I sympathise with Grahame's point of view, because I used to feel the same when I worked in a Government Dept' in the UK, where the need for confidentiality etc was high. I too would prefer to keep things in-house, but onl if it is done properly, and quality and cost-justified.
However, back in the late 1980s / early 1990s, economic pressures (budget cuts) drove efficiency studies in government departments, and culminated in a major study by the Prime Minister's office and the PRO (National Archive) which in turn led to more out-sourcing of storage. External service providers subsequently radically improved their service levels and prices in order to win the business. They could only do that if they met the end-user requirements. There was no question of our storing unstructured, unwanted 'stuff'.
But you are right about the 'stuff' that goes to storage (archives) without people having proper knowledge of its content etc. The house rule has to be 'we don't store anything without a good reason'. That (retention and disposal policy, review of need to retain, indexing of archives etc) is part of the archivist and RMs job. Unfortunately, as you implied, many RMs do not have that degree of authority. Perhaps that is really the issue you need to consider? The rest (improvements etc) should flow from resolving that.
Normal budget control and business finance rules apply. There are hidden costs (of doing it in-house - staff overheads, corporate overheads - I once knew of a very cheap rural warehouse which had 'corporate on-costs' added which made it as (theoretically) as expensive as a central London office block! - plus managerial time, accommodation, security, heating etc..) to consider. Often external suppliers have been criticised for 'paying peanuts' in lieu of decent wages, but that allowed them to under-cut the opposition. It also reflects the fact that we sometimes are tied to a salary and grade structure that results in us using (and I exagerate now, for effect) managerial staff to do clerical (or in the case of sub-basement storage) manual staff. A balance is needed in order to minimise costs whilst retaining a well-motivated and trustworthy workforce.
And you should ask "is it our core business?" and, "do we do it properly?". If it is not, or you do not do it well, ask "why?". Then you ought probably to delegate it to an expert, whether in-house or external. Provided you handle it right, and specify all your requirements, service levels, and penalties etc, and then competitively tender for the contract, all should be well. There are lots of very successful models for you to follow. You could, of course, do it in-house and then charge internal users - that often focuses minds on the real costs!
I think there are valid arguments for and against out-sourcing, but you need to think carefully and 'outside of the box'. Best regards, Mike (Marsh).
-----Original Message-----
From: Grahame Gould [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: mercredi, 26. février 2003 00:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: what do you think of external document archive servies
We don't use a document storage service and I would be hesitant to ever use
one. Much better to maintain control.
I would consider, first of all, increasing storage space in some place owned
by the organisation, and/or reducing the amount of storage materials (by
applying retention and disposal and/or scanning to an acceptable standard so
that the physical copies can be destroyed).
If I had to use external storage, I would want to ensure they had rapid
response. Go to the officers in your organisation and ask them what they
would expect if they wanted a document - within the hour, that day, the next
day, that week etc. The answers will vary depending on the document/issue,
but try to get a range of answers. Then find out the cost for the storage
company to supply that service. How often do people currently request
documents from the "stuff" that will be going into storage? This can lead
to a cost/benefit analysis, and perhaps that might provide enough evidence
to say it's more cost effective to build extra storage (I hope), let alone
for reasons not related to money.
If the idea still persists, are your boxes etc labelled well enough to
enable you to pass them on to another party so that you can tell them
exactly what you want and they will be able to find it expeditiously.
Talk to others who use external storage (which you've started doing) and
especially talk to users of specific companies that you may want to use.
Too late to find out afterwards that you've been dudded/jipped/sold a lemon.
I've given you some quick thoughts and I hope it covers the major issues.
Grahame Gould
Records Manager
Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley
115 Coolibah Drive
PO Box 614
Kununurra 6743
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www.thelastfrontier.com.au
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-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Rice [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, 25 February 2003 17:16
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: what do you think of external document archive servies
I am in the process of setting up a new document storage service, and would
be intrested in your thoughts on them:
Do you currently use a document storage comapny
How do you find the service
How would you improve the service
If you where offered this service what would be the key points you would be
looking for
Sorry for all the questions, but I hope you can help
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