The state of a program's transparency
Can measure the ease those who care can see
A RIM program's ways
That emerge through the haze
And that challenge all skeptics to dare and see.
13 April 2010
Ten Years After: RIM Standards Evolve Slowly
Ten years ago, the tech world was still exhaling in relief and self-congratulations on dodging the Y2K bullet. Leading-edge records managers joined the techies, smiling that their fledgling stock of electronic records were largely intact; disaster recovery tactics went unused.
In this heady environment, a group of RIM luminaries adapted Australia’s DIRKS (Design and Implementation of Recordkeeping System) to worldwide applicability. In 2001, ISO published a records management standard, 15489, that remains an important reference and guide for measuring RIM success today.
Eight years later, ARMA International published its Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (GARP), which owes much to ISO 15489. To call it derivative is not quite accurate. Think of it more as a re-interpretation that reflects the changes, the evolution of RIM over a ten-year period.
That GARP and 15489 have much in common is not surprising. The discipline of Records Management, dating back, at least, to the 4th Century BCE, evolves slowly, befitting its heritage and longevity. Unlike practices based on ephemeral developments, RIM wears technology like a runway model at a fashion show: She shows dress after dress, but the walk never changes. Records’ value is in the content, not the visible format or medium. The best practices of records management evolve with the needs of the records users, and those morph slowly over the years. Records managers rarely say, “Gee whiz!” to mercurial novelty.
(It is possible that the current buzz words -- Cloud Computing, Web 2.0, and others that rapidly multiply the entry-points and touch-points for records -- may accelerate the evolution of RIM, but that is conjecture at this point.)
Ten years offer only a narrow perspective of changes in RIM practices. Nonetheless, there is value in noting the differences between ISO 15489 and GARP. The Delta helps us see how the role of the records management professional has changed.
There is considerable, basic congruence between ARMA’s GARP and ISO’s 15489. Both encourage improvement, not perfection. Every records program, not matter how good or bad, can get better
Six basic areas overlap: Availability, Retention, Disposition, Protection, Compliance, and Integrity. While the wording varies a bit, ARMA and ISO agree on these, basically.
However, the ISO standard lacks GARP’s first two principles. Accountability and Transparency describe RIM’s governance and explicitly stated organization; policies; and strategies. This is analogous to metadata. It is not about the mechanics of keeping records, but, rather, the structure, politics, budget, and administration of organizing and sustaining records’ usefulness within an organization
GARP’s addition of Accountability and Transparency to the canon reflects the different roles records management filled in organizations in 2000 (when 15489 coalesced) and GARP’s natal year, 2009. At the millennium, records management was a disciplined service. It was largely paper-based, and its roots in library science were apparent. By 2009, it was Records & Information Management, a tech hybrid, striving for recognition as a full-fledged profession, parallel to legal and finance.
On the other hand, ISO 15489 offers guidance in two areas that GARP largely ignores.
First, ISO 15489 articulates the use of records management to measure and reduce organization’s risk. GARP, and its derivative Maturity Model, imply that as recordkeeping practices improve, that is, become more mature, the organization will inherently lower its records risk. But it offers no guidance for the kinds of decisions that records managers make regularly, balancing needs and costs to find an acceptable level of risk.
Similarly, ISO 15489 gives considerable attention to the role of records management in organizations’ operations. It requires records management to continually contribute to the improvement of business processes. This tends to cost-justify a records program based on improved efficiency. GARP alludes to improved operations in its Availability principle, but the Maturity Model mentions return-on-investment only at the highest, or Transformational, level. Making the case that implementing GARP makes good economic sense requires inserting a couple of extra steps that borrow from 15489.
In a decade, the discipline of records management “rose from the basement to boardroom”, to quote ARMA workshops. While still a business service, today’s records leaders carry consultative and strategic responsibilities as well. Part of GARP’s raison d’être is to give new “Chief Records Officers” a tool, language, and model easily understood by other management professionals. Intentionally, GARP derives from the financial world’s Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. It is both content and packaging. In 2000, such a need was only a glimmer.
ISO 15489 are complementary – different but without contradiction. Both serve records managers well. In 2010, records programs need to meet internationally-accepted standards more than ever. Simultaneously, records managers can try to make their programs, as GARP puts it, transformational.
The RIM program that subscribes to both GARP and ISO 15489 will 1) be full-featured and 2) function effectively. Aspiring and progressing toward both appears to be a path toward a successful program.
In this heady environment, a group of RIM luminaries adapted Australia’s DIRKS (Design and Implementation of Recordkeeping System) to worldwide applicability. In 2001, ISO published a records management standard, 15489, that remains an important reference and guide for measuring RIM success today.
Eight years later, ARMA International published its Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (GARP), which owes much to ISO 15489. To call it derivative is not quite accurate. Think of it more as a re-interpretation that reflects the changes, the evolution of RIM over a ten-year period.
That GARP and 15489 have much in common is not surprising. The discipline of Records Management, dating back, at least, to the 4th Century BCE, evolves slowly, befitting its heritage and longevity. Unlike practices based on ephemeral developments, RIM wears technology like a runway model at a fashion show: She shows dress after dress, but the walk never changes. Records’ value is in the content, not the visible format or medium. The best practices of records management evolve with the needs of the records users, and those morph slowly over the years. Records managers rarely say, “Gee whiz!” to mercurial novelty.
(It is possible that the current buzz words -- Cloud Computing, Web 2.0, and others that rapidly multiply the entry-points and touch-points for records -- may accelerate the evolution of RIM, but that is conjecture at this point.)
Ten years offer only a narrow perspective of changes in RIM practices. Nonetheless, there is value in noting the differences between ISO 15489 and GARP. The Delta helps us see how the role of the records management professional has changed.
There is considerable, basic congruence between ARMA’s GARP and ISO’s 15489. Both encourage improvement, not perfection. Every records program, not matter how good or bad, can get better
Six basic areas overlap: Availability, Retention, Disposition, Protection, Compliance, and Integrity. While the wording varies a bit, ARMA and ISO agree on these, basically.
However, the ISO standard lacks GARP’s first two principles. Accountability and Transparency describe RIM’s governance and explicitly stated organization; policies; and strategies. This is analogous to metadata. It is not about the mechanics of keeping records, but, rather, the structure, politics, budget, and administration of organizing and sustaining records’ usefulness within an organization
GARP’s addition of Accountability and Transparency to the canon reflects the different roles records management filled in organizations in 2000 (when 15489 coalesced) and GARP’s natal year, 2009. At the millennium, records management was a disciplined service. It was largely paper-based, and its roots in library science were apparent. By 2009, it was Records & Information Management, a tech hybrid, striving for recognition as a full-fledged profession, parallel to legal and finance.
On the other hand, ISO 15489 offers guidance in two areas that GARP largely ignores.
First, ISO 15489 articulates the use of records management to measure and reduce organization’s risk. GARP, and its derivative Maturity Model, imply that as recordkeeping practices improve, that is, become more mature, the organization will inherently lower its records risk. But it offers no guidance for the kinds of decisions that records managers make regularly, balancing needs and costs to find an acceptable level of risk.
Similarly, ISO 15489 gives considerable attention to the role of records management in organizations’ operations. It requires records management to continually contribute to the improvement of business processes. This tends to cost-justify a records program based on improved efficiency. GARP alludes to improved operations in its Availability principle, but the Maturity Model mentions return-on-investment only at the highest, or Transformational, level. Making the case that implementing GARP makes good economic sense requires inserting a couple of extra steps that borrow from 15489.
In a decade, the discipline of records management “rose from the basement to boardroom”, to quote ARMA workshops. While still a business service, today’s records leaders carry consultative and strategic responsibilities as well. Part of GARP’s raison d’être is to give new “Chief Records Officers” a tool, language, and model easily understood by other management professionals. Intentionally, GARP derives from the financial world’s Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. It is both content and packaging. In 2000, such a need was only a glimmer.
ISO 15489 are complementary – different but without contradiction. Both serve records managers well. In 2010, records programs need to meet internationally-accepted standards more than ever. Simultaneously, records managers can try to make their programs, as GARP puts it, transformational.
The RIM program that subscribes to both GARP and ISO 15489 will 1) be full-featured and 2) function effectively. Aspiring and progressing toward both appears to be a path toward a successful program.
24 March 2010
The Limericks of GARP
In honor of today's ARMA Webinar on the first Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principle (GARP), I offer what may become the first of a series of related limericks:
The principle, accountability
Can bring a RIM program stability
There's no need to carp,
That according to GARP,
It also brings profitability
Feel free to counter with your own verse in the comment section.
The principle, accountability
Can bring a RIM program stability
There's no need to carp,
That according to GARP,
It also brings profitability
Feel free to counter with your own verse in the comment section.
25 February 2010
"Permanent" Records Storage?
Last night, an esteemed colleague in data security used the phrase "persistent storage". This struck me as a useful description for retention that has otherwise been described as "permanent". The word "persistent" connotes an ongoing nature without definite termination. It seems more appropriate since nothing is truly permanent.
The earliest writings we have are 5,000 year old cuneiforms. That's about half the lifecycle necessary for inventory records of spent fuel rods at our nuclear power plants (and 10,000 years is just the half-life, after which the rods still emit dangerous radiation.)
Call a 10,000 year lifecycle "permanent" storage if you like. For anything shorter, I prefer the word "persistent".
Your thoughts?
The earliest writings we have are 5,000 year old cuneiforms. That's about half the lifecycle necessary for inventory records of spent fuel rods at our nuclear power plants (and 10,000 years is just the half-life, after which the rods still emit dangerous radiation.)
Call a 10,000 year lifecycle "permanent" storage if you like. For anything shorter, I prefer the word "persistent".
Your thoughts?
16 February 2010
An MM that is not candy-coated chocolate, Mickey Mouse, a Detroit Rapper, Maris and Mantle, nor Mauer and Morneau (if you’re a Minnesota Twins Fan)
As noted in these pages, last fall in Orlando, ARMA International announced GARP, its Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles. In my October 21 post, “The Disney World According to GARP”, I called it, “a significant contribution to the burgeoning field of information governance.” Further, I noted, “GARP is not a novelty as much as a codification of long-evolving recordkeeping ideals.”
Last week, ARMA released GARP’s companion, a Maturity Model that was still in beta last fall. The MM – although the content is anything but Mickey Mouse -- evaluates RIM programs on a five-point scale:
- Sub-standard
- In development
- Essential
- Proactive
- Transformational
Within the Maturity Model’s 40 cells (eight principles x five levels), an organization can objectively evaluate its RIM program, identifying areas that need strengthening and/or risk reduction. No longer need a records manager’s boss describe their program as “pretty good” or worse, “good enough”. With the new MM, a program can be designated, for example, as “60 percent of ideal” or “deficient in two key areas”. And those statements lead to telling questions: “Is that good enough”, “Are we OK with that?” and “Can we live with that level of risk?”
The Maturity Model is a tool, no more/no less. It doesn’t do the evaluation by itself, but it does make a serious evaluation simpler and more accurate.
There are ambiguities to be resolved. Cells contain between two and five statements, and in my first use, I found that a RIM program could stretch over three levels for a single principle. Using the Compliance principle, for example, an organization, simultaneously, could have a Level Two destruction-hold process, a Level Three recognition of “relevant laws and regulations”, and a Level Four training regimen for employees.
Further, RIM programs seldom are monolithic and internally consistent. An organization could have a sophisticated program for managing paper and microforms while its digital records are wildly unmanaged.
These are observations, not criticisms. A creative RIMmer will assign a point value to a particular situation to answer the questions, “Are we good enough? Is our records risk acceptable?”
The GARP MM is a long stride ahead of other evaluators currently available, such as AIIM’s 13-question Records Management Competency Self Assessment Tool and OpenText’s Records Management Scorecard. The MM helps perform a current-state assessment, a prerequisite to a plan for improvement.
To plan an itinerary, one needs to know the starting coordinates. The GARP MM meets that need and points to where a RIM program wants to go.
GARP repackaged best RIM practices in a format that speaks volumes to top management. Similarly, the Maturity Model articulates what every good RIMmer already knows intuitively. Its value lies in quantifying quality and setting benchmarks for top management to accept, reject or authorize improvement.
It would be a mistake to minimize any tool that speaks truth to power. Gaining support from top management is always a critical strategy. When moving a RIM program forward, GARP’s MM offers significant help.
20 January 2010
On the Sunny Side of the Street
In the January 19, 2010 issue of Infonomics Weekly, Editory Bryant Duhon asks: "Are We Too Negative?Avoid litigation. Stay out of jail. Avoid costs. OK, these are good goals, but do we focus too much on the negative benefits that the tools in the ECM industry provide at the expense of pointing out how valuable and effective those tools can be at providing real ROI and positive value?"
To which I responded:
"Sure there is plenty of negativity out there…there always is. But the glass is half-full, too. That's why my blog is called 'Positively RIM'. On the plus side, we can say that Records/Content Management allows the defendants to prove their innocence in a court of law. It allows law-abiders to prove their compliance with regulations. It contributes to a greener planet.
"Beyond that, however, records management is an underpinning of our whole society. It delivers laws and case laws. It verifies honest elections. It enables customer service. And it preserves our history. Each year, more than a million Americans file their first claims for Social Security benefits and, behold, their work records from 40 year before are there to verify their labors and just desserts. That's just one of many positive examples.
"So there are plenty of positives to see. Sometimes it means looking at the bottom half of the proverbial glass. And sometimes it means taking a step back to appreciate what we (especially in America) often take for granted."
To which I responded:
"Sure there is plenty of negativity out there…there always is. But the glass is half-full, too. That's why my blog is called 'Positively RIM'. On the plus side, we can say that Records/Content Management allows the defendants to prove their innocence in a court of law. It allows law-abiders to prove their compliance with regulations. It contributes to a greener planet.
"Beyond that, however, records management is an underpinning of our whole society. It delivers laws and case laws. It verifies honest elections. It enables customer service. And it preserves our history. Each year, more than a million Americans file their first claims for Social Security benefits and, behold, their work records from 40 year before are there to verify their labors and just desserts. That's just one of many positive examples.
"So there are plenty of positives to see. Sometimes it means looking at the bottom half of the proverbial glass. And sometimes it means taking a step back to appreciate what we (especially in America) often take for granted."
16 December 2009
Mr. Records Neighborhood -- a play for two actors
MR. RECORDS: (sings while donning cardigan):
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
Won’t you please …won’t you please….Please won’t you be my neighbor?
MR. RECORDS: Good morning, boys and girls. I’m so glad you’re in the neighborhood today! I’m Mr. Records. What’s your name? Names are important. Our neighborhood has a name, too. It’s called the Records Center. Can you say that? Can you say, “Records Center”? [Pause] That’s right…Records Center.
I use records every day, and so do you! There are a lot of records here in the neighborhood. There are even more records in the Land of Make Believe, mostly on digital tape. In fact, if you tried to count all of the records in the Records Center and the Land of Make Believe, it would be more than you or I could count. That’s a lot of records!
Today I want to talk with you about records where you live and play because, y’know what? Records are like people. Every record is special! That’s right. No two records are exactly the same, just like no two people are exactly the same. If they were, then one would be a copy, and copies are not records. No! But just like people, every record is special.
And do you know what else, boys and girls? Every record has an owner. There are no orphan records. Every record belongs to someone. From the moment it arrives or is created until the time to get rid of it, every record belongs to someone. Isn’t that a comfort? So if you’re a record, you’re never alone.
Do you remember last week, when Mr. McFeely was supposed to deliver five messages, but he could only find four of them. He got very upset and a little bit grumpy, didn’t he? Ummm-hmmm. He had to learn an important lesson about where he put important letters so that the Postmaster General wouldn’t indict him. I’m glad he learned that lesson. He set up a records program to be sure he would never lose a letter again. That was a good idea!
Today I thought we would pay a visit to our neighborhood’s Records Center Manager, Lotta Lectrons. She knows all about taking care of records.
[MR. RECORDS WALKS STAGE LEFT]
Hello, Lotta, it’s good to see you again.
LOTTA: Hello, Mr. Records, it’s nice to see you, too.
MR. RECORDS: Would you tell the girls and boys about all the kinds of records that you have here?
LOTTA: Sure, Mr. Records. We all know that a record is information that is important…if it is not important, then it isn’t a record. And we all know about the records like Mr. McFeely was looking for, the kind where the information is printed on paper.
But did you know that what’s important about the record is the information in the record, not the way it is stored? So, information stored on a computer is just as much a record as information stored on paper, even though it is stored in a very different way.
MR. RECORDS: So whatever way important information is stored, it’s still a record?
LOTTA: That’s right. It could be stored in flash memory or on a USB drive or on a DVD. The medium doesn’t matter…it’s the information that is important.
MR RECORDS: Do you mean that someday, these boys and girls might have podcasts of Mr. Records on their MP3 players?
LOTTA: Yes, they might. And it doesn’t matter what kind of format the information is in: It could be in MP3, but it could be a text or a TIFF file. It could be a PDF or a Wave file. Remember, what’s important is the information, not the way it is stored.
MR RECORDS: What else do the boys and girls need to know about records?
LOTTA: Well, it’s important to know that getting rid of records is as important as keeping them. We call it disposition. Can you say, “disposition”?
MR RECORDS: Dis-po-ZI-shun.
LOTTA: Good! Disposition is important because the records you keep when you shouldn’t have them are as harmful as the records that you should have that you can’t find.
MR RECORDS: Well, we know about missing records from Mr. McFeely.
LOTTA: Yes, but do you remember when Daniel took a cat nap instead of getting rid of King Friday’s records according to the retention schedule? When the lawyers found the records that should have been disposed, they made King Friday pay a big ransom. Daniel was very sorry and felt bad for a long time!
MR RECORDS: Yes, he did. He was a very sad, scaredy-cat. And all of those leftover records made it hard to find the other records that were still important.
LOTTA: That’s right. There’s one more thing here at the Records Center that I would like the boys and girls to know.
MR RECORDS: What’s that, Lotta?
LOTTA: Well, sometimes certain records are put on “Hold”. That means that we keep them until the “hold” is over, even if the regular retention schedule tells us it is time to dispose of the records.
MR RECORDS: Does that mean that our retention schedule is strong, but a “hold” is even stronger?
LOTTA: Exactly. Now you know how the Records Center works.
MR RECORDS: Well, thank you Lotta. That’s a really important lesson to know. I think Mr. McFeely, King Friday, and all of us will do better knowing more about records.
LOTTA: Thanks for visiting, Mr. Records
[MR RECORDS WALKS STAGE RIGHT]
MR RECORDS: Lotta Lectrons is really smart. She pays attention to the information, not the medium. She keeps records as long as it says to on the retention schedule, and then, she gets rid of the information. And she always keeps records that are on “hold”.
[TAKES OFF HIS CARDIGAN, AND SINGS]
It’s such a good feeling, from your head to your toes
It’s such a happy feeling, when its time to dispose
No holds to keep what you have retained
And with a snap, lose more than you’ve gained.
It’s such a good feeling, a very good feeling…
That I’ll settle back with a Coke and some rum
With a smile on my face when the auditors come
And you’ll have files you want to store a while,
I will too.
Good bye, boys and girls. Good bye.
[END]
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
Won’t you please …won’t you please….Please won’t you be my neighbor?
MR. RECORDS: Good morning, boys and girls. I’m so glad you’re in the neighborhood today! I’m Mr. Records. What’s your name? Names are important. Our neighborhood has a name, too. It’s called the Records Center. Can you say that? Can you say, “Records Center”? [Pause] That’s right…Records Center.
I use records every day, and so do you! There are a lot of records here in the neighborhood. There are even more records in the Land of Make Believe, mostly on digital tape. In fact, if you tried to count all of the records in the Records Center and the Land of Make Believe, it would be more than you or I could count. That’s a lot of records!
Today I want to talk with you about records where you live and play because, y’know what? Records are like people. Every record is special! That’s right. No two records are exactly the same, just like no two people are exactly the same. If they were, then one would be a copy, and copies are not records. No! But just like people, every record is special.
And do you know what else, boys and girls? Every record has an owner. There are no orphan records. Every record belongs to someone. From the moment it arrives or is created until the time to get rid of it, every record belongs to someone. Isn’t that a comfort? So if you’re a record, you’re never alone.
Do you remember last week, when Mr. McFeely was supposed to deliver five messages, but he could only find four of them. He got very upset and a little bit grumpy, didn’t he? Ummm-hmmm. He had to learn an important lesson about where he put important letters so that the Postmaster General wouldn’t indict him. I’m glad he learned that lesson. He set up a records program to be sure he would never lose a letter again. That was a good idea!
Today I thought we would pay a visit to our neighborhood’s Records Center Manager, Lotta Lectrons. She knows all about taking care of records.
[MR. RECORDS WALKS STAGE LEFT]
Hello, Lotta, it’s good to see you again.
LOTTA: Hello, Mr. Records, it’s nice to see you, too.
MR. RECORDS: Would you tell the girls and boys about all the kinds of records that you have here?
LOTTA: Sure, Mr. Records. We all know that a record is information that is important…if it is not important, then it isn’t a record. And we all know about the records like Mr. McFeely was looking for, the kind where the information is printed on paper.
But did you know that what’s important about the record is the information in the record, not the way it is stored? So, information stored on a computer is just as much a record as information stored on paper, even though it is stored in a very different way.
MR. RECORDS: So whatever way important information is stored, it’s still a record?
LOTTA: That’s right. It could be stored in flash memory or on a USB drive or on a DVD. The medium doesn’t matter…it’s the information that is important.
MR RECORDS: Do you mean that someday, these boys and girls might have podcasts of Mr. Records on their MP3 players?
LOTTA: Yes, they might. And it doesn’t matter what kind of format the information is in: It could be in MP3, but it could be a text or a TIFF file. It could be a PDF or a Wave file. Remember, what’s important is the information, not the way it is stored.
MR RECORDS: What else do the boys and girls need to know about records?
LOTTA: Well, it’s important to know that getting rid of records is as important as keeping them. We call it disposition. Can you say, “disposition”?
MR RECORDS: Dis-po-ZI-shun.
LOTTA: Good! Disposition is important because the records you keep when you shouldn’t have them are as harmful as the records that you should have that you can’t find.
MR RECORDS: Well, we know about missing records from Mr. McFeely.
LOTTA: Yes, but do you remember when Daniel took a cat nap instead of getting rid of King Friday’s records according to the retention schedule? When the lawyers found the records that should have been disposed, they made King Friday pay a big ransom. Daniel was very sorry and felt bad for a long time!
MR RECORDS: Yes, he did. He was a very sad, scaredy-cat. And all of those leftover records made it hard to find the other records that were still important.
LOTTA: That’s right. There’s one more thing here at the Records Center that I would like the boys and girls to know.
MR RECORDS: What’s that, Lotta?
LOTTA: Well, sometimes certain records are put on “Hold”. That means that we keep them until the “hold” is over, even if the regular retention schedule tells us it is time to dispose of the records.
MR RECORDS: Does that mean that our retention schedule is strong, but a “hold” is even stronger?
LOTTA: Exactly. Now you know how the Records Center works.
MR RECORDS: Well, thank you Lotta. That’s a really important lesson to know. I think Mr. McFeely, King Friday, and all of us will do better knowing more about records.
LOTTA: Thanks for visiting, Mr. Records
[MR RECORDS WALKS STAGE RIGHT]
MR RECORDS: Lotta Lectrons is really smart. She pays attention to the information, not the medium. She keeps records as long as it says to on the retention schedule, and then, she gets rid of the information. And she always keeps records that are on “hold”.
[TAKES OFF HIS CARDIGAN, AND SINGS]
It’s such a good feeling, from your head to your toes
It’s such a happy feeling, when its time to dispose
No holds to keep what you have retained
And with a snap, lose more than you’ve gained.
It’s such a good feeling, a very good feeling…
That I’ll settle back with a Coke and some rum
With a smile on my face when the auditors come
And you’ll have files you want to store a while,
I will too.
Good bye, boys and girls. Good bye.
[END]
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