Our information management resources pages comprises a collection of references about all aspects of our industry - articles, web references and news clippings. We hope they provide you with some useful materials for your own research.

Why not bookmark these pages - we will continue to build and update them regularly!

Developing a Disposition Management schedule

Information Lifecycle management (ILM)

Valuing your Information Assets

The Business Case for Information Management Systems

Classification / Thesauri / Taxonomies

Change Management and Implementation

Developing a Retention and Disposal Schedule

The International (and Australian) Standard for records management ISO 15489 outlines the fundamental principles of records management necessary to carry out a comprehensive records management program, including a structured process for designing and implementing recordkeeping systems known as DIRKS. If one of your tasks is the development of a retention and disposal authority, it is highly likely that you will be following the DIRKS methodology.

Many archives authorities now require that government agencies develop disposal schedules in line with the DIRKS methodology. Similarly, for corporations seeking to comply with ISO 15489 the DIRKS methodology is recommended.

In the development of a retention and disposal authority it is the first three steps of DIRKS which are followed:

Step A - Preliminary investigation. Involves the collection of information in order to identify the legal and structural characteristics of your organisation; understanding of the factors that influence an organization's need to create and maintain records; building an awareness of an organization's business activities, technological infrastructure, major stakeholders and recordkeeping risks

Step B - Analysis of business activity. Identification and documentation of an organization's business functions, activities and transactions.

Step C - Identification of recordkeeping requirements. This process identifies the records produced via the transactions in step B. Examination of legal, business and other sources to identify the requirements for evidence and information (called ‘recordkeeping requirements’) for the organisation.

To get a handle on the DIRKS methodology the following list of resources could be useful:

The International (and Australian) Standard for records management ISO 15489 outlines the fundamental principles of records management necessary to carry out a comprehensive records management program, including a structured process for designing and implementing recordkeeping systems known as DIRKS.

Both the National Archives of Australia and the NSW State Records Office provide comprehensive manuals on the DIRKS methodology. If you need a more simple explanation, the Guidelines For Developing a Functional Disposal Schedule paper from Tasmanian Archives provide a good overview of the DIRKS process.

Implementing and monitoring a Retention and Disposal Schedule. For those who are not necessarily following the DIRKS process, this easy to follow paper by Kerri Siatiras, of NZ consultancy company SWIM outlines the processes involved.

Information Lifecycle Management (ILM)

Over the past year there has been much hype in the IT press about Information lifecycle management (ILM). ILM is touted by the large storage vendors as a comprehensive approach to managing the flow of an information systems data and associated metadata from creation and initial storage to the time when it becomes obsolete and is deleted.

Although ILM has been promoted as a technology solution many articles make reference to the need for policies, although none articulate how these policies should be developed. Very few have drawn the connection between ILM policies and existing records retention and disposal rules.

The following articles provide a good insight into the drivers behind ILM technology. The challenge is for records managers to seize the initiative and deliver records management disciplines to their IT colleagues in need.

The new buzzwords: Information Lifecycle Management

Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) is quickly becoming the buzzword of the storage industry. As new regulatory rules are created, and the number of disaster recovery implementations increase, ILM will play a pivotal role in helping IT professionals adhere to new standards while incurring minimum management headaches

March 31, 2003 Computerworld

The Slow Move to Information Life-cycle Management

Regulatory compliance is driving a nascent concept called information life-cycle management for managing data from cradle to grave

November 17, 2003, Computerworld

ILM the Next "BIG" Thing

Over the course of the past year ILM has become THE most popular buzzword in the storage industry. Offering "ILM" has been the catalyst for storage companies to step outside of their traditional boundaries and start to market their value (and acquire companies) in the application management, compliance, content and document management markets. The ILM discussion is no longer about just effectively utilizing storage resources and protecting information; instead it is being positioned as a strategic business practice.

Myths and Realities, March 2004, Information Lifecycle Management

Engineering ILM

Data classification aligns data value according to business drivers such as performance and availability, regulatory compliance, information protection, budgets, and new directions for business growth.

Vol. 10 Issue No. 19, 28 April - 11 May 2004,
Computerworld Tech-Guide Storage  Part 2

The Usual Rules Comply

To manage data from its creation to deletion means that it will need to be classified according to what it is worth to a business. One of the fundamental principles of data management is that the value of data to a business changes over time.

May 03, 2004, Asia Computer Weekly

Valuing Your Information Assets

If you're an organization that traffics information as part of your core business, how do you put a value on your information assets? As part of our business case work we've been researching the web on this subject. Most of the articles we found focused on security and protecting valuable information assets, but several discussed concepts of assigning market value for information which can be traded as a commodity.

Here are some of the more useful articles we found:

Measuring the Value of Information - An Asset Valuation Approach. This presentation which was delivered at a recent DAMA conference in Melbourne contains a number of useful "laws" of information. No reference to the author is given.

In an article on The Relationships Between Knowledge Management and Information Management Professor Charles Openheim of Loughborough University (UK) discusses the concept of Information Resources Management (IRM) as a management activity concerned with information assets, or the content of information, and the people through which an organisation handles its information.

A research project undertaken by Joan Stenson at Loughborough University examined The Attributes of Information as an Asset, Its Measurement and Role in Enhancing Organisational Effectiveness. This research was presented by Stenson, Oppenheim, and Wilson as a PowerPoint presentation at a  conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries & Information Services.

Lastly A Feasibility Study Concerning a Program for Research into the Measurement and Valuation of Intangible Assets was useful in describing the intangible assets that should be considered for valuation.

More sources: The Montague Institute publish a useful digest of articles on Managing Intellectual Assets

The Business Case for Information Management Systems

How much should organisations invest in improving their information management practices and systems? Most of our clients know that they have problems - the trouble is that they can't quantify their problems to determine how much they should spend on the solution

Too often we see information management projects come to grief for a range of reasons - lack of investment, lack of resources and lack and the absence of management support. In too many cases a credible business case is not developed to inform executive management of the seriousness of their IM problems, which could be used to obtain the necessary funding for comprehensive reform.

Yet in nearly every organization we work in the evidence for change is easy to find. The Business Case for Information Management Systems is a presentation we made to the Tower Software Seminar in February 26 2003, and includes results from our survey work on time spent in information management within Australian and New Zealand government agencies. Our survey findings from the last four years correlate with the Gartner information that white-collar workers spend anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of their time managing documents, up from 20 percent of their time in 1997.

Making the Case is an excellent article from UK magazine Conspectus (see industry journals). Although you will have to register to read it, registration is well worth the effort.

See also our training course Building a Business Case for Information Management Systems.

Classification / Thesauri / Taxonomies

There is a wealth of information on the web about thesaurus design and construction, as well as many published thesauri. The sites listed below will lead you to hundreds of useful references about thesauri and classification in general.

The NSW State Records website provides information about the Keyword AAA Thesaurus (a thesaurus of administrative terms) and Keywords for Councils (a local government thesaurus) as well as Guidelines for Developing and Implementing a Keyword Thesaurus.

The National Archives of Australia site also contains many useful resources including Guidelines to Developing a Functional Thesaurus. In all NAA Guidelines the appendices provide a comprehensive list of references.

Other valuable classification resources can be found on the following sites:

E-Government New Zealand

National Library of Canada  - Thesauri and Controlled Vocabulary

The Victorian E-government Resource Centre

Michael Middleton, Queensland University of Technology.

ANSI/NISO Z39.19 Monolingual Thesaurus Creation Standard - Download site for Z39.19 thesaurus creation standard.

Note that Synercon offers a number of thesauri in a.k.a.® format.

Change Management and Implementation

Change management is still a major issue in 2003. Judging from the number of implementation failures this year, many software vendors and their clients still haven't got the message that developing and installing infrastructure isn't the panacea for solving our information management problems.

The issue of project risk is underestimated by many project teams.

In Keeping Your Head Above Water Ian Hodgson looks at project failure and some of the contributory reasons. It should be read by any one who is about to embark on a major system implementation.

When you've come to terms with the possibility of failure, you should then obtain an excellent book by James Carlopio which focuses on the people issues and the need to establish facilitating structures that will support change.

Implementation - Making Workplace Innovation and Technical Change Happen!
James Carlopio, McGraw Hill

This book is a must for those who are about to embark on a major system implementation.

In Getting It Right in Records Management Robert F Williams of Cohasset Associates discusses the key enablers and links that are needed to manage records successfully in the future.

The following articles on change management were written by Conni Christensen in 2001/2002 and published in Image and Data Manager.

Is Change Management Still Relevant?

Change Management - A Process Not a Project

Developing Change Management Strategies

More change management resources can be found on our links page

Note that Synercon offers Change Management Consulting services