Frederic Grevin wrote:
>But Gartner is a computer industry specialist; why are we surprised ?
Would you trust their advice if you were buying a house ?
When we first started getting involved in our electronic records
initiative, I received numerous Gartner reports from our IT folks, with
the assurance that they had a subscription to Gartner's services that
would, no doubt, provide the main resource for most of our solutions.
The reports I reviewed were very heavily tilted towards pushing a
particular application (for example, content management systems) as a
solution to most problems, including records management problems. As
overviews of the particular applicability of given packages, the reports
weren't bad, until they addressed records management issues. Then they
were next to worthless. However, they faithfully reflected the
prevailing IT culture, and as such, offered some direction on what our
own strategies in approaching IT should be.
One of the things I noticed in that IT culture is the tendency of a
given IT manager to push their particular area of responsibility as the
total solution. Consequently, the manager of the content management
system pushes that system, the manager of the data warehouse believes
that will solve any problems, the manager of the on-line reporting
system believes that their system is all that is needed, and the manager
of the backup systems has that solution (a funny side note - when you
start pointing out the records keeping limitations of a given system,
suddenly we are no longer dealing with "records" but with "data",
implying that records management capabilities aren't even necessary).
Much of this reflects competition for resources. Each can cite a Gartner
report to back them up in that competition - reflecting the prevailing
culture these reports serve. Rare is the manager that recognizes the
limitations of her or his area of responsibility in addressing the
rather arcane subject of records management (in our case, our SAP
manager has proven very much ahead of the curve in this regard - the
lady is pure gold!). The result is an approach that is technologically
siloed.
Because of this, an important component of educating IT managers on our
issues is creating the recognition that records management solutions may
have to cross not only organizational silos, but technical ones as well.
That's a real adjustment for many IT managers, whose livelihoods may
depend on the successful and widespread implementation of their
particular solution.
Dwight Wallis
Records & Distribution Services Manager
Multnomah County Fleet, Records, Electronics, Distribution & Stores
(FREDS)
1620 SE 190th Avenue
Portland OR 97233
phone: (503)988-3741
fax: (503)988-3754
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-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Grevin, Frederic
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 10:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Gartner Best Practices for Records Management
A few years ago, had a teleconference with a Gartner analyst about
records
management, and it rapidly became obvious the analyst was clueless about
RIM.
Doesn't mean EVERY Gartner analyst is clueless, but a Gartner report
that's
clueless suggests the company is not a trustworthy source of informed
advice
on RIM. But Gartner is a computer industry specialist; why are we
surprised
? Would you trust their advice if you were buying a house ?
Best regards,
Fred.
===============================
Frederic J. Grevin
Director, Records and Archives Management
The City of New York
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
59-17 Junction Blvd., 11th floor
Flushing, NY 11373-5108
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: (718) 595-4372
Fax: (718) 595-4387
-----Original Message-----
From: Roach, Bill J. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 10:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [RM] Gartner Best Practices for Records Management
Greetings,
Just received a copy of Gartner's "Records Management Best Practices Are
Becoming Increasingly Important for Compliance"(ID Number: G00129230,
Debra
Logan, August 9, 2005). Some of the information is on target, some is
very
suspect.
The analyst provides a pretty good inventory elements listing. However
she
recommends providing a destruction date as an element of the Retention
Schedule. She also suggests that purchasing pre-populated retention
schedules because "laws and regulations apply broadly between and within
industries". She goes on to say " the retention schedule isn't the
difficult part."
This is the second paper on Records Management to come out in a month or
so
and I am very concerned about their expertise in the area. Adoption of
some
of the recommendations would put a company at risk.
Does ARMA have any contacts with Gartner. If not, we need to get them
now.
If so, we need to spend some quality time with these folks. If someone
can
get me a contact, I would be glad to follow up on this issue.
Bill Roach, CRM
Enterprise EDMS Coordinator
State of North Dakota
ITD/Records Management
701-328-3589
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