2. Improve Your Experience.
• Learn From My Mistakes
• Collaborate with Fellow ARMA Members
• Anticipate and Plan for “Bumps in the Road”
• Prepare your Fellow Employees for a Good
Experience
3. 33+ Years – School of Hard
Knocks
Project Manager for ECM
Implementation – Lessons
Learned
Certified Records Manager
(CRM)
Certified Business Analyst
(PMI-PBA)
My Experience.
4. Revitalize RIM Program.
Revitalize RIM Program Proposed (2008)
Approved
No Additional Personnel (just me)
No Funding
Started Records Inventory
Search for Imaging System Replacement
Review and Update RIM Policies
Sent for Approval
5. How to Get Program Support?
Know your Business Processes
Identify Current Bottlenecks to Efficiency
Have an Elevator Speech
o 30 Seconds
o Response to “How are you doing?”, How is our
Records Program Doing?”
• I have been looking at a way to save us $XX . . .
• It looks like we could reduce headcount by X if we . . .
Be “Shovel Ready”
6. Results.
RIM Related Objectives Started to Appear in
Corporate Goals
People Started Asking me – When, How, How
Much
My Manager Comes to me With – “We have
money left in this years budget, must be spent
by July 1. How soon could you have an ECM
project ready for approval?”
Approval for $250K – Phase 1
7. Company Vision of ECM.
“Provide a single, secure repository for
records of all kinds and formats with
managed access and full content search
capability”
-Capital Project Justification
9. Instruction Manuals.
Scan and Index Instruction Manuals.
457 three ring binders.
Documents are 81/2 x 11 simplex pages to folded
E size drawings.
Manufacturer literature that is stapled (brochures).
Sections in Manual are Divided by Tabs.
Identify some of the issues
you may encounter as you
work on this assignment.
14. Scan and Index Issues.
Estimate Scanning Costs
• Material Characteristics of Documents Being
Scanned
– 81/2 x 11 simplex, 11 x 17 and E size Drawings
– 457 Binders (675 linear inches)
– 225 pages per inch (151,875 pages)
• Number of Pages x Cost per page = Scan Cost
• Prep Fee x Estimated Hours = Prep Cost
• Scan Cost + Prep Cost = Total Scanning Costs
15. What to Do with E-Size Drawings?
Costly to scan – scan cost plus prep time
Outdated !
Just Scan Title Block (bottom left corner drawing)
-Cross-Reference to current drawing in the
Drawings Data Base
Scan and Index Issues.
21. Acceptance Testing
All Manuals scanned and returned?
• Missing 36 Manuals!
Index Keywords Correct?
• Export index values (keywords) to spread
sheet
–Run Spell Check
–Wrong Contract Numbers
–Missing Contractor Name
Scan and Index Issues.
22. Missing 36 Manuals !!!!!
The Mystery of 36 Missing
Manuals
• Updated Inventory list from Clerical
• Manuals had been removed prior to
scanning
23. Scan & Index Lessons Learned.
Good Estimates of Cost – Cushion
Chain of Custody – Vendor Too
Thorough Acceptance Tests
Retrieval is Based on Accurate Index Keywords
Maintain Hardcopy Manuals –Until Acceptance
Testing is Complete and ALL Issues are Resolved
Employees on this Project MUST be Detail Oriented
25. Imaging System Issues.
“I hate the Imaging System.
I can never find anything in it!”
-President and Chief Operations Officer
Objective to replace the Imaging
System in Corporate Goals.
26. Migrate Imaging System.
Implemented document imaging system in 1996.
System contains over 2 million documents (not
pages).
Captured and loaded into the system by ad-hoc
scanning and automatic data transfer of
information from Legacy business systems.
Your next assignment is to migrate data from the
obsolete Imaging system into the new ECM
system.
Identify some of the issues
you may encounter as you
work on this assignment.
29. No One Can Find An Imaging Procedures
Manual!
Indexing is not consistent
(INV#, INV, Invoice #, PO_1, PO Line#1)
5 different ways to spell RECEIVING
(Receiving, Recving, Rcving, Receive,
Receivng)
Imaging System Issues.
30. Obsolete File Formats (.zhp?)
Documents Scanned in Time Frames
1996 -1997 then create a new folder 1998 - 2004
Correspondence
Organized by Delivery Method, not by Content
Folders = Memos, Letters, Email, etc.
Access Security not Applied Consistently
Security Levels – Sometimes Creator could not
access their own documents
Imaging System Issues.
31. Re-Organize Based on Content
Do as Part of Migration or After?
Assign Access by Job Title
More Access for Most Employees
Simplify Administration
Convert Obsolete File Formats into Standard
PDF or TIFF
Imaging System Issues.
32. The Biggest Issue the Project has Faced
(and Still Faces) is . . . . .
Employees Refuse to Adjust Their
Procedure.
Change Management
Imaging System Issues.
33. Records Manager.
Oversight of Records Management is Critical
RM Provides a Unique Perspective
No One Else Knows What We Know
See the Big Picture
Know Entire Business Process
Maintain Consistency (Procedures)
Audit for Compliance (Regulatory and Procedures)
The Value of Someone Who Knows
34. Documented and Approved Universal Procedures
Scan Settings (300 dpi, Image Enhancements)
Use Drop Down Pick List
No Abbreviations (Yes to Common Acronyms)
Don’t Add anything (INV#, INV, etc.)
Only Scan Once (Cross Referencing)
Migrate Lessons Learned.
35. Use Drop Down
Pick List
Comes from
Purchasing
System Vendor
File
Migrate Lessons Learned.
37. Know Where to
Search for Actual
Document AND
Format of
Keywords They use
in the Search
Indexing
Procedures are
used to Index AND
used by Employees
who want to
Retrieve
Migrate Lessons Learned.
38. Take Away.
You Can Start Working on your ECM
System Today!
Verify Standard Business Procedures for
What Employees Do Today, and That the
Procedures are Being Followed
Saves Frustration and Effort When You
Do Implement a System.
Document Business Systems
–Create Flow Charts
39. Become Familiar
with Corporate
Goals
• What Really Bugs
Management
• What are They
Worried About
• What can be Tied
to Records
Management
Build
Relationships
• You Will Need
Allies in all
Departments/
Sections
• You will Need
Information From
All Aspects of
Business
Take Away.
