Annual Report & Accounts 2012/13

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his is my final report asChair of the IRMS as I amstanding down after the2013 AGM. In this report Ishall be looking back over myfour years as Chair, but the

bulk of what I write is quite properly aboutthe last year.

The last year has been one of great activityand also major upheaval.

The Exec year starts straight after the AGMand we were very active in inviting a numberof interested individuals to become Officers,assisting the Exec to deliver its many andvaried objectives.

The following Officers were appointed,Leanne Bridges, e-Officer; Reynold Leming,Special Projects Officer; Roger Poole, PrivateSector Development Officer; Scott Sammons,Groups Officer; and John Wilson, InternationalOfficer. There was also some rearrangementof Directorial responsibilities with TomDevenish becoming Projects Director, PaulDuller becoming Training Director; ShonaDunning, Creative Director and PhilGreenwood, Corporate Development Director.James Beale was appointed MarketingDirector and subsequent to Karen Bullen’sresignation, Emily Overton was appointedGroups Director.

Most of the Exec and Officers attended a 2-day strategy session in Birmingham in July.This was a very productive meeting and gaveus a strategy comprises four key objectives:• to develop IRMS as the Voice of the

Profession• to Increase our Membership, Strengthen

our Finances and develop our MembershipBenefits.

While these have been realised to asignificant extent, the priorities of theExecutive Committee altered in the secondhalf of 2012.

For some time, the Executive Committee hadbeen aware of perceived shortcomings in ouradministrative and secretariat support. It haddeveloped well-documented workingpractices with the provider in this area,Benchmark Communications but it becameapparent that these were not being adhered

to resulting in a diminution of service to themembership of the Society, to the ExecutiveCommittee in the pursuance of its objectivesas well as a marked reduction in the qualityof its financial and administrative recordkeeping. This coincided with a retenderingexercise which saw the IRMS move to a newadministrative and secretariat supportprovider, Kingston Smith AssociationManagement (KSAM). At the same time, theExecutive Committee opted to end itsarrangements with BenchmarkCommunications in terms of ConferenceManagement and now has an agreement inplace with Revolution Events Ltd (REL) whoare delivering the 2013 conference.

This upheaval consumed a great deal of timeof the Secretary and Treasurer as well as theConference Director and others: I am gratefulto them for devoting hours and days toensuring that the handover was as smoothas possible, spending large amounts of worktime, personal time and annual leave onthese matters.

We are now, I think in a much better positionthan we have been for a number of years.Meic Pierce Owen, the Treasurer has,painstakingly, over his three years in post gotto the bottom of our finances and we arenow in a position where we know exactlyhow much money we have, how much is

coming in and how much is going out.Thanks to Nicholas Cooper, the Secretary, wehave also refined and rationalised ourmembership database so we now know whothe current members are and which formermembers have allowed their membership tolapse. We also are on top of communicationswith the membership and allcorrespondence and communications withmembers is logged, something which, sadly,was not the case even a few months ago.

All in all, the upheaval has been a traumaticand painful process but we are in a stronger,better and more transparent relationship withKSAM and REL, setting up clear KPIs andworking practices enabling us to ensure thatwe are getting best value for money and thebest services for our members.

At the same time, Meic has continued hisquest to rationalise and promote efficiencywithin the Society and we are now doingmore than ever before with less than everbefore and are active within our means!

Our change to a project managementapproach last year has reaped benefits thisyear as, despite a late start due to thechange on service provider, our Conferenceplanning has been more effective than ever.A number of members of the ExecutiveCommittee and Officers, each responsible for

his will be my last report asVice Chair and I must startby saying thank you forallowing me the privilege ofbeing Vice Chair. It is a realpleasure working with

members and such a dedicated Executive,but sadly I feel it is time to take a step backand let someone else take up the baton.

This year has once again been busy forthe Executive. I have been focusing on

coordinating responses to publicconsultations. Thank you to all Exec whohave fed into this. I am glad to say thattaking part in public consultations is nowembedded into The Society and we arenow automatically included ascontributors in public consultations.

I have had the privilege of representingthe Society at a number of events. One inparticular was a meeting of Educationstaff in Oldham to promote and discuss

Vice Chair’s Report

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Chair’s Report

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Matthew Stephenson · chair@irms.org.uk

a discrete area of the event have workeddiligently with Conference Director, RobHutton, and REL to ensure that the 30thanniversary Conference is a blinder!Furthermore, I am grateful to Iron Mountainand Box It who have agreed multi-year dealswhich will underpin the financial stability ofthe conference.

Executive Committee members continue toattend a number of meetings both within andoutside the Society. We are more active inpromoting the profession and the Society asthe leading organisation representingpractitioners in Information and RecordsManagement in the UK, Europe and beyond.Our activity on the Web site continues withcontent constantly being added. Innovationssuch as the Your Rewards and JobTargetensure that members benefit personally andprofessionally from their membership of IRMS.The Bulletin, I am pleased to say, is betterthan ever and I am grateful to Tribal for theirsponsorship, which contributed to our beingable to mark the IRMS’s thirtieth anniversary.

In 2012, we saw the first members comethrough the Accreditation process and Ihope that this will become a signpost withinthe profession and to employers to markholders of this level of membership asbeing practitioners with recognised levels ofexperience and expertise, irrespective of

qualification. In concert with other trainingproviders, we rolled out successful trainingevents which went down well with theparticipants and this is a model I amhopeful will continue into the future andwhich can be pursued as a basis for thepotential accreditation of training providers.

In 2012, we also saw the resignation ofDirectors Karen Bullen, Tom Devenish andPhil Greenwood. I am grateful to them fortheir contribution to the furthering of IRMS’sobjectives and their service to ourmembership.

Over the past four years, the IRMS has seena difficult time; we have gone frombelieving that we were a somewhat wealthysociety to realising that this is far from thecase. Our membership levels, after a periodof great expansion in the early 2000s withthe new Data Protection Act and Freedomof Information Act, has stabilised at aroundthe 1200 mark: although we attract manydozens of new members a year, almost asmany leave us.

Nevertheless, at the same time, we haveseen, at last the rolling out of Accreditationto members, the renewed provision of IRMStraining, and increased support for Groupsas they now mature after their creationalmost ten years ago. Our constitutional

changes have made the ExecutiveCommittee bigger, better supported andmore able to deliver for the Society’smembers. We see better representation ofthe Profession and a more professional andconsistently financially stable Conference.While I have had many (perhaps go for theSinatra approach and say ‘a few’) regretsover the past four years, I also look back andthink “wow, did we do all that!”

I am grateful to the members of theExecutive Committee with whom I haveserved over the past four years and as wellas those mentioned above, I would like tothank my Vice Chair, David Bridge for hissupport. Thanks also to former Execmembers, Alison North, Edith Pringault-Adam and Diana Windsor Brown. I amgrateful to our Group Chairs and Officerswho do so much to keep their groupsactive and dynamic, to the staff of all ourservice providers past and present and to allmembers who make a contribution. TheIRMS is a professional organisation madeup of its members and it is throughmember activity that we remain strong, yourwork, whether presenting a paper at anevent, as a group or executive committeemember, a contributor to the Bulletin or asan attendee make the Society what it is,and long may that continue.

the updated Tool Kit for Schools. Assomeone who works with schools I cantestify to how well it has been receivedby schools, and more importantly, howmuch work it saves the Records Manager.The last group meeting I had the pleasureto attend was held in Shrewsbury and itis always a pleasure to attend theseevents and extend networks.

As usual I have been leading theresponses to enquiries from members

and non-members. These have rangedfrom the extremely interesting andcomplex to “do I need to keep stuff”. Iparticularly enjoy queries from membersand always take the opportunity topromote services provide by ownmembers when dealing with externalenquiries.

I am excited by the future plans of theexecutive which will be led by Nick &Meic. However, the whole of the new

Executive has mywholehearted support. Butonce again I urge anyonewith an interest in theSociety to get involved in theorganisation of the Groups or withthe Executive. This will help with theaccreditation process too. I will still beabout and hope that everyone will keepin touch. I am also looking forward to asocial drink at the bar when not being onconference duty – so see you there!

David Bridge · vicechair@irms.org.uk

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Meic Pierce Owen · treasurer@irms.org.uk

he 12 months since my lastannual report has seenmuch finance activity. Thishas related to:

• increasing income• decreasing costs• migrating our financial administration to

our new Secretariat Company• a subsequent total overhaul of our

financial procedures• completion of the aged debt

reconciliation process initiated in 2010

It has also been a year that has seen theSociety fund much activity while livingwithin its means, and in continued choppyeconomic seas.

Increasing incomeIn actuality, this relates to both increasingincome and increasing the realisation ofthat income. The new format AnnualAccounts evidences both a growth in

membership income realisation and ahealthy recovery in advertising income. Inaddition, while the accounts do notexplicitly show this (for reasons of codingdeficiencies now addressed), Conferencegenerated a surplus for a secondconsecutive year – with this yieldingaround £5k for the Society. This included a100% realisation of Conference income forthe first time since at least 2007.

We have also secured favourable multi-yeardeals for both Gold and Silver conferencesponsorship with our existing partners thatprovide a solid base for the Conference,not only for this year and the next butpossibly also 2015.

• £7k already paid but not removed fromthe ‘aged debt’ section of our accounts

• £4.5k paid to IRMS via Benchmark’sWorldpay system but not yet reconciled(transferred) to our accounts

• £13.5k of genuine debt that we havebeen able to realise

• £4k of genuine debt that the Exec haswritten off (JV write off’s agreed withBenchmark, amounts too small torecover, and debt outside the UK thatproved beyond recovery)

Looking at aged debt as recorded at theend of 2012, this small figure is both realand realisable and is within acceptableparameters for an organisation of our size.

Funding activityOver 2012 the Society was able to fundall routine operations across the year. Thisincluded funding as requested by theGroups as well as an active Executive, ontop of the core costs of Secretariat,Bulletin and Conference. In addition, we

were able to fund projects that delivered acompletely new Web site and a profitableJoint Venture Training Course with Tribal.

Closing remarksThis is my third and final annual report asTreasurer. Over this period we have seenwhat appears at first glance to be a steadydecline in our fortunes. However, I wouldstrongly contend that the opposite isactually the case. Over the past 3 years,the slowing of business has allowed us to

TThis surplus, along with income from asuccessful Training Joint Venture with Tribal,and Group sponsorship moneys, form the‘other income’ figure included within theAccounts.

In addition, we have this year launched anonline payments system for membershiprenewal. This system appears to be popularwith the membership, with 15% of membersusing the facility to renew their subscriptionin the first month of its operation!

Decreasing costsSince last AGM, we have attained significantcost savings on both Secretariat and Web siteadmin services, while at the same timeincreasing the quality of service provided. Inaddition, we now have far stronger systemsthan before for the management ofConference costs.

Migration and reform of financial administrationOver the second half of 2012, I set aboutpreparing our finances for migration shouldthe tendering process for our Secretariatcontract see us move providers. In the eventthis proved to be the case and, workingclosely with the Chair and Secretary, asuccessful migration was achieved. Since thistime, I have been working with the financesection of our new provider to reform ourfinancial procedures. This work is now largelycomplete and sees both greatly improvedprocedures and reporting mechanisms inplace. This same process has been also beencompleted with our new ConferenceManagement partners.

Aged debt reconciliationI am very pleased to be able to report thatthe process of reconciling the £56k of ageddebt identified in mid-2010 has now beencompleted. Of this figure, over £26k provedto be ‘ghost membership’ renewal invoicesthat had not been cleared off the books,while around £1k proved to be live andgenuine membership income that we wereable to realise. The remaining £29k provedto be almost entirely outstanding Conferenceincome stretching back to 2008 togetherwith a small amount of unpaid advertisingincome. This in turn roughly broke down into

Treasurer’s Report

It has also been a yearthat has seen theSociety fund muchactivity whilst livingwithin its means, andin continued choppyeconomic seas.

I am very pleased tobe able to report thatthe process ofreconciling the £56kof aged debtidentified in mid-2010has now beencompleted.

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012 was an extremely busyyear, with the first half takenup with the migration of theWeb site, and the secondhalf consolidating on thiswork together with the

review and migration of our two primaryoutsourced services.

Secretariat and financialadministrationThe contract with BenchmarkCommunications was due for renewal in2012, which prompted a full review of theservices being received by the Society. TheExecutive decided to undertake aretendering exercise with the issue of aformal Invitation to Tender (ITT) which Iprepared and sent to seventeenorganisations that provided membershipservices, plus the incumbent supplier.

Six valid responses were received, whichwas shortlisted to three. After extensivescrutiny, references sought, and legaladvice taken, the contract was awarded toKingston Smith Association Management(KSAM), a subsidiary of the accountancyfirm Kingston Smith. Formal handover ofservices took place between mid-December and the beginning of January.

Conference service providerFollowing a review of the success of recentconferences, the Executive decided toterminate the relationship with BenchmarkCommunications. As the conference takesa full ten months of planning there was notime to undertake a full tender exerciseand I supported the Conference Director,Rob Hutton, in the identification of possibleproviders, discussions and negotiations,and the selection of Revolution Events.

Secretary’s Report

Nicholas Cooper · secretary@irms.org.uk

2MembershipIn July I gained access to a full andcomplete copy of the core data within themembership and contact database. Thisrevealed that membership numberspresented in Annual Reports by this, andthe previous Secretary, were inaccurate asthe data provided included lapsedmembers who were identified as CurrentMembers, but had neither maintainedtheir membership, nor formally cancelledtheir subscription. In addition it wasidentified from members emailcorrespondence that contact details werenot being kept up to date. Workundertaken during the 2013 renewalprocess has revealed that a significantproportion of the contact details for thepresent and lapsed members wereincorrect. >>>>>

Moreover, since 2010we have achievedboth a steadydecrease in our costsand a consistentincrease in ourincome.take stock and make sense of our assets.What you see today is solid and real.

Our year end balances are down comparedto last year, but only because Membershipand Conference revenues have beenscheduled to come in later this year.

Moreover, since 2010 we have achievedboth a steady decrease in our costs and a

consistent increase in our income. I believethat with the effective administration now inplace, the Society is in an excellent positionto grow both its membership and itsincome streams.

The resultant revenue growths will see usremain solid and able to increase ouractivity to the benefit of our membershipand the wider profession.

To recap, 2012–2013 has seen the Societylive within its means. It has seen theSociety:

• increase income and realisation ofincome

• reduce costs whilst increasing quality ofservice

• fund core activities• fund additional Projects• stage a second consecutive financially

successful Annual Conference • reform financial procedures • complete the aged debt reconciliation

begun in 2010

It has been both my pleasure and anhonour to play my part within the ExecTeam that has achieved this through itsprudent spending, its willingness to find thesmart way of delivering things and itswillingness to trust its Treasurer. I thank mycolleagues for this and wish my successorevery success.

I hope that I leave the Counting House inreasonable order. Shona, the keys are underthe mat and the cupboards are neither barenor hiding (as far as I am aware that is) anyskeletons. Enjoy!

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he past 12 months inthe post of ConferenceDirector have been achallenge withsignificant changeoccurring that was not

anticipated this time last year. However, as they say, change is asgood as a rest. I hope 2013Conference will show that all thechanges have been worthwhile.

Conference 2012Once again we were in Brighton, apopular venue for delegates, sponsorsand vendors alike. This conference wasthe second of the 3-year agreementwith the Hilton Metropole.

The event had the following aims:

• To build on the success of the 2011event

the introduction three new membershipbenefits.

• TasteCard: for a limited period discountwas offered on their card membershipwhich was taken up by 55 members.

• Your Rewards: who provide discountedproducts and services which is availablethrough the Members Area of the Web site.

• JobTarget: we now host their jobs portalon the IRMS Web site. The agreement, atno cost to the Society, gave anopportunity to generate greater revenuefrom featured jobs, and provide accessthrough the jobs page to employmentopportunities from around the world. Thisinitiative has seen a very major increase intraffic to the jobs page, and its first monthof operation realised more webadvertising revenue for the Society than inthe previous six months.

CommunicationsIn 2012, I project managed the introductionof the new Web site together with theservice improvement of a full functioningIRMS email capability. This has not onlyenabled a consistent presentation of theSociety, but allowed members of theExecutive to see the correspondence sentby our members to the Secretariat andFinancial Administration service provider.

The Web site is in a state of continualreview and improvement to provide valueto members and visitors.

The new email service means members ofthe Executive now have first-hand knowledgeof members concerns, requirements, and whythey may cancel their subscription. This helpsus to refine our work, respond to members’wishes, and make appropriate decisions.

Particular effort is now being made toincrease communication to the members ofthe Society through the email broadcastcapability within the Web site environment.

In addition the IRMS Group on LinkedIncontinues to grow with 1376 new membersin 2012. This is a truly international groupwith 919 members in the UK, USA 801,Canada 251, Australia 202, South Africa 83,and India 58.

ConclusionI believe the efforts made in 2012 haveestablished a stable platform for the Societyto grow in real terms across membershipand development in our national andinternational activities.

Once work has been undertaken betweenthe new Membership Database and theWeb site the Members will have thecapability to update their details through theMembers Area of the website.

The membership numbers presented hereare from an analysis of the data undertakenby me taken from a copy of the ‘close ofyear’ membership database, whenBenchmark Communications formallystopped processing IRMS work on 12thDecember 2012.

It should be noted that where there was acancellation of corporate membership, thiswas often balance by individuals from thatorganisation taking out personalmembership.

Membership servicesIn the second half of the year, I negotiated

Table 1: IRMS membership as at 12 December 2012

Individual 617 115 58

Corporate 304 22 30

Bulletin 24 1

Honorary 19 1

Affiliate 12 1 1

Student 62 47 4

Subscription 2

Total 1040 187 93

Applications in Process 34

Individual 27

Corporate 5

Affiliate 1

Student 1

Table 2: Breakdown of members bycountry

Country/region No.

UK1 883

Ireland 36

Northern Ireland 27

Europe2 22

Rest of World3 62

1) Includes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. 2) European Members include: Estonia, France, Finland,Germany, Iceland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, andSwitzerland. 3) Rest of World covers members Australia,Barbados, Botswana, Canada, China, Gambia, Ghana, Iceland,Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone,South Africa, St Lucia, Sudan, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago; UnitedArab Emirates, USA, and Zambia.

TrainingDuring 2012–13, the IRMS establishedtraining and development partnershipswith both Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS) and theE-Records Institute (ERI), in addition tothose established in 2011–12 with theTribal Group and Strategy Partners.

Following the success of theInformation Governance for LocalAuthorities course provided inpartnership with Tribal, we havearranged a re-run of this 1-day courseimmediately after the IRMS Conferencein Brighton. In addition, other IRMSapproved courses are planned during2013:

>>>>> Secretary’s report · continued

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New No. members Cancellations

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best conference yet. However, this is noreason for complacency and as with anyevent there is always room forimprovement. Delegates provided somevery useful feedback which was reviewed atthe debrief session held the day afterconference.

Conference 2013As every year, virtually as soon as theconference is completed we began thinkingabout the event for 2013. This year,however, saw the added hurdle of thedecision, in October 2012, to change eventmanagement companies. This was asignificant step given we had already set theball rolling for the 2013 event. However, byDecember we had appointed RevolutionEvents Limited to take over the logisticalside of the conference, and they have takenup the baton with exceptional speed andhave helped keep the event on track.

Through the hard work of our currentTreasurer and Secretary we have been ableto secure lucrative multi-year sponsorshipdeals for both the Gold and SilverSponsorship for the event.

As well as a big thank you to theConference Working Group, I would alsolike to personally thank Emily Overton who,as well as her role as Groups Director, hastaken on the additional role of AssistantConference Director and done a sterlingjob. Also to our out-going Chair MatthewStephenson who has stepped into thebreach when circumstances have required.

I believe that this year's event is set to beeven better and I am very much lookingforward to it. Finally I just want to say that ifthere is anything you want to see at futureconferences, then please do contact theExecutive, or even better get involved. Afterall it is your Society, and your Conference.

of the IRMS Accreditation programmewithin our membership – our target isto have over 100 IRMS membersaccredited by the 2014 AGM. In orderto ensure that the accreditation processis a success and is taken up across theindustry, we need our members toembrace this scheme, so brush up yourCV’s and submit your application formsas soon as possible.

Site visitsDue to poor attendance at previousevents, the IRMS decided not todevelop a programme of IRMS sitevisits during 2012/13, but to focusattention of the development ofapproved training courses.

Paul Duller · training@irms.org.uk

AccreditationDuring 2012/13, the IRMS AccreditationPanel reviewed a number ofAccreditation Applications. To date, the following IRMS Membershave received IRMS Accredited status:Matthew Stephenson, Paul Duller,Rachael McGuire, Cerys Ledger, JamieBurton, Andrew Pitt, Susan Payne, Phil Hatton, Aidan Robertson, TomDevenish, Elizabeth Barber and ScottSammons.

During 2013, the Accreditation Panelupdated and streamlined the processestablished by the AccreditationSubcommittee and has worked closelywith the new IRMS Secretariat (KSAM)

to ensure that they are fully aware of theirrole in the accreditation process.

Additional marketing and communicationwork has been undertaken to raise awareness

Additional marketing hasraised awareness ofIRMS Accreditationwithin our membership –our target is to have over100 IRMS membersaccredited by the AGM.

Training Director’s Report

Rob Hutton · conference@irms.org.uk

Conference Director’s Report

• To maintain both sustainability and growth.

I am pleased to report that the Conferenceachieved on both these. Not only did we makea financial surplus for a second consecutiveyear, we also maintained the balance betweenpublic and private sector markets. Some of the

key changes were the introduction of theMobile App, the introduction of QR codesand the enhancement of the variousactivities on the Sunday.

The overall feedback was overwhelminglypositive, with many people saying it was the

The overall feedbackwas overwhelminglypositive with manypeople saying it wasthe best conference yet.

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provided hands on training so we are nowmuch more in control of the content.

Alongside the new Web site, we now have@IRMS.org.uk email addresses for all theExecutive directors, officers and groups.

Our flagship publication the Bulletin hasgone from strength to strength thanks to theamazing work of our Bulletin Editor, JamieBurton at Tribal and Bulletin ProductionEditors Paul Duller at Tribal and Roy Webbat Hargrave Design. In addition to hisexcellent editorial work, my many thanks toJamie for his tweets as @IRMSBulletin.

For Conference 2013 I am now the leadfor delegate experience, working with ourconference providers, Revolution EventsLimited, Emily Overton and LeanneBridges. So if you don’t like the bag, younow know who is to blame!

I have also regularly attended South Westand Public Sector (London) groupmeetings. For the South West group, I amcurrently the group Treasurer and I amworking to settle into the new SouthWest chair role.

In addition to all the directors and officerson the IRMS Committee, I have had thehonour of working with some fantasticpeople and I wish to pass on myappreciation and thanks to them for alltheir help and hard work over the pastyear.

ver the past year I havemoved from EditorialDirector to become thenew Creative Director.

I also took 3 months offon ‘relaxed duties’ at the end of 2012 as Iwas planning my wedding, getting marriedand then jetting off on honeymoon. Theeagle-eyed amongst you will have spottedthe photo in the Bulletin.

In the 9 months up to that point I was partof the team given the task of looking at thedesign, structure and content of the IRMSWeb site. Working closely with Nick Cooperand Leanne Bridges, amongst others, weworked to make the Web site more userfriendly and more logical. Our Web siteprovider, Emily Tarrant at WebfootedDesign, guided us through the newContent Management System and

Shona Dunning · editorial@irms.org.uk

Creative Director’s Report

O Our flagshippublication theBulletin has gone fromstrength to strength.

Marketing Director’s Report

James Beale · marketing@irms.org.uk

ver the past 12 months,my role within the IRMSchanged from beingConference MarketingOfficer, purely focussingon marketing activities for

the annual Conference, to MarketingDirector for the society as a whole.

With no direct replacement ConferenceMarketing Officer, a core part of my rolehas remained in planning, managing andexecuting the marketing for the conference,but with additional marketing strategies alsoundertaken across the IRMS in general.

For our 2013 conference, my aim was tobuild upon what we had achieved the

previous year and bring a strong, uniquevisual identity to the conference thatwould differentiate it on a visual level inaddition to the core informational aspects.

The new conference visual identity wasrolled out across all marketing channelsfor the conference, including all Web sitesand social media channels and in industrypublication advertisements, including aprominent full-page advert on the backcover of ‘IT NOW’. A conference flyer was

also produced in line with the visualidentity, and distributed to over 5000potential delegates via the Bulletinpublication and direct mail. Branded e-newsletters were also sent out to adatabase of over 84,000 members andnon-members highlighting differentaspects of the conference.

This year, the standalone conference Website from 2012 was migrated to its ownsection within the newly redesigned and

One of our key aims identified over the past yearhas been to increase revenue streams throughadvertising and sponsorship by third parties.O

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Executive to increase the transparencybetween us. I have also been involved inhelping find sponsors and speakers for thegroup events and setting up the use of theconference call facility for groups and theirrespective committee members.

Web site/presenceFollowing the closure of Mailtalk, I havebeen working to develop a replacementwith the Web site Subgroup which involvesthe use of blogs. I have also been workingwith Scott Sammons, our new GroupsOfficer to update the Groups sections ofthe Web site, and involved in the use ofthe Society’s twitter account @IRMSociety.

New Professionals AwardTo coincide with the new academic year,we planned an earlier launch of the Awardapplications in September, providing

applicants with more time to write thriesubmissions. Eventually I passed this taskto Scott, and as it has just closed. I wishto thank Scott for his superb work.

Conference 2013At Conference 2012, I organised theIRMS Stand. Following its success, I wasasked to join the Exec Sub-Group forConference 2013 and as such I havetaken up the role of AssistantConference Director. This has provedchallenging at times, but is a veryinteresting role. In the last month, I havebeen co-Directing with MatthewStephenson, while Rob Hutton, the

Conference Director has taken a stepback due to personal circumstances. Mymain focus within the conference are theIRMS Stand, Business Lounge,Conference Charity (Grief Encounter),the Information Cafe and the biggesttask – the delegate experience (includingSocial events and all round enjoyment)

StudentsFollowing the Societies move onStudents and making full-time studentmembership free, I have been workingwith the Marketing Director on producinga leaflet for universities.

t the beginning of2012, I was in post asa Groups Officersupporting the workof the then GroupsDirector, Karen Bullen.

Karen sadly resigned from the role at thebeginning of August 2012 and I was co-opted into the position of Director.

GroupsSince becoming Director, I have set upGroup Chair conference calls which willtake place three times a year in advanceof the Executive’s quarterly meetings. Afourth Group Chair session is face-to-face at the conference.

I have been making efforts to increasethe contact with the groups includingregularly emails and updates from the

Emily Overton · groups@irms.org.uk

customisable main IRMS Web site, with aview that it would provide one place forpeople to find out information on boththe IRMS and conference, rather thantwo.

Another strategy implemented has beenthat of offering students free membershipto the society. An A5 flyer was designed,promoting this free offer, and distributedto 8 universities across the UK that offerrecords management-related courses. In2012, the society experienced 47 newstudent members, up to 62 from 19, with4 cancellations. It is our hope is that thesenew student members will continue withtheir membership to the IRMS once theyhave finished their courses.

One of our key aims identified over thepast year has been to increase revenuestreams through advertising andsponsorship by third parties. The launchof the new IRMS Web site has provideda great foundation for this, and goingforwards over the next 12 months willprove to be a great resource, workinghand-in-hand with the Bulletinpublication and organised eventsthroughout the year, providing thirdparties with cross-channel advertisingand sponsorship opportunities. Tocoincide with this, we have a MediaPack in development, which will providethird parties with clear and concise dataand information on all of theseopportunities.

I have been makingefforts to increasethe contact with thegroups includingregularly emails andupdates from theexecutive to increasethe transparencybetween us.

Groups Director’s Report

A

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was appointed as IRMS International Officer in June2012.

Existing international groupsTwo international groups, Ghana and Czech Republic,are currently active. The chairs of these groups have

prepared individual reports on their activities.

Potential new international groupsIn July 2012, a memorandum of understanding was signedbetween the IRMS and a potential IRMS France Group. Anagreement has been drafted and is in the process of beingreviewed.

Proposals for the formation of an India Group have been putforward on the IRMS LinkedIn Group Discussion Board.

International enquiriesEnquiries about the IRMS and IRM in the UK were received from

non-members in Nigeria and South Africa. Enquirers areencouraged to make use of the IRMS LinkedIn Group, which has

a growing international membership, many of whom are potentialIRMS members.

DLM forumI attend DLM Forum meeting as an individual member and usedthis opportunity to ‘spread the word’ about IRMS and make newcontacts. I attended the member meeting in Zagreb in November2012, where both of these objectives were achieved!

International Officer’s Report

John Wilson · international@irms.org.uk

he position of SpecialProjects Officer on theSociety's Executive wasestablished in mid-2012and I was appointed asthe office holder. The first

and current project is the creation of theIRMS Retention Wiki.

This will be an open forum for theinformation and records managementcommunity to add and maintain retentionrules for different record types. The wikiwill be deployed using the open-sourceMediaWiki toolkit. This was originally

developed for use on Wikipedia. TheSociety is working on this project inconjunction with their web designcompany.

The wiki will be deployed as a series ofpages. Each content page will be basedon a record type for a jurisdiction; anexample of this would be "AccountsPayable – UK". Initially the wiki will focuson United Kingdom retention rules andwill be pre-populated with policies fromthe well-received 'Records ManagementToolkit for Schools'. It will aim to coverpublic, private and third sector records,

including special rules for industries suchas oil and gas, financial services andpharmaceuticals.

A moderation process will be put in placeand business sector 'owners' will benominated.

Over time we would see this becomingan international resource and have thepotential for added value articles onrecords management best practice. Thereis also the potential for generatingadvertising revenue for the Society fromGoogle, Amazon or other sources.

This is an exciting project for both theSociety and the information governanceworld. The Officer also looks forward toundertaking other special projects for theSociety during 2013/14.

Special Projects Officer’s Report

Reynold Leming · wiki@irms.org.uk

Enquirers are encouraged tomake use of the IRMS LinkedInGroup, which has a growinginternational membership.

Over time we would see [the IRMS wiki]becoming an international resource forrecords management best practice.

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n June I have joined theExecutive Committee and takenon the role of eOfficer.

I have a long association with theSociety and I am passionate

about our profession; I am keen todevelop and build a strong communityand encourage collaboration andknowledge sharing via our web platformsand social media channels.

I have developed the IRMS Web Strategythat outlines our planned activity toimprove the content of our Web site,providing a useful and valued referencefor our membership and the professionmore widely.

As well as refreshing content, I haveworked with Executive colleagues andour Web Services Provider, WebfootedDesign to introduce new core services

including Worldpay, to enable onlinemembership renewal and a new jobspage, providing a single point ofreference for any Information or RecordsManagement professional seeking theirnext opportunity.

I have also introduced Blogs to the IRMSWeb site:

IRMSblog; provides a platform wherebywe can publish less formal articles andinformation relevant to the professionand engage in discussion via thecomments options.

Newsblog; enables us to publish ourown news items and respond to itemsin the national media and otherprofessional publications.

Groupblogs; each of the IRMS Groupsalso has their own blog, the intention

being that they can publish articlesrelevant to the content of their recentgroup meetings and engage with theirmembership ongoing betweenmeetings.

The advantage of the blog format is thatwe can capture discussion and valuableinsight from the many subject matterexperts that make up our membership.

During the year I have transferredcontent from the Conference website toour main Web site and have weededcontent from previous conferences toprovide a more concise archive ofprevious events.

I have also developed policies andstandards for the use and maintenanceof the IRMS Web site which will ensurethat the development of our onlinechannel continues.

eOfficer’s Report

Leanne Bridges · eofficer@irms.org.uk

was honoured to join theExecutive Committee as anOfficer in June of 2012 – havingbeen a member of the IRMS(and RMS) for a number of years.I believe that this is an exciting time

for the society and hope to make acontribution to its continued success anddevelopment.

My first duty was to attend an all-dayExecutive Committee strategy meeting inBirmingham on 9th July. What a busy day– I could not believe the range of topicsbeing discussed/proposed and theamount of work the committee membersput into this! Given the heady atmosphereand the number of topics I soon volunteeredto help with a number of initiatives.

Attending other monthly ExecutiveCommittee meetings has enabled me toparticipate in a number of keyinitiatives/decisions such as MembershipBenefits, the IRMS Web site, MemberCommunications, IRMS

expenditure/budgets, IRMS supportedcharity and membership survey (which Iam composing).

In addition, I am still a member of theFinancial Services Records ManagementForum and promoting the IRMS to theprivate sector.

It has been a busy few months fitting inIRMS responsibilities with those of myemployer who are being very supportive ofmy IRMS contribution.

I look forward to serving the membershipfor the following year – please do nothesitate to contact me with anythoughts/ideas you may have to furtherimprove membership benefits/advantagesin any form.

Private Sector Development Officer’s Report

Roger Poole · financial@irms.org.uk

Do not hesitate tocontact me withideas to furtherimprove IRMSmembership benefitsor advantages in anyform.

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have only been in post since October 2012 after theIRMS Exec invited me to fill the post of Groups Officer forthe IRMS. During this time alongside performingoperational tasks and supporting the Group Director I havealso taken steps to learn more about the IRMS and itsstructure, layout and various operations. In the short time

that I have been in post I have learnt much about how the IRMSoperates and still have much more to learn and take on board.

Groups• Attended London Group, Ireland Group and Public Sector

Group Meetings.• Collated and fed back to group chairs mailtalk member lists

and created a Dropbox facility for templates & central financialtracking sheets.

• Two consultations (SAR & CCTV) issued to groups and

feedback collated to pass on to relevant government bodies. Aim is to continue this type of work going forward.

New professionals• Award publicised throughout social media and online Web site.

seven confirmed entries for 2013 and selection process underway.

• Attended round table discussion with UCL on behalf of IRMS to promote the society and its role in the community.

General projects• Review and feedback of JobTarget functionality online.• IRMS representation at “Data IQ” event.• Attendance at ICO Data Protection Conference 2013 and

submission of article for the bulletin.• Promotion and increased use of the IRMS twitter account.

Groups Officer’s Report

Scott Sammons · groups-officer@irms.org.uk

ince the last annualreport the Public SectorGroup met in October2012, and met again on21st March 2013. Wedecided not to meet in

July 2012 as scheduled because of thepredicted travel disruption in Londonduring the Olympic periods. DeborahWilson had to step down fromorganising the Nottingham meetingsfor the Public Sector Group during theyear and I would like to thank her forall her work in organising thosemeetings. In light of this it was decidedto move back to meeting in Londonthree times a year as is planned for2013.

The October meeting was wellattended, at some points there wasstanding room only. The theme for themeeting was ‘Paperless Office: Urban

Myth or Reality’. The delegates enjoyedpresentations from Alan Shipman,Richard Jeffrey-Cook, Marc Fresko and ina new departure, we invited a ‘user’,Marc Barber, to present about thepaperless office from a user perspective.The meeting was sponsored by TNTBusiness Solutions who contributed apresentation about the work they dowith Mobile Doctors. At the end of theday the delegates agreed that weshould be talking about a "paper-lite"office not a "paper-less" office.

The meeting on 21st March focusedon SharePoint: Can we make it workfor records management? The meetingwas sponsored by AutomatedIntelligence (AI).

We now have a team who arehelping to organise the meetingsand deal with the administration of

the Group. Jane Proffitt has takenon the role of secretary to theGroup and is dealing with all theGroup communications and theWeb site and Cerys Ledger hastaken on the role of Treasurer and isdealing with all things financial,including liaison with sponsors. Thiswill make the organisation of the2013 programme so much moreeffective.

We would like to thank all thedelegates who have attended themeetings and the sponsors forensuring that the meetings take placeand are well attended. I would alsolike to thank Emily Overton whostepped into the role of GroupsDirector and who has been a greatsupport and encouragement to theGroup.

Elizabeth Barber · public-sector@irms.org.uk

Public Sector

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he IRMS London Group isan informal networkinggroup for recordsmanagers and thoseinterested in recordsmanagement. There is no

charge to attend events, which are heldquarterly at varying venues in centralLondon. All meetings are held in theevening from 5.30pm for an hour's worthof informal networking over sandwiches,tea and coffee. The meetings themselvesstart at 6.30pm and finish at 8.00pm.

Events to date19 June 2012 Alison Gibney spokeabout the relationship between records

management and information assurance.Alison described when and when not touse encryption in relation to personal

James Lappin, Katharine Stevenson · Co-Chairs · london@irms.org.uk

London

Tdata, and gave a description of thedifferent types of product on the marketfor encrypting e-mail.

13 September 2012 Stephen Howardand James Lappin spoke aboutmanaging records in pan-nationalgovernmental organisations. Stephenspoke about his experiences workingwith the United Nations and on aEuropean Union civilian crisismanagement mission. James describedhis experiences working with theEuropean Commission.

10 October 2012 Julie Stocken andMartin Tucker spoke about the transitionfrom the thirty years rule to the twentyyears rule in UK Government. This was ahuge change which will involve UKgovernment departments sending twoyears’ worth of records to the NationalArchives every year.

28 January 2013 Katharine Stevensonspoke about managing e-mail. Katharinedescribed the approach that herorganisation has taken to integrating theire-mail client with both their casemanagement system and their electronicdocument and records managementsystem. This meeting was sponsored byOyster IMS Resourcing.

11 March 2013 Alex Thompson spokeabout approaches to controlling,migrating, moving and de-duplicating

content on fileshares (shared drives).Gavin Siggers showed how the GARPprinciples could be used as a frameworkto present an assessment of anorganisation's information managementstrengths and weaknesses.

Administratively, the main developmentwas that Katharine Stevenson hasbecome co-chair, together with JamesLappin. We have started to use an‘Eventbrite’ Web site, linked to from theLondon Group page of the IRMS Website, to provide guest list managementfacility for our meetings.

wales@irms.org.uk

he Wales Group currentlyhas been unable to find achair person to replaceStuart who had to resignas as result of workcommitments. Discussions

are on-going with a number of group

members to restructure theorganisation and become active inorganising a schedule of meetingsagain. Any volunteers wishing to bepart of the organising group shouldcontact wales@irms.org.uk

Wales

September 13 2012Stephen Howard andJames Lappin spokeabout managingrecords in pan-national governmentalorganisations.

TDiscussions are on-going with a numberof group members torestructure theorganisation.

11 March 2013 AlexThompson spokeabout approaches tocontrolling, migrating,moving and de-duplicating content onfileshares (shareddrives).

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he Midlands Group aimsto promote cooperationand discussionopportunities for RecordManagers who might nototherwise get the chance

to do so.

The key activities to facilitate this are ourGroup meetings, of which we held two in2012. We are dependent upon membersto offer venues and we are lucky in thatgenerally we find it very easy to securethe use of appropriate facilities.

During 2012 we met in July andNovember. For content ideas and indeedfor speakers we are again dependent uponour membership, and in this regard we arenot quite so fortunate – it can be difficult toget ideas and speakers despite frequentrequests and when we do they can oftenbe quite unique in nature, making it difficultto shape a session for the benefit of all.

There was also a change in leadership atthe end of the year.

July meetingHosted by Birmingham Council, the title ofthis session was ‘Information Governance,Risk and Compliance’.

At this session the Group discussed thechallenges in three sessions. Theseincluded training to ensure compliance,risks associated with ‘cloud’ options andgovernance challenges for Record &Information Managers.

November meetingHosted by Nuneaton & Bedworth Council.

At this session the Group discussed therole of Records Managers in improvementprogrammes.

Linda Evans from Birmingham City Councildiscussed the role the RecordManagement team had played in the

strategic improvement programme tomove from many disparate office locationsinto fewer locations.

Leadership changeAt the close of 2012, Mark Goddardstepped down from the role of Chair ofthe Midlands Group.

Matt Smith took over the role of Chair withthe continued support of Linda Evans andRod Bowie, and the additional support ofJames Sparrock.

Bernard Toontas · iom@irms.org.uk

AppointmentsAppointments for the year 2012/13were undertaken with Bernard Toontasinaugural chairman and vice chair MeicPierce Owen.

EventsThe planned events for the year werenot achieved as a result of a number ofmajor issues.

As part of our initial thinking, weendeavoured to co-host our events withBCS who seemed quite eager to do so.However, this proved to be too difficult.We did attend an event hosted by BCSin September. The formation of the Isleof Man group appears to be favouredby the local community, and severalspeakers were willing to take part in theevents when approached.

The second major issue is the on-goingrationalising of the IOM Government.Both Meic and I were affected by this

process and both our roles andresponsibilities changed. A large numberof our contacts also fell into thiscategory. It would appear that in theshort term this is now fairly stable.

IRMS membership The membership is still estimated ataround a dozen. We do, however, havea number of ‘interested’ parties onrecord.

The Midlands Group aims to promotecooperation and discussion opportunities forRecord Managers who might not otherwiseget the chance to do so. The key activities tofacilitate this are our Group meetings, ofwhich we held two in 2012.

Matt Smith · midlands@irms.org.uk

Midlands Isle of Man

TMatt Smith took overthe role of Chair withthe continuedsupport of LindaEvans & Rod Bowie,and the additionalsupport of JamesSparrock.

As part of our initialthinking weendeavoured to co-host our events withBCS who seemedquite eager to do so.

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Record Office in Northern Ireland(PRONI). In addition to the above ourhard-working and dedicated IRMS IrelandCommittee members need to becommended in voluntarily giving up theirtime to co-ordinate and facilitate ourevents.

A recent event was on 8th Novemberwhere we had over 60 in attendance.

Speakers were: Dr Niamh Brennan,Dermot Moore, John Morgan, FearghalKearney, Iain Fleming and Michael McMorrow. The event was sponsored byDigicom.

Our committee members who wereelected at our Annual General Meetingafter this meeting are as follows:

Chairman: Dorothy Quinn

Secretary: Chris Manson

Treasurer: Brendan Murphy

Training Officer: Liz Robinson Event and Lobbying Co-coordinator;

Social Media and Web site Editor: Sarah Hayes

Members without portfolio: RobertCorbett, Amanda Latimer, Lynda McAree,Dermot Moore, Julie Brooks, ClaireGraham and Pat Reidy.

Our sixth annual joint event with theArchives and Records Association Irelandwas held on Thursday 13th September2012. The theme of the meeting was‘Practical tools for Retention’ and we had55 attendees including 15 new undergraduates from University College of Dublinon the Archives and Records Managementcourse. Our speakers were very wellprepared: Eugenie Houston, Barrister MarkFarrell, Brendan Murphy and NoelleDowling Dublin Diocesan Archives. Wethank our sponsor Objective.

The next event is on 5th April in BelfastCity Hall where our sponsors are IronMountain. The agenda of this event is:

Ken MacDonald, Assistant Commissionerfor Scotland & Northern Ireland,Information Commissioner’s Office, “Thedraft EU Data Protection Regulation and itsimpact in the UK”

Emily Overton and Scott Sammons, IRMSCommittee, “Data Protection theperspective of end users, public & privateOrganisations”

Chris Pounder, Amberhawk Training Ltd,“Privacy Impact Assessments”

Emily Overton and Scott Sammons, IRMSCommittee, “Update on IRMS activities anddevelopments”

If you would like to sponsor our futureevents please email ireland@irms.org.uk.

ollowing another excitingand successful year for theIRMS Ireland Group withrecord number ofattendees and expertspeakers, we are already

looking forward to 2014.

The Ireland Group is committed toworking in partnership with sisterorganisations to provide a forum whereall involved in information and recordsmanagement can meet to share ideas,experience and best practice. Thisapproach has proved to be particularlyvaluable in the current economic climateand has contributed greatly to thesuccess of the events organised by theGroup in 2013. Without sponsorship wewould be unable to bring thesesuccessful informative events to our

members. We would like to thank oursponsors throughout the year andwelcome sponsorship for our next event.

The venues in which we hosted theevents were also provided at either anominal cost or for free, so thank you tothe National Library of Ireland, IrishArchitectural Archives and the Public

Dorothy Quinn · ireland@irms.org.uk

The Ireland Group is committed to workingin partnership with sister organisations toprovide a forum where all involved ininformation and records management canmeet to share ideas, experience and bestpractice.

Ireland

F

Our sixth annual jointevent with theArchives and RecordsAssociation Irelandwas held on Thursday13th September 2012.The theme of themeeting was“Practical tools forRetention”.

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he group averages10–20 attendeesincluding dial inmembers. It relies onmembers/vendors toprovide venues for the

meetings.

Presenters are always requested notto include any sales pitch within theirallotted time, which ensures that theinformation provided incorporates allmembers in the topics and all

meetings are carried out underChatham House rules.

Our meetings in 2012 consisted ofthe following events:

June 2012Venue: Macquarie GroupThe group received a thought-provoking presentation from HarwellDocument Restoration Service(HDRS), including disaster scenariossuch as flooding, fire, mould andinfestation and the steps needed topreserve documents.

The past chair provided a report onthe IRMS 2012 Conference and howthe FSRMF would cover commonchallenges going forward.

September 2012Venue: LinklatersThe group received a very interestingpresentation from Linklaters, entitled“Going Global – Considerations whenimplementing a global recordsretention strategy”, which covered thechallenges and legal considerations ofimplementing a global recordsretention strategy.

The group also discussed the recentInformation Governance & eDiscoveryfor Financial Services Conference.

December 2012Venue: KPMGThe group received twocomprehensive presentations fromThe Content Group and KPMG. TheContent Group demonstrated howtechnology can manage aspects of thelifecycle stages that content goesthrough, and KPMG reported on thechallenges of managing records andrelationships within social media.

At this meeting two new posts ofdeputy events and deputy secretarywere agreed and proposals weremade for a joint meeting with aPharmaceuticals group and FSRMFLinkedIn Group. In addition, theexisting members of the groupcommittee were re-elected, and Itook the role of Chair for 2013.

became Chair of IRMS North almost12 Months ago when the group wasalmost inactive and I have found thetask of revitalisation more challengingthan expected.

I am assisted by Sarah Graham (NHS Tees)and despite a few disappointments, theorganised events have received excellentfeedback. We are most fortunate that we havea hard-core group of creative members whoalso want the Northern Group to succeed andwe work together to bring new life into themeetings.

Motivation and enthusiasm is still good for thecoming year.

IRMS north membershipDoubts remain about the number ofmembers under the IRMS North umbrella andwhether JISC Mail is effective in contactingthem all.

MarketingWe are using Linked-in and Twitter to promoteevents. We also make use of the Railexcustomer base to promote the IRMS generally.

EventsWe held two events, in Durham and inPreston. There are two distinct groups in theNorth where attendance at both was 20–25,which needs improving. Feedback forms arecompleted at the end of the meetings andcan be made available, if required.

At Durham we covered Retention Schedulesand included legal expertise to keep ourmembers on the right side of the law. AtPreston the subject was Digital Continuity andPreservation.

An innovation at Preston was a Careers andRecruitment section which was well receivedand will probably become a permanentfixture.

IPresenters arerequested that theinformation providedincorporates allmembers in thetopics and allmeetings are carriedout under ChathamHouse rules.

David Mellalieu · north@irms.org.uk Paul Finnis · financial@irms.org.uk

North Financial Services

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The past chairprovided a report onthe IRMS 2012Conference and howthe FSRMF wouldcover commonchallenges goingforward.

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Claire Johnson · scotland@irms.org.uk

The ‘Records andInformationManagementScotland KnowledgeHub’ provides anonline communityfor sharingexpertise. Mainfeatures includeforums, wikis andnotices of events.

Scotland

012 reviewThe Group organised twomeetings (April andDecember) in the past yearand thanks are due to ourgenerous hosts Registers of

Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow CityArchives. The committee contributed tovarious other events (Scottish Council onArchives committee, training events etc.).

Two long-standing members of thecommittee (Ali Mason and AllanDrysdale) stood down at the AGM andour thanks to them for their hard workare duly noted here. New committeemembers are Martyn Lockwood andEleanor Rowe. The acting chair, ClaireJohnson, was confirmed in that role.

Congratulations to all who attained post-graduate qualifications in the past year.We only know of three and they areLaura Baird, Joyce Chapman and DawnTurnbull.

Meetings overviewThe April meeting provided both the AGMand an introduction to risk managementfrom practical and academic perspectives.The speakers were Graham Offord

(Offrisk Consulting Ltd) and ProfessorMichael Moss (University of Glasgow).

The December meeting focused on theimplementation of the Public Records(Scotland) Act (PRSA) 2011, whichplaces explicit responsibilities to keeppublic records not only on public sectorbodies but any organisation carrying outpublic sector functions or services.

The speakers were drawn from a range oforganisations: National Records of

Scotland (Ava Wieclawska and Dr HughHagan); Glasgow City Council (Dr KennyMeechan, Head of InformationGovernance); Scottish Council onArchives (Dr Irene O’Brien, Chair);Aberdeenshire Council (Edith Pringault-Adam, Information and RecordsManager); Heather Jack (HJBS Ltd,Director).

The ‘Records and InformationManagement Scotland Knowledge Hub’was announced at the meeting andlaunched formally in February 2013. Itprovides an online community forsharing expertise and though the grouphas a Scottish bias members arewelcome from all locations. Mainfeatures include forums, wikis andnotices of events.

The meeting format is increasinglysupplemented by other forms ofcommunication and contact withmembers and the straightened timescontinue to put more emphasis ondelivering the benefits of membershipand a network in a variety of ways.

Congratulations to all who attained post-graduate qualifications in the past year. Weonly know of three and they are Laura Baird,Joyce Chapman and Dawn Turnbull.

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ver the past year wehave participated inseveral conferencesand workshops allover the CzechRepublic. Among the

most important there were Data &Documents (June 2012) Prague, 50participants; e-government 20:10(September 2012) Mikulov, 350participants; Docuride 2012 (October2012,) Jihlava, 150 participants; andDRMS forum 2012 (October 2012)Prague, 350 participants. Themembership has grown but has notfulfilled our targets. The accountsstatement will be completed by the endof June 2013 and will be deliveredupon completion.

New legislation workshopWe organised our first workshop inOctober dedicated to changes in keyrecords management and archivinglegislation that came into effect in July2012. The workshop had over 30attendees and we got a very positivefeedback.

First IRMS publication – The RMDictionaryThere has been a problem in definitionand use of key terms in recordsmanagement for quite a time resultingfrom inconsistent use of terms such as“document” or “archive” in variousenvironments (QA based on ISO 9000

vs Czech archive law vs ISO 15489,etc.). On advice from the Ministry ofInterior Memorandum Working Groupwe have prepared a comparativedictionary covering key terms in recordsmanagement, their definition inrespective sources and a proposeduniversal explanation and use. Thedictionary was published by IRMS CRGin August 2012 and distributed atconferences and workshops throughthe end of the year. An updatedversion is being prepared in 2013.

Accredited learning programmeIRMS CRG has developed a uniquelearning programme covering thewhole range of courses starting withgeneral records management overviewat one end, and records managementaudit and training at the other. Thewhole concept and courses detailswere submitted for accreditation by theMinistry of Interior and theaccreditation was granted in November2012.

Public administration RM surveyTo gain a better understanding of theactual status of records management inpublic offices IRMS CRG has conducteda survey of more than 50 organizations(ministries, regional government officesand municipal authorities). Results ofthe survey were published anddiscussed at several public events.

nfortunately there wasnot much progress in2012, as many of themembers work forgovernment departmentsand there was much work

required for the election of a newpresident after the sad and untimely deathof President John Atta Mills.

There was one meeting held in March.

MembershipWe still have a significant number ofmembers (55) but the active membersand the paid up members are very few.The Group will create a database of the

members and contacts and explore howto encourage more people to becomeinvolved. The new IRMS Web site and thenew additions will potentially help in thatdirection.

Way forwardStrategies will be introduced to get moreactive members on board to push theSociety ahead. Support will also beneeded from the International Officer.

Members want to take advantage of theAccreditation system introduced as a wayof, among others, generating the interestof members and prospective membersbecause it can go a long way to supporttheir promotion status in their variousinstitutions.

Frank Boris-Hemans · ghana@irms.org.uk Tomas Bezouska · czech@irms.org.uk

IRMS CRG has developed a uniquelearning programme covering the wholerange of courses with general recordsmanagement overview at one end, andrecords management audit and trainingat the other.

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Strategies will beintroduced to getmore activemembers on boardto push the Societyahead.

U

Ghana Czech Republic

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Information and Records Management SocietyIncome and Expenditure Account for the Year Ended 31st December 2012

2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 £ £ £ £ £

INCOMEMembership 119,985 117,046 90,317 112,288 134,732 Annual Conference 216,500 175,551 198,320 192,746 262,669 Advertising 10,019 5,000 - - -Other income 14,458 1,629 2,899 2,173 2,418

360,962 299,226 291,536 307,207 399,819

LESS

Direct costs

Bulletin and Editorial 47,139 53,080 53,246 64,423 51,274 Conference 215,984 192,036 217,588 191,876 194,744

Total direct costs 263,123 245,116 270,834 256,299 246,018

Less:

Professional Services and General Items

Secretariat Management Fees and General Admin* 64,531 39,870 28,107 29,297 33,219 Executive Committee 10,128 Groups 7,083 Web site (site maintenance/new site development) 9,485 Tribal Training JV (Development and Admin) 4,635 Professional fees* 6,746 33,705 49,092 51,833 35,815 Write off of Bad Debt 3,896

*Secretariat Management fees included in professional fees in previous years

106,235 73,575 77,199 81,130 69,034

Net result for the year to date

Surplus / (Deficit) (8,395) (19,465) (56,497) (30,222) 84,767

Accounts For The Year Ended 31st December 2012

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Information and Records Management SocietyBalance Sheet as at 31st December 2012

2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 £ £ £ £ £

CURRENT ASSETSTrade Debtors 5,194 27,233 66,664 161,302 107,208VAT repayable 14,307 - 8,018 5,351 -Prepayments 4,683 23,275 9,777 59,673 460Cash at Bank and on Deposit 54,300 144,755 64,475 84,497 164,369

78,485 195,263 148,934 310,823 272,037

CURRENT LIABILITIESTrade Creditors 12,765 126,032 63,754 168,394 94,638Accruals 1,309 - - - -VAT payable - 3,524 - - 4,748Taxation 11 8 752 725

21,184 129,567 63,762 169,146 100,111

NET ASSETS 57,301 65,696 85,172 141,677 171,926

PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNTBrought forward at 1st January 2012 65,696 85,172 141,677 171,926 87,601Result for the year (8,395) (19,476) (56,505) (30,249) 84,325Deferred Income at Current Liabilities 7,110

57,301 65,696 85,172 141,677 171,926

I approve these accounts and confirm that all relevant records and information for their preparation have been made available toKingston Smith Association Management, who control the day-to-day running of the Society.

Meic Pierce OwenDate: 26 March 2013

ACCOUNTANTS REPORTWe have prepared the accounts for the year ended 31st December 2012 from the records and explanations supplied to us byKingston Smith Association Management.

Cannon Moorcroft Limited, 3 Manor Courtyard, Hughenden Avenue, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP13 5RE.

A version of the annual accounts including additional detail can be accessed via the Web site.

Accounts For The Year Ended 31st December 2012 continued

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