Thanks, John. That's exactly how it works. Welcome to my world! I
know it sounds crazy and impossible to those of you who have never
worked in Higher Education, but it is very typical. It is also
something that you can say should be fixed, but that falls into the
"when heck freezes over" realm, so it isn't even worth wasting breath
over. Suffice it to say that even having a central personnel records,
student records, financial system and grants system is somewhat of a
miracle, and doesn't preclude departments from having their own shadow
systems.
So, how to ROI all of it? That's really tough, because it really is all
about cost avoidance more than cost savings. It's soft money more than
dollars that can be seen in many cases. And it's all about compliance.
If you start with the compliance issues on having to keep records for
those reasons, then that usually gets attention. HIPAA, GLB, PCDISS,
Research contracts, patents and licensing - that's where I find the most
help. State and federal privacy laws, open records laws, FOIA for
research contracts - if you don't have it you don't have to go find it
when it is requested. The newest issue out there is the IRS now
requiring us to keep research records so that we can prove how much
private and public use was made in buildings that are financed with tax
exempt bonds. Subpoenas, International student and employee issues, and
of course, EPA requirements. We do it all, and with all of it being
done, there are so many regulations that we have to follow regarding
keeping, securing, and using information that it can make your head
swim. And did I mention cloud computing? It's starting, with Google
mail coming to many of the Universities, along with various renegade
programs for collaboration in the classroom. It's a great time for RIM
because there are so many reasons to have a program - so many things
that RIM knows and does and makes sure happens. It's much more than
storage these days, it's about being able to prove when you need to that
the information exists that should, and when it doesn't exist, that
there's a retention schedule behind it. It's about not having dumpsters
full of private data, having guidelines for staff on how to manage text
messages so you don't have to do a breach notification when the cell
phone goes missing, and making sure that shredding is done when
necessary.
I could go on - and on, and on...but I'll stop because it's too obvious
to all of us. Storage is the easy part - and I've always outsourced
that in both of my University positions. It's much more than that - and
a University RIM program, or any RIM program, should be started for
strategic reasons, not because it saves storage cost. Start big - think
big - expect big. Because that's what it is and should be.
Fondly,
Susan
Susan McKinney, CRM
Director, Records & Information Management
University of Minnesota
100 Church Street SE
502 Morrill Hall
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612-625-3497
612-626-4434 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of John Phillips
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 11:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: University RM Programs - ROI or cost-benefit data?
I briefly tip-toed into the challenges in this arena, while teaching a
university online graduate school course to some Information Science
students last summer. I was talking about ECM, ERM. etc. and (GASP) they
asked about how what I was talking about related to their own
university's IT systems. Woops - I had no idea!. So I contacted an IT
"czar" and immediately ran into stovepipes: Administrative computing
systems, academic/research computer systems, networking infrastructure
support/desktop support, and separate applications/departments for
"schools", finances, student records, alumni records, medical records,
safety, security, etc. Different departments with different applications
and very different priorities.
I dare say that any RM Business Case ROI in this fractured environment
had better be ready to focus on a pilot project with high profile
returns for specific politically powerful factions or it will unravel
into another also-ran during budget cuts.
John
****************************
John Phillips
Information Technology Decisions
www.infotechdecisions.com
865-966-9413
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Robert Spindler
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 11:22 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: University RM Programs - ROI or cost-benefit data?
This is an interesting thread that also appeared on the Archivists
listserv with little commentary. I'd be interested in seeing actual data
myself. I don't have experience with formal cost-benefit studies or ROI
studies, but it seems most of the quantifiable CB would be in terms of
file cab/server/records storage space recovered through timely and
appropriate destruction. I recall some numbers on this list regarding
savings from clearing server space of unneeded emails.
It seems that the most significant benefits of RIM are not as easily
quantified in terms of reduced discovery costs, reduced liability and
protection of assets. It would seem to be a matter of proving the
negative (can you quantify the costs you avoided because of a well-run
RIM program?)
Rob Spindler
University Archivist and Head
Archives and Special Collections
Arizona State University Libraries
Tempe AZ 85287-1006
480.965.9277
http://www.asu.edu/lib/archives
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