Earl's comments are excellent.
The only thing that I would add is:
I find it very useful to have the FAQ first. In my experience most
people don't casually browse a RIM site. Rather, they seek specific
info to answer a question. They really don't care if they are "welcomed"
or that you have team of dedicated smiling professionals there to serve
the good of the people. They need to know "Can I throw this away?" And
they need to know it now.
I did not have an intranet at UCSC, so the web site that is available at
http://iam.ucsc.edu was our "intranet" and our public web. Noting that
we were serving 3 audiences (public, staff, professors) with one web
site
I modified the FAQ approach into more of a visitor-based list. I was
never happy with that, but it was the compromise I had to make at the
time. I still prefer the FAQ on the right side, at the top. (If we did
have a records center, there would be a spot for it)
Please note that while it is critical to put the retention schedule on
the intranet, it is very important that the retention schedule be
user-friendly and up-to-date. Throwing up a huge list of arcane
terminology and befuddling abbreviations will only earn you the ire of
those you want to win over. You must use the language of the user (This
is now being called "folksonomy" in some circles).
An example of a well meaning, but difficult to use, retention schedule
is at UC http://www.ucop.edu/recordsretention/search.html. There are
some 1300 citations and it covers the entire spectrum of the University
information world. It can be very useful, IF you know the language of
RIM and of the historical lexicon of the business administration of the
University. However, if you are a front line admin trying to figure out
how long to keep something it falls short. In this example UC has put
together a nice first step, it just needs a good dose of user feedback
and subsequent improvement.
Rather than going into exhaustive detail here, I recommend the books
"Information Architecture" by Rosenfeld & Morville and "Don't Make Me
Think" by Krug. Krug's book is much easier to read.
Chuck Piotrowski
Corporate Records Manager
CVPS
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Johnson, Earl [CRDUS non j&J]
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 2:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Intranet Site for File Room/Records
Irene,
As a consultant, my last client was a FL state agency where the RM
department had a very nice presence on that agency's intranet. These
are
some of the things that were available from Records Management's site:
- Retention schedules
- RM policy, procedures, guidelines, and instructions
- A page of RM terms and definitions
- Links to RM-related websites (ARMA, AIIM, local ARMA chapters, etc.)
- Staff bios (along with portraits)
- RM-related forms for offsite storage transfer, retrieval/refile, etc.
- RM program component descriptions for things like vital records,
micrographics/imaging, etc.
The Records Manager at this agency was also the District Clerk, so there
were many District Clerk-related things on that website as well.
Records
Management was also in charge of the agency's forms program, so there
was a
link to that component too (it had a separate intranet site that we also
maintained).
Finally, we had a link to the Records Coordinator's page as well, and it
was
initially to be designed so that Coordinators could go into a database
and
update their own information (if they changed departments, changed phone
numbers or e-mail addresses, were replaced, etc.). This site identified
who
the RC was for each department, and could be searched by department
name,
cost center, or RC information. We hadn't given up on this integration
even
though the IT folks wouldn't support a direct link to the MS Access
database
that housed all of this information.
Good luck!
Earl
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Earl Johnson, Jr.
Consultant, WW Records Management
Cordis Corporation (a Johnson & Johnson Company)
Miami Lakes, FL
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