David Gaynon wrote:
>In rereading GARP on the ARMA website I am a bit curious as to the
purpose of this -- e.g. how does this make things better for
practitioners and RIM programs.

Re-reading myself, I'd have to say that the principle value lies in GARP
providing a good executive summary of records management aligned with
current standards such as ISO 15489. It's straightforward, concise and
comprehensive. I think it's a good piece of work.

As a public entity, all of the principles cited are reflected in public
records law to some degree, so there is an element of enforceability
behind these principles. There is not, however, a common interpretive
body - interpretation being ultimately left to case law for many of
these items. As such, there's no common auditing methodology, nor are
there certified GARP auditors. The next logical step would be to
establish those auditing standards and develop the interpretive body.
It's possible such standards could be developed in common across
industries, as the principles cited strike me as being universal.

The risk assessment would derive from the degree an organization
complied with the auditing standards as reflected in a GARP audit
report. This could take the form of a rating, even a basic pass/no-pass
conclusion. However, there would be a question as to how important
organizations would take such a rating, and how it would impact their
bottom line. Would a lower rating, for example, impact their overall
credit rating, as would a poor financial audit report? Without some sort
of bottom line impact, organizations might conclude it's cheaper to not
comply than to comply. And, without auditing standards, the principles
lose much of their force beyond providing an excellent RIM summary.

Dwight Wallis, CRM
Records Administrator
Multnomah County Fleet, Records, Electronics, Distribution and Stores
(FREDS)
1620 S.E. 190th Avenue
Portland, OR 97233
Phone: (503)988-3741
Fax: (503)988-3754
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