The Psychology of Records Management Organizational Placement Matters by Craig Grimestad

The question Which staff area is the best home for Information Governance (formerly Records and Information Management)? is a question that is often asked and debated. The 2013/2014 Cohasset/ARMA/AIIM Information Governance Benchmarking Survey identifies prominent candidates: Administrative Services/Facilities, Compliance/Regulatory Affairs, Legal, and Information Technology. The answer at this time in history is NONE OF THE ABOVE. Information Governance is Records and Information Management come of age, with common structural and performance maturity standards and certifications available for practitioners. Understanding that Records are a corporate asset - perhaps the most valuable corporate asset (see The Psychology of Records Management - The Foundation) it is time for Information Governance to take its rightful place as a staff area providing policy, management and oversight to this most valuable business function. After all, what is a company without its records? Perhaps you are not there yet in your company's maturing of its business structure and processes. Who's the runner-up? Well, it does make a difference. Given the variables that exist within a given company including the level of reporting, budgeting potential, and the passion of the individuals in the chain of command, the best home for a given company will be its own solution. Psychologically, the organization is more accepting and responsive to governance directions coming from a traditional power player in the organization. Therefore, starting at the bottom, Administrative Services/Facilities is the least likely to be a good home. You simply cannot effectively run a governance activity from a service organization. I digress, but I recall a time as the Divisional Records Manager, when I reported to the Chief Information Officer, and we were making great governance improvements. I had his strong support, and we were systematically improving the awareness of, and compliance with, our Records Management Policy and Procedures. We had forcing functions in place (more about that another time) to improve email and shared drive compliance and I participated in records repository change reviews - both for developing new and revising existing ones. One day I was asked to join an emergency meeting in Purchasing. There, I was given an overview of a problem by an executive, also on the CIO's staff: the ERP application was running out of memory, with only about a day left, and they needed to purge data (including records) - that's OK right? I looked at him . (probably stared) in disbelief. Do I know this man? Does he know me? Is this a joke? Is this a test? Is he serious? He was. How could he possibly be the same person I had been working with? As we all know, lack of planning, or lack of capacity, does not override the retention requirements of a company record. Information Technology can be an acceptable home, but beware, at the end of the day, when push comes to shove - Information Technology's highest priority will not be information governance. Compliance/Regulatory Affairs is a close second as the best other staff area home. This area typically has the zeal to make sure corporate policies and procedures are followed, but commonly lacks vision and budget. Information Governance would be one among many objectives. The best other staff area as a home for Information Governance is Legal. In short, Legal gets it. Legal Understands that records are corporate assets that require maintenance. Understands how records transition from having high value as an asset to becoming a liability when its life cycle is complete. Has deep pockets - is always provided with sufficient funding to properly defend the business from lawsuits and also gets funding for necessary projects. Legal many not want the responsibility - seeing this as taking resources and focus away from their primary responsibilities. But even that in a way makes them a good caretaker until the day when Information Governance takes its place as a staff area. In time, as organizations continue to develop and mature, it is likely that the Compliance/Regulatory Affairs and Information Technology areas will report into Information Governance. Both represent high value support activities necessary to accomplish the higher Information Governance objectives.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2014/service-lines/records-management-an...
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