Top Tips to a Successful eDRM Implementation
Top Tips to a Successful eDRM Implementation
Author: Deirdre O'Neill, Delivery Manager
Company: Kainos
There are many reasons why an organisation may decide to implement a new electronic document and records management system (eDRM). It may be a response to, or preparation for, a specific legislative or compliance need, such as the Freedom of Information Act 2000. It may be part of a wider IT strategy, or simply recognition of the reduced costs, operational efficiencies, and enhanced service levels that can be achieved through effective records management practice.
Whatever the motivation for migrating to eDRM, implementation can be a complex, costly and time-consuming business. Yet it need not be. With the right approach and support from senior management, an eDRM implementation should be swift, painless, and deliver a wide range of high level strategic benefits across the enterprise.
Here, we outline some top tips to help you avoid the pitfalls and maximise the benefits of implementing eDRM.
Understand Generic Benefits for Enterprise
eDRM can deliver high level, ‘generic' benefits across your enterprise and make these the priority for the initial roll-out.
eDRM offers wide ranging, ‘generic' benefits that can be leveraged by virtually any organisation - regardless of industry sector. Wherever information is stored or shared, eDRM can save time, reduce costs, enhance security and, in many cases, improve customer services.
Despite this, organisations often only consider the merit of installing eDRM for a particular department. Unfortunately, this approach can cause the implementation to fall at the first hurdle, as, given the cost of implementing an eDRM system, it is difficult to justify such a high level solution for the benefit of a single department.
By looking at the implementation from an enterprise-wide perspective instead, it is easier to see that the initial cost is far outweighed by an extensive range of business benefits that can be realised across the organisation.
Once these generic benefits are presented to, and accepted by, the senior decision makers, the next step is to form an eDRM project management team to rollout eDRM across the enterprise. This team will be responsible for tailoring the generic benefits to the organisation, and for getting ‘buy in' from the various heads of department as part of the initial communication about the initiative.
Example of local council in England with 600 staff and nine separate service areas
Prior to their eDRM implementation, the council appointed a project team to talk to departmental managers in each of their service areas, explain the generic benefits, and how the eDRM system might be tailored to each department's specific needs.
Individual benefits realisation plans were then developed and approved for each service area. As benefits realisation plans were completed these were taken to the next department, the more refined the list of benefits became, and the greater the buy in from each of the remaining departments.
The reason this worked so well is because in taking an open, pro-active approach, the council's eDRM project team was able to build a vision for each of the departmental heads - involving them in the development process and paving the way for positive acceptance of the system. Often, departmental heads are simply notified of the forthcoming system installation and tend to focus exclusively on their own needs which can be a time-consuming process, and worse still, can foster a negative attitude toward the new system among users.
Understand Your Information & How it is Used
Use external facilitation with a reputable eDRM specialist to get a clear picture of how your organisation currently manages and shares information.
Nearly all organisations are made up of separate functions, (Accounts, Administration, Sales, Marketing, etc), which operate at various degrees of autonomy from one another. The way that these departments receive, create, manage and publish their information may vary, and, in order to implement a successful solution, it is vital to understand the information needs of each department.
At the outset of an eDRM implementation a short information audit across all departments can be extremely valuable. An effective way to capture high level metrics around the use, storage and sharing of information is to conduct a number of face-to-face interviews with a business representative from each area of the business.
In the initial interview, the representative is asked to bring some sample records and work through an ‘information audit template' with the eDRM facilitator. The business representative is then given a week or two to complete the audit for his/her department, using the template provided.
During the follow up interview, the eDRM facilitator will go over the audit with the business representative and clarify any issues that have caused difficulty. Once the interview process has been completed within each department, the eDRM project team will have a clear understanding of the information, processes and protocols of every department in the organisation, giving them a strong basis for a successful eDRM installation.
Note: In the initial phase, it is important to ignore the low level detail of the functions completed within each department. To maximise enterprise-wide uptake, it is crucial to focus on the generic benefits in the first instance, without spending too much time and effort on solving small scale issues in a specific department.
Also, do not allow ‘problem areas' to detract from the completion of the information audit. For example, if a department can easily classify 80% of the information they use but are struggling with the remaining 20%, it is wise just to set that 20% aside in the initial installation as ultimately, both low level issues and other problems can be addressed at a later stage, once a successful ‘generic' implementation has been achieved company-wide.
Support the Business Preparation for eDRM
For the eDRM implementation to be successful, each department will need adequate time and resources to prepare for the implementation
Once the information audit is complete, a report is presented to the executive, and the rollout sequence agreed, the eDRM project team can complete an implementation plan for the rollout. Inevitably, this plan will require some degree of preparation within each department.
Preparation might include the disposal of paper documents and/or the migration of high value documents into the eDRM system. In addition, business representatives may be required to work with newly appointed Records Managers, or Local Records Managers, to assist with the creation of the corporate Fileplan.
Whatever preparation is required, the business must be given the necessary support, and crucially, the time, to carry out these tasks.
Example of Financial Services Company with 450 staff and 16 separate departments
In this case as a result of a completed information audit the Bank engaged in a paper reduction programme across all 16 departments. The objective was to reduce the amount of paper held by each department onsite and to archive as much paper offsite as possible ahead of the implementation of the eDRM solution itself .At the outset of the programme the volume of paper within each department had been measured, and the figure provided in linear metres to each of the 16 departmental heads. Each department was instructed to reduce their paper by 50% over a four month period. After two months and a number of update meetings, (involving all 16 information managers), very little progress had been made.
At this stage it was important to establish the reasons for the lack of progress and identify strategies for unblocking the initiative. After meetings with all 16 departmental heads two main frustrations were found:
•1) None of the departments had been involved in the measurement of the paper and there was no confidence in the figures published. In one case, two departments were in dispute over 40 linear metres of paper files which each claimed was owned by the other.
•2) No corporate guidance was given as to what paper could be disposed of and there were no standard processes for offsite archiving. As a result, the staffs tasked with disposal and archiving did not know to what to do.
A number of recommendations were also made by the business as follows:
- A new measurement of the paper should be taken, this time overseen by a representative from each department.
- A standard process for offsite archiving should be established and staff training should be provided.
- The compliance department should publish guidance on what paper could be legally discarded.
- Staff should be allocated specific time to complete these tasks.
The Bank acted on these recommendations and almost instantly there was a tangible excitement about what could be achieved. To start the momentum and to keep the momentum going, a number of dates were set over the four month period where each department would have remaining paper measured. The results were published in a graph charting the percentage reduction achieved by each department. The knowledge that this information would be published maintained interest and introduced a healthy element of competition between departments.
One noteworthy initiative also introduced by the Bank was to set aside two ‘dress down' afternoons where employees were given time to work through paper files for disposal and archiving. To maximise productivity, the executive agreed to donate money to the corporate charity according to the number of boxes dispatched off site on these days. A second measurement of paper was taken immediately afterwards, and prizes were awarded to departments that most significantly reduced their onsite paper On one of these afternoons alone more that 400 boxes were dispatched offsite which is a great testament to what can be achieved once the business is given the correct support and guidance.
At the end of the four month period, the results achieved were so impressive (paper reduced by over 65%) that the Bank decided to extend the programme to the consolidation of stationary.
Over four months, 1,000 boxes of paper files were archived offsite at a per annum cost of £1,850 compared to the onsite cost of £34,000, representing a saving of £32,150 per annum.
Prioritise the Rollout of eDRM
Carefully prioritise the rollout of eDRM across the enterprise to maximise ‘buy in' from end users.
During the departmental information audits, it is likely that the eDRM project team will glean an insight into which departments are most receptive to the implementation. These findings should feed into the prioritisation of the eDRM rollout, as ‘quick wins' can help to promote greater positive momentum for the installation in other departments.
For instance, it makes sense that if departments share, or would benefit from sharing, key records, they should be the first to take receipt of the solution. Focus on the generic benefits and keep the initial deployments of the eDRM system simple. In this way, the solution can be deployed with minimal disruption to departments and this experience together with the solution benefits can be showcased which will encourage remaining departments to view the implementation positively.
Example of eDRM implementation across two departments and 30 staff in Financial Services Company
In this example the Bank identified a need for an eDRM solution within their invoice factoring department, which received up to a thousand paper invoices per day from over a hundred customers. From each invoice, data had to be captured, which was very time intensive. In addition, there were issues with lost paper, workload management, and difficulties in answering customer invoice queries.
The department was a key candidate for an eDRM solution, which featured a scanner for uploading invoices to a records management repository. As anticipated, the solution saved time, improved security and workflow, and enabled better customer service within the invoice factoring team.
However, in addition, the organisation found there were ‘passive benefits' to the credit control team, who at a later stage in the process used the same invoices to collect debt from end customers on behalf of the Bank's customers..
Prior to the implementation of the eDRM solution, the paper invoices were dispatched to a third party supplier who copied the invoices to microfiche and returned the microfiche tape to the invoice factoring team three days later. These tapes were then passed to the credit control team - a team of 20 credit controllers each of whom might have to retrieve and print up to 50 invoices every day.
Post the eDRM implementation the credit control team were granted read only access to the new eDRM repository solution and were able to access the invoices entered by the invoice factoring team. The benefit to the credit control team from opening up the eDRM solution to them was significant and was achieved with minimal disruption to the team.
Continue to Use Trusted Systems
Your existing systems can be integrated with, rather than replaced by, a new eDRM solution.
When eDRM is first proposed, organisations sometimes view the solution as a replacement for their existing systems and applications. However, if the legacy system is functioning effectively, then removing it is not necessarily the best course of action. Indeed, in most cases, businesses will have invested considerable time and money in installing such technology, and a large number of documents and workflow processes may already be lodged in the current system.
In such circumstances, the suggestion of replacing a reliable, user-friendly system with a completely new eDRM solution can be met with strong resistance - both from senior management and end users. In fact, this resistance may be enough to de-rail the eDRM implementation altogether - as executives calculate the cost of time, disruption and training needed to get the new system up and running.
Therefore, it often makes better business sense to integrate the additional functionality of the new eDRM solution with the organization's existing system. Once integrated, staff can continue using the system they know and trust, but might, for example, find an extra search and retrieve button on an otherwise familiar interface.
Example of integration between Plantec and Meridio eDRM
Integration is particularly relevant to our public sector customers - many of whom use well established systems for services provided within the council.
Often, their legacy systems have limited document management functionality, allowing users to create documents in their line of business application, and offering a basic search and retrieve function. However, users may create other documents - such as memos and emails - which would help to give a fuller information history on a given case or issue. By integrating eDRM functionality, you end up with a solution that looks just like the old system, but brings up all emails, memos and other related documents through a more sophisticated search and retrieve function.
As an example, a number of Local Authorities in the UK use Plantec's Acolaid System, (which is widely used within building control), together with the Meridio eDRM.
When the two systems are integrated, Plantec can be used in exactly the same way as before, although all documents created within Plantec are now automatically added to the Meridio system in a manner that is transparent to the end user. In addition, Plantec users can retrieve relevant documents stored in Meridio - such as scanned application forms and emails - from within the Plantec system, with the clear benefit of having access to all information relating to a case from within the Plantec system.
Extending the initial eDRM Solution
Following a successful, enterprise-wide roll out of the eDRM solution in its simple, generic form, eDRM can now be extended to each department's specific needs.
When a new eDRM system is rolled out in line with the advice outlined in this article, the organisation should benefit from the high level, generic advantages of an eDRM solution.
As a result, both users and senior managers should feel positive towards the eDRM solution, and recognise the core advantages it offers on an enterprise-wide scale. Better still, the installation will have required only a relatively small investment in terms of time, disruption and cost.
Now is the time to go back and refine the system, to tailor it to each department's specific needs, and to ensure maximum functionality. It is also an opportunity to analyse the ‘problem areas' that were set aside during the initial installation phase, and see if they can be accommodated within the system.
Providing the initial installation has proved successful, the process of shaping the system to departmental needs will tend to happen organically, with confident, positive users identifying potential business benefits and building business cases of their own volition.
In short, once the various departments recognise what the eDRM system can do for them, they find it easy to see how it might be developed or expanded to better serve their specific departmental needs.
About Kainos
Kainos designs and implements IT solutions that make businesses perform better. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Belfast with offices in Dublin, London and Gdansk. Kainos employs over 250 consultants and it prides itself on the quality of its people; client focused, reliable, dedicated and they understand how technology can be used to its best advantage. Kainos' customers include some of the biggest names in both public and private sector throughout the UK and Ireland, including AIB, the Audit Commission, Shipowners, Northern Ireland Civil Service, the Information Commissioners Office and permanent tsb. For more information, see www.kainos.com.