Larry Medina wrote:
c'mon... VENDORS VEND, it's what they do.  If our organizations are
STUPID ENOUGH to buy something without understanding what they need or
want it to do, then the blame should be shared.

Larry, I encountered a situation not too long ago where an organization
had purchased a system to go "paperless". As I sat talking to them, I
asked whether their RFP had included basic records keeping system
requirements: access, retention, etc.. etc... Blank stares - not a
single requirement in the RFP had addressed these basics. I then pointed
out how their paper systems were meeting these requirements, and that it
is reasonable to assume any new system that needs to function as a
records keeping system has to do the same, otherwise it won't replace
the paper. Lots of light bulbs went off on that one.

I think the vendor community has made great strides, and overall is
ahead on the curve on this. That's why its important to support them to
give backing for requirements that may increase start up costs, or
conflict with organizational cultures. Where I encounter problems more
often is with customers acquiring systems on their own without proper
input from either IT or RM.

IT is getting this as well, however there one runs into the application
silos I had mentioned earlier. RM is great as long as it fits a given
application. Once that fit becomes difficult, application managers start
redefining RM - its "data", not "records"; retention doesn't apply here;
we'll just keep everything forever; storage is cheap; etc.. etc.. etc...
Where this resonates best is at the higher levels of IT where folks get
the big picture. I've mentioned this before - the problem is often not
with high level management, or with users, its middle management: no
money, no time, does not compute, does not fit a narrow agenda.

Dwight Wallis, CRM
Records Administrator
Multnomah County Fleet, Records, Electronics, Distribution & Stores
(FREDS)
1620 SE 190th Avenue
Portland OR 97233
phone: (503)988-3741
fax: (503)988-3754
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