Identifying points of integration for true information governance.

AuthorGoodman, Susan
PositionFELLOWS FORUM

To get executive support for a truly integrated information governance (IG) program, IG professionals must be able to align the IG strategy to the organization's goals, depict the program's overarching structure, and describe the necessary functional integration. This article suggests the points of integration among the IG component functions for two areas: legal preservation/records holds and information lifecycle management.

True information governance (IG) integrates all applicable elements of its component functions --records and information management (RIM), legal/compliance, information technology (IT), information security, privacy, and business units --within the IG program's overarching structure.

True IG also enables the success of each of its component functions--and of the organization itself--because these functions are enterprise-wide and have overlapping, interrelated, and interdependent systems. By way of example, privacy goals related to compliant information lifecycle management (ILM) (e.g., collection, use, and disposition) and to data security are dependent on effective integration with legal, RIM, IT, information security, and the business units.

This is why establishing a formal, well-integrated IG program is key to an organization's ability to:

* Enhance legal, regulatory, and policy compliance

* Reduce risk

* Increase cost effectiveness and efficiency

* Improve competitive advantage through optimally leveraged information assets

The IG Program Initiative

Garnering support from executives, management, and staff for an overarching IG structure can be challenging in organizations where an IG culture doesn't yet exist. This is because component functions typically have different reporting lines, separate budgets, and entrenched, insufficiently interfaced infrastructure elements for which substantial resources have already been invested.

Organizational leaders must believe in IG, understand and feel comfortable with the changes needed to institutionalize it, and make the initiative a priority for a true IG program to be successful. This means that IG professionals must be able to depict the overarching IG structure (i.e., what this will "look like"), describe the necessary functional integration, and define the requirements for the program.

When developing the IG program business case, charter, mission, project plan, budget, and communications, it is imperative, then, to explain the need and engender buy-in for an infrastructure that is integrated by design. Initiate the program by taking the following steps.

  1. Appoint a Leader

    Some organizations have begun to establish the role of IG director or an equivalent title; this could be the person to lead the initiative. Whatever the title, the person leading this effort should embody the description of a certified Information Governance Professional (IGP): a person who--according to the IGP certification material--"has the strategic perspective and the requisite knowledge to help an organization leverage information for maximum value while reducing the costs and mitigating the risks associated with using and governing this important asset."

    The leader should actualize the IGP competency of "Establishing IG Business Integration and Oversight" by aligning the IG strategy and program to the organization's goals, needs, and objectives. This requires, according to the competency description, working closely with business units to determine the steps for implementing the IG program in their divisions, as well as regularly monitoring and auditing their performance to confirm compliance and to ensure that the IG program isn't impeding the organization's business goals. The leader also must ensure the needed integration among all the IG functions mentioned...

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