Members of the Listserv,

   I apologize for my inexperience in posting to the listserv. I did want
to contribute to the discussion on a subject that I feel is very important
to us as IRM professionals. Here is the content of my attachment.

 There has been a lot of discussion lately on the subject of Information
Governance and where it fits into the Information and Records Management
environment. I thought that it might help the on-going discussion if I
documented my journey towards Information Governance.

In 2003 I moved from a records management position at the City of Calgary
to a similar position with ENMAX Corporation (a wholly owned city utility
with 700,000 customers). The objective of my new position was to ensure
ENMAX could meet all legislative, regulatory and corporate compliance
requirements. There was limited information management infrastructure; the
focus was more on document management processes.

It might help to provide my definition of document management and
information management. *Document management* is a user department focused
activity that is mostly concerned with information storage, faster access
to information for operational purposes, reductions in lost or misfiled
information, and improved work processes and efficiency as it relates to
information flow. *Information management* is an enterprise-centric
function that includes the compliance focus of corporate-level
classification, consistent metadata, auditing, risk reduction, version
control, security, access control, and any other management functions that
assist the corporation in proving due diligence of its information
management program.

My focus when I first started at ENMAX was on the management of inactive
records, including its indexing, storage and retrieval. I had little need
for interaction with knowledge workers. We developed a corporate-wide
classification system that was independent of the varied department
classifications. The only time user departments needed to cross-reference
the corporate classification was when they would either transfer
information to inactive storage or to request records from off-site
storage. Over time the user departments asked for our expertise to organize
their ‘on the floor’ active hardcopy records. The result was a more widely
accepted use of the corporate classification system. In this position I
reported to the VP of Legal.

Increased litigation within the utility industry resulted in the VP of IT
asking for my group to be transferred to IT with both Information
Technology and Information Management reporting to the VP of IT. The
objective of this initiative was to ensure better management of
unstructured electronic information, and information stored in databases.
My first major project was the selection and implementation of an ECM
software system for 70+ key departmentsd. A significant part of that
project was to engage an internal business analyst to ensure all department
level filing systems were compatible with the corporate classification
system.

Within a year, the IT group was re-organized under a CIO. His first step
was to integrate database management and information management under the
new function of Information Delivery. The Manager, Database Management took
over control of the Information and Records Management operations and I
became the Manager of the new department of Information Governance. In this
new position I reported up through the VP of IT.





My first major obstacle was to understand what information governance (IG)
was. I soon discovered that the function of Information Governance required
that an enterprise-wide strategic information management (SIM) vision and
plan had to first be put in place; as the basis for the information
governance efforts. That was in 2010 and ARMA had just come out with the
Principles. I grabbed onto it like a lifeline. The first big hurdle to
overcome was the development of an IG definition that would work for our
organization.

The final version of that definition was as follows;

*‘An accountability framework … that includes the people, processes,
policy, and technology … that ensure the effective management of
information … to enable an organization to achieve its strategic goals and
business programs.’ *

By the fall of 2011, I had added eight additional IG tools that allowed me
to determine what improvements had to be made to our existing IRM program
in order to meet the objectives of Information Governance. The result was
the development of a workable strategic information management plan and 5
year roadmap for our IRM program.

So what does this all mean for the IRM professional who wants to set his or
her future career path. Firstly, document management, information
management, and information governance are three separate areas of pursuit
for IRM professionals. Second, that both document management and
information management are operational in nature, whereas information
governance is strategic in nature. Third, that success in information
governance requires an understanding of business and corporate strategy, as
well as previous expertise in document/information management. And lastly,
the move from document management to information management and then to
information governance can be a choice of career focus, as well as a
natural progression for IRM professionals.

Sam McCollum, MBA, CRM, ERMm
President and CEO of SIMC Coaching
RIM Professional since 1983
[log in to unmask]
*Coaching you on your way to success*

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