Informata

OT: Recipe: Chicken with lemon and green olives

2009-10-25T15:39:00.000-06:00

Not sure where I got the original recipe. It’s from a cooking magazine but I couldn’t find it just now. I cook it at least every couple of weeks. It's fast and especially in the spring and summer it's just amazing.

Chicken Breasts with Lemon and Green Olives

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons coarsely chopped fresh sage

1 medium lemon, cut into 8 slices, seeds removed

2 tablespoons honey

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 7-oz jar large green olives

Note: increased honey and lemon juice from original recipe because it's so good. :)

Preparation:

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt & pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add chicken; cook 4 minutes or until lightly browned, turning once. Place chicken on plate.

2. Add onion and sage to same skillet; reduce heat to low. Cook 2 minutes or until onion softens slightly. Return chicken to skillet; cover with lemon slices.

3. In small bowl, stir together honey and lemon juice; add to skillet with olives. Cover; simmer 7 minutes or until chicken is no lonver pink in center and juices run clear. Remove lemon slices before serving; discard or use as garnish.

Original recipe suggests to cook rice in chicken broth and then stir fresh spinach leaves and toasted pine nuts into hot rice just before serving. Plain rice works as well.

OT: Recipe: Johnny Marzetti

2009-10-21T17:09:00.000-06:00

Not sure where I got this recipe from. Johnny Marzetti is a type of casserole made with macaroni, hamburger, tomato sauce, and cheese. We used to call it "goulash" and the Wikipedia article on American Goulash describes a dish pretty close to this. I make this at least once a month.

Johnny Marzetti

Ingredients:
1 pound ground chuck or hamburger
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp oil
2 jars spaghetti sauce (pref with vegetables)
1 8-oz can tomato sauce (plain or spicy)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions
8 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 can pinto, kidney, or black beans, drained and rinsed.

Directions:
1. Brown meat, onion, and green pepper in oil over medium-high heat.
2. Drain and rinse meat mixture and return to pan.
3. Add garlic and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
4. Add spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, spices, cooked macaroni, cheese, and beans to pan.
5. Simmer 10 minutes and serve.

Rock stars

2009-10-20T08:33:00.001-06:00

Every once in a while I get tagged with the name "rock star". In many cases it's meant to be a compliment. After all, rock stars get in front of lots of people and share something they are interested in. They perform with passion, and always leave the audience satisfied but wanting just a bit more. And all of us are at least a bit selfish and vain enough to want to know that people like and appreciate us and what we do.

But there's a down side to being considered a rock star. After all, rock stars are also famous. They are unapproachable. They don't remember who "the little people" are. And they are notoriously difficult to work with. Let me tackle each of these.

They are famous. Well, I suppose so - but I put on my pants, drink my beer, and brush my teeth the exact same way you do. If lots of people know my name and what I do, that's nice, but I don't know that that fact by itself does anything for me, and it certainly doesn't do anything for anyone else.
They are unapproachable. This one is always interesting to me - because so many of us are rock stars in different arenas, and I suspect that most of us react the same way in those arenas: "Who, me? No, I just saw something that needed doing and I'm doing it." Someone who is on the ARMA Board is doing the exact same thing that someone on the local chapter board is doing - and if you don't think (or act like) you're a rock star to your local chapter, why would you think I'm a rock star or expect me to behave like one?
They don't remember the "little people." This one has some merit. I think the problem for most of us is that if I speak to an audience of 300, or serve on the Board for an association of 11,000, I have to remember 300 or 11,000 names while you only have to remember one. That's certainly not an excuse, but it makes it more difficult. I do better at remembering names of folks with whom I've interacted more meaningfully - send me an email and I'm much more likely to remember that, and by extension, you.
They are difficult to work with. The most famous example of this is Van Halen's notorious request for a bowl of M&M's with the brown ones removed (see http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp). The reason for that was that rock shows are complicated to stage and involve tons of equipment, lighting, etc. It was meant to demonstrate that the local production crew had actually read the entire technical rider to the contract. If there were brown M&Ms, the odds were that something else had been missed and the entire contract rider would need to be reviewed line by line to ensure that the floor load limit could handle the weight of the show, etc. Now, if you *are* working with someone who is difficult or "high-maintenance", my question to you is, why? There is nobody so good at anything that you should need to put up with "rock-star-itis".

This is exacerbated at things like large conferences, when some rock stars are running around with their hair on fire, going from board meeting - to six different social events - to speak - to six more events - to receive an award - etc. etc. etc. And you see us with a badge chock full o' ribbons, pins, and other shiny flashy things and you may think, "I wouldn't dream of taking their important time up with my trivial little question or comment." I say to you, balderdash.

Again, there is nothing so important at a conference or for anyone at a conference that we can't take a minute to chat. I do try to be on time for the various events, and if I'm speaking at a session I hope you will respect others' time and let me discuss your issue with you after the session. But other than that, don't let the suit or the badge ribbons fool you. If you are a chapter officer, you're every bit as busy at a chapter meeting as I am at conference and yet you probably don't consider yourself a rock star (I hope!). Even if you aren't, you're that busy, that important, and that engaged somewhere else.

So to conclude this long post, I hope you don't consider me a rock star: unapproachable, arrogant, and aloof. That's not why I do all I do for ARMA, AIIM, etc.; I do those things because they need doing and someone somewhere has graciously allowed me the opportunity to try to provide some small measure of value. If you ever do see me acting like a rock star, I hope you'll call me out on it. I still pay my chapter and association dues every year the same as you do.

OT: Recipe: Pickle Soup

2009-10-04T16:44:00.002-06:00

First, let me state for the record that while this recipe *has* pickles in it, the title of the recipe (and this post) comes from the way my wife asks for it. It's fundamentally a variant on black bean soup.

Ingredients:
1 batch black bean soup - use canned, use your favorite recipe, whatever. I like this recipe from Epicurious.
1 lb ham, diced
1 16-oz jar salsa
1 medium dill pickle per serving (I like either kosher dills or spicy dills)
1-2 Tbsp feta OR cotija cheese per serving, crumbled
1 tsp cilantro per serving
1 lime wedge per serving

Preparation:
1. Make, decant, open, whatever you need to do to get at your soup.
2. Add the ham and the entire jar of salsa to the pot. (Re)heat until it is at the temperature you want to eat it at.
3. Dice the dill pickle and place in individual serving bowls.
4. Ladle the soup into the serving bowls.
5. Top the soup with the cheese and then the cilantro. Squeeze the lime wedge into the bowl.
6. Eat and rejoice.

I sometimes serve this over rice and it's even heartier.

I'm certified!

2009-10-01T10:29:00.000-06:00

Yes, I know some readers will read that as "certifiable", and that's not so far from the truth some days. :) And this isn't the first time I've been certified - but this is without question the most rewarding so far.

The certification in question is the Certified Records Manager. If you aren't familiar with it, it's administered by the Institute for Certified Records Managers and validates the knowledge and skills required to manage records and information effectively. In order to take the exams, you must pass an experiential requirement. Once you are accepted as a candidate, you must pass five multiple-choice exams before being allowed to take Part 6. Part 6 is a four-hour essay exam consisting of two case studies.

It's an expensive exam: $100 to apply as a candidate, $100 for each of Parts 1-5, and $150 for Part 6 for a total cost of $750. And because of the nature of the scheduling (the exam is administered only 4x/year) and the requirement to complete Part 1-5 and have that validated before being accepted to sit for Part 6, it takes a minimum of 3 months today to complete the process.

There are two primary requirements to maintain the CRM status. First, there is a continuing education requirement to complete 100 hours of education within a five-year period. CRMs are also required to join the ICRM at a cost of $200/year; CRMs who do not maintain their membership have the certification revoked and may be required to retake Part 6 to regain their status.

This is the certification that I spent the most time preparing for and that I am the most proud of to date. It took a lot of studying on areas that I don't have much experience with, and there are some things I think need to be looked at to continue to improve the exam. But I'm happy to have it behind me and look forward to becoming more active as a CRM mentor to folks I work with and to getting involved with the ICRM.

Want me to speak at your event? Here's what it takes.

2009-09-29T08:53:00.003-06:00

I've been toying with writing this series of posts for a long time. This first one will be about how to get me to speak at your event (though some of the points will also be applicable to most speakers and events). Future posts will describe ways to ensure that your event is more successful with regards to the speaker's performance and how to find speakers for events.

The intent of this post is not to be arrogant, a "rock star" or prima donna, etc. Rather, it's to give you insight into how I approach prospective speaking events so that if you do want me to speak, we can work together to get it set up as easily as possible.

Now then. You're the program chair for a local chapter, the coordinator for a region, or just someone looking for a speaker, maybe for a corporate event. You've heard my name and think I might be a good fit for the event. How do you get me to speak at your event?

1. Ask me as early in the chapter year as possible. I try to limit my schedule to an average of one session a month because these meetings are expensive for me and my organization. For a typical chapter meeting (45-60 min talk), it generally takes me anywhere from 2-8 hours of prep time depending on the topic. So a full-day seminar, with 6 hours of contact with attendees, is generally almost a full week of prep time, during which I am not doing client-billable work. Add in travel time and you can see why I cannot speak at dozens and dozens of events.

Many chapters take the summer off to re-energize and do strategic planning, including determining the theme for the year and looking for speakers. Most of them reach out to prospective speakers by about the middle of August, meaning that there is a good chance I'll be completely booked for the chapter year by the time the new year starts. So if I turn you down, it's not that I don't want to go to your event, I just can't fit it in.

2. Have me speak on something I know something about. I want you to follow your theme and do what you think is in the interests of your audience. But there are any number of topics that I just don't know enough about to speak on. So in that case I'm not a good fit for you. I will generally try to suggest an alternate speaker, and I work with some really talented people who simply aren't as well-known (yet). I have a list of topics I've covered and am very comfortable with; you can also look at my Slideshare account, where I post my public sessions after I've delivered them.

3. Determine the date - and stick to it. I've had a couple of instances the last several years where chapters changed the date at the very last minute, which in at least one case almost forced me to cancel because I had another speaking date scheduled the same week and the travel was simply impossible. We worked it out but the point remains.

4. Consider my costs. Generally speaking, I ask for airfare from Denver (advance purchase nonrefundable coach), at least one night in a hotel (Holiday Inn, Ramada, Comfort Inn, etc. I fly in the day before so weather, flights, etc. are not an issue), and a rental car if there is no hotel shuttle (I use Thrifty or Enterprise, where my company has a corporate rate). This is really non-negotiable; later in the series I'll talk about some ways to reduce those costs from the chapter's perspective. But I rarely speak at an event where it will actually *cost* me money.

I also ask for an honorarium of from $500 to $2000 depending on the length of the session, how much prep time is required, the nature of the meeting, etc. If you are an ARMA chapter, I cannot charge an honorarium as a Director of ARMA International or accept most gifts.

5. Ask me to do a webinar. On the other hand, if I don't have to travel, be out of the office for a couple of days, etc. I can generally fit a few more in a year. You still have your normal meeting, you just have me speak through tele/web/videoconference. It's pretty easy to set up these days using any of a number of tools and you also get the benefit of allowing people to attend who might not otherwise make the meeting due to travel considerations. This is especially true for those of you in small chapters with big geographical areas to cover

That's pretty much it. There are some other minor considerations - all else being equal, I'd rather do bigger meetings than smaller ones; if I can do multiple meetings or a joint chapter meeting on the same trip that's always nice; warm areas in the winter and cooler areas in the summer, that sort of thing.

Speaking at AIIM 2010

2009-09-23T07:34:00.002-06:00

I received confirmation yesterday that I will be speaking at the AIIM 2010 Conference and Exposition, scheduled for April 20-22, 2010 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. This marks my eighth consecutive year of speaking at AIIM - thanks to Jennifer Marcus and the folks at Questex for selecting me again.

My session this year is called: "Twitter This: A Gentle Introduction to Microblogging". The session will introduce attendees to Twitter and other microblogging tools. We will begin by describing and differentiating microblogs from other types of tools. Attendees will learn what types of information are particularly suited to microblogging. The session will conclude with a look at the emerging area of enterprise microblogging.

I might also be teaching the one-day preconference for the AIIM Email Practitioner Certificate Program - details to come once they are available on the Questex website.

You can find more details about the conference at http://www.aiimexpo.com/aiimexpo/v42/index.cvn (still points to last year's information) - or follow @aiimexpo on Twitter.

Newsletter articles blog

2009-09-22T07:54:00.001-06:00

I have started another blog at http://jessewilkins.wordpress.com. The purpose of the blog is to post articles, either that I have written for chapters, AIIM, ARMA, etc. or those that I have written myself and that I think could make good newsletter articles. The idea is that many chapter newsletters are always starved for content, but it's tough getting someone to write on spec, on topic, and meet deadlines - all for free. I hope that blog will be a resource for chapters.

Here are the rules:
1. No stealing. Please give appropriate attribution to me. A link would be nice but not absolutely necessary. But if you post an article of mine with no byline, I will find it and will first ask you to fix it, then remove it, then I will open up publicly. Be nice.

2. If you want an article but think it's too long, please let me know and give me the first crack at editing it. My content and all that - and I really am happy to do it.

3. I'm posting it with a policy of non-exclusivity. What that means is that ANY chapter, or MANY chapters, could elect to publish a given article. As the body of articles posted there grows larger, this will be less of an issue; frankly, most chapter newsletters are only read by two audiences: chapter members and the ARMA Awards Task Force. And my article showing up multiple times will NOT be the difference between a chapter winning or losing Newsletter of the Year.

At some point I may open it up to like-minded writers. If you are interested in getting (re)published for the same fantastic per-word rate that I enjoy (that'd be $0.00), drop me a note.

OT: Recipe: Pork & Posole Stew

2009-09-21T16:03:00.001-06:00

It was chilly today in Denver which got me to thinking about probably my favorite soup recipe, pork & posole stew. I really have to plan ahead to make this, but it's well worth the effort and it's really not that time-consuming. It makes quite a bit but it's even better the next day.

Ingredients

1 lb pork sirloin chops or pork tenderloin, diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup Anaheim or Hatch chiles, preferably fire-roasted, peeled, and diced
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 29oz can hominy, drained and rinsed
1 8oz can spicy tomato sauce
8 or more cups water
1/2 head chopped cabbage or cole slaw mix
Juice of 1 lemon
Hot cooked rice, optional
Garnishes: crumbled cotija or feta cheese; lemon slices; chopped cilantro

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in pan or Dutch oven. Brown pork in pan, 5 min.
2. Add onion and garlic; saute 4 min.
3. Add chiles, chili powder, cumin, pepper, and salt and cook 2 min, stirring constantly.
4. Stir in hominy, tomato sauce, and water.
5. Bring to a boil; boil 30 minutes. Add more water as required to give soupy consistency.
6. Remove from heat; add cabbage and lemon juice

To serve: If serving over rice, put a half-cup of hot cooked rice in each bowl. Otherwise, ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with one or more of the cheese, lemon slices, and chopped cilantro.

ARMA 2010 call for speakers

2009-09-16T10:11:00.000-06:00

ARMA has announced its call for proposals to speak at the ARMA 2010 conference and exposition, scheduled for November 5-10, 2010 in San Francisco, CA. The deadline to submit a speaking proposal is October 30, 2009. From the call:

ARMA International education programs are a learning experience. This means:

Content is informative and relevant, with clear and immediate application to the learner’s work
Minimal use of PowerPoint slides
Includes interactive and/or hands-on methods to support the learning
Corresponds to the required application focused learning objectives
Handouts which reflect the content and are a resource for later use

Your primary goal should be the learning of the participant rather than a showcase for your ideas, products, and services.

Speakers do not have to be members of ARMA, but the content MUST be vendor-neutral. If you are a vendor, your odds of speaking will be probably be higher if you submit a case study where the client presents the case study. (This is not anything official on behalf of ARMA or the program committee, but I served on that committee for ARMA 2003, 2004, and 2006, and that was the case then.)

Details on the call for proposals, including the full list of topics and presentation modes being solicited, can be found at http://www.arma.org/learningcenter/proposals/call/index.cfm?type=2.

AIIM EMM Certificate Program Outline

2009-09-15T08:47:00.001-06:00

Here is the outline for the AIIM Email Management Certificate Program.

Strategy. This one-day instructor-led course addresses the question, "Why email management?

Introduction to EMM
Business drivers and the case for EMM
Roles and responsibilities for EMM
Policies and procedures for EMM
Tools and auditing the EMM program

Practitioner. This two-day online or instructor-led course addresses the question, "what is email management?"

EMMP-1 – Introduction

Introduction to email management
Terminology
How email works generally
Basic principles for email management

EMMP-2 – Inside the inbox

A tour of the email client
Email information objects
Email folders
Managing the inbox

EMMP-3 – Architecture

Main messaging applications
Main messaging clients
Plug-ins
Remote and mobile email access

EMMP-4 – The capture process

Identifying which messages to capture
Capturing messages
Capturing metadata and attachments
Capture and records management

EMMP-5 – Classification

Introduction to classification
Classification approaches
Classification structures
Automatic classification technologies
Issues and strategies for automatic classification

EMMP-6 – Governance

The email governance framework
Email policy and processes
Email roles and tools
Email standards and audits

EMMP-7 – Security

The email security model
Digital signatures and encryption
Content and attachment restrictions

EMMP-8 – Technologies

Types of email management technologies
Implementation models
Selecting the appropriate solution(s)

EMMP-9 – Archival

Storage vs. backup vs. archives
Organizational archival approaches
Personal archive files
Archival considerations

EMMP-10 – Email and ECM

ECM defined
Capture
Manage
Store
Preserve
Deliver

Specialist. This two-day online or instructor-led course addresses the question, "How to develop and deploy an email management program?" It also includes several advanced modules on email and discovery, instant messaging, and alternatives to email among others.

EMMS-1 – Business case

Introduction to the business case
Benefits identification
Making the business case for email management

EMMS-2 – The email management project

Before the project begins
Setting up the project team
The project kickoff

EMMS-3 – The email management policy

The policy development framework
Research and analysis
Drafting the policy
Implementing the policy

EMMS-4 – Requirements

Requirements definition and management
Techniques for gathering requirements
Requirements for an email management solution

EMMS-5 – Implementing email management

Selecting the optimum solution
Model office and pilot program
The EMM rollout
Post-implementation and benefits realization

EMMS-6 – Email preservation

Introduction to preservation
Preservation strategies
Email preservation
Media selection and considerations

EMMS-7 – Email and discovery

Introduction to discovery
Review of applicable case law
The electronic discovery reference model
Email discovery issues and strategies

EMMS-8 – Instant messaging

Introduction to instant messaging
IM and email
Process approaches for managing IM
Technology approaches for managing IM

EMMS-9 – Alternatives to email

Introduction
Blogs
Wikis
Really simple syndication (RSS
Other collaborative tools

EMMS-10 – Web-based email

Survey of the main commercial providers
Organizational vs. commercial webmail
Managing web-based email

Master. This 4-day instructor-led course includes all of the Strategy, Practitioner, and Specialist modules listed plus the Master Case Study.

My ARMA 2009 schedule

2009-09-11T08:12:00.006-06:00

Fall is my favorite season. There's just something about the shortening days, the extended twilight at dawn & dusk, and the crispness in the air that really gets me fired up. This is without question my most productive time of year. And so I'm really happy that this is also when ARMA is scheduled - because it's always a busy conference for me.

The last couple of years ARMA has been longer and even more busy because of my service on the ARMA International Board of Directors. We get in several days before conference opens for a couple of days of board meetings and leadership training. This year we are also doing our strategic planning during that time. So if you see one of us towards the end of conference and we look a bit ragged, it's because we all got in on Saturday the 10th. :)

I try to be as social and embrace networking as much as my schedule allows and I'm constantly inviting people by the booth to meet me, our other senior staff, etc. So I decided this year to publish my current schedule so you can track me down if you want or need to. Bear with me - it's a long post because it's a long, busy conference.

Note: The sessions listed with * are other Access Sciences people speaking at ARMA. If I get the chance I will attend their sessions; I might also be in the booth providing coverage while they speak. You can always ping me on my phone at (720) 232-9638 (voice or text) and if I'm not in a meeting or actively engaged with someone I'll pick up.

Oct 11:

8:00 am - 12:00 pm Association Infrastructure committee meeting

12:00 - 1:00 lunch with ARMA HQ staff

1:00 - 5:00 Board discernment

6:30 - ? Board dinner

Oct 12:

8:00 - 9:00 Board executive session

9:00 - 5:00 Board meeting and strategy planning session

Oct 13:

8:00 - 4:30 Email management preconference (separate registration required)

6:00 - 7:00 BOD/ICRM/AIEF reception

Oct 14:

11:30 - 1:00 Region and Chapter awards luncheon

2:30 - 3:00 Board rehearsal for opening general session

5:00 - 6:30 Region receptions

6:30 - 7:30 Young Professionals receiption

7:30 - 8:30 ICRM reception

7:00 - ? RECMGMT-L Listserv reception

Oct 15:

8:30 - 10:30 Opening general session

11:00 - 1:00 Opening exhibition floor/lunch

1:30 - 3:00 Anne Tulek & Glen Hilford speaking*

6:30 - 8:30? Welcome party
11:53: I get older

Oct 16:

12:00 - 1:15 Association general meeting

3:15 - 4:30 Candidate forum

4:00 - 5:30 Exhibitor reception

5:00 - 7:00 San Jose State University School of Library & Info Sciences reception

8:00 - 9:00 Awards event reception

9:00 - ? Canadian party

Oct 17:

7:30 - 9:00 Fellows breakfast

11:00 - 1:00 Fellows luncheon

1:00 - 3:00 John Rhoades speaking*

Oct 18:

10:00 - 11:30 Speaking, "Web 2.0: Compliance and the Cloud"

12:15 - 2:00 Closing general session

My introduction to ECM

2009-09-09T14:54:00.005-06:00

Pie started it, Cheryl continued it, and now I'm going to take a whack at it. Full disclosure: I may have some of the timelines wrong, particularly as regards particular capabilities. But the general timeline I think is pretty close.

After I was discharged from the Marine Corps in 1996, I held a variety of jobs while I tried to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up (I'm still working on it), including acting, traffic court clerk, the US Postal Service(!), and computer repair. I heard through the grapevine that a local software company was looking for a webmaster and set up an interview to show my 3l337 4axor HTML skillz.

When I got to the interview, I found out it was for a software tester for what Gartner was then calling integrated document archival and retrieval (IDARS). The company? Information Management Research, Inc. In June 1997 IMR had probably 40 employees and a neat little application called Alchemy (v4.0) that had modules for the core IDARS capabilities plus COLD (Datagrabber), imaging (Scan2CD), and AutoCAD viewing and indexing (CAD2CD).

I got the job and on my first day I was given a test plan that consisted of a two-page outline of the major capabilities across all four modules: capture, printing, indexing, viewing, exporting, etc. I was told to "find any defects and email them to engineering." While I was pretty technology-savvy, I had no previous exposure to CAD or COLD at all and my scanning was limited to the old serial-port hand scanners and parallel-port consumer scanners.

Over the course of the next several months I underwent a crash course in SCSI configuration (scanners and CD burners), production imaging concepts (patch codes, separator sheets), COLD (the Datagrabber parsing language, regular expressions, forms overlays), and of course the basics of manual software testing. I was also introduced to Windows NT for the first time and learned the guts of managing an NT server.

As Alchemy went from 4.0 to 4.1, to 5.0, etc., I got more and more comfortable both with the pure hardware and software aspects of the job and with the various processes involved in using it. Most of our customers were service bureaus or highly paper-intensive industries like insurance, and I got to understand their processes better as well.

Around 1998 if my timeline is right we started working on Alchemy Web Server. The engineering team really did a superlative job of putting together a very faithful representation of the Alchemy Search interface in a web browser (Netscape 4 or 5 and IE 4 if I recall correctly); my 4axor skillz really came into play here in terms of testing and also in figuring out how to enable or customize it a bit.

Towards 2000 or so we started working on Mailstore, which was a product to allow users to capture their email into an Alchemy database, where the message and any text-type attachments could be full-text indexed and made searchable. The interface used an Outlook web (portal?) page, meaning that users could access all their email, live and archived, within their Outlook client. Later we developed Mailstore for Exchange, which used journaling to capture all messages from Exchange into Alchemy databases. As an aside, I had a discussion with one of our engineers about providing support for archiving instant messaging, and his response was, "There's no business case for that - IM is only for kids." Hrmph.

And around this same time we also started working on Alchemy Document Management, which didn't do management of documents at all but rather provided a sort of subscription and alerts capability to support very lightweight approval and publishing work processes. We also reengineered Alchemy from its traditional standalone desktop architecture to a more robust, more flexible, and more scalable client-server architecture - and started referring to Alchemy as an ECM solution rather than a capture, imaging, or IDARS solution.

In 2001-2002 we began development of the Alchemy Records Management module. By then I had moved to Technical Support and was tapped to learn everything I could about records management. So I found DIRKS, VERS, ISO 15489, DoD 5015, TNA 099, and every other standard, guideline, and white paper I could. In the fall of 2001 I joined both AIIM and ARMA so I could learn more about what records management meant and also what ECM meant. I continued to work on Alchemy in technical support and the occasional design and installation until I left IMR in the summer of 2004; IMR was subsequently acquired by Captaris in October 2004.

I still have a great fondness for Alchemy. It was an exceptional solution for the price and was one of the simplest ECM applications to implement - in fact, I routinely assisted customers onsite and remotely to install, configure, and deploy the system throughout the organization in an afternoon. Granted, it didn't scale to thousands of users, but being able to deploy to 100+ people a reasonably robust ECM system for $50K and in less than a day was a significant selling point (and see all the recent ECM blogosphere discussions about the "enterprise-ness" of ECM). I own copies of the software for every version from 4.0 through 8.0; of course most of them don't work because I can't ping a working license server, and the older ones had enough Windows- and driver-related issues that I don't want to try to run them on Vista.

So I really hope that the folks at Open Text will figure out a way to keep the core Alchemy around. It's a very good solution for small- to mid-sized organizations, particularly where they require some scanning or COLD capabilities. My employer is a partner for Open Text and I'd go back through the training to become certified on Alchemy in a heartbeat.

Upcoming speaking engagements

2009-09-09T10:25:00.003-06:00

Here is my current speaking schedule through the end of the year.

September

9/24, "Collaboration and Social Networking", AIIM Western Canada

9/25, "RSS, Twitter, LinkedIn, Etc.: Web 2.0 Tools & Strategies", AIIM Western Canada

October

10/6, "Blogs, Wikis, and Twitter: Emerging Electronic Records Issues and Strategies" and "Records Management 2.0 - Managing Records in the Cloud", ARMA Twin Cities

10/13, "Effective E-mail Management", ARMA 2009 preconference

10/18, "Web 2.0: Compliance and the Cloud", ARMA 2009

December

12/16, ARMA Indianapolis Chapter webinar, topic TBD

If you find yourself in the vicinity, I'd love to see you at one of these meetings!

CompTIA and the CDIA+ in 2009

2009-08-25T10:43:00.000-06:00

Many folks who know me know that I have been involved with the CompTIA CDIA+ program to varying degrees since 2001. I passed the Certified Document Imaging Architech(TM) exam in 2001 and was immediately tapped to serve as a subject matter expert for the 2002 update to the exam, at which time it was also renamed to CDIA+. I wrote exam items, reviewed others' exam items, and participated in the beta scoring workshop. I then joined the CDIA+ Post-Cornerstone Committee, and a couple years after the exam went live, I began teaching a CDIA+ prep workshop.

In 2005 the exam items were refreshed - new questions were written, but the exam objectives, the domains, and the job tasks they were based on remained the same from the 2001-2002 rewrite cycle. It's now mid-2009 and the exam has not been updated and there are apparently no plans to do so.

I sent a question through the website contact form asking whether the exam would be updated anytime soon and received this response:

Dear candidate, CompTIA is currently experiencing a service outage with our database provider and therefore will be unable to process your email regarding your certification. Should you have a general inquiry regarding our certification exams, objectives, testing centers, etc. please visit http://www.comptia.org/certifications/testprep.aspx otherwise, we ask that you check back with us in a week or visit www.comptia.org/certifications/yourcertifications in the future for outage updates. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience during this time. Thank you, The CompTIA Customer Service Team

Check back in a WEEK? Sorry, guys, but this is 2009. Websites aren't down for a week. Period. Not to slag the customer service folks, but this just isn't right (and of course I have no idea how long it may have been down already).

This really makes me wonder what's going on at CompTIA and whether I should be concerned about the continued existence of the CDIA+ program specifically and CompTIA more broadly. I'm happy to receive any responses from the folks at CompTIA and have the discussion on one or both topics at jwilkins13@gmail.com.

AIIM ECM Certificate Program Outline

2009-08-05T13:25:00.003-06:00

I'd previously posted the outline for the updated AIIM ERM Certificate Program. The AIIM ECM Certificate Program was also updated this year. The update was led by Dan Keldsen of Information Architected. The course focuses more on information architecture and introduces the MIKE2 open-source implementation methodology. Here is the course outline:

Strategy. This course addresses the question, "Why ECM?" It is only offered as an instructor-led course and can be taken either standalone or as the first half-day of the ERM Master Class.

• Introduction to ECM

• What’s driving ECM?

• Uncovering business drivers

Practitioner. This course answers the question, "What is ECM?" and is offered online and instructor-led. The instructor-led course can be taken as a standalone course or as the first two days of the ECM Master Class.

ECMP-1 – Introduction

• Terminology

• Key ERM concepts

• Records management principles

ECMP-2 – Technologies & functionality

• Types of records

• Determining what to capture

• Approaches to capture

• Capturing and managing physical records

ECMP-3 – Information architecture

• Metadata concepts

• Metadata sources

• Applying metadata to records

• Automated metadata collection

ECMP-4 – Create & capture

• Introduction to classification

• Classification concepts

• Classifications schemes

• Classification categories

ECMP-5 – Metadata

• The records inventory

• Developing a classification scheme

• Developing a file plan

• Developing a retention schedule

ECMP-6 – Taxonomy

• How to classify records

• Autocategorization

• Tagging and folksonomies

ECMP-7 – Security & control

• Search and retrieval concepts

• Presentation and rendition

• Annotation and redaction

ECMP-8 – Process & automation

• Governance and instruments

• Security and access controls

• Audit trails

• Encryption and DRM

ECMP-9 – Findability

• Retention and disposition

• Exporting and transferring records

• Destruction of records

• Post-disposition considerations

ECMP-10 – Delivery & presentation

• Managing records without an ERMS

• Technology options

• Basic content services

• Implementation models

• Software certifications

ECMP-11 – Trends & directions

• Storage concepts

• Storage technologies

• Selecting the appropriate storage

Specialist. This course answers the question, "How do I implement ECM?" It is available online or instructor-led; the instructor-led course is available as a standalone course (infrequently) or as the second two days of the ECM Master Class.

ECMS-1 – Business assessment

• Introduction to the MIKE2 methodology

• Strategic mobilization

• Project charter

• Introduction to the SAFE architecture

• Organizational quickscan for information development

• Bundled information gathering techniques

ECMS-2 – Business strategy & blueprint

• Strategic business requirements

• Business blueprint completion

• Program review

ECMS-3 – Technology assessment & blueprint

• Requirements

• Technical architecture

• RFP process

• Technical blueprint completion

ECMS-4 – Governance

• The information governance framework

• The value and role of information governance

• Basic structure of the information governance document

• Localized governance

• Governance of content management instruments

ECMS-5 – Roadmap & project plan

• Roadmap and foundational activities

• Roadmap overview

• Project and deployment plan

• Detailed business requirements

ECMS-6 – Foundation activities

• Software development readiness

• Enterprise information architecture

• Taxonomy design

• Metadata development

• Solution architecture definition/revision

• Prototype the solution architecture

ECMS-7 – Design

• User support & operational procedures design

• Security design

• Infrastructure management process design

• User collaboration conceptual design

• User interface design

ECMS-8 – Develop, test, train

• Develop, test, train

• User support & operational procedure guides

• Technology backplane development

• Testing & training in action

ECMS-9 – Deploy, operate, closeout

• Production deployment

• Evaluation and launch

• Improvement and closeout

• The discovery plan

ECMS-10 – Change management

• Identifying and involving users

• Change readiness

• Best practices for implementing change

• Managing user expectations and needs

• Incentive strategies

Master Class. This course is available only as instructor-led. It consists of the Strategy, Practitioner, and Specialist modules as well as in-class case study activities.

For more information about any of the courses or instructor-led scheduled courses, please contact me.

How to ensure I DON'T follow you on Twitter

2009-08-04T10:37:00.002-06:00

In my previous post I noted what you can do to make sure that I unfollow you as fast as possible. In this post I'll give you some tips on how to make sure I never follow you in the first place.

When you follow me, I have email alerts turned on that, well, alert me to that act. I generally stop what I am doing and check you out immediately, so if you are an interesting person I don't miss a thing. Here's what I look for to decide whether to follow you or not:

1. You don't have a profile pic. If you have the default Twitter avatar, I am VERY unlikely to follow you because I assume you're either a spammer or just joined Twitter, and with 60% of new users unlikely to stick with it, I'm not gonna take a chance on you. Twitter makes it easy to upload a pic - do it when you create your account.

2. You don't have a bio. This is the same issue as #1, above.

3. You have a pic and/or bio, but they are very abstract. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, but I generally don't follow folks unless I can tell who they are and/or what they do. Remember, I look at you personally - and if you don't catch my interest, off you go.

4. Your following to follower ratio is way off. When you first join Twitter, I think you have to follow more people than follow you, so you can get some sense of what it's about and how to use it effectively. Gradually, most of the more active people end up either in parity or being followed by more than they follow. As of this posting I follow 382 and am followed by 773.

If you follow hundreds or thousands, and most of them don't follow you back, I assume it is because you are a bot and I won't add you. *Special case: If you have lots and lots of followers and don't follow many (or any) back, I will take a hard look at whether I want to follow you or not. I generally assume you are a celebrity of some sort, and I haven't found much use for those. There are a couple of notable exceptions, but it's been a pretty good rule for me so far.

5. Your updates are locked down. I follow about 3 people whose updates are locked down - and two of them are family members. Your odds of being the 4th are next to nil. (And the one who isn't - your days are probably numbered as well. Which would be a shame.)

6. You don't post at all. It's a waste of my time to follow you.

7. You post prolifically. I know, some days this is "do as I say, not as I do". But when I check your page, if all the updates are from today, I probably won't follow you because you'll monopolize my stream. Nobody is that fascinating. I follow not quite 400 people as of this posting and most of them average 5-10 updates/day, which is about my limit. As another rule of thumb, if you have more than 50% more updates to date than I do, I assume you're over my limit.

8. When I check your tweets, you do anything I listed in the previous post.

9. You don't interest me. Now, that may sound harsh, so let me explain. I run in a number of different social circles: legal/law/discovery, records management, Web 2.0, ECM, foodie, Hash House Harriers, beer, Gov 2.0, and some others. If you are in real estate, a comedian, a celebrity, or something that is not in one of my circles, I am extremely unlikely to follow you. Simply living in Denver, Aurora, or Colorado is insufficient. So far I am adding all ARMA and AIIM members that I find, subject to the limits of the previous post.

10. Your bio asserts that you are an expert, guru, maven, thought leader, or anything of that nature. If you have to tell me you are....

So. Off the soapbox for now. I don't know whether I should write a post about how to get me to follow you - if you don't do anything listed in here, and don't do anything from the last post, AND you follow me, I'll almost certainly follow you back.

How to get me to UNfollow you on Twitter

2009-07-31T07:04:00.003-06:00

I like to think I'm pretty easygoing on following people on Twitter. If you follow me, I'll manually check your account to see whether I want to follow back. If you don't immediately look like a spammer (post to come), I'll follow you. But be warned - I triage who I follow ruthlessly. It's not about the numbers for me but rather the value. Here, in no particular order, are the top reasons I will drop you like a bad habit:

1. You don't tweet. I use Twitoria, a great little service that will tell you how long it's been since those you follow have tweeted. I think it defaults to two weeks, but I usually have mine set to 30 days. If you haven't updated your status in 30 days, you're gone. After all, it's not like I'm missing anything anyway - and 140 characters in 30 days is not exactly onerous.

2. You do tweet - and it's political. There are a few folks I follow that are political types, and for them it's OK, just like the ones that tweet their dinner but who are foodies. But most of the people I follow I do so for different reasons. If you post something every once in a while, or around a pretty important 2008 presidential election campaign, I get it; I'm talking about the folks who are full-blown political hacks (and this is regardless of your actual position on the issues). You don't know as much as you think you do - and when you prove it, I move on.

3. You f---ing tweet like a f---ing sailor. I curse too - and in meatspace I'll peel the paint off your front room if ya want me too. But why waste precious characters on a four-letter word? I won't unfollow you for the odd f-bomb. But I also don't want to follow people for whom that's the most fully developed portion of their vocabulary.

4. You seek to enlist me for your cause - no matter how noble or just. Post the odd tweet once or twice a week? OK. Post 10 tweets a day seeking my assistance to save the ? Off with you. Yes, I have a no soliciting sign on my door, too.

5. You're abusive to others. If you start slagging someone for their stupidity, n00b-ness, sheer evil, idolatry, whatever - you're gone. I get plenty of tweets per day without reading your ranting.

6. All you do is sell. It's a cliche by now that the best selling involves listening. And I post self-serving stuff too. But lots of folks don't post anything BUT sales pitches. ECM vendors, I'm looking at some of you (though you're by no means alone)....Engage me in conversation. I still probably won't buy, but I'll at least give you the benefit of the doubt.

7. You are obsessed with follower numbers. I know there are people who are, and I don't mind the odd mention of them. But the "I'm soooooooo close to 10K followers - only 9,184 to go! Pls RT and follow!" will ensure you lose at least one of your current followers.

8. You don't engage. When I ping someone that has thousands or tens of thousands they follow, I don't really expect a response and I'd be thrilled to get one. But if you follow 22 people, and I ping you a couple of times about something, some type of response is really appropriate. Too long without some acknowledgement and I assume you've stopped following me - and I hasten to return the favor.

9. You post links with no context. Now, this won't get me to unfollow you for a while. But I won't click a link without context unless it's from someone I *really* trust - which is a fairly short list. And with the Twitter API spamming running around, the list is even shorter. And if that's all you post, I get no value from you.

10. You unfollow me or don't follow back. I don't follow everyone that follows me - I get it. But there are very few twitterati out there that are so insightful, valuable, interesting, and original that I'll follow them without reciprocation. Here's the reason: if you don't follow me, I can't DM you. And if you're one of those people that follow, I follow back, and you unfollow, so you "juice" your ratio of following to followers - I will drop you like you're hot.

There are other reasons I'll unfollow you as well, but these are the big ones. Now, if you've done one of these and I unfollowed you, and you wanna get me back, fix what you've done and THEN post a tweet to @jessewilkins. I check that regularly and I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Again. :)

Housekeeping: speaking topics

2009-07-28T11:35:00.004-06:00

This post lists the various titles of presentations I've delivered since about 2003 and should give you some idea of the types of topics I tend to cover. I can certainly cover other topics, of course, and tailor these to specific circumstances, audiences, tools, or processes. It's just that I have these "canned" so all I'd need to do to deliver them is to freshen them up with the latest information.

Email and Instant Messaging

• The Business Case for Email Management

• Approaches to Email Management

• Email Management for the Organization

• Creating an Effective Email Policy

• Identifying and Classifying E-Messages as Records

• Email Management Technologies

• Selecting the Right Email Management Technology

• Email Archiving Ain’t Records Management: How to Manage Email Messages as Records

• 10 Tips for Better Email Management

• Managing Your Email Better – By Managing Less of It!

• Compliant Instant Messaging

• Instant Headache: Managing Instant Messaging

• The AIIM Email Management Certificate Program (2-4 day training course)

Records Management

• Technology and Compliance

• Getting Started with Electronic Records Management

• Storing, Securing, and Shredding: A Gentle Introduction to Electronic Records Management

• Emerging Trends in Records Management

• Records Management for Non-Records Managers

• The Role of Records Managers in Information Management Compliance

• Managing Paper and Electronic Records

• Inventorying Your Electronic Records

• Tips & Tricks for Managing Electronic Records

• Electronic Records and Document Management Systems Implementation: Start to Finish

• Electronic Records Management: A Checklist for Success

• Implementing an Electronic Records Program: The Issues, Challenges, and Strategies

• Technology and Electronic Records Management

• Legal & Regulatory Compliance Issues

• Electronically Stored Information: A Checklist

• Managing Electronic Records Without an ERMS

• The AIIM ERM Certificate Program (2-4 day training course)

Records Management and IT

• Records Management for IT: Strategies for Electronic Records Management

• The Role of IT and Records Managers in Managing Electronic Documents and Records

• IT’s Role in Managing Electronic Records

Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

• Enterprise Content Management: Capture

• Designing and Optimizing a Document Imaging System

• Forms Processing: A Primer

• Designing an Imaging System

• Introduction to Document Management Technologies

• The CompTIA CDIA+ Course (2-3 day training course)

• The AIIM ECM Certificate Program (2-4 day training course)

Professional Development

• Professional Development for the RIM Practitioner

• Professional Development: The CDIA+ Program

• Professional Development: The AIIM Certificate Programs

Storage Technologies

• Best Practices for Optical Storage

• Emerging Trends in Optical Storage

• Compliant Content Storage

• Optical Storage for Records Managers

Digital Preservation

• Accessing Your Electronic Records in 5, 50, 500 Years

• Strategies for Preservation of Electronic Information

Blogs, Wikis, RSS, Twitter

• Blogs, Wikis, and RSS, Oh My!

• Blog This! Wiki That! A Gentle Introduction to Blogs & Wikis

• Blogging in the Enterprise

• Enabling and Managing Wikis in the Enterprise

• Blogs & Wikis in the Enterprise

• Really Simple RSS

• Twitter This: A Gentle Introduction to Microblogging

Collaborative Technologies

• Collaborative Tools and Records Management

• Compliance 2.0: Compliance in the Collaboration Age

• How to Manage Enterprise 2.0 Tools for Compliance

• Managing Your Electronic Collaboration as Records

• Records Management 2.0: Managing Records in the Cloud

• Introduction to Social Networking for Records Managers

You can also find my most recent presentations (since 2008) on Slideshare.

RM, library, and archives people on Twitter

2009-07-28T09:36:00.004-06:00

This list is both broader and narrower. All of these are people I follow on Twitter; most of them are focused on records management, but some are librarians or archivists whose interests overlap into ERM. Again, if you know anyone I'm missing AND who is active on Twitter, let me know and I'll add them; and if you are one of these and want a brief blurb (full name, company, and/or geo location) ping me and I'll add them.

@jessewilkins (me)

Update 8/23/2009: How could I forget @msarchive, my soon-to-be prof at SJSU?

ECM people on Twitter

2009-07-28T09:27:00.004-06:00

This is just a quick list of ECM folks I follow on Twitter. I'll try to come back later and put more details around each one. If you *are* one of these people and want to provide a Twitter-length bio, happy to add it. If you know someone you think should be added, let me know that as well. BUT - if it's someone who has an account that hasn't been updated in the last 30 days, I won't add it. Just so you know. :)

@dgschultz - Doug Schultz, Principal Consultant at Access Sciences

@jessewilkins (me)

@jmancini77 - John Mancini, President, AIIM International

@skjekkeland - Atle Skjekkeland, VP, AIIM International

@boblarrivee - Bob Larrivee, AIIM International

@hannsKK - Hanns Kohler-Kruner, AIIM International

@jarrodgingras - Analyst, CMSWatch

@cmswatch

@piewords - Laurence Hart

Housekeeping: (re)Introduction

2009-07-27T15:16:00.007-06:00

This post is the first of a series of what I will call "housekeeping" posts. These are general posts that I will do periodically that relate to who I am, what I do, etc. professionally. Upcoming housekeeping posts will include a list of presentations I've delivered over the last few years; links to articles I've written; and a list of where you can find me on the various social media tools like Twitter.

By way of very brief background, I'm an ECM, ERM, and email guy from my days with IMR and their flagship Alchemy product line. I left IMR in 2004 and joined IMERGE Consulting; in 2007 I left them and joined Access Sciences Corporation, where I am today.

I work as a Principal Consultant, meaning my time is split between delivering client-billable work, business development (finding and qualifying new opportunities, writing and reviewing proposals, and much of my association stuff below), and training, including the AIIM ECM, ERM, and Email Management Certificate Programs and the CompTIA CDIA+ course.

I served on the AIIM International Board of Directors from 2004-2005 and on a number of AIIM committees, including the Professional Advisory Council, the MIT Accreditation Committee, the Master Accreditation Committee, the 2004 Conference Planning Team, and several standards committees and efforts. I also served on the AIIM Rocky Mountain Chapter Board of Directors for several years including two stints as President.

I currently serve on the ARMA International Board of Directors (2007-2010) and have served on a number of ARMA committees and task forces including the Email Management Task Force, the Professional Competencies Task Force, the Technology Advisory Committee, and the Member Relations Committee.

I've previously been a member of, and volunteered with, Xplor, TAWPI, and CompTIA, including serving on the Xplor Curriculum Task Force, the TAWPI ICP Blue Ribbon Commission, and the CompTIA CDIA+ Post-Cornerstone Committee.

I do a lot of writing and speaking on topics related to my interests above. I typically speak at about a dozen AIIM and ARMA chapters a year and have been fortunate to be selected to speak at every AIIM and ARMA national conference since 2003. I generally post my slides to my Slideshare account once I've delivered the presentation.

In my spare time I do a lot of reading and writing. I try to keep in shape with racquetball, working out, and the Hash House Harriers. I cook pretty well, including Thai, Mexican, American, and chocolate. I like really good beer; in Colorado, that's pretty easy to come by.

I'm also a CRM candidate and will be taking CRM Part 6 on August 6. And I will be starting the San Jose State MARA program in August as well.

Email is still the best way to reach me: jwilkins13@gmail.com. Twitter is good too. :)

AIIM ERM Certificate Program Outline

2009-07-26T12:43:00.004-06:00

Here is the outline for the 2009 revision to the AIIM ERM Master Class. I revised the course based on comments to the original 2006 edition, changes in the ERM landscape in the last 3 years, new technologies, and legal and compliance updates. I also tried to focus more on ISO 15489, ISO 26122, and other related standards.

Strategy Class. This course addresses the question, "Why ERM?". It is only offered as an instructor-led course and can be taken either standalone or as the first half-day of the ERM Practitioner and ERM Master Class.

Outline:

Introduction to ERM
ERM today
Business drivers and the case for ERM
Roles and responsibilities for ERM

Practitioner. This course answers the question, "What is ERM?" and is offered online and instructor-led. The instructor-led course can be taken as a stand-alone course or as the first two days of the ERM Master Class.

Outline:

ERMP-1 – Introduction

Terminology
Key ERM concepts
Records management principles

ERMP-2 – Creating and capturing records

Types of records
Determining what to capture
Approaches to capture
Capturing and managing physical records

ERMP-3 – Metadata

Metadata concepts
Metadata sources
Applying metadata to records
Automated metadata collection

ERMP-4 – Introduction to classification

Introduction to classification
Classification concepts
Classifications schemes
Classification categories

ERMP-5 – Developing classification tools

The records inventory
Developing a classification scheme
Developing a file plan
Developing a retention schedule

ERMP-6 – Classifying records

How to classify records
Autocategorization
Tagging and folksonomies

ERMP-7 – Search, retrieval and presentation

Search and retrieval concepts
Presentation and rendition
Annotation and redaction

ERMP-8 – Controls and security

Governance and instruments
Security and access controls
Audit trails
Encryption and DRM

ERMP-9 – Retention and disposition

Retention and disposition
Exporting and transferring records
Destruction of records
Post-disposition considerations

ERMP-10 – Records management technologies

Managing records without an ERMS
Technology options
Basic content services
Implementation models
Software certifications

ERMP-11 – Electronic records storage

Storage concepts
Storage technologies
Selecting the appropriate storage

ERMP-12 – Digital preservation

Introduction to digital preservation
Risk factors and issues
Approaches to preservation
The migration plan

Specialist. This course answers the question, "How do I implement ERM?". It is available online or instructor-led; the instructor-led course is available as a standalone course (infrequently) or as the second two days of the ERM Master Class.

Outline:

ERMS-1 – Preliminary investigation

Introduction to ERM implementation
Define the scope of the program
Key stakeholders
The program charter

ERMS-2 – Business analysis

The business assessment
The technology assessment
The program roadmap

ERMS-3 – Business case

Introduction to the business case
Elements of the business case
Benefits of the ERM program
How to develop the business case

ERMS-4 – Requirements

Introduction to requirements
Defining requirements
Requirements for an ERM system

ERMS-5 – Governance

The governance framework
Roles and tools
Standards and audits
The policy development framework

ERMS-6 – Designing the records system

Process design
Technology design
Support design

ERMS-7 – Implementation

The pilot and model office
Implementation and rollout
Change management

ERMS-8 – Post-implementation

Go-live and project closure
Benefits realization
Continuous improvement

ERMS-9 – Discovery and disclosure

Discovery and disclosure
Review of case law and issues
Electronic discovery reference model
The discovery plan

ERMS-10 – Enterprise ERM

ERM in the enterprise
Trans-jurisdictional ERM
ERM and enterprise IT

ERMS-11 – Emerging issues in ERM

ERM and email
ERM and mobile devices
Records management 2.0

Master Class. This course is available only as instructor-led. It consists of the Strategy, Practitioner, and Specialist modules as well as in-class case study activities.

For more information about any of the courses or instructor-led scheduled courses, please contact me.

OT: Recipe: Corn Bisque

2009-07-18T16:55:00.007-06:00

This recipe is really divided into two parts: the bisque and the garnishes. I use this soup as one of three for my "two-soup" bowls, along with my black bean soup and my red pepper bisque. The same garnishes would work for the two-soup presentation as well.

The recipe is based on a corn bisque recipe from Epicurious, but I have modified it significantly for my palate and based on cooking it several times.

Corn Bisque

-----------

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil

7 cups corn kernels (about 14 ears or 3.5 15-oz cans of corn or 3 lbs frozen)

1 tbsp butter

2 cups onions, chopped

1/2 cup carrot, diced

1/2 cup celery, diced

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or chipotle chile powder

6 cups chicken stock

1 cup half and half

Garnishes

1 tsp olive oil

1 red bell pepper, sliced into matchsticks

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/2 tsp chipotle chile powder

1/2 tsp salt or lime salt

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss corn and olive oil. Place mixture in large roasting pan. Cook for 20-25 minutes, turning every few minutes, until corn is fragrant but not yet chewy.

2. Remove all but one cup of corn and set aside. Put the pan back into the oven and cook another 15-20 minutes until corn is darker and chewy. Remove from oven and set aside.

3. Melt butter in large, heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrot and celery and saute 4 minutes or until fragrant. Add 6 cups of cooked corn and pepper or chile powder and saute 3 minutes. Add chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered until vegetables are tender, 30 minutes.

4. Working in small batches, puree soup in blender. Return soup to pot and mix in half and half. Heat on medium-low 5 minutes.

5. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper and saute until crisp-tender, 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

6. Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the chipotle chile powder and salt or lime salt.

7. To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Add several slices of the sauteed pepper, some of the caramelized corn, a dollop of whipped cream, then some crumbled bacon. Serve.

Finished product:

Principles of email management

2009-05-12T08:27:00.003-06:00

The first generally accepted email principle IN THE U.S. is that email belongs to the organization. So let me start with the disclaimer that this is often NOT true outside the U.S.

But generally speaking, in the U.S. there is more deference to the notion that if the computer, the network, the software, etc. are provided by the organization, anything created with that belongs to the organization, particularly if it's done on the organization's time. To further buttress this argument, many organizations require employees to periodically acknowledge such organizational ownership of content - for example, by signing off on an employment agreement or HR policy to that effect. Others are even more direct and cause a dialog box to appear when the employee logs onto the network or into the email application. The dialog box usually reads something like

By clicking OK and logging into Outlook you agree that SomeCompany owns any messages sent or received and that you have no right to or expectation of privacy while using SomeCompany's messaging systems.

Employee acknowledges and the email client opens.

Now, there are some interesting cases going on right now in the public sector that question this even when public sector employees are using public sector computer services and even under Open Records Acts or their equivalents. The gist of it is that employees have been caught doing things they aren't supposed to, like taking bribes, having affairs, etc. using their employers' computers. A local activist, newspaper, etc. files an Open Records Act request and the employee (or employer!) contest it on the grounds that the activity in question isn't related to the mission of the agency and therefore does not fall under the Act. Not sure I agree with that interpretation, but I'm not a lawyer. The immediate issue here then is to a) follow the law and b) watch this space carefully!

The next principle is that email is a business tool. Various surveys from AIIM and others indicate that 99+% of organizations use email as a vital part of their everyday business, ranging from sending and accepting payments or contracts via email to collaborating and developing decisions. Indeed, email is a mission-critical application in almost every organization - and if you don't accept that assertion, have your IT staff turn email off for a week.

Email should be used appropriately. This means of course that it should not be used to send offensive materials like jokes, pornography, music files, etc. It also shouldn't be used excessively for person traffic - for example, sending around chain letters, funny screensavers with dancing elves, requests to support this charity or that cause, and so forth. And many organizations' email policies come from HR and legal and address those types of concerns.

But email should also be used when it is the appropriate tool - and not when it isn't. Email is not that good a tool for collaboration. Nor is it the best tool for keeping employees informed. We'll talk more about this later in the series.

Email should be managed according to its value to the organization - and more specifically, according to its contents. That means that different messages will have different value, depending on whether a message is the only receipt for a transaction or whether it lists who will bring desserts to the company potluck - last year. This principle includes a number of corollaries:

Email is not a records series. There is no reason to list email on the retention schedule, any more than a schedule would list "microfilm", "Word documents", or "white 24-lb bond". Email is the medium - the content is what determines the value of the message.
Email is more than "correspondence". Sometimes organizations have a general classification or records series for correspondence - but an email that is the receipt for a transaction or the acceptance of a proposal has different retention than cordial correspondence between a CEO or agency head and an industry group.
Not all messages need to be saved - and they certainly don't need to be saved forever. This is a challenge for many organizations because of both the perceived risk of destroying messages and the perceived benefit of keeping everything for trending, knowledge management, etc. Storage is cheap, the reasoning goes, so what's the harm? The harm is that the bigger the haystack, the more painful and expensive it is to sift through it. Consider that if the average employee sends/receives 140 messages/day, according to IDC, for a 1,000-user organization that's 140,000 messages/day, or 3 million messages/month, or 35,000,000 messages per year. When, not if, the subpoena, audit, or Open Records Act request is received, how much will it cost to effectively sift through that? The answer is MUCH more than you think. If you don't believe me - ask your legal staff how long it would take to review that body for discovery, and ask IT how long it would take to produce, say, all messages from your senior management from Jan 1, 2007 - June 1, 2008.

The next principle is that users have to be trained on expectations for these principles. Users must understand that it isn't their email and the potential risk to the organization of keeping everything forever OR of getting rid of email inappropriately. I like to remind users that there really is no such thing as "the only copy" of an email - once it's been sent, it's in a number of places, and once it's been sent to someone outside the firewall the recipient could keep it forever, print it, etc.

The last principle is that email policies and procedures have to be enforced consistently, all the time, and across the organization. This is not to say that different departments might not have different mailbox sizes or rules regarding attachments. But it does mean that whatever the policy is has to be enforced all the time, not simply when users remember or when it's convenient. It's an old canard in records management but it bears repeating: it's better to NOT have a policy at all - than to have one and not follow it. Ignorance and stupidity can sometimes be excused (and arguably not having a policy today is one or both) - but when adherence to the policy is called into question, it's generally interpreted unfavorably at best and suspiciously at worst. So write a policy that everyone can understand, train them on the policy, and audit compliance with it periodically.

In the next post we'll look more specifically at some of the business drivers for email management, including operational, legal, and regulatory drivers. In the meantime, if you have questions, comments or concerns, email me. :)