Steps Government Agencies Can Take to Improve Information Management

This week, records and information management professionals will descend on Washington D.C. for the annual AIIM info360 event.

Going? If so, drop me a line or stop by our booth, #1015. I always love to meet and network with others in the industry.

This year, I’m presenting a 15-minute session on how an independent government agency gained control over their records and information. They saw gains such as more timely access to their information, greater employee awareness and adherence to information management policy, and the ability to approach each FOIA and discovery request consistently.

Government agencies create and look after roughly half of all records in the United States. While both public and private sectors struggle with managing information, the sheer volume of government records, along with agency requirements to comply with the Open Government Plan, pose unique and significant challenges for state and federal workers.

In my session, I’ll discuss steps agencies should take to get their house in order. These include assessing their records and information landscape for both paper and electronic formats and creating strategies for their management. This also includes developing policy and procedures, retention schedules, data maps, recommendations for improving application or system records management capabilities, training materials – on-line and/or classroom, FOIA and discovery policy and more. Agencies also need to identify where the content exists to properly assess their information management needs.

For records and information managers, developing these policies and processes are common strategies. But the challenge comes in the execution with such large data volumes.