I read with interest this article "Why Records Management is NOT Document Management" In it, the author -- Bernadette Bosse -- states that " RIM professionals are not qualified to create procedures and processes in Documentation and Data Management, as they do not have the knowledge foundation to manage information from the pre-creation through life-cycle of documents and drawings before they become records." I could excoriate Ms. Bosse for her sweeping generalization, but let's look instead at what might have prompted such an erroneous conclusion.
First, is she correct? My answer is absolutely not; she is wrong. Some, perhaps many, RIM professionals lack that qualification. To be fair she also later in the article says the same for IT professionals. Now the next issue is why she believes this. I postulate that it is a combination of Ms. Bosse being correct regarding some RIM professionals combined with a great lack of RIM professionals "having a seat at the table".
We know that the RIM profession expects the practitioner to identify what documents are being created and acquired, who needs them, and when that value is no longer active. This is known as the Records Lifecycle. A good and competent RIM professional works with the functional groups to understand the needs and establishes service level expectations (SLAs) to meet those needs in an efficient, compliant, and reasonable manner.
What I fear from the perspective of Ms. Bosse, and many like her, is the idea the ship has sailed on RIM because of the paradigm shift from paper to electronic. But how many in the RIM positions have been included in creating solutions in the electronic sector? Is RIM participating when applications and hardware are considered or is the RIM professional simply expected to make those products work in a reactive manner? And how many of our colleagues have failed when given this opportunity, which only exacerbates the way others, including Ms. Bosse, perceive us?
Look, I am not pointing my finger at anyone. I have plenty of challenge to be a serious part of my firm's success in the information environment. Time will tell just how successful this RIM program is in making an impact. But to simply state that people like me don't have the qualifications is a short-sighted approach and really misses the boat. Who better to understand the nature of information and give it the right relevance in the information environment? If not us, who?
Finally, in case you didn't follow the links in the story, Ms. Bosse does have an agenda. I don't mean that it discounts her credibility. She states it loud and clear and provides links to that resource. Ms. Bosse is the Chairman and CEO of CDMAC -- the Certified Document Management Association of Canada. She wants to equip professionals to be qualified to address documents.
It is unfortunate that the author of this article chose to throw all of the RIM profession (and IT too!) under a bus. With the state of, and change to, the information world, isn't there room for all of us? And isn't this the very kind of opportunity that ARMA should address to create synergy with these related groups? I sure hope that we as RIM professionals do have the chance to prove our value and that we don't drop the ball. If nothing else, articles like this should motivate all of us to rise up and embrace the challenges in a very successful manner.
I hope that if any of you know Ms. Bosse that you will share my review of her article with her. It has been my intent to respect her and engage in a meaningful discussion of this issue.
David B. Steward, CRM IGP
Director of Records
HUSCH BLACKWELL LLP
4801 Main Street,Suite 1000
Kansas City, MO 64112-2551
Direct: 816.983.8860
Fax: 816.983.8080
[log in to unmask]
huschblackwell.com
View Bio
|
View VCard
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]
|
