making enterprise records management successful · 2018. 4. 25. · usability pros and cons •...

Making Enterprise Records Management Successful

City of Ottawa

June 9, 2014

• Responsibility was with the Policy section of

Information Management (IM)

• IM staff determined requirements based upon how

the paper records worked.

• IM language used for user interface

• Developed in-depth full day training

• Problems getting out of physical IM mindset

In the Beginning..........

• Senior Management approved concept

• You shall but if you don’t, well that’s okay too.

• No repercussions

• No buy in from departments, their shared drives

worked just fine

In the beginning…

• IM not high on ITS interest list

• IM is a necessary evil

• ITS interests were in designing in-house systems to

meet clients needs

• Goal was to meet legislative requirements

• System belonged to a select group

• Limited buy-in from not only clients but IM staff

• Security was limited

• From 2005 – 2009 only 223,306 records were

entered into the e-system.

In the beginning…

• Responsibility moved to IM Operations

• Usability testing

• Clear common language used for labelling

• Training became more focused on client needs

• Integration with Microsoft Office

• IM Staff can now differentiate between physical

and electronic needs

What changed?

• Goal still to meet legislative requirements but also

to become a necessary tool in the conduct of

business.

• New security model developed to meet unique

needs

• Changes increased usage

• From 2010 to 2012 an increase of 522,920 records

were added

• IM moved from ITS to City Clerk and Solicitor

What Changed?

And then this happened

…there’s the irrefutable fact that the city’s

record-keeping is non-existent or impossible to

locate

According to the Ottawa Sun

• Senior Management uses stronger language

• You shall and if you don’t, there will be

consequences

• Integration with Business Systems and Corporate

Tools

• All IM staff are involved with system

• IM Staff work hand in hand with clients getting their

documents and records onto system

And then this happened…

• Online training modules developed

• Focus groups are used in developing changes

• Integration with Business Systems means clients

need only learn one system to meet their

operational and legislative needs.

• From 2013 until April 2014 there is already 427,834

new records added.

• We have surpassed the million mark.

And then this happened…

• BIMS has a single, very large, virtualized Oracle Solaris server for production

• It has multiple environments for disaster recovery , training, sandbox, development, QA and Performance Testing.

• 2014 and 2015 plans are to make user interface changes, implement eDisposition and physical records management, to upgrade to Oracle Webcenter 11g, to introduce clustered servers, and to move all files into one of the largest databases that the City will have in order to improve performance and backups.

BIMS – Some technical information

The strategy was to provide more than one way to

add temporary and official business records to the

Business Information Management System (BIMS).

1. Web pages

2. Scanning Paper Documents

3. Desktop Integration

4. Batch loads

5. Application Integration

Creating and finding records as painlessly as possible

When is this method best?

• Required for metadata changes on existing temporary

records

• When users need to check in a lot of similar documents

• Used for basic and advanced searches (including saved queries and searches)

• IM staff use them for updating and adding records

• Users complete scanned document entry using web pages

• Any time when the person adding a record is not the

author

Web Pages

Web Page – Checking in a Document

Usability Pros and Cons • Easier for adding new content than some of the other

methods

• Searching requires some expertise and practice due to the

size of the repository, e.g. few search heuristics apply

• User has access to a list of their checked out content and

can create and save queries

• Full list of metadata entry fields is available however most

are hidden unless the user requests them -- other methods show minimal required metadata

• This is usually a separate task from anything else the user is doing, i.e. the user must decide to go to BIMS and work there

Web Page

BIMS is integrated with the multi-function printing

devices at the City.

When is this the best method?

• Someone doing low volume scanning of paper; business

units can arrange for bulk scanning with the assistance of

IM.

Scanned Paper Documents

Usability • Complicated printer/fax/scan/photocopy machines have a

limited user interface

• Users do not have to scan, save the document on a share

and then add it to BIMS, it is directly added to BIMS from the MFD.



• It is appropriate for users who are knowledge

workers working mostly with Office and Outlook, i.e.

they write and communicate frequently

• The task is to update temporary records

• It is the most natural way to check in e-mail

• It is, like scanning, a direct contribution, i.e. there is

no need to save it somewhere else.

Desktop Integration

DIS - Outlook

DIS – MS Word

DIS – Explorer Drag and Drop

Usability: • Uses fairly intuitive language, particularly consistent with MS

Word terminology

• Requires minimal metadata entry, defaults are used well

• Allows checking in multiple documents simultaneously

•Maintainability • As a desktop application, it must be thoroughly tested to

ensure compatibility with other desktop tools

Desktop Integration


• High volume loading or updating of metadata of

similar documents, e.g. mass updates of

organizational metadata after an organizational

change, cleanup of legacy data

Batch Loads

Usability • Requires scheduling with IM as it usually involves a lot of

documents being loaded

• User must create a precisely defined Excel spreadsheet; ITS

staff complete the loads

• Working on automating this process to get ITS staff out of the

loop for most loads

Batch Loads

When is this the best method? • There are applications that are considered records

repositories based on an IM assessment and client

acceptance of the risk

• However new applications being deployed that cannot manage the lifecycle of records tend to prefer integration

with BIMS.

• Currently these applications tend to be case management

type of applications being used by workers providing service to the public

Application Integration

BIMS Integrations - SOA

BIMS (Oracle

Webcenter)

Work Orders

(SAP)

Enterprise

Asset Mgt

(Maximo)

Permits &

Licenses

(Amanda)

Enterprise

Service Bus

(Oracle)

Intranet

(SAP/Oracle

Webcenter)

• In Maximo, records can be attached to Assets,

Locations, Service Request and Work Orders.

• Several types of files can be attached to BIMS such

as Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, PDF,

JPEG, PNG, etc.

Application Integration - EAM

Application Integration - EAM

BIMS can be used on any SAP object and it is used for

• Service Requests/Work Orders

• Purchase Orders – to check in approvals.

• Material Master – to store manuals and blue prints.

• Plant Maintenance – To store permit, diagrams,

maintenance logs.

• Human Resources – to store documents related to

employee records.

Application Interface - SAP

Application Integration – SAP GUI

Application Integration – SAP Portal

Application Integration - SAP

Currently integrating BIMS search into the intranet

federated search to

• create one place for staff to search everything but

uncurated shared drives, i.e. put information at

their finger tips

• create a simpler search experience with a different

search algorithm

• allow staff who are not BIMS users to search its

repository

Searching

Intranet Search

• Changes in ITS application management policies

means clients are looking more and more at BIMS

to solve their business needs for structured and

unstructured data retention

• Physical Records Management will be part of the

BIMS experience offering clients a one stop shop

for their information needs.

• Continued integration of BIMS with new and

existing Business Systems

• Digitization of legacy files

• eDisposition!

In conclusion…