Dear
all,
Talk
about irony...just as I am coming around to Steve Bailey's way of questioning whether BCS's,
EDRMS's etc are really viable in the Web 2.0 world, I find myself tasked by our IT
change programme with drafting a business case for a business classification
scheme (in preparation for selecting an EDRMS) by the end of next week!
The business case has to include listing the business benefits plus detailed
proposals for how long it will take to draft a BCS, how many bodies will be
needed to do the work, what user consultation programmes should be instigated,
what sort of training and culture change will be needed, whether external
consultants are required and how quickly sign-off can be
achieved.
I have in fact been drafting a BCS over the past couple
of years as and when I could find the time and have been introducing aspects of
functional file plans by stealth via records disposal schedules and
rationalisation of group folders, but I confess I have no idea how long a
concerted corporate project to create and get sign-off on a BCS would
take. We are a smallish
organisation (600 staff) and our remit is to regulate solicitors and
protect the public by ensuring that solicitors meet high standards, and by
acting when risks are identified. There's a lot of casework involved;
most other records are the usual administrative stuff. So it shouldn't be
complicated (famous last words). However, the way of working is highly
siloed and based on individual preference and a lot of duplication (it's also
very paper-based), so training and culture change will be the biggest
time/resource factor, I imagine. This is despite a barnstorming
presentation by Jeff Morelli to our heads of business last year on what BCSs are
all about!
I've
checked the listserv and can find plenty of requests for advice on drafting
business cases for BCS's but I could find no responses. Can anyone point
me towards some useful advice on how to get
drafting?
