At the ARMA Long Beach Conference, I gave a presentation that will
continue as a "work in progress."   Some of the critiques of the
presentation, from those in the audience,  stated that for this to be a
more worthwhile presentation I needed to provide more Case Studies, and
more anecdotal references to industry practice.  It is my intent to
develop those deficient areas and revise the "White Paper" so it is
more useful to the records management community.  The updated White
Paper will remain parked on our Web Site for download after each update
so it is a useful document for those attempting to sell management on
increasing the Scope of Authority for records management in light of
legislation and new technology.

But I need your help in developing real world scenarios and Case
Studies of progress by records management.

These success stories will then make the document more useful to
records managers as a selling tool to convince management of where the
industry is heading, what other organizations are implementing  and the
role the RM should play in the future.  Some of you have related
stories that reflect you are already there.  Could those of you who
have had some success moving your program forward provide a few
paragraphs talking about advancements in your organization?

You can provide them with or without reference to your company name and
your name.  ( I prefer a reference but I understand that you may not be
able to give it. ) It would be helpful though if you could state the
type of industry or company  (e.g.  law firm, manufacturer, bank, etc.
if you cannot be named. ).  This has always been the problem with
providing real world case studies in presentations.  Not everyone wants
to go on the record.  But if you have developed a solid records
management program, I would think this would be an asset to the
organization to feature what you have done.

I provide a couple of ideas, and you could choose one of the below
comments or several to address your input.  I will then publish these
anecdotes in a Newsletter that will follow up the "Planning for the
Records Center of the Future" presentation.

1) Success stories in the records management industry  brought about by
the records manager and the IT people working in concert to protect the
corporation or the organization.
2) Advancements in cost containment, improvements in your security
profile or other changes you have implemented that you feel improve the
overall organization by improving the records management function?
3) What are changes you are making to deal with the way information is
stored and shared among your client base?
4) How is your role as records manager changing with technology?
5) How have you improved your relationship with your offsite vendor to
better serve the company?  Is your media more secure?  Is the media
stored in an environment that will improve the media stability?  Does
the enhanced security of your offsite records management program
insulate management from accusations of  information asset destruction
or willful spoiliation?

Or you could provide your own insights.  If you could email these to me
exactly as you would like them to appear in the newsletter, that will
ensure that they are quoted properly.  Whether you wish to post them to
the Listserv is up to you?  If you want to remain anonymous, a private
email would be better.  The actual newsletter will probably only be
seen by RM's and IT managers in the end;  and it may be used by RM's to
show management directions in the industry.  This would be especially
true,  for those who are using the White Paper for traction with
management on  moving their program forward.

Our Newsletter will go out to about 5,000 records managers and IT
managers and CIO's.

Hugh Smith
FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
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(610)  756-4440    Fax (610)  756-4134
WWW.FIRELOCK.COM

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