WHEN DOES A DOCUMENT BECOME A RECORD?

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

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

3. What advice can these folks offer us about record definitions? 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.

4. 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

5. Summary of MY Position • 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 Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

6. 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. Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

7. 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 • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

8. 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 Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

9. 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 Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

10. 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? • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

11. How Do You See It? ESI Document Record • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

12. 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? • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

13. 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? Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

14. 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 • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

15. 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 • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

16. 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 Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

17. 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 Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

18. 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”? • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

19. 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? Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

20. 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 Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

21. An approach to managing records Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

22. Here are the choices Back to what is “good enough”? Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

23. 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 • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

24. 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? Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

25. 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 • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

26. 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. • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

27. 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 • Array Information Technology Inc. Proprietary

28. 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

29. 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!

30. Mike Miller Director, RIM Consulting Array Information Technology 7600 Leesburg Pike Suite 140 West Falls Church, VA 22043 mike.miller@arrayinfotech.com 301-651-3510