Web technologies for information management.

• Author: Frost, John P.
• Position: Cover Story

The Computer Industry Almanac reports that, as of December 2000, there were 551 million personal computers in use and 299 million Internet users worldwide. Governments and businesses are working at break-neck speed to deliver information, products, and services to these users. To accomplish this, back-end systems must be linked together with Web content front-ends to deliver virtual records. These virtual records are created instantly, used, then discarded. The information behind virtual records, however, must be properly managed.

This is where the records and information manager proves vital. Knowing what these back and front-end systems are, the terminology related to these systems, how they fit together for the benefit of the customer, and how to apply recordkeeping principles is key to the success of future records and information managers.

Useful Document Management Applications

Electronic document management systems (EDMS) should be quite familiar to the records and information management professional. These systems are a client/server application designed to capture, version, route, and organize corporate documents. In addition, these systems provide collaboration, secure access, and distribution.

EDMS systems are very robust but do require extensive customization to meet business rules. These systems are also very expensive, so they are generally used in larger corporate and government institutions. They do include a lifecycle (retention) component, but these components are not as robust as records management applications, and it is evident that the RIM profession was not consulted in their creation.

The benefits of EDMS are well documented: more secure creation and access to information, versioning, information audit trails (especially good for highly regulated industries), approval paths, secured distribution, and workflow and collaboration automation. The major drawback to EDMS is software and implementation costs. These systems initially can cost millions of dollars, then one must budget for contractors to customize each business use of the product. A good estimate for customization is 75 percent of the initial software cost although customization cost depends on an organization's specific business rules and needs.

Due to the explosion of the Internet and World Wide Web for business use, these systems are now offering a Web interface. This offers a simple look and feel, less user training, and can grant access to certain information by suppliers, vendors, and customers.

Lower cost EDMS systems are now coming to market. These systems are not as robust as the major market players but do allow smaller organizations to benefit from document management. In addition, some records management application (RMA) vendors are building EDMS systems.

Records management applications (RMA) are client/server applications designed to apply records management principles to electronic and paper records. These systems offer secured electronic records storage and access, cross platform inventories, user-transparent retention enforcement, rapid litigation support, audit trails, and global batch disposition. In addition, they have the capability to manage...