Leave it to John to ask one of the better questions for a "Case Study"...
I'm no CRM, but hopefully this is Part VI worthy response...
If you have some perspectives on the nature of the best/worst reporting
> structures or experiences that you can share with me, I would very much
> appreciate it. I am to lead a Town Hall style discussion of this topic at
> the upcoming MER Conference in Chicago at the end of April (see
> http://www.merconference.com/session153.html ). As you can see from the
> session listing, there are a number of potential issues raised by
> reporting
> relationships including:
>
> Who owns the ERM Program or Project?
The ORGANIZATION owns the program, unless it's in a Public setting, such as
a Federal Agency, State, County, City, School District, etc. That doesn't
speak to who owns the information or content being managed, but the
responsibility for the custodianship of the program itself.
As for a Project, that depends on the source of funding, the scope of what's
included in it, and the objectives and goals, including the assignment of
responsibility for management of the Project.
What level of Executive participation is required?
In the Program, Executive Management needs to endorse and support policy,
and clearly articulate the requirements for compliance and how it is
intended to satisfy business needs of the organization. They also need to
ensure requisite funding is provided to adequately staff the function and
carry out the mission to comply with policy requirements.
With a Project, they need to "serve as a champion" and sponsor its goals and
objectives, and provide adequate support (staffing and funding) to see it is
completed as scoped and approved.
What have been the differences in experiences when RM reported to IT, Legal
> Counsel, a Business Unit, or the CIO?
Wow... got a few weeks? =) I think there is good and bad to be found in any
and all of these reporting relationships, mainly depending on the size of an
organization and the scope of the RIM Program.
What are the risks of different organizational placements for ERM
> initiatives?
Lack of support and funding, insufficient exposure and authority, being
marginalized as an "also ran" function, where the ERM initiative isn't the
primary objective of the organization charged with the initiative.
How does organizational positioning impact ERM Program liaison
> relationships?
Greatest support will likely exist within the portions of the organization
that are in the same reporting line/relationship as the ERM program. The
farther you branch out (organizationally) the less support you will likely
have. Additionally, if you are impacting the existing work processes within
other organizations and not providing adequate staff to make the deployment
essentially "transparent" to them until it is operational, you will meet
resistance.
A program of this type is more successful when you have champions within
each aspect of the organization you are deploying it in. If you able to
establish a structure where you have "organizational Liaisons" that are the
point people in their organization and then start small and use these
success stories as examples as to why others should adopt the program, its
much easier to succeed.
Will budgets and resources be affected by the reporting structure?
Possibly. Again, it depends on the size of the organization, the scope of
the Project, and the existing structure. Too many variables to provide much
more of an answer.
How can performance commitments be impacted by the organization chart?
If it's an organization wide project, make success of the Project a
performance goal of someone in a high position of each organization chart,
and make it a minor goal of those in management below them as well. If
EVERYONE is adversely impacted by the Project not succeeding, then everyone
will support its goals and objectives being reached.
Generally, a Project of this type is undertaken to satisfy an organizational
goal, or to respond to a gap that was identified, such as a potential
non-compliance issue. The purpose is to come up with something that is more
cost effective, more efficient, and improves the manner in which something
is being done. It may not be a direct cost savings (initially). but it may
result in cost avoidance, improved operational capabilities, increased
access to information, quicker turnaround times, the ability to re-purpose
information to meet other goals, etc.
These are ALL reasons that middle level, upper, and senior managers should
embrace when it comes to supporting the deployment of an ERM Program, and
more to the point the management of an RIM Program overall.
All direct replies to me at [log in to unmask] will be held in
> confidence and only generalized in the presentations of the results.
No need for this, seeing as these comments are all general in nature and
don't apply to any one organization, but should apply to all of them =)
Larry
--
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
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