Cautionary note: the selection of a product is a critical matter in  
ECM.  While there are similarities in terms of functionality across  
the big players, there is "fit" to consider.  There is a lot (a lot)  
of work to do before selection.  The depth and quality of that work  
will affect the degree of customization required--versus cheaper  
configuration (know the difference) with a greater chance that actual  
needs get met in meaningful (and measurable) ways.  The 12 steps are  
configured to support an IT implementation with the product in hand.   
It is not (nor does it pretend to be) the whole story.  The posted  
question suggests need for a step (jump) back.

Lot's of great stuff in AIIM's 12 Steps.  I would urge that these be  
used to inform a strategy of your own design and that you consider  
whether matters such as Steps 6-9 (i.e.Business/System reqs;   
classification scheme(s);  users/user involvement; IT Infrastructure)  
should come pre or post selection and whether the inclusion of  
"determine success measures" in Step 12 is a meaningful activity, or  
one that provides opportunity to describe whatever results in  
"success" terms.  Take care, too, around scope definition,  
recognizing that scope is a luxury granted to IT to keep projects in  
control and within budget (?!), but often ignores realities that  
records managers are stuck with (such as the effect of relationships  
among information series that cross scope boundaries). These Steps  
are about a systems project, primarily.

The biggest issue I have faced in relation to systems solutions is  
the IT perspective.  If your goal is simply (!) a successful IT  
rollout, you would seem to be IT, not operations, not records.   
Systems doesn't mean technology--systems means a developed and  
defined grasp of what is to be achieved within a system and what it  
takes to achieve it sustainably. Evaluation criteria, IMO, should be  
at the start, not at the end of any initiative.  When teams can't  
tell me how they will measure success with real indicators that are  
generated as a byproduct of use, it tells me they do not know why  
they have started down the road--and "we" are not ready. In such a  
case, the system  drives your business, not the other way around.

Adding spice, in a few weeks I'll be presenting in a KM forum that is  
all about the social web and use of  a wide range of innovative  
technologies aimed at collaboration, "attraction", knowledge capture  
and sharing.   A recent project for a international NGO highlighted  
that tools such as Facebook are seen by some as great tools for  
content sharing.  Increasingly, organizations are testing the water  
with staff using external tools that are all about the creation,  
retention, sharing and use of information in processes that may  
affect decisions and certainly float "positions", but exist on a  
plane off the corporate radar screen.  Even when taken inside, too  
few organizations understands this evolution as a content management  
issue. (I'm going to lead an interactive master class in which  
participants build a concept map around content and vehicle, should  
be interesting.)

In short, ECM exists in context and context is not out of scope.   
And, despite the catchy misnomer "enterprise content management", ECM  
solutions exist within a broader array that the records manager and  
accountable corporate executives need to understand and manage.

John James O'Brien, BA, CRM, MALT
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Partner & Managing Director
IRM Strategies
Hong Kong: +852 3101 7359
Bangkok: +66 2 207 2530
www.irmstrategies.com

Associate Partner, S4K Research
Stockholm www.s4k.com
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