I have very quickly (=superficially) looked at Spescom's Web site
(http://www.spescomsoftware.com/). The description of Spescom on the Home
Page is "Spescom Software is a leading provider of enterprise content and
configuration management solutions that capture, store and manage
information about assets, products and processes throughout their life
cycles."
Records management does not show up until you go to the Solutions|Solution
Overview page, where it's described as "The records management functions of
eB support the enterprise to achieve compliance with legal, regulatory,
corporate, quality and other requirements." The records management
"solution" is one several; here's the list from the Solutions|Solution
Overview page :
STANDARD SOLUTIONS
eB CMII
eB DM Document Manager
eB DC Document Controller
eB RM Records Manager
eB RQM Requirements Manager
eB CM Configuration Manager
eB DRW Drawing Manager
The description of Spescom's "eB Records Manager" says nothing about
managing records that are not electronic. I advise you verify this with the
Spescom Rep. I would not describe such a program as a "records management"
program, but rather an electronic document/content management program with
SOME records management features.
A fair number of content management developers have picked up "records
management" as a buzzword and have bought out small independent RM software
developers and hastily added the newly-acquired RM product to their
offerings, or kludged up some add-on code to their existing document/content
management system. Most of these offerings are destined to live a very short
life.
I strongly recommend you follow the advice given by many people to define
your needs and requirements as rigorously as possible. If you can't do that
yourself, hire a specialised consulting firm (such as Doculabs) to help you.
THEN look at the market, kick the tires, etc. Otherwise, you could end up
spending a lot of time, money, and energy to buy a pig (a dead pig), and
then have to find yourself a new job.
Good luck, and
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: Diane Dodge [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 15:41
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [RM] More Information re: Rec Mgt System
Thank you for your responses. I apologize for not giving more information.
My company is a "high tech" consulting/services firm specializing in
Enterprise Asset Management. We also develop custom software products. A
lot of our contracts are with the federal and state governments, DOD, and
public utility companies. We also have contractors in various foreign
sites, such as Iraq, Japan, London, and some others I won't mention. For
more information about the company, see our website at www.trmnet.com.
Our headquarters is in Alexandria, VA and we have branch offices in
Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle, Honolulu, Prospect KY, and Chesapeake, VA.
The company is growing rapidly, but has never had a Records Management
Program. I have been working to set one up. I had no training in RIM. when
I started here almost a year and a half ago. I was learning as much as
possible from the Listserv, ARMA membership, and lots of online research.
Currently, I am enrolled in the Records and Information Management
Certificate Program online through Chippewa Valley Technical College. When
I first came here, lots of our records were stored in closets and under
people's desks. I have been performing inventories, interviews with users,
developing retention schedules and transferring inactive records to offsite
storage. Most of my work has been with administrative and financial paper
records (and some electronic). There is also a large segment of project and
R&D electronic records which I have not gotten access to yet. However, I
have met with the VP's in those areas to let them know about the RIM program
and what I want to accomplish. They became interested when I gave them
examples of executives being indicted and the type of information that got
them into trouble.
Our company is undergoing a change in business processes and part of that
will involve getting an electronic records/document management system which
will connect and serve the whole company. Up until now,we have operated in
more of a "silo" fashion. That was fine when the company was small, but it
is a hindrance now. One of the VP's sent a representative from Spescom to
give a demonstration of their product to my boss and me, while he was
waiting to see our President.
We need a way to bring all the records management (including some email) and
document production efforts together. I have been looking at systems on my
own. It wasn't until the rep from Spescom demo'd his product to our boss,
that management began to seriously consider getting an electronic rec mgt
system. I liked the one we saw, in that it seemed to incorporate Records
Management principles in its design instead of having RM "piggy backed" onto
an IT system. But I want to encourage the management to look at other
solutions before buying the first one they have seen.
I have not heard anyone mention Spescom in all the time I have been a member
of the Listserv, so I want to see if anyone knows about them.
I have not really defined our requirements here, but I just want to let you
all know the situation I and my company are in. It is growing rapidly and
has gone from a small company to a medium sized one in the time I have been
here.
Thanks for your interest and your advice.
Diane Dodge
[log in to unmask]
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
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