Electronic Document and Records Management System

Introduction1. Purpose Of Document1.1 This document sets out a detailed business case for the procurement andimplementation of a modulated Electronic Records Management System tooperate in collaboration with Microsoft SharePoint Portal 2003. It covers thepreferred business and technical options and seeks project approval for theoutline costs and scope identified.2. Abbreviations and Definitions2.1 Throughout this document the following abbreviations will be used:-• ERMS = Electronic Records Management System• EDMS = Electronic Document Management System• EDRMS = Electronic Document and Records Management System (acollaboration of ERMS and EDMS solutions).2.2 For the purposes of this project definitions for ERMS and EDMS are taken from‘Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records’ (MoReq),published by the Interchange of Data between Administrations Programme of theEuropean Commission, which provides a useful guide to the differences betweenelectronic document management systems and electronic records managementsystems:-An EDMS….Allows documents to be modifiedand/or to exist in several versionsMay allow documents to bedeleted by their ownersMay include some retentioncontrolsMay include a document storagestructure, which may be under thecontrol of usersIs intended primarily to supportday-to-day use of documents forongoing businessAn ERMS….Prevents records from being modifiedPrevents records from being deleted exceptin certain strictly controlled circumstancesMust include rigorous retention controlsMust include rigorous record arrangementstructure (the classification) which ismaintained by the administratorMay support day-to-day working, but isintended to provide a secure repository formeaningful business records3. Approval3.1 The business case will be examined by the ICT Working Party and recommendedfor approval by the Policy and Resources Committee.Background and Need for Change4. Background4.1 The Council has a large amount of knowledge tied up in many structured, semistructuredand unstructured information sources, for example hard copies storedin filing cabinets, hard copies in storage, archived records on microfilm/microfiche,electronic files in back office application systems (e.g. benefits, council tax) andrelated files held in unstructured systems such as e-mails, word documents, etc.106

4.2 The Council does not have an existing policy for records management, and thereare very few procedures in place within the Council at the present time toeffectively manage the creation, maintenance, storage, use and disposal ofrecords.4.3 The perceived importance of maintaining the traditional semi-structured paperbasedfiling systems has declined as users favour the use of technology and theease of saving information electronically. In the absence of any control, however,information is being stored electronically in unstructured systems, with no controlof versions, duplication, access or disposal. The explosion of electronicinformation storage has resulted in an equal proliferation of server facilities andthe consequential demands in maintenance.4.4 Studies have shown that employees within medium sized organisations spend anaverage of 25 minutes a day looking for information. For each 20 office-basedemployees, this equates to the equivalent of 1 full-time employee per annum.5. Drivers For Change5.1 The Council’s Mission Statements for the Resources and Performance StrategicTheme areas respectively are:-• To ensure a sound basis for service provision is delivered by effectivemanagement of the Council’s human, financial, technological and physicalresources; and• To secure continuous improvement through development in the quality ofworking practices, drawing on best experience inside and outside theCouncil, within a culture which embraces critical review and change.5.2 The Strategic Theme for Resources is supported by 6 core objectives, 3 of which(RE3, RE5 and RE6) are supported by the introduction of an EDRMS andassociated policies and procedures.• RE3 – Provide Members with the resources to assist them in decisionmaking and leadership in the community.• RE5 – Use technology to improve efficiency and service delivery.• RE6 – Ensure Council assets are maintained to maximise their useful lifeso that they are safe and accessible for users.5.3 The Strategic Theme for Performance is also supported by 6 core objectives, 2 ofwhich (PE2 and PE4) are supported by the introduction of an EDRMS andassociated policies and procedures.• PE2 - Meet the challenges of the modernisation agenda by developing theorganisational capacity.• PE4 - Achieve enhanced service through electronic service delivery.5.4 Successful management of information, with the ability for all informationmanagement system processes to deliver accurate, up-to-date information, veryquickly to whoever needs it, via various access channels, is a pre-requisite in thedelivery of the above objectives.5.5 Office accommodation at Furzehill is also at a premium. A full review of recordsand appropriate digitisation will help relieve this pressure and reduce the riskcurrently posed by the lack of backup facilities for manual records. Officeaccommodation costs have been calculated at £125 per square metre.5.6 Members will be aware from previous reports on E-Government Priority Servicesthat the ODPM Priority Outcome G19 requires the Council to Implement107

ISO15489 for records management by 31 st March, 2006. It would seem highlydesirable to align the implementation of the Document Management and RecordsManagement projects since there is clearly a high degree of commonality.5.7 Furthermore, the Lord Chancellor has published under Section 46 of the Freedomof Information Act a Code of Practice for the Management of Records. Adherenceto this Code of Practice is considered to be highly desirable to ensure compliancewith the Freedom of Information Act and other Acts of Parliament relating toinformation and record-keeping.5.8 There are also other legislative drivers in the form of the requirements of theFreedom of Information Act in general, the Data Protection Act and the DisabilityDiscrimination Act, which exert additional influence upon the way that localauthorities manage, maintain and present the data in the delivery of services.5.9 The council is required to address its responsibilities for records management andseparate reports will be presented to the Council in due course addressing allpolicy and procedural matters.6. Business Objectives6.1 The core business objectives of establishing an EDRMS solution are:-• To support the business needs of the authority for good record keeping inthe electronic age.• To enable the authority’s corporate memory to be effectively captured andsafeguarded electronically.• To enable each service unit to manage their documents, in an organisedfashion and to share information with all areas of the business whereappropriate.• To store and manage all documents centrally and allow access remotely.• To facilitate the development of a seamless link from Corporate Systems toelectronic documents.• To develop capacity to enable continuous improvement.• To improve access to Council information by delivering accurate, up-to-dateinformation, very quickly to whoever needs it.• To assist in ensuring compliance with the legal requirements of theFreedom of Information and Data Protection Acts.6.2 EDRMS is a key component that supports many elements of the ModernisingGovernment agenda. It will further support the Council in maintaining its currentCPA status and promote further progression through the:-• Modernisation of administrative processes by replacing paper-basedactivities with electronic ones;• Enhancement of management information enabling decisions to be robust,transparent and auditable;• Retention and maintenance of records delivered electronically to theCouncil and enable delivery to the citizen in a way which can servecontinuing operational needs and provide reliable evidence if required;• Promotion of joined-up working arrangements between departments andservice units by enabling information and records that represent crossdepartmentalfunctions to be shared;108

• Development of existing applications to integrate with the solution, so thatall information relating to a particular record is delivered seamlessly at thetouch of a button;• Promotion of open and accountable local government by increasing theinformation accessible to the public and staff, subject to strict accesspermissions.7. Benefits7.1 This project will provide a large number of intangible benefits included in the listbelow. As the project progresses the potential value of many of these benefits willbecome apparent.7.2 The benefits will include:-• Saving of office space• Saving of staff time in searching for documents• Delivery of appropriate incoming post in a timely fashion• Ability to share information immediately• Ability to monitor flows of information• Ability to link all elements of a record• Prevents loss of documents• Large quantities of Information can be stored, with no impact to staff• Management of correspondence• Production of management statistics• Adherence to legislative requirements of:-• the Freedom of Information Act• the Data Protection Act• the Lord Chancellor’s Code of Practice• Support of E-government targets• Implementation of ISO 15489• Capacity planning• Document archiving• Picture build up of a situation or case8. Method of Approach8.1 The National Archives, formerly the Public Records Office (PRO), provides adviceand guidance to records managers for central government and has developedfunctional specifications for ERMS solutions.8.2 The specification covers the entire life cycle of public records, in whatever format,from creation through to destruction or transfer to archive. The CoreRequirements set by the specification includes:-(a) Record Organisation(b) Record Capture, Declaration and Management(c) Search, Display and Presentation109

(d) Retention and Disposal(e) Access Control(f) Audit(g) Reporting(h) Usability(i) Design and Performance(j) Standards Compliance8.3 In addition, the specification includes optional requirements regardingAuthentication and Encryption, Document Management and the Management ofHybrid and Physical Folders.8.4 No such specification exists for local government and defining a specification foruse of ERMS within a Local Authority would be an unachievable task within theresource and time available within this project. The Lord Chancellor in his Code ofPractice further encourages Local Authorities to use this specification indeveloping their ERMS projects.8.5 The latest National Archives specification (TNA 2002) for ERMS will therefore betaken as the starting point for defining the requirements for any chosen system,although it is acknowledged that this has some associated risks. The NationalArchives also has an approval scheme for ERMS products assessed against theirfunctional requirements. It would similarly seem sensible to proceed with anapproved product.8.6 The Dorset Freedom of Information Working Group further commissionedconsultants to undertake a feasibility study of records management within all theAuthorities in Dorset. The study was funded by a grant from the ODPM. One ofthe outcomes of this project was to recommend software suppliers for ERMS. Thestudy identified a number of suppliers, however, this was a generic list and did notmake individual recommendations for each authority. It is worth highlighting,however, that the list of recommended suppliers was based on the NationalArchives approved list.8.7 At this stage, only one of the products approved against the TNA 2002specifications has been specifically tested whilst operating in collaboration withMicrosoft SharePoint Portal 2003. The National Archives website providesadditional information as to the assessment that was undertaken in evaluating theproduct:“Both the MS SharePoint and the Meridio 4.2 EDRM Accelerator interfaceswere examined throughout the test process of this integrated solution. All therequired functionality is available within the Meridio 4.2 EDRM Acceleratorinterface and some functionality is also available within the MS SharePointPortal Server 2003 interface primarily, but not exclusively, for end users. TheNational Archives approval of this product is based on users having access toboth interfaces as required.”8.8 On this basis, it is recommended that, should this business case for a full EDRMSsolution for the Council be supported, Meridio V4.2 EDRMS Accelerator beselected as the preferred solution at this stage. There is an optional workflowsolution to manage requests for information submitted under the Freedom ofInformation Act, however, the appropriateness of this solution will be assessed indetail when the project is underway.110

9. Cost9.1 A total of £65,000 was allocated for the implementation of document managementin June 2002. £34,000 has yet to be spent, £16,000 of which is ear-marked forscanning facilities.9.2 There will be costs associated with linking the EDRMS to back end systems, butthis cannot be established until post-implementation of the records managementsolution and following dialog with our back-end system suppliers. Priorities willneed to be identified against business requirement criteria.9.3 There are also costs associated with various options around scanning and thesolution chosen. A volumetric study is being undertaken to determine therequirements and options for internal/bureau scanning facilities, andcentralised/devolved scanning facilities.9.4 A scanning bureau could be used, for example, to scan documents larger that A3if insufficient quantities justified internal equipment and for appropriate backscanning.9.5 Purchasing scanners for each service area will be high, but will be more evenlyspread as the rollout would be done in a structured approach and so each time aservice area is introduced so a new scanner would be purchased. Since therollout period is expected to be relatively short so the benefits of this spread wouldbe diluted. There would be ongoing costs for the maintenance for each scanner,and then a replacement programme, as with the PC replacement programmecurrently being undertaken.9.6 Alternatively, a central scanning function, would have the highest initial set-upcosts, but would be the most efficient in the longer term as there would be little ifany costs associated with an increase in the service. As scanning would becentral, so larger scanners would be purchased, but there would be fewer of them.There would also be an initial cost to train appropriate staff.9.7 Regardless of the scanning solution chosen, a re-engineering of businessprocesses is required which will take some time. There would also be a largeamount of time involved in re-training staff, and dealing with the cultural changes.Investment Appraisal10. Do Nothing - MS SharePoint Portal 200310.1 The authority could continue to deliver information through its current channels,and not proceed with this project. This would, however, run a very real risk offailing to meet the FOI targets of delivering information requested by the citizen ina timely fashion and would not ensure compliance the Lord Chancellor’s Code ofPractice for the Management of Records, and thus render the Council liable,through non-provision of requested information.10.2 SharePoint is an extremely powerful tool. Its primary strength is that of a portal,designed to provide collaboration and productivity aids by enabling resources andinformation to be shared effectively and efficiently between multiple users, eitherin series or concurrently.10.3 However, SharePoint will not deliver all the functional requirements set by theNational Archives as set out in paragraph 8.2 above nor will it be compliant withISO 15489. As an example, a sophisticated EDRMS assigns security settings toeach Document and each Record it holds individually. This security enablesdifferent users to access the same folder and yet still have differing rights tomanage and manipulate the items held within this folder. Without this security any111

user able to delete from within the folder, would be able to delete any item(accidentally or deliberately). In addition to this highly secure environment, anEDRMS automatically creates a complete audit history for the information itmanages, providing evidence about who accessed what information, when andwhat changes were made, etc. Without an EDRMS, neither Document levelsecurity, nor an automatic audit trail would be available.10.4 There are no costs to acquiring MS SharePoint Portal 2003 since the Councilalready acquired this software through the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement. Thecosts of implementing any scanning elements would be fairly similar to the fullEDRMS solution, and so the outlay would be considerable in relation to therecords management benefits expected.10.5 ISSUES:• No management data• High risk of liability for non production of information• Continued pressure for office space due to a lack of Records Managementcontrol• Continued risk of lost documents• Dedicated resources required throughout authority to manage post• Correspondence not always responded to• Continued staff time wasted in searching for documents and files• Location of Scanners• Remote (i.e. Bureau based)• Centralised• Local (i.e. within each service area)• Back-scanning – How much should be undertaken?• Data held on Micro fiche11. EDRMS11.1 The provision of a full EDRMS solution will deliver all the benefits and facilitatecompliance with the Freedom of Information Act and the associated Codes ofPractice ensuring the provision of information in a timely fashion. Corporatemanagement information will be available and information will be controlled toensure information is retained only for as long as the business purpose requires it.Both physical and electronic storage space should be released and re-used inaccordance with approved destruction and retention policies.11.2 ISSUES:• Location of Scanners• Remote (i.e. Bureau based)• Centralised• Local (i.e. within each service area)• Back-scanning – How much should be undertaken?• Data held on micro fiche• Business process re-engineering112

• Cultural shift• The linking of EDRMS into the back office systems• The future development of internal applications to allow ERMS functionality11.3 The table below provides an outline of the likely costs associated with this project.The implementation of a records management solution is a substantialundertaking that will impact upon all service units of the Council. Detaileddiscussions will need to take place with the selected supplier to determine theexact requirements. However, the costs provided are expected to be in line withthe final costs.Estimated Outline Costs £Initials Costs:Meridio Software (250 users) 37,500.00Kofax Ascent Capture Scan station, 25K images per8,200.00month (4)Kofax Full Text PDF, 125K images per month 2,500.008 x Scanners of various speeds (up to A3) for 11,600.00centralised and devolved deploymentImplementation services of third party supplier 23,800.00Operating Server for Meridio 6,000.00Re-configuration of Storage Area Network (SAN) 2,000.00Less Allocated FundsAllocation for Scanning (16,000.00)Document Management (18,000.00)Total Initial Costs 57,600.00Recurring Revenue Costs:Hardware Maintenance 925.00Kofax Licensing 1,875.00Third party supplier telephone support 2,000.00Meridio Maintenance (250 users) 3,375.00Total Recurring Costs 8,175.0011.4 There may be additional costs in future to expand the capacity of the existingStorage Area Network (SAN) but this cannot be determined until a volumetricstudy of requirements has been completed.12. Savings12.1 As detailed in Section 7 of this report, there are likely to be some significantsavings from the introduction of a corporate EDRMS solution, however, thesehave not been quantified in the table above as they are likely to be of a capacity orintangible nature and therefore the monetary value will not be realised.12.2 It should be noted that savings were identified in the business case for documentmanagement but these have yet to be realised and therefore moving the projectforward expediently will realise these savings.113