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Contents
Introduction 4
Choosing the Right Option 5
Option 1: Out of the Box 6
Option 2: Build it Yourself 8
Option 3: Integration to Existing System 9 Option 4: Native SharePoint Plug-In 11
Introduction
More and more organisations have settled on SharePoint as the platform of choice to deliver their enterprise wide solutions. SharePoint provides many capabilities, however, organisations need to review their records management requirements carefully, to ensure that the option they select delivers a usable, compliant solution for both the end user and the records manager. Although it is important that your organisation achieves compliance, it is more important, that your organisation does not cripple the end user experience in order to meet that compliance obligation. No matter how compliant the system – if users don’t or won’t use it then compliance is an illusion.
SharePoint is a very attractive proposition for organisations, as it offers a wide range of capabilities all delivered on the one platform. As a Microsoft product it provides a familiar interface for end users meaning a lower change impact. It also provides sophisticated document management capabilities as well as some records management features.
The key question facing many organisation is whether this functionality is sufficient to make SharePoint a true enterprise Records Management solution? In addition, managing records on SharePoint brings into play the delicate balancing act of achieving compliance without degrading the end user
experience and losing the benefits that make SharePoint so attractive to users in the first place!
This paper reviews a number of options to make SharePoint a viable records management solution and outlines the pros, cons and business scenarios for each option. Organisations that are considering using SharePoint as their collaboration platform and are also looking to achieve compliance, need to carefully weigh up the options and ensure they balance the needs of their users with their obligations.
“Although it is
important to achieve
compliance, it is more
important
Defining the key business drivers and success factors is the first step. Among many other requirements, organisations need to consider their alignment to their IT Strategy, the Cloud, future upgrades and usability. The following questions are a starting point to assist organisations understand their priorities and select the option that meets their needs.
There are 4 potential options to manage records in SharePoint:
Out of the box: Just using SharePoint 2013
Custom Build: Build it yourself on top of the platform Connector: Integrate into an existing legacy system
Plugin: Use a native SharePoint tool effort and encouraging adoption.
Choosing the Right
Option
Do users understand
records and if not how
will the change be
managed?
• Do users understand records and if not how will the change be managed? • Is there a desire in IT to consolidate platforms and reduce costs?
• Is upgradeability and support important? • Are there any plans to move to the Cloud? • What are the physical records requirements? • What are the compliance requirements?
• Traditionally, does the organisation prefer custom built or ‘off the shelf’ software? • If custom, how successful have those project being in the past and how has this impacted upgrades?
Out of the box SharePoint provides two mechanisms for managing records. Records can be managed ‘in-place’ (i.e. in the collaboration site in which they were created) or can be archived to a separate site using a specific template known as the ‘Records Centre’.
The table below outlines each option and the implications.
From a usability perspective, there are compromises for either the end user or the Records Manager.
In-place is great for the end user, as all records are maintained in the
originating site, however it is a poor user experience for the records manager, as records are dispersed across SharePoint and therefore difficult to manage. The Records Centre is a good user experience for the records manager as it
houses all records in one area, however it is a poor user experience for the end user, as once a record is put in the records centre it becomes less accessible and its security could be compromised.
Option 1: Out of the
Box
“From a usability
per-spective, there are
compromises for
ei-ther the end user or
the Records Manager”
Options Description Implications
In Place This means the document remains in the collaboration or team site in which it was created.
• This relies on users consciously declaring documents as records so the appropriate records management controls can be applied.
• No centralised interface for Records Managers to manage records across the organisation’s SharePoint environment. Records
Centre
Documents are ‘declared’ as records and moved to a centralised records area where they are managed through to the end of their life.
• When a record is sent to a Records Centre, the SharePoint metadata recording the author and date of creation is overwritten with metadata recording the user who declared the record to the Records Centre and the date this occurred. This creates a misleading audit trail and may have implications for retention.
• When a record is sent to a Records Centre its version history is erased.
• Records moved to a Records Centre do not maintain their permissions, instead they inherit the permissions of their new location in the Record Centre, potentially
The benefit of using SharePoint out of the box is that it retains the Microsoft user experience and is also a 100% SharePoint solution. However, this is really only an option if your organisation has very basic records management needs and has no requirement to be compliant with accepted records standards.
Out of the box is only
really an option if your
organisation has very
basic records
manage-ment needs and no
limited compliance
requirements.
Pros
Familiar User Interface 100% SharePoint Solution
Sufficient for organisations with basic records management requirements and no compliance requirements
Cons
Does not meet the international standards of ISO 15489 or ISO 16175 or local standards such as VERS in Australia or MoReq in the UK and Europe. Does not scale very well for large enterprises with lots of records.
Potentially degrades the end user experience as users need actively to declare records.
Disposal Process is limited and cumbersome for large numbers of records No capability to manage physical or hybrid (mixed electronic and physical) records.
Does not support long term preservation for documents created outside of the MS Suite.
Can only aggregate (create files) against lists, sites or content types. Limited audit logging for records.
Metadata integrity compromised once sent to records centre. Version History is not maintained (see table above).
Security permissions on records compromised if using Records Centres.
Business Scenario
This may work for small businesses with a few employees who create limited content and who have very simple records management requirements and have no physical records management
Given the limitations of Option 1, some organisations may consider building out the functionality themselves. Requirements need to be carefully considered before commencing this journey.
Although some organisations may see benefit in building a bespoke solution, most IT organisations are not equipped to either build these types of solutions or pay off the level of ‘technical debt’ required to ensure they remain relevant to the business as both the technology and compliance landscape change.
Option 2: Build it
Yourself
Pros
Familiar User Interface 100% SharePoint Solution
The solution has been designed and developed to specifically meet the organisation’s needs
Cons
Not certified against required standards (MoReq, VERS, etc).
The cost of deployment and maintenance is unknown and as with any custom development can often ‘blow out’
Skills and resources required to maintain a custom solution. It can seriously hamper future upgrades
Could impact the ability for the solution to be hosted in the cloud. Could impact the supportability of the overall solution.
Business Scenario
This approach might work for an organisation who has simple records requirements and has an appetite for custom developed applications and a budget to support this approach.
The cost of
Some organisations already have an existing records solution and may consider purchasing a “connector” to integrate into SharePoint. Does this approach offer the best of both worlds?
You might think you would end up with a great collaboration platform for sharing documents, connected to a separate solution that manages the document lifecycle and records management functionality.
The reality tends to be a little different, with organisations often compromising the end user experience that make SharePoint attractive in the first place. This is because this type of solution usually requires the SharePoint Design to mirror or closely align with the records structure in your records solution. The way information is organised in these legacy records systems is driven from a records perspective with users usually confused as to where they store and find their content.
Additionally, this approach increases the cost of ownership as it requires users to interact and be trained on both systems. Most of these solutions also result in duplicate content which creates issues for IT (double the storage) and for the Records Manager (which is the record – the one in SharePoint or the one in the records system?).
Option 3: Integrate to
an Existing Legacy
System
Pros
Leverages existing software within the organisation
No need to migrate from the legacy records management solution Can meet relevant compliance standards.
Cons
Future upgrades of Office applications and other software could be impacted as the records management solution may lag behind with compatible connectors.
Maintain licensing for both platforms—increasing cost Cost of operational support for both platforms
Two instances of the record (one in SharePoint and one in the records system).
Increased change management as training users on two systems Degrades the end user experience as structure driven by records requirements not by their business needs
Users still need to understand records as the legacy system dictates the taxonomy and requires declaration of records into the solution.
Limited ability to manage non-traditional content (such as web pages, social media, etc.)
Users still need to
understand records
as the legacy system
dictates the taxonomy
and requires
declara-tion of records into
the solution.
Business Scenario
Option 4: Native
SharePoint Plug-In
The last option to consider is a plug-in to SharePoint, such as RecordPoint, that extends the functionality to enable compliance with the various standards e.g. ISO 16175, VERS and MoReq. This is a more cost effective alternative than integrating into an existing records management solution as there is only one platform to maintain and support records creation.
It also removes the ‘declare’ process thereby removing additional records management steps for the end user. Solutions like RecordPoint offer a
sophisticated rules based classification that ensures the end user experience is not degraded by enforcing records management constructs. It also enables users to manage physical and hybrid records on the same platform.
There are also considerable advantages from an IT perspective as there is only one platform to maintain and this approach facilitates a more consistent architecture across the technology stack. As the technology is SharePoint there are fewer issues with the records system dictating the release of new versions of Microsoft Office or SharePoint as releases usually align with Microsoft release cycles.
Thinking beyond the traditional on premise solutions, some tools such as RecordPoint integrate further into the Microsoft ecosystem and will support a transition to the Cloud e.g. Office 365, Azure or hosted SharePoint solutions. This approach frees up the user to concentrate on their day to day work free of records considerations and it removes blockages to IT strategy whether that be the introduction of new releases of desktop products, the use of social tools like Yammer or moving to the Cloud. For the records team it still provides the tools and capabilities to manage records at scale and meet the organisation’s obligations
Pros
Leverages investment in SharePoint 100% SharePoint platform
Non-traditional content such as social media can be record managed
Documents are captured as records immediately (no declare process)
Users stay in SharePoint and have one ‘source of truth’.
Capacity for rules based classification that enables a user centric design
Familiar user interface so reduced change and training overhead Keeps pace with Microsoft Office and SharePoint upgrades Support transition to the Cloud
Cons
Possible migration required from existing Records System
Business Scenario
This approach would work for an organisation who wishes to leverage the investment they have made in SharePoint and wants to keep a user centric design with record keeping hidden. It also supports a consistent IT architecture and platform with reduced cost of ownership.
This approach avoids
the challenge of the
records
system constraining
initiatives whether that
be the
About RecordPoint
RecordPoint was created to cost effectively expand the native capabilities in SharePoint and Office 365 enabling their use as standards compliant, enterprise grade record keeping solutions.
RecordPoint addresses the local compliance challenge by leveraging and extending the native document and records management capabilities in Microsoft SharePoint and Office 365 to provide a 100% Microsoft solution that is built to meet global and local record keeping standards (including ISO16175, VERS and MoReq) that were previously cost prohibitive or technically unfeasible. With a focus on usability for end users, RecordPoint hides records processes from end users increasing adoption and minimising change management.
Visit: recordpoint.com
Contact: [email protected]
