I seldom paste in entire messages from others when responding to a post, as
most of this information is already available to others and it usually just
represents "white noise" and clutter, but in this case, I think ALL FOUR
messages provide valuable information, and good perspectives on what has
been a troublesome issue with this survey over the past few years.

While the intent is to ensure that from year to year the respondents
(hopefully, including the same people with similar knowledge and skills but
improved "experiences" from year to year) are giving their perspective on
these issues that continue to face information management, the same poorly
structured questions are also repeated.

I understand the desire is to be able to show "trend analysis" from year to
year and that things are either improving, remaining the same, or getting
worse on these issues... but there are questions in here that some people
can't answer, or aren't pertinent to some respondents.  Few surveys give the
ability to say "Don't Know" or "Non-Applicable to my situation" or "Not
Within my Scope" and in many cases, the questions on this survey should
include those options.

Many surveys (not necessarily THIS one) are designed to gather information
that supports the premises the surveyor already believes to be true, and
based on how the questions are worded, it's a given the responses will
gather viewpoints that support the desired outcome.

Tom is right on the money about the requirements being the same irrespective
of media, form, or format the information resides in... most of us have had
that drummed into our heads since early on in our RIM practices.  The people
that seem to think there's a difference are mostly those in IT who simply
can't grasp the fact that we REALLY NEED TO KEEP THIS STUFF for 50, 75, or
more years!  And mainly, it's because their systems weren't designed to
support persistent access and long-term management of information.  AND THAT
has to change.

And again, the comment that the parties involved in the decision need to
include the originating organization and users of the information is
accurately stated.  But one more thing to take into consideration here is
the users today and in the future are going to be different entities, so you
need to do a bit of "crystal ball looking" here.  If you're in R&D, Science,
Engineering, Architecture, Construction, even something as seemingly mundane
as Facilities Management, you need to think about who will be using the
information you're creating now in the future... and what do you need to
ensure it remains accessible, verifiable, valid, and able to be retrieved.
Will the information be available to other parties to support a legal
challenge regarding ownership rights, to add onto a structure, to continue
research, to verify as-built conditions?

Also, questions regarding "compliance" can be difficult to respond to,
because the degree to which any organization elects to "comply" is
completely dependent upon their risk tolerance and level of regulatory
oversight.   Some organizations may evaluate the cost of being 100%
compliant with some regulations and decide it's too expensive to
accommodate, so they build in a level of safeguards they can live with and
afford and then let the chips fall where they may.  They're compliant to the
degree they find acceptable.

Lastly, I understand Steve's comment about not responding at all being an
option, and I don't think John was actually saying he provided false
information, just that he selected the option that most closely resembled a
correct response for his situation.  The problem is with the structure of
the survey, not the survey taker... if the only people who completed it were
ones that could accurately answer every question in there, they would have a
very small pool of respondents.

Again, I think there needs to be N/A or other options that allow someone not
to have to select something to go on in the survey if they want answers to
the questions that DO APPLY to everyone that signs in.  I've heard this
comment off-line from more people than chose to speak out on-line here.

Larry

-- 
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

I just finished the Cohasset survey yesterday.  I stopped twice because of
> what I perceived as poorly worded and 'agenda' type questions.   I wonder if
> anyone else had the same reaction to the survey?
>
> My biggest complaint was the number of questions that had the underlying
> implication that records management and records retention policy is somehow
> different for different formats.  Questions such as do you have a records
> retention policy for email?  voice mail? IM? (Yes/NO) imply that if you
> don't have a policy that specifically addresses records in these
> formats/media, you should.
>
> Records Management and retention is, at the heart,  the art of managing
> records, regardless of format, media, repository style, type based on the
> business purpose of the records.
>
> Addressing records retention based on any media or format is simply
> incorrect.
>
> Further in the survey is a question addressing the responsibility of
> determining records retention. It lists four entities but doesn't even list
> the one that is most important to the operation and that is the record
> owner.  How can any other operation, IT, RM, Legal, Admin staff, or
> repository manager know if a record is important unless it comes from the
> business?  Doesn't make sense.
>
> Some questions force you to choose between two wrong answers or choose an
> answer where you may not have expertise.  I thing the questions concerning
> compliance are especially suspect.
>
> Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox.  but I has such a bad reaction to the
> survey, I was just wondering if anyone else had a similar reaction.
>
> Tom Owens
> Records & Information Analyst


I had similar issues with how the questions and answers were worded. (The
> survey designers should have included an "It depends" option!) As a result,
> I couldn't even get past the first few questions, so I didn't complete the
> survey.
>
> Cheers,
> Taina Makinen
> Vital Records Specialist
> Canadian Tire Corporation
>
> Yes, I had similar problems where I answered no.  Instead of bypassing the
> next few questions which were there if I answered yes, it took me to them
> anyways and I just put anything down for them.
>
> John Annunziello
> Manager, Records and Information
> Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
>
> Why would you just put ANYTHING into the survey answers ?  How do you
> expect the survey results to be representative if you didn't provide
> accurate/honest answers.
>
> If you don't like the way the survey is worded/set-up don't take it !!! In
> the future please don't destroy the credability of a complete survey if
> you don't like the way it's structured
>
>
> Steve Petersen CRM
> Records Manager

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