Greetings, Suzanne.

In an earlier (recent) life as a director and manager of records in  
both Hong Kong and Canada, I also enjoyed the dubious pleasure of one  
department "solving" a problem without any particular grasp pf the  
new problems caused.  Peter Senge is interesting read and worth  
recommending to your colleagues who might benefit from a little  
systems thinking!

Interdepartmental dialogue is always, of course, the stuff of  
politics. These comments are offered with knowledge that your own  
closer view is the critical one.  For myself, I have had some success  
in navigating diplomatically among three elements: resourcing,  
accountability, and helpfulness--the order varying with circumstance.  
In relation to resourcing: couched in whatever language and approach  
that fits local culture and the circumstance, clarify that the  
resource demands on finding and retrieving information in case of  
business need and litigation need to be considered and that while  
entirely reasonable to expect programs to carry this out when control  
of the records remains under program control, the new practice limits  
that control rapidly and effectively passes the responsibility to IT.  
Explore the resource contingency that IT has budgeted and the process  
through which programs or your program can draw on these resources  
when needed. (Likely, no such resources exist, and you can practice  
the art of conscious bewilderment - or vocal outrage - as suits ;-)   
In relation to accountability, consider conveying that it is entirely  
appropriate that program managers are accountable for the management  
of processes and information under their jurisdiction, but that when  
that ability to manage is removed and control passes to IT, then it  
is eminently reasonable that IT accept accountability for the content  
they now control.  (I have yet to see an IT shop that is eager to  
take on accountability for record content--but it is hard to argue  
that a manager who is not allowed to manage content due to an IT  
solution should be held accountable for unpleasant surprises, lack of  
compliance, etc. that may arise through lack of that control).  
Depending on progress, you might indicate interest in IT' index to  
the records and any cluster-created taxonomy as this would help your  
RIM program help the organization in general. This may provide  
opportunity to explore why one might want a taxonomy in the face of  
full text search capacity.

Helpfulness works two ways..your RIM program may help IT with this  
accountability question through some joint endeavour to apply  
structure (i.e. meta data, taxonomy, etc. that would enable a more  
granular management of data, and IT might help your program and solve  
the problem they have created for your mutual leadership by taking  
another look at email as a record and collaborating on a corporate  
solution that takes into account the asset/liability side of  
information content.  Depending on the organization and a range of  
factors, IT may be quite happy to recognize its role facilitating  
program managers' accountability once a different perspective on the  
problem and effect of the solution can be seen.  My stance has  
generally been to adopt a helpful attitude in mutually approaching a  
corporate challenge--while being firm about this issue of who is  
actually managing what. Ultimately, you may be able to turn a concern  
into a dialogue that teaches and transforms the relationship between  
your mandates--over time.  Good luck!

Hope this makes some sense after a long flight--need a coffee!

Regards,
John

John James O'Brien, BA, CRM, MALT
[log in to unmask]

Partner & Managing Director, IRM Strategies
Hong Kong: +852 3101 7359  Bangkok: +66 2 207 2530
irmstrategies.com

Associate Partner, S4K Research, Stockholm
s4k.com
________________________________________________________________________ 
____________
   The Year of the Ox is one of stability and achievement through  
hard work.
   Not since 1949 has the year been complemented with the healing  
influence of two
   earth elements. It's a good year for renewal through integrity and  
accountable progress.
   That makes it a great year for knowledge resource management.  
Happy Lunar New Year!
   http://www.irmstrategies.com/card/IRMS-LNY-2009.jpg
____________________________________________________________
Note: This email (including all attachments and content conveyed  
hereby) is intended for the addressee, in person or position, only.   
Unauthorized use, distribution or action based on this email is  
prohibited. No rights of ownership are waived or lost through  
transmission, misdirection or interception. If you are not the  
intended addressee, kindly notify the sender immediately and expunge   
all record of this email from all relevant data systems.


List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]