Propelling the profession (and the professional) to the next level.

• Author: McKinnon, Cheryl
• Position: Cover story

The results from Forrester Research and ARMA international's recent online records management survey show rising support and professional knowledge of information governance principles. But, if records managers want to propel their careers, as well as the profession, to the next level, they need to get better acquainted with resource planning, technology roadmaps, and their colleagues in IT.

2013 marks the fifth year ARMA International and Forrester Research have surveyed records management (RM) decision makers in an effort to track key trends in adoption, challenges, and technology rollout. Conducted June 5-July 12, 2013, the "Forrester Research and ARMA International Records Management Online Survey, Q3, 2013" gathered responses from 397 RM decision makers from around the globe.

Forrester's findings show a continued rise in awareness of the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles[R] (Principles), as described and promoted by ARMA International and its members. The survey results, however, also reveal that not all RM professionals are able to consistently put the Principles into action.

Developed to "foster general awareness of information governance standards and principles and to assist organizations in developing information management systems that comply with them," the Principles describe characteristics of information governance (IG) program success.

Ninety-one percent of survey respondents claim familiarity with the Principles, a slight increase from the 2012 survey, which revealed that 85% of respondents had familiarity. (See the 2012 survey highlights at http://tinyurl.com/14fps65.)

Despite this strong awareness, many RM decision makers still have work ahead to bring the Principles of Accountability, Integrity, Protection, Compliance, Availability, Retention, Disposition, and Transparency into fruition in their workplaces.

Accountability: Ho Clear Home for Program Oversight

The 2013 survey shows that one-fifth of RM teams report to legal, slightly fewer to IT (17%), and 13% to business units directly. "Other" reporting relationships comprise 38% of survey responses.

Regardless of where RM professionals sit in the company organization chart, most enterprises have more than one key executive providing sponsorship of the RM program. Nearly half have the general counsel or other most-senior legal officer as a key sponsor, followed by the chief information officer/ chief technology officer or other most-senior IT executive (39%). Chief executive and financial/administrative officers are the next most-highly represented roles, at 25% and 22%, respectively.

An executive or steering committee provides program sponsorship for 38% of respondents' organizations. In a postitive sign, only 6% of respondents report that they have no C-level sponsorship for their RM programs. (See Figure 1.)

Integrity: People, Systems Stymie Consistency

The Principle of Integrity describes how RM and IG programs must demonstrate consistent adherence to approved policies and procedures in order to establish the reliability and authenticity of information. People who engage with records must be given training on systems and appropriate practices, and the technologies used to control information need to be reliable. People and systems are core to establishing the Principle of Integrity.

The survey asked respondents to identify the top RM challenges in their organizations. The most pervasive issues pertain to either people (staffing and skills development, user adoption, or stakeholder alignment) or systems (limitations presented by current technologies). (See Figure 2.)

People Challenges

Difficulty in hiring or developing in-house expertise, lack of stakeholder alignment, and inconsistent classification by end users are the top three challenges that involve people. IG programs need to have input and guidance from IT, legal...