Erin:
I concur with Jason. You need support from various departments in your
institution. Our city is going through the RFP development process for
an EDMS. And it can be tortuous at times.
We initially had a consultant who was working with us on an ERP project
(Finance/Accounting package) who agreed to hold a needs development
session with key users. Unfortunately, EDMS was not their forte. We
were asked to score a checklist of functionalities/needs/wants that they
developed, which -- it became obvious -- were compiled from various
vendor product specifications and/or RFP's. The same terms had
different meanings in different contexts, which caused considerable
confusion, and it became clear that some of the functionalities were
probably vendor-specific...not the kind of requirement you would want to
include in an RFP since it will limit your potential, qualified
respondants.
We regrouped and set up a smaller team of heavy users (IT, Clerk, Legal,
Community Development) and established some broad objectives on our own,
relying on guidelines recommended by various state archives for local
government records management systems. We then built our own checklist
of functionalities after reviewing a number of RFP's issued by other
municipalities and the work we had done up to that time.
We held a subsequent assessment to rank our new wish list --(and as
Jason suggested: rated our "as-is" practices, and our "to be" state) --
and IT is now working on some of the technical requirements for a
system. I will be going out to the NAGARA meeting in Seattle in July,
along with someone from our IT Department, to further pick brains on how
to proceed with our RFP.
The EDMS project is running separate from, but parallel to, our ERP
project. We have established an advisory committee to work with IT on
ERP. This committee not only includes department heads, but the Mayor
and two Aldermen as well. This will ensure that we get the budgetary
perspective in our development process, and hopefully some legislative
buy-in. (We don't want to go before the Board with an $X million
request for funding without having vetted the costs.)
You will need to determine your needs, priorities and potential funding.
Initially, are you looking to manage those records that are already
electronic? Or is this a scanning project with backfile conversion? Or
both? Is this going to be a plug-in to existing institutional software
or a standalone system (probably not a good idea)?
Coming from a political environment, I would suggest getting buy-in from
heavy users and support from management and the budget committee early
in this process. If you go out and get a consultant who says "buy this"
and "spend that," you'll never get the project off the ground. You need
to determine your needs and wants from the ground up, and build your
advocacy group as you go through the process -- as tortuous as that
might be.
Paul Bergeron
City Clerk
Nashua, NH
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Cheng, Jason
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 12:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] Skills Needed for an ERMS Project
Its understandable that you'd feel stumped Erin. For an ERMS system, it
is critical you have support from the various departments within your
organization as well, since most IT departments focus on maintaining
infrastructure, and it will be difficult for the to get buy-in from
business leaders.
My high-level suggestion is to initiate an effort that documents your
"as-is" practices, and then assemble an internal team to determine your
"to be" state.
When you've accomplished these two, that's when your real work begins.
Wherever possible, I would limit the involvement of a software vendor in
determining your "to be" state since it will often affect the direction
you take in your project. Whenever possible, its best to keep the
resources on such an initiative internal. And then approach a vendor
when you have a better idea of what you want.
Jason
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Vandenberg, Erin
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 10:04 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Skills Needed for an ERMS Project
I have several years of experience dealing with paper and microfilm
records management, but I admit I am lacking in experience dealing with
managing electronic records. I've tossed out the idea of an ERMS to
several university administrators and some seem receptive to the idea.
The head of our IT department has asked me to provide him a list of
skills I would like to see in whichever IT staff person or persons he
assigns to this project. And this is where I'm stumped. I'm not even
really sure *I* have the requisite skills to develop such a project so
I'm unsure how to go about making a list of skills or experience for the
IT department.
So, listserv, I turn to you:
What would be your dream skill set for any IT staff assigned to help you
research and possibly implement an ERMS? Or is the answer "it depends"?
Should I just say we need to hire a consultant and be done with it? Or
did I just offend everyone and open a huge can of worms?
Erin Vandenberg
Director of Records Management
Office of the Secretary
DePaul University
55 E Jackson, Suite 850
Chicago, IL 60604
312-362-7941
[log in to unmask]
http://rm.depaul.edu
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