We’re thrilled to announce that we have finally signed a contract with the State of Queensland for the supply of a.k.a.® taxonomy and disposition management software as part of the whole of government Electronic Document and Records Management Solution (eDRMS). Read the press release.

Conni and Eddy are about to attend the Hummingbird Summit in Miami Florida where they will be participating in the partner day as well as exhibiting a.k.a.® at the summit itself. They will then head off to Canada before returning home.

Last September and October we literally lived out of a suitcase. First we visited the annual meeting at the Record Management Association of Australasia (RMAA) in Perth, were we officially presented the latest release of a.k.a. version 2.7. We took the opportunity to meet with our current customers at the National aka user group meeting. In the words of Senior Consultant, Kim Newey, Perth was THE venue to get a good sense of our home market and to keep ourselves updated.

Kim and Helena then flew to Wellington, New Zealand, and attended the Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) and Archives and Records Association of New Zealand (ARANZ) joint conference. Our purpose was to demonstrate the Retention & Disposal module including the DIRKS functionality to the archives community, who are starting to now recognise the value aka brings to the archives .

In September Eddy and Conni journeyed to Chicago and joined up with Laurie Varendorff to showcase a.k.a.® at the ARMA convention. After Chicago it was off to Detroit, Toronto and Ottawa for further discussions with interested prospects.  The trip was a great success with two Canadian government agencies signed up as new a.k.a.® customers already.

Thomas has been hard at work redesigning the Synercon website and we now host a dedicated a.k.a.® website with a client only section for upgrades.

The a.k.a.® distribution and support program is now underway and are pleased to announce the appointment of Integrated Business Improvement Services as our Queensland distributors. We’re currently in discussions with several other prospects both here and in North America.

Alan is hard at work on a.k.a.® Version 2.8 and we expect to release the next major upgrade in early 2006.

Of course life is not all about a.k.a.® software. Our training and consultancy business is still very busy.

Synercon continue to deliver Using a Keyword Thesaurus training on behalf of NSW State Records in 2006 with our first course scheduled for March 22 already receiving registrations. 

Both Thomas and Conni have recently become accredited TRIM trainers and consultants, and Tom is currently occupied with a major TRIM implementation in one of our client sites. As part of his design work he has developed an improved thesaurus import utility using the TRIM Software development kit.

For those who follow our Lest we Forget pages on the Synercon Website, we have added several new articles which should help bolster your business case for investing in better records and document management systems.

Lastly, another gorgeous cartoon from Randy Glasbergen.

We wish you a happy and safe Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Conni, Eddy and the Synercon Team

The State of Queensland conducted a detailed review of eDRMS solutions before selecting the solution tendered by LogicaCMG which included a.k.a.® Taxonomy Management and Records Retention software,  Hummingbird Enterprise Content Management solution, and RedDot Content Management software.

Classification or taxonomy management is a major change management issue and the use of a.k.a.® software will facilitate state government agency compliance with regulatory requirements for records management. The whole-of-government approach enables the standardization of classifications schemes across government and improves consistency in the management of information.

“The Queensland Government sees the use of a.k.a.® as a critical first step in the successful deployment of an electronic document and records management system” said Geoff Waite, Executive Director, CorpTech. CorpTech is the Queensland Government’s provider of corporate applications and related system support services.

The ARMA 2005 convention provided us with the perfect vehicle to test a.k.a.® in both the US and Canadian markets. With over 4000 records managers attending, it gave us the opportunity to quickly assess reaction to a.k.a.®. We were also able to use the opportunity to showcase Keyword AAA on behalf of NSW State Records.

Not having been to a US event before we weren’t sure what to expect. Wow! What a shock to the system. If you consider that we can talk non-stop about a.k.a.® at the Australian equivalent (RMAA Annual Conference) imagine something TEN times the size where you can’t see the other end of the exhibitor pavilion!

Equipped with Kangaroos, Koalas and Tim Tams, we presented ourselves in green and gold and were unashamedly Australian. Laurie, our Western Australian Distributor, and Eddy of Synercon, - made a tremendous visual impact at the conference as the famous “Chicago Gold Brothers”

We couldn't have done without Laurie's help. The three of us, Eddy, Conni & Laurie kept up the demo’s for three days solid. There was a lot of interest from some of the international EDRM system vendors, specifically driven by the fact that a NSW agency had released its EDRMS “Request for Tender “ which had a mandatory requirement for integration with a.k.a.®. 

The stuffed toys were a great hit as giveaways, but the blowup kangaroo stole the show and we had to repatriate it on several occasions as it had a tendency to wander.

The response to a.k.a. was truly gratifying - overall feedback was that a product like a.k.a.® was long overdue. It was significant that despite what we had been led to believe, North Americans are really embracing ISO 15489 and the “Functional model” .

In Canada we visited a number of organisations and consultants to to find out about more about the Canadian regulatory environment in Records Management and assess the fit of a.k.a.® in this market. As we expected Canada is following the DIRKS methodology closely but their classification model is slightly different to Australia's.

IBIS’ Principal Consultant and Managing Director, Jackie Bettington, has over 15 years professional experience and holds post-graduate qualifications in information management, business, heritage and education.

IBIS’ Principal Consultant and Director, Trish Wichmann, has over thirty years professional experience in the public, private and education sectors, and holds tertiary qualifications in business, specialising in recordkeeping. In addition, Trish has considerable experience and formal training in assessment and workplace training, project management, thesaurus compilation and development of retention and disposal schedules.

Trish says that she and Jackie are delighted to have forged a partnership with Synercon for the distribution, training and intellectual support of a.k.a. in Queensland.  As the sole distributor in Queensland IBIS looks forward to forming lasting relationships with existing Queensland a.k.a. users, as well as developing new relationships with those who have not yet experienced the benefits of such a useful and versatile product.

IBIS contact details:
Phone 0423 911 175 or 0421 541 666
Email: info@ibis.net.au
Web: www.ibis.net.au

This page is dedicated to keeping alive the memory of significant records management incidents or situations in which inadequate systems and poor practices contributed to the magnitude of the disaster. These examples can be incorporated into your business case.

Inappropriate Disposal of Records

Sensitive student medical records left on New York street. Read more.
Medical Records found in a garbage bin outside a shopping centre. Read more.

Deliberate Illegal Destruction of Records

Arthur Anderson conviction overturned. Read more.
McCabe v British American Tobacco verdict overturned. Read more.

Non Compliance

Morgan Stanley's inability to produce emails contributes to $1.4 billion judgment. Read more.

Operational and Organisational Failures

A computer glitch has attached the records of 1780 Vehicle Testing New Zealand customers to a bulk email. Read more.

Catastrophes

Hurricane Katrina has led to the destruction and severe damage of irreplaceable records in New Orleans. Legal records, land title records and countless historic documents have been lost. Read more.

These stories and more can be found on our Lest We Forget page