Dear colleagues, 
   
  This is a bit long reflection and just a viewpoint on the issue, but adding another dimension….
   
  Record Management (RM) project initiation and deployment may, or may not, be tied up initially to a particular department or division such as IT, legal, administrations services, etc. At this stage, Project Management of an RM system ideally would require a positive and collaborative organizational and a cross-departmental culture that can provide supportive context for the success of the RM project.
   
  Before, or right at the time of writing the project charter, or once the RM system has become up and running, i.e. in production and operation phase, decision makers could investigate the alternative ways of how this new entity can maximize its contribution to the achievement and fulfillment of its strategic goals and objectives. Due to the great variations that we find in the structure, size, culture, and financial health of organizations, RM may find itself anywhere right from at the top all the way to lower levels of the hierarchy. Various RM scenarios exist – for various reasons - as some of the colleagues have mentioned. Another scenario that I have come across in a medium-size professional organization, RM has been part of the Privacy Officer’s responsibilities in the document management center, supported with IT and Business applications personnel.
   
  Therefore, some times the issue is not only dealing with what department/division should RM report to, but also finding ways and practical means to encourage organizations to really appreciate RM as a rising, multidisciplinary profession that has a real potential to play an important role in organizational development and success. I think that there are links between all these aspects, which need further discussions.
   
   …. Hoping that the more decision makers are informed about RM profession and the more record managers positively structure their inner beliefs about the importance of RM profession, the more these beliefs will reflect on and resonate, one day, in how RM systems/functions/groups are integrated and positioned within organizational structures and hierarchies.
   
  Thanks
   
   
  Samer A.Hadi, B.Sc. Eng., MBA, PMP
  University of Toronto
  Faculty of Information Studies
  MISt candidate

"Colgan, Julie J." <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  I don't think RM should report up through IT. I do believe that RM and
IT should co-exist in the organization at the same level and report up
through the same structure (be it a CIO, COO, GC, or other C-level).

I can imagine it wouldn't take long, if I reported up to the IT
Director, for one of my suggestions to be shut down because it didn't
nicely fit into the existing infrastructure (in fact, this would have
happened just last week).

And I can imagine, on the other hand, if IT reported up through RM
(okay, stop laughing, I know that would NEVER happen!), that I might
push too hard to try to implement an impossible policy by brushing off
IT concerns because it's the RIGHT thing to do (we all know sometimes we
have to give up a bit of the RIGHT thing for the DO-ABLE thing
...right?).

As for clout and budget, yes IT often gets it without much fighting, but
I have found with effort, RM can be just as successful in these areas.
I've enjoyed success winning both hearts and funding, sometimes even
more so than IT. 

Workflow is a perfect example at my firm - IT tried to sell it to
management for 2 years with no success, yet I was able to sell in a just
a couple of months. The best part is that I went about it in a
non-threatening way to IT - keeping them in the loop the entire time, so
it felt (at least to them) that I was doing THEM a favor. Now, were all
excited about the project and are ready to work together to get it done.

Cooperation, respect and a bit of "playing the game" goes a really long
way in both life and business.

Happy Friday to all!

Julie

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