My concern in this realm is that products are adopting an RM flavour when
they may not be fully rm functional in and of themselves. Truly, they cannot
be without a deep integration into governance models, operational and
administrative practices of the specific organisation.   As Jesse and Giny
have noted, it is up to the purchaser to understand how to use the product
to achieve the RM goal.  

Vendors rarely have the time or inclination to become truly knowledgable
about informatics (drawing meaning from information to deliver effective
decision support) or recorded information management (ensuring defensible
decision and transaction processes through retention planning, etc.). 
Purchasing companies seem vulnerable to the "mystique" of IT, preferring to
buy a product as solution, preferring NOT to invest in internal capacity
building such as is required to realize the potential of that IT product.

Like Jesse, I feel that vendors often get a bum rap.  Sometimes the vendor
community (and some members of it) can be its own worst enemy.  But
ultimately, solutions are a partnership between stakeholders including
users, management, purchasing, vendors, and consumers external to purchaser.
 I have been fortunate to known some vendors of remarkable integrity over
the years (and these counter a few who fly in, get glib, undersell the
client effort and move on to the next sale before the current one crashes). 

Back on point: at the practical level, it is metadata that will control how
functionality is put into action.  If it accurately translates the
governance model (policy, etc.) and defines workflow and process
relationships and triggers, then the system will work to the extent that
it's core functionality covers the need--and the clients defined
customization fills any gaps.  If you, as a client, cannot define the
metadata to this level, you cannot have any assurance that your needs are
met.  There is a LOT of fundamental work to be done to get ready before
selecting the final group of products to choose from.  Then there will be
work to tailor further depending on the functionality of the final choice.
It is, in my experience, an iterative process to a certain degree--but do
not underestimate the learning and exchange of conflicting views among team
members along the way (which is to say, don't delay until a time line is set).

Re open source, there are many excellent open source products and some
commercial products are built on an open source base--perfectly legitimate
in that you are buying the developed functionality, not the core open source .  

Can anyone advise of an opensource RMA and discuss its sepcfic
functionality?  It would be great to learn of this.

John James O'Brien, CRM, MALT
Partner, IRM Strategies (www.irmstrategies.com)
Asc. Partner, S4K Research (www.s4k.com)

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