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An electronic records management (ERM) solution is not one system, but an ecosystem of policies, standards, processes, people, and tools. Like any ecosystem, it will evolve and grow based on the environmental factors surrounding it. Some of the factors that determine how this ecosystem flourishes are the industry, regulations, corporate culture, organizational commitment, and demonstrated value. This case study from an organization in a highly regulated industry provides a nine-step plan for building such an ecosystem.
Rapid Growth Demands Solution
With the rapid growth of this small biotechnology company into an industry leader through strategic investments, mergers, and acquisitions came stakeholder demands to provide a pragmatic strategy for managing and rationalizing its systems and data. The company's legal and IT departments' strategy to meet this demand entailed investing in technology, people, and processes to address different data types and business transactions and resulted in the ERM solution described below.
The Technology
The company considers its ERM solution a program rather than a stand-alone system. First, it is composed of multiple tools rather than just one. Second, it has steadily evolved through incremental investments that began with one questionnaire, one tool, and two staff members. It is now an interconnected suite of tools comprising a solution with core capabilities that include appraisal; auto-classification; redundant, outdated, and trivial (often referred to as ROT) data analysis; disposition; data migration; document holds application; archival; and unstructured, semi-structured, and structured data curation.
The People
The program now is fully staffed with electronic archivists, IT leads, database administrators, and ERM technicians, and it has a compendium of documentation, training, and operating plans that underpin the ERM solution.
The Process
The program is multi-functional and multi-jurisdictional. It is bound by the industry's best practices and the laws and regulations that govern the industry. Key performance indicators are measured regularly and the program is accountable to executive sponsors. Its value is measured via the tangible return on investment from retiring systems, reducing maintenance and licensing costs, and decreasing administrative burden.
Business Case Demonstrates Value
A "build it and they will come" strategy for developing and implementing an ERM program simply would not have worked in a competitive environment where companies are constantly challenged to drive and maintain a low general and administrative expense...