Records and
Information Management (RIM)

RELY ON LIGHTHOUSE TO CREATE A COMPLIANCE-READY RIM SOLUTION THAT LEVERAGES YOUR NEW OR EXISTING ECM TECHNOLOGY.

Companies in all industries are required to maintain systematic control over their paper and electronic records. But knowing which records to retain, for how long, and in what manner – are not easy questions due to the ever-expanding legal and regulatory requirements. Creating a documented RIM process is widely regarded as a corporate best practice. By 2013, half of all Global 2000 companies will have formal records management systems to shepherd data through its life cycle, Gartner estimates.

ARMA Internationals’ official definition of Records and Information Management (RIM):

“The field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records"

If you are new to RIM, check out this overview of electronic records:
http://www.aiim.org/What-is-ERM-Electronic-Records-Management.aspx.

HOW CAN LIGHTHOUSE HELP YOU NAVIGATE RIM?

Records and Information Management is an integral component of Lighthouse’s Enterprise Content Management practice because it provides guidelines on when an organization’s content ceases to be of legal, operational or historical value. The moment that happens, the content turns from asset to liability, and needs to be disposed of. In turn, this makes your content management more efficient because record storage space is constantly regenerated. This storage regeneration is also crucial to disaster recovery as the recovery process is greatly aided by the identification of all records deemed vital.

Records that must be systematically controlled come in many formats:

• Filed physical paper, such as memos, contracts, marketing materials and reports

• Electronic messages, such as e-mail content and their attachments and instant messages

• Content on the website, as well as the documents that reside on PDAs, flash drives, desktops, servers and document management systems

• Information captured in the organization’s various databases

Before you can dispose of information, you must identify it and know every place it resides—and for any organization - that calls for a well documented process and automated systems.

WHERE IS THE ROI IN RIM?

Organizations of all sizes are seeking to improve the management of their electronic information and business records in order to cut costs, meet legal and regulatory mandates and improve decision-making. Based on Lighthouse’s experience delivering similar solutions for many commercial and private sector customers in recent years, your organization can expect significant cost savings in these areas:

Reduction in electronic record storage due to retention and disposal policies
Reduction in time and effort to prepare for and execute audits by internal and external auditors
Reduction in time and effort required to answer litigation discovery requests

TYPICAL PHASES OF A LIGHTHOUSE RIM PROJECT

An effective RIM process is always customized to the customer’s business objectives. Lighthouse takes a comprehensive approach to the discovery, development and implementation of the process, methodically moving the project through four phases. After in-depth discussions with your team, the deliverables within each phase are detailed in a signed statement of work/project plan.

Phase 1 – RIM Program Overview:

Scope and Records Inventory

- Structured Data

ü Database

ü Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

- Semi-Structured Data

ü Email

ü Instant Messaging (IM)

- Unstructured Data

ü Documents, Spreadsheets, etc…

ü Text Files

ü Images

ü Audio/Visual files

ü Web Pages

ü Other

Business requirements for the use of these records including key business processes
Regulatory and Legal requirements pertaining to the classification, retention and destruction of the electronic records in scope.
Existing policies pertaining to Electronic Records Management

Phase 2 - Policy Development:

Review existing Electronic Records Management policies
Identify gaps in existing policies and missing policies
Update existing policies and create missing policies
Obtain approval of updated and new policies

Phase 3 – Technical Implementation

Implementation of all existing and new policies through deployment, configuration and customization of the chosen technology

Phase 4 – Training – Development and Delivery

Identify different levels of staff for training and the content and delivery method
Develop training content and material – Presentations, Webinars, Hardcopy
Schedule training sessions
Deliver training – Onsite, Internet, Computer Based

THE VALUE OF ESI DATA MAPPING

Electronically stored information (ESI) including e-mail and other digital assets will be identified and mapped to develop what is known as an ESI Data Map. Specific data information such as ownership, computer system storage, access and usage, and media formats, will be used as a tool to immediately identify the viability of producing key discoverable information in the event of a trial. The ESI Data Map provides valuable business intelligence, resulting in better decisions on legal strategy.

Building this key component is often the first step of a cost-effective e-discovery process. The same data map may then be used to demonstrate compliance to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure guidelines for ESI. In addition, a data map may also be used to aid in the creation of an email and document file management plan, and will aid in determining the most efficient technology to use for the task of archival and ingestion.

From a technological standpoint, issues such as metadata classification, data de-duplication and media format longevity will be addressed. Several permutations typically exist for a cost-effective, long-term and scalable solution.

e-Discovery and Litigation Hold

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which set litigation guidelines at the federal level, were updated in 2006 to include electronically stored information in discovery requests. Parties in litigation can request both physical documents and electronic information and organizations have a legal obligation to produce all relevant materials. Discovery requests may include email, office documents, instant messages, text messages, web pages and just about any record used within an organization. This process may trigger a Litigation Hold so that the targeted records are not moved, deleted, or otherwise altered.

Lighthouse can create an optimal Litigation Hold solution for your organization. The process involves three distinct steps:

Analyzing the existing litigation hold workflow, along with process-specific metadata and content
Ensuring that the RMA infrastructure is able to support the requirements arising out of Step 1
Mapping the existing workflow to an abstract technical representation of it within the RMA, thereby implementing it

Lighthouse has worked with many organizations to shape processes for cost-effective Litigation Hold. An ESI Data Map is a key component, and helps our customers easily and cost-efficiently produce specific records demanded by an opposing party. Without such procedures in place, the cost of such discovery can escalate far beyond the cost of a ESI Data Map and Litigation Hold solution. Having this in place before a litigation event is a prudent investment.

RIM policies, not ECM technology, are what define and facilitate an organization's eDiscovery process. ECM technology is the toolset that implements the process. Frequently, courts will consider an ongoing RIM program evidence of “Organizational Due Diligence.” This benefits a company not only legally (discovery/trial), but also increases its intrinsic value (e.g., higher share premium is paid in the case of an M&A situation) and RIM also helps an organization to operate more efficiently

Electronic Records and Disposition Policy

Lighthouse will examine the current state of your organization’s electronic records environment, with the goal of augmenting its efficacy and scale, and developing a formal policy for its ongoing management.

The examination will compare existing policies that may already be in place for physical records. A uniform records file plan which governs the retention and disposition of your organization’s electronic and physical records will be established. This ties disparate records together by an enterprise record series in a federated manner, regardless of the underlying media that a given record is bound to.

The records retention and disposition guidelines dictated by your industry and the Federal Government may differ from each other, as well as from those suggested by the Federal Rules for Civil Procedure. These guidelines will be assimilated, analyzed and cross-referenced anda determination will be made as to which disposition schedule governs any given record series.

A highly-certified team to trust

Lighthouse’s technical staff has earned many of the most challenging professional certifications, including Certified Records Manager by the Institute of Certified Records Managers. This certification is the de facto standard within the records management practice. The Institute of Certified Records Managers is a self-governing organization consisting of records managers with deep, real-world experience on complex RIM projects. Lighthouse’s certifications include these and more:

CRM – Certified Records Manager
Certified Document Imaging Architech (Comp TIA CDIA+)
Kofax Ascent Capture
Kofax Indicius
Certified Document Imaging Architech
IBM CM 8.3 Certified
IBM Information Management Solution Sales
IBM On-demand Solutions Certified
Microsoft Certified Professional – Visual Basic 6

Methodology

Lighthouse has methodologies in place for the development of policies that will be used for developing compliance-ready Record Classification, Retention, and Disposal policies. Lighthouse uses the CoBiT® (Control OBjectives for Information and related Technology) framework from ISACA as a guide for IT Governance, Compliance and Audit.

In addition, Lighthouse abides by industry best-practices as promulgated by ARMA International and the RIM community at large, as well as published standards such as ISO15489, and where appropriate, design criteria such as the U.S. Department of Defense’s DoD5015.2.

We believe that success is achieved by building partnerships with customers based on dedication, loyalty, and mutual respect. These qualities—along with our business practices and overall effectiveness of our solutions—continue to drive our success as the leading RIM solutions provider in the Northeast.

For more information or to schedule a no-cost initial consultation, please contact info@lighthousecs.com or call 401-334-0799.