The 2007 Records Management Society (RMS) Conference was held in sunny Brighton at the beginning of May. The hotel was superb and we only had to walk out of the front door to be on the seafront. I hesitate to use the word 'beach'; this is Brighton after all. Anyway, we couldn't have wished for a better setting - or better weather.
And it was gratifying to see so many delegates there! Long may it continue.
Conference kicked off with an inspirational presentation from Euan Semple on the use of bulletin boards / forums, blogs, wikis, RSS and tagging. Quite simply, this was the most exciting talk I've witnessed at an RMS Conference.
Euan pointed out that the internet enables "globally distributed, near instant, person to person conversations". He noted that using these technologies we can help people find and learn from each other and to use these connections to improve efficiency and increase our ability to innovate. Social tools for networking, for Euan, transform our ability to get things done in the 21st Century.
I believe that Euan has shown us the way ahead and I shall return in more depth to the topics he raised in future posts. I am, of course, particularly keen to examine how all of this affects records management, today and in the future. Watch this space.
Euan pointed out that the internet enables "globally distributed, near instant, person to person conversations". He noted that using these technologies we can help people find and learn from each other and to use these connections to improve efficiency and increase our ability to innovate. Social tools for networking, for Euan, transform our ability to get things done in the 21st Century.
I believe that Euan has shown us the way ahead and I shall return in more depth to the topics he raised in future posts. I am, of course, particularly keen to examine how all of this affects records management, today and in the future. Watch this space.
Next up was Jeremy Stimsonwho gave us a fascinating insight into the Microsoft contribution to records management in Microsoft Office 2007. We looked at why MS is moving into records management and the capabilities of Office 2007.
To my mind, it's great that MS is finally moving into the world of ERM.
To my mind, it's great that MS is finally moving into the world of ERM.
The product, unfortunately, isn't up to the mark. MS are about three years behind everyone else and the system they've developed doesn't really do records management. It's clunky and old fashioned. It is, in my humble opinion, a long way off being the finished article. Anyone thinking of adopting it should be aware that there is a lot of configuration that needs to be done beforehand. What's more, there is currently no way of getting emails into the records center!!! This is a serious omission on Microsft's behalf.
Email is the way most business is carried out these days. Any records management system worth its salt has to interact seamlessly with email. This is a bit of a gaffe, to be honest. Shift happens. Why doesn't Microsoft consider emails to be corporate records???
Microsoft ought to get a records manager on the case straightaway!!!
Email is the way most business is carried out these days. Any records management system worth its salt has to interact seamlessly with email. This is a bit of a gaffe, to be honest. Shift happens. Why doesn't Microsoft consider emails to be corporate records???
Microsoft ought to get a records manager on the case straightaway!!!
I've asked this question before and I'll probably ask it again,
"How does Microsoft manage its own records?"
The afternoon session on Classification was also superb. Split into four mini-seminar sessions we heard the whole range of opinions on Classification; from classification isn't important if your documents are tagged all the way to the traditional line of classification by function is vital. It was an exciting way to run a seminar session. Hats off to RMS for organising for instigating it (do I also detect Julie McLeod's influence?) and a big thank you to Bob Bater, James Lappin, Clare Cowling and Euan Semple (again).
Richard Blake from The National Archives (TNA) gave, as usual, an intelligent and articulate presentation. He spoke about the achievements made over the last three years in records management in the public sector. Richard noted that records management is a discipline whose time has arrived; it is incresingly recognised as a core component underpinning corporate governance. We all say 'Hallelujah!' to that, Richard.
Many of you will know Richard from his work on developing TNA guidelines for ERM systems. This led us nicely into Mark Fresco's session on the forthcoming requirements in MoReq2. MoReq2 (The Model Requirements for the management of electronic records) is the only international standard for ERM.
It was a thoroughly stimulating and enjoyable conference. And, as usual, the networking was fantastic! Greetings to all of you out there who I was networking with on an epic session on Monday evening / Tuesday morning!!! Hahaha. Red Kite rocks.
Next year I'd like to see...
More interactive sessions, please.
Fewer 'Death-by Powerpoint' presentations and much more use of video presentations.
RMS developing blogs and wikis of our own. And yes, I'd be willing to help! You only have to ask, guys!
Red Kite
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3 comments:
I've asked this question before and I'll probably ask it again,
"How does Microsoft manage its own records?"
Perhaps this should serve as a warning to us all. If MS (pretty much the biggest and most successful company in history) has achieved all this without records management as we know it, where does that leave our well-worn arguments about how indispensible it is to our organisations...
Lol...but I think we exist in a more regulatory world than certain global software houses.
Really? They must surely be subject to SOX and all other corporate law in the US. Equally their offices around the world must be subject to the laws of their host country. They also know from bitter (and expensive) experience that the EU and various competition agencies are watching their every move. I would have thought there are far more eyes watching MS and willing them to fail then there are watching the average public authority in the UK...
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