Compliance Means Regulation Claims Report

August 16th, 2006: Latest report from the US-based Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), entitled Compliance: It's Real, It's Relevant, and It's More Than Just Records says 'Compliance' means 'Government'.

AIIM, which calls itself The Enterprise Content Management Association, has released a report compiled from the feedback of more than 700 end users, and sponsored by EMC, FileNet, Tower Software, Xerox and Stellent in which states that, 'awareness of what constitutes compliance is extremely narrow.'

Bearing in mind that draws its data from users in the United States and United Kingdoms. Australia and New Zealand are considered by many in the ECM environment to be more developed in terms of document - and records - management. However, weighing against this is the fact that 'compliance' as an issue is still in a confused state, with federal legislation - or good local corporate governance - in place. However, with these geographical caveats in place, AIIM President John Mancini's comments on the report should stil be of concern. Commenting on the report, entitled Compliance: It's Real, It's Relevant, and It's More Than Just Records, he said, "When users view the term 'compliance' in their organizations in relation to information management, their recognition is limited primarily to government regulations (84.2%), litigation (62.1%), and paper records management (52.0%)."

When it comes to compliance, the weakest link is electronic documentation. In a series of questions focused on individual responsibility for retention of records, user understanding of the definition of records, and policies governing management of information, end users indicate that they are much more comfortable managing paper information than electronic information.

• Nearly three in four end-users agree that the individuals responsible for retaining paper records are clearly identified in their organisationvs. barely half when considering retention of electronic information.
• Nearly 64% of end users believe that there is widespread understanding of what paper records are and how they should be retained vs. 34% when considering electronic records.
• 65% of end users believe they have clear policies in place related to paper information in the event of litigation vs. 39% when considering electronic information.

For most forms of important paper documentation, 70-80% of end users feel a high level of confidence (or at least some degree of confidence) in their systems and processes. Of course this does not mean that these paper documents are being handled in the most effective and efficient manner. There is great evidence that even though organisations appear "comfortable" with their management of paper-based information from a compliance perspective, there are still incredible process efficiencies to be gained from turning all this paper into digital information.

Mr. Mancini notes, "There are some who believe that compliance-related demands of information management have crested. However, the data suggests that most organizations have only just begun to seriously consider compliance related to organizational content.

"Even among some large organisations, there is still much room for action. Over 50% of survey respondents describe themselves as at a very early stage in considering compliance requirements either as 'we have not yet begun' or 'we have begun, but much remains to be done.'"

The report's key findings are summarised as:

• Organizations are still at the beginning stages of determining compliance requirements.
• When it comes to compliance, the weakest link is electronic information.
• End users have a disturbingly narrow view of compliance and what it means for their organization, perhaps because of an over emphasis in the media on such legislation as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA.
• Users have an intuitive feel that "something" is wrong within their organizations relative to managing electronic information, but are having a difficult time mounting a systematic and disciplined approach to meeting the challenge.
• When it comes to compliance, Records Managers have a seat on the bus but they aren't driving it.

This Industry Watch survey on compliance was conducted during May and June 2006, and was administered through an online survey instrument, zoomerang.com. A total of 741 end users participated in the survey. 582 of the 741 survey participants were from the US or the UK.

Distribution of responses by organisation size was as follows:

• 1 to 100 (15.8%)
• 101 to 500 (18.5%)
• 501 to 1,000 (11.4%)
• 1,001 to 10,000 (28.3%)
• 10,001 to 50,000 (16.8%)
• Over 50,000 (9.2%).

Major vertical industries represented in the survey were:

• Government & Public Services Provincial, State, or Local Level (17.0%)
• Banking & Finance (9.7%)
• Utilities, Oil & Gas (9.7%)
• Manufacturing & Engineering (8.4%)
• Government & Public Services Central or Federal Government (7.2%)
• Insurance (6.5%)
• Healthcare (5.9%)

The full study is available to fully paid-up members of AIIM at:
AIIM

Comment on this story.