What Is ECM?

Atle Skjekkeland Vice President, AIIM What is Enterprise Content Management?

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What is ECM?

Enterprise Content Management

The strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to key organizational processes. CAPTURE MANAGE STORE PRESERVE DELIVER

ECM is not a single system

ECM usually is a group of aligned systems

ECM is about ‘unstructured’ information

What ECM covers

Used by humans

Images

Office documents

Graphics and drawings

Print streams

Web pages and content

E-mail

Video

Rich media assets

Unstructured information

Processed by systems

Databases

Ordered data

Sales and invoicing

Accounting

Human resources

Structured information

Why ECM? Why do end users care about ECM? COST-DRIVEN USERS - Improve efficiency - Reduce costs - Increased profits/Better performance CUSTOMER-DRIVEN USERS - Better customer service - Leadership/Competitive advantage - Faster turnaround/Improved response RISK-DRIVEN USERS - Compliance - Risk management/Business continuity

Why do end users care about ECM?

ECM Concepts

1. What is ECM? 14. Success Factors 8. Metadata & Indexing 13. Legislation, Standards, Regulation 3. Store 4. Manage 5. Preserve 6. Deliver 7. Re-purposing 10. Search & Retrieve 11. Controls & Security 12. Interfaces… 2. Capture 9.Classification ECM Concepts

2. Capture 1. What is ECM? 14. Success Factors 8. Metadata & Indexing 13. Legislation, Standards & Regulation 3. Store 4. Manage 5. Preserve 6. Deliver 7. Repurposing 10. Search & Retrieve 11. Controls & Security 12. Interfaces & Legacy Systems 2. Capture 9.Classification

2. Capture

Capture - getting information from source into ECM system

ECM system Capture

3. Storage

Information Lifecycle Management

“ A new set of management practices based on aligning the business value of information to the most appropriate and cost effective infrastructure”

ILM is a new approach to operating the datacenter

Designed to address the top problem in the datacenter : complexity

It is a business-driven management practice

ILM is the framework through which we organize, instrument,

automate, and operate information and data services

ILM is a process not a product

Must account for regulatory compliance

Source: SNIA

3. Manage - Key ECM technologies

Imaging

Document Centric Collaboration

Electronic Document Management

Electronic Records Management

Email Management

Workflow & Business Process Management

Web Content Management & Portals

Digital Asset Management

Information Organization & Access

3. Manage – Document Centric Collaboration

Collaboration is a working practice whereby individuals work together to a common purpose to achieve business benefit.

Key features of collaboration tools are:

Synchronous collaboration: online meetings and instant messaging

Asynchronous collaboration: shared workspaces and annotations

Many organizations are also looking at Free-form Collaboration tools to improve collaboration and reduce number of emails

Social Networking tools, blogs, and wikis

3. Manage - Document Management

DM is an electronic capability that manages documents. Document can be defined as “recorded information or object which can be treated as a unit”.

Key DM features are:

Check In / Check Out and Locking;

Version Control;

Roll back;

Audit Trail;

Workflow

3. Manage - Electronic Records Management

An ERMS is an electronic capability that helps in the management of records – both electronic records and physical records.

Key ERMS features are:

Declaration;

Classification;

Access Control;

Disposition;

Long-term preservation

A Record is a Document that is…

Required as proof of business decision

Required for business continuity

Required for legal or compliance reasons

If in doubt – make it a record

3. Manage - Web Content Management

Web Content Management provides a set of procedures for managing content – from its creation or import to its archive and eventual destruction - that is destined for publication on the Web.

The key features of web content management are:

Design and organise websites in order to provide users with efficient and effective access to relevant and up-to-date content;

Control and prepare the content ready for publication;

Control the content evaluation and approval process prior to publication on the web site;

Automate key parts of the publishing process. When web pages are being built dynamically by a content management system, manual testing may need to be undertaken to ensure that all components fit together properly prior to publishing.

BPM techniques, methods and technologies enable you to identify and modify existing processes to align them with a desired (improved) future state.

3. Manage – Business Process Management Design & Simulation Services Monitoring Services Process Registry Orchestration ( Workflow ) Engine Rules Engine Integration Services Content / Data Repositories

4. Preserve

Storage media obsolescence

Copy records to appropriate media before this becomes a problem

Media degradation

Choose, store and protect

Bit-wise checking

Checksum calculation

Format obsolescence

Technology preservation

Emulation

Migration

Exotic techniques

6-7. Deliver & Repurposing

Distribution channels – you can deliver content via:

Paper

Internet / Intranet / Extranet(s)

Portals

E-Mail (perhaps with attachments)

Fax (automatically)

Mobile phone (web enabled, or by SMS ‘texting’)

Personal Digital Assistants (PDA)

XML – for display and/or data transfers

Instant messaging

Web-casting and content streaming

RSS

8. Metadata

Example of metadata in MS Office 2007

New “Document Information Panel” can be customized by document type and brought front and center.

8. Metadata - types

One way to categorize metadata;

Descriptive : Information describing the content used for search and retrieval.

Structural : Information that ties this item with others, such as pages in a book, or the documents in a case folder.

Administrative : Information used to manage and control access to the item.

Source: IMERGE Consulting

8. Metadata - standards

Dublin Core

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) (Dublin, OH)

Now ISO 15836

Creator Title Subject Contributor Date Description Publisher Type Format Coverage Rights Relation Source Language Identifier

Vocabularies represent potential metadata values

Vocabularies can be controlled or uncontrolled

Controlled vocabularies: metadata must come from a set list (e.g. “Province”)

Uncontrolled vocabularies: metadata can be applied free-form (e.g. “Town”)

“ Taxonomies” are a particular type of controlled vocabulary

But not all controlled vocabularies are taxonomies

8. Metadata – vocabularies (1)

It’s important to control vocabulary so your searchers don’t have to

Standards need to be set to minimize confusion among taggers/indexers

Enforces terminological consistency

Reduces spelling mistakes

Enables interoperability

Technology can manage thesaurus (“like”) terms

8. Metadata – vocabularies (2)

For humans, adding metadata means work

Indexers may not see the ultimate benefit of metadata themselves

Benefits tend to accrue to the enterprise and content consumers

To be sure, clerical staff can be forced to index

In some imaging systems, it is a specialized skill

In other cases: “Not my job”

Sometimes humans provide incomplete or inaccurate metadata

So a question arises:

Is there a way to get machines to add metadata for us?

Source: Taxonomy Strategies 8. Metadata – manual process

Need to consider:

Automatic classification tools exist, and have potential

Auto-categorization software as well as some search engines can attempt to classify content

They still rely on an authoritative taxonomy or controlled vocabulary

Typically need “training” to achieve minimally acceptable results

But results are typically not as good as humans’

Degree of human involvement becomes a cost/benefit tradeoff

Source: Taxonomy Strategies 8. Metadata – automated

9. Classification Classification: “ the systematic identification and arrangement of business activities and/or records into categories according to logically structured conventions, methods and procedural rules represented in a classification system” Source: MoReq

9. Classification - examples Dewey Decimal System Personal Classification Faceted Classification

9. Classification - benefits

Providing linkages between individual records which accumulate to provide a continuous record of activity

Ensuring records are named in a consistent manner over time

Assisting in the retrieval of all records relating to a particular function or activity

Determining security protection and access appropriate for sets of records

Allocating user permissions for access to, or action on, particular groups of records

Distributing responsibility for management of particular sets of records

Distributing records for action

Determining appropriate retention periods and disposition actions for records

9. Classification - issues

Key issue in a new ECM environment is ease-of-use and performance for users

If users aren’t happy, environment won’t work

Business Classification Scheme (BCS) design and deployment will have major impact on usability

BCS design and deployment must maximize ease-of-use and performance for users

Note - usability will also be affected by

Number of levels

User interface

Using ‘shortcuts’ or ‘favourites’

Availability & quality of other retrieval tools

e.g. a search engine

9. Classification - taxonomies

Taxonomy is the science of classifying information

A taxonomy is a law for classifying information

Controlled vocabulary

Simple list

Synonym ring

Hierarchical classification

Thesaurus

Football

Sport

Pastime

9. Classification - taxonomies

9. Classification - ontology Capturing all the uses of ice cream… A complete ontology would account for more relationships and properties. Source: Roz Chast, The New Yorker

9. Classification - folksonomy

Folksonomy : the anti-controlled vocabulary. Collaborative vocabularies for tagging content, rarely with any sort of control

Relevance between metadata and content may be determined by users in a democratic fashion

four users define an object as being “green”

one user defines an object as being “aqua”

relevance can be defined as " more green than aqua ”

Over time, clusters emerge and communities typically self-organize around them

Typically arise in Web-based communities where individuals to share content, then create and use tags (e.g., blogs)

Applied to enterprise use cases when there is a critical mass of taggers to make it worthwhile

Can be a useful “bottom-up” approach to developing taxonomies

10. Search & Retrieval

Three main ways people look for information

Pattern Matching (a.k.a., search) some particular attributes in the sought after information

E.g., words or phrases, proximity, etc.

Navigation, or traversal – Finding a relevant asset that is linked to other assets

Traversing links looking at related information

Classified or Categorized, organized by topic browsing

Using classification taxonomies and related structured organizations of information

10. Search & Retrieval - Browsing

Browsing is usually the first option for users seeking information or documents

Desktop and enterprise file systems

Content management system repositories

Intranets and Websites

If users can’t find via browse, then they resort to search

Some users will go straight to search

This is partly generational

10. Search & Retrieval - Search

Search is an application or tool for finding information via search term

Not all search is “keyword” search

Not all search is user-generated (many systems employ “canned” queries)

Search is omnipresent, and essential

But: there is much ignorance about how search engines work

Most end-users shouldn’t need to know; they just assume “magic”

Advanced display techniques can blur the line between search and browse

Search is not a magic bullet or effective panacea for lack of information organization

Better-organized information will yield more effective search results

10. Search & Retrieval - Search Source: CMS Watch

10. Search & Retrieval - Findability

Findability is the quality of being locatable or navigable

Information should be easy to discover or locate

Information access is about helping users find documents that satisfy their information needs

Remember, someone may be looking for something they’ve never seen or touched before

Advanced information organization techniques can support findability

Thesauri, Ontologies, Topic Maps and Semantic Networks

Faceted search and navigation

10. Search & Retrieval - Content Finding Us

Changing the paradigm

Content finds the person rather than vice-versa

Personalization: getting the right information to the right individual

Syndication, especially RSS, to distill content to its essentials

Subscribing to content, to have it “pushed” to us when we need it.

11. Security & Access Control

Identification

Authentication

Authorization

Encryption

Digital signatures

Audit trail

Key components of access control: Mechanisms that help implement access control:

11. Security & Access Control - Authoritative content

Authenticity

– proof that the content is what we say it is

Integrity

– proof that the content is complete and unaltered

Reliability

– proof that the content belongs in the system

Usability

– we can find it and understand it

The characteristics of an authoritative content:

11. Security & Access Control - Digital Rights Management

Digital Rights Management

Encryption

Copy management

Digital signatures and public key infrastructure (PKI)

Electronic Watermarks

12. Integration - goals

End-to-end information management

Information flow across system boundaries

Information may be locked in legacy systems

Improving information flows and unlocking information leads to (among others):

Improved efficiency

Reduced cost

Competitive advantage

SOA offers

Flexibility

Standard messaging formats

Greater asset re-use potential

Reduced integration costs

Standards, such as

Simple object access protocol (SOAP)

XML (discussed earlier)

No pain, no gain!

Retrofit existing applications

New management practices

New security defences …

Incremental approach is possible

12. Integration - SOA

12. Integration - SOA Intranet Extranet B2B PDA Office software Internet 3g phone Service delivery channels Web application XML Rendition Encapsulation XML XML Cross-system business logic XML XML XML XML Accounting system Business application Business intelligence system E-mail system Back office IT services Contact mgmt EDMS, ERMS Workflow mgmt

1. What is ECM? 14. Success Factors 8. Metadata & Indexing 13. Legislation, Standards, Regulation 3. Store 4. Manage 5. Preserve 6. Deliver 7. Re-purposing 10. Search & Retrieve 11. Controls & Security 12. Interfaces… 2. Capture 9.Classification ECM Concepts

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