Wednesday 19 November 2008

Do you run serious records management?

I received a curiously titled email the other day (it was a commercial sales one from Aiim, no doubt received by lots of records professionals, so no confidences being broken).

Its subject heading was 'Do you run serious records management?' (as opposed to what: trivial records management, fun records management?...) It was advertising a one day training event in Slough around Moreq2. Aside from the title, the email's opening lines also struck me as interesting:

Does your organisation have a heavyweight records management obligation?
If so, MoReq2 - the Model Requirements Specification for the Management of Electronic Records - is something you need to know about.


I think this is probably the first time I have seen an open and 'official' admission that the kind of 'heavyweight' RM systems covered by Moreq and formally by the TNA testing regime are only likely to prove suitable in a limited number of specific, 'niche' areas. It definitely seems as though the days when EDRMS were being touted as the answer for organisations large and small and from every sector under the sun have well and truly gone for good. Certainly, despite its slightly odd tone, the email's title also implies that we are witnessing a welcome return to the notion of 'fitness for purpose' when it comes to records management - rather than the recent assumption that 'one size fits all'

2 comments:

David T. Macknet said...

An interesting interpretation.

Personally, I would read it that the marketing spin here would be assuming that most people would respond that, "of course they have a heavyweight records management obligation," so the marketing would accomplish 1) self-identification of a target audience, and 2) perception of this product as one which is appropriate for "serious" records management.

And the implication in the title? That would be that, "if you don't use our product, you're a bit of a piker when it comes to records management." Or so my cynical mind tells me.

Anonymous said...

It sounds to me more like it was a slow news day. Records Management folks who run heavy or light systems are likely as aware of MoReq2 and how it will affect them as anybody else.