DEFINITIONS?

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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

When forced to choose between two evils, pick the one you haven’t done before.

THE MAKING OF A RECORDS MANAGER

My Background – Archival Roots Director RIM Consulting – Array Information

Technology Federal records management – NARA, EPA, FBI Consultant – US and UK Adjunct Professor – University of Maryland and Drexel CA and CRM

My Interests – Academic Roots Electronic records management and archives Policy Why so many RIM initiatives fail to achieve their

expected results? How do we fix that problem systemically?

Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

SUMMARY OF MY POSITION

Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary 5

Business processes have changed as technology has been applied to them, but our thinking about records and their management has not kept up

Records are only a part of the information assets that support business goals

Distinctions between documents, records, and non records may exist, but focusing on the distinctions is no longer useful and can be harmful

A bigger, more pressing, problem than the differences: Lack of management of all information assets

Better to manage all information assets according to records management principles (ISO 15489 and GARP)

How this is done depends on business needs Result – “good enough” records management

MY CURRENT THINKING

Manage all information assets: Using RIM principles (ISO 15489 and GARP) From an enterprise perspective using a holistic, life-cycle

based, risk management approach Ensure that records and other information assets are:

Created to meet business requirements Kept long enough to protect rights and assure

accountability — and no longer Preserved and available if needed long-term Managed to ensure they are discoverable, shareable,

interoperable and repurposable Accessible to authorized persons only

Records are a part of the information assets that support business goals. They provide information and evidence.


MY CURRENT THINKING – IMPACT

Ensure that records have: Authenticity Reliability Integrity Usability over time

RIM professionals must balance the: Records themselves Requirements for recordkeeping Risks posed by poor management of the records Rewards and business benefits good management offers Resources available

How this is done in the management of records and other business assets depends on business needs

Organization defines “good enough” records management


WHAT ARE THESE THINGS?

Do we know a record when we see it? Information Information asset Data Non record Document Working file Record Official record Documentary materials Electronically stored information (ESI)

We don’t all see the same thing – the prototype effect Our prototype is most often a paper document


DEFINITIONS

Record (components of a common definition) All media (now all electronic forms/formats) Made or received In the course of the transaction of public business Preserved or appropriate for preservation as

Evidence For informational value

Other variations on the record definition

Non record (components of a definition) Anything that does not meet the definition of a record Enumerated items (Federal and other government) Older items: Items not on a schedule

Unifying concepts


WHAT IS A DOCUMENT?

Lots of definitions: A single item of recorded information, such as a letter,

email, memorandum, report, or form consisting of one or more pages.

Generally assumed to be unstructured or semi-structured information

SharePoint has Document Templates for: Word Excel PowerPoint One Note Designer Web pages

Also includes PDFs and images Caveats

Does it include video, audio, databases? Form over content Is a document a business asset?


HOW DO YOU SEE IT?

ESI Document Record


SOME COMMON GRAY AREAS

Problems in all media Working papers Email threads Drafts Substantive comments Finals that get revised “Smoking guns”

Some questions Do records start out as documents? Do they become documents when captured? Is so what are they before that? Non records? What are documents that aren’t records? When should management start?


RESOLVING GRAY AREAS IN THE DEFINITION

What are the activities for which we need evidence? What is a business process/transaction? Who makes the decision on what is necessary to

document a business process/transaction? Record (evidence of, information about)

Of what, for whom, for how long? Varies by business process, by role in business

process, by personal perception of he business process and role

Is everything with informational value a record? Is everything that serves as evidence a record? If we can’t agree on what a record is, how can we agree

on what is a document or a non record?


THE WRONG QUESTION TO ASK?

What is a record? Records managers care – in paper had a lot of practical ramifications

Courts care about electronically stored information (ESI)

Employees care about finding and using their information assets

People generally expect information of all types to be effectively and efficiently managed

IRM/IT care about structured/unstructured data Software (e.g., SharePoint) cares – manages records differently


RIGHT QUESTIONS TO ASK?

Two good questions: What transactions/processes need to be documented? What documentation needs to be controlled as a “record of

the transaction/process” on an ongoing basis? Implementation issues:

When does that happen and how? When does documentation need to be controlled? An “official” record?

What are the attributes that characterize a record as opposed to a document?

What are the rules that implement those attributes? Answers must be “good enough” for each class/set of

processes/transactions – not one size fits all At a granular business-process level Simple to implement


SO WHERE ARE WE ON THIS?

Documents are a different category from records like video and databases

Documents can be records or non records Do documents “become” records?

When final When captured When they have sufficient content At some other point

To me they are always material owned by the organization There are things that are needed and things that aren’t Things that are needed for a specific process/transaction

are records Records should be managed to certain standards to ensure

value as evidence, ARIU, etc. – i.e., cost issues


WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Differing mental models on document/record/non record cause confusion and hinder communication

As a mental model, it frames and constrains our thinking to focus on a subset of information assets

Focus is on what information assets must be managed as records rather than how to manage them.

Uneven application results in poorer records and increased organization vulnerability

RMO and archivists are not included in conversations about non record materials. RMOs represent needs of the organization and Archivists the needs of the larger community


THE BASIC QUESTIONS

What business problem(s) need solutions? What records problem(s) need solutions?

Too much information or too little? Managing just records or all information

using records management principles? Who sees the records problems as

problems? Who is your champion? What is “good enough”?


PROBLEMS THAT NEED SOLUTIONS

Don’t have adequate records of our business transactions Have you defined the business transactions you want

records for? Have you defined the records necessary for adequacy? Have you defined who needs to maintain them? Is the guidance clear enough for your staff?

Records aren’t compliant Compliant with what/whom?

Internal External

At what organizational level?


PROBLEMS THAT NEED SOLUTIONS

Can’t find the information we need What types of information? In what types of records? Where in the organization?

We’ve got problems with litigation and discovery Can’t locate what is relevant

easily Too much to sort through – too

expensive We’re losing our knowledge base

Can’t find relevant materials to leverage

Not creating usable products


AN APPROACH TO MANAGING RECORDS

Transitory Work in Progress

Final /Official Documentation

Controlled by individuals for their use

Controlled by a unit at some level within the organization (may be multiple levels)

Under Corporate control


HERE ARE THE CHOICES


Problem Final Documentation

Working Files

Too Much

Too Little

Too Much

Too Little

Records

Compliance

Locating

Litigation

Knowledge

Back to what is “good enough”?

SHAREPOINT AND RECORDS

Submit a record to a Records Repository once it has been recognized as an official record – Declaration

Once declared a record is either copied or moved to the repository

Can be manually filed Can be automatically filed

by the content organizer based on its properties/attributes


FIVE BASIC IMPLEMENTATION QUESTIONS IN SHAREPOINT

What needs to be filed as part of the organization’s corporate files?

When should a document be declared a record? How should the records and other content on the site be

managed? Is your RIM policy framework sufficiently up-to-date? Should RIM focus first on records creation or retention and

disposition?


SOME APPROACHES

Final documents only All non-transitory documents Documents created with

specific templates Documents for specific

transactions Print, file, or send Selected documents based

on process analysis Selected documents based

on external requirements Only certain people can file

or approve filing Only file for your

responsibility


WHAT IS RECORDS MANAGEMENT?

The Records Manager’s Perspective: The managerial activities involved with respect to records

creation, records maintenance and use, and records disposition in order to achieve adequate and proper documentation of activities and economical and efficient operations.

The SharePoint Perspective: The practice of organizing and maintaining documents

within an organization based on a series of predetermined rules. These rules control things such as where files are stored, how long they should be retained, how they should be disposed of, and who is responsible for the files.


IT’S ALL ABOUT THE RULES

What its to be brought under organizational records controls?

At what point in the process does that take place?

Is the process of determining that step manual or automated?

What are the characteristics or attributes of the documents that become records?

RIM Mechanisms for implementation Policy Procedures,

Standards Software


NEED A BORN DIGITAL APPROACH

Need to rethink recordkeeping Record status is another attribute

Better security Organizational control

File and organize around: Work processes Transactions

Search by subject Simplify

WHAT ADVICE DOES THIS MAN HAVE FOR RIM PROFESSIONALS?

Reinhold Niebuhr

Serenity Prayer God, grant me the

serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

Amen!

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InfrastructureManagement Enterprise Collaboration

Legacy SystemIntegration

Science & Technology

ApplicationManagement

Mission Support

Knowledge Centers

Mike Miller

Director, RIM Consulting

Array Information Technology

7600 Leesburg Pike Suite 140 West

Falls Church, VA 22043

[email protected]

301-651-3510

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]