Shared drives are a fact of life for many organizations, and when organized properly they become excellent information management tools. But if you aren’t using RM best practices to manage them, they can morph into massive public folders filled with confusing and unstructured records. These unstructured shared drives can lead to a variety of issues including compliance and legal risks, increased retrieval times, versioning issues and unnecessary duplication of documents. This slide deck presents a project in which TAB successfully helped an oil and gas company organize their shared drive.

1. A Practical
Approach To Managed
Shared Drives

2. Practical Approach to Managed
Shared Drives: Agenda
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Case Study Background
Managed Shared Drive Methodology
Scope / Outcomes
Lessons Learned

3. Background
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Mid-size oil & gas company had grown quickly
Had recently failed industry operational audits
Difficulties locating electronic documents
Recent and pending acquisitions intensified problems
Needed to quickly and effectively address these issues

4. Background
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Approx. 10 full time RM staff
Approx. 60 full time IT staff
Used basic RM practices
SharePoint in limited use
Livelink being implemented

5. Background
• Shared drives had ‘morphed’ into huge, confusing,
dislocated, group & individual collections
• Loosely based on organizational units
• No consistency
• Rampant duplication
• Adhoc permissions and shared access
• Relied on ‘Public’ folders to share and access documents
• No ‘one source of truth’

6. TAB’s Approach
Managed Shared Drive
• Eliminate duplication
• Folder structure to allow other team
members to locate documents
easily
• Build methodology & repeatable
processes
• Train staff
• Priority areas, quick wins
• RM to remain ‘back stage
• Identify, organize & migrate key
collections to DM repository
DM Repository
• Securely store and control
versions of key document
collections
• Metadata, standard doc.
Types
• Platform for publishing,
access, searching

7. Managed Shared Drive
Methodology
1. Build the Framework

8. Build the Framework
• Critical first step
• Based on organizational units but...
• Required a framework to build all subsequent folder
structures
• Had to be universal
• Had to be simple, logical, intuitive
• Reduce information into most basic elements
• Done correctly, only have to do this once

9. Sample Framework
Dept. Shared Drive
BUSINESS
-Master
Collections
-Structured
-Predictable &
logical
-Standard naming
conventions
e.g.:
-Equipment
Inspections&
Inventory
-Engineering
Projects
-A&D Projects
-Incidents
MGMT & ADMIN
-Dept. specific
-Determined by
subject matter,
volume &
complexity
-12 - 15 folders
per level
e.g.:
Budgeting
Department/
Team Meetings
Employee
Administration
GOVERNANCE
-Official internal
authorities
--Policies &
Procedures
- Codes &
standards
e.g.
Drawings &
schematics
Operating
Procedures
Policies
Practices
TEAM WORK
AREA
- Optional
-Work in Progress
-Organized by
Team Members /
Project / Topic /
-Move content
out to Business,
Mgmt & Admin
or Governance
-Substitute for
personal Drive
E-TRIM / DELETE
-Documents to be
Deleted
Temporary folder
set up for E-Trim
Process

10. Managed Shared Drive
Managed Shared Drives
Methodology
1. Build the Framework
2. Design Folder Structure

11. Design the Folder Structures
• Apply the framework – Level 1
• Design folder structures – Level 2 & 3
– Customized to each Dept/Area
– Folder & document analysis, staff interviews
– High level business processes, permissions / access
• Folder design correlation to functional classification
• Present / feedback draft designs

12. Sample Folder Structure

13. Managed Shared Drive
Managed Shared Drives
Methodology
1. Build the Framework
2. Design Folder Structure
3. Document User Permissions

14. User Permissions
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Opportunity for IT clean up / SOX requests
Limit permissions to 3rd level
Reduce maintenance by IT
Users added to Permission Groups
Document permissions in context with new
folder structure

15. Managed Shared Drive
Managed Shared Drives
Methodology
1.
2.
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4.
Build the Framework
Design Folder Structure
Document Permissions
Implementation Preparation

16. Implementation Prep
• Create empty New folder structure
• Assign permissions
• Root folder named differently – prefix
– i.e. Human Resources vs New Human Resources

17. Implementation Prep
• Many different ways to skin this cat!
• Present/suggest various options but...
• Users are doing the work
– Their time frame (within reason)
– Their resources
• Each group decides what works best
• A few scenarios....

18. Managed Shared Drive
Managed Shared Drives
Methodology
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5.
Build the Framework
Design Folder Structure
Document Permissions
Implementation Preparation
E-Trim Kick Off

19. E-TRIM Kick Off
• TRIM stands for Toss-Recycle Information Management
and is a great way to purge unnecessary material and
records in your organization. E-TRIM applies specifically to
electronic documents and records.
• Make it an event!
• Encourage company-wide participation
• Program overview, roles & responsibilities, schedule,
folder structure, How To’s
• Hand outs and/or User Guides
• Know your audience

20. Managed Shared Drive
Managed Shared Drives
Methodology
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Build the Framework
Design Folder Structure
Document Permissions
Implementation Preparation
E-Trim Kick Off
Monitor & Assist

21. Monitor & Assist
• Support / Coach
• Monitor Remotely
• Progress Reporting
– Sometimes imprecise
• Escalation if necessary

22. Managed Shared Drive
Managed Shared Drives
Methodology
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7.
Build the Framework
Design Folder Structure
Document Permissions
Implementation Preparation
E-Trim Kick Off
Monitor & Assist
E-TRIM Completion

23. E-Trim Completion
• Project close-out
• Delete old source directories (empty)
• Rename New directory (remove prefix)

24. Managed Shared Drive
Managed Shared Drives
Methodology
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Build the Framework
Design Folder Structure
Document Permissions
Implementation Preparation
E-Trim Kick Off
Monitor & Assist
E-Trim Completion
Close Out & Sign Off

25. E-TRIM Close-Out & Sign Off
• 6 -9 months Post Completion
• Review & sign off E-TRIM / Delete Folder
– Dept. Mgr
– Records Management
– Legal
• Delete folder (IT)

26. Managed Shared Drive
Managed Shared Drives
Methodology
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Build the Framework
Design Folder Structure
Document User Permissions
Implementation Preparation
E-Trim Kick Off
Monitor & Assist
E-Trim Completion
Close Out & Sign Off

27. Managed Shared Drive
Project Scope
This particular project took:
• 18 months
• 2 part time resources
• 25 Departments / Groups
• 531 Users
Through E-TRIM, we were able to delete:
• 1,239,099 Documents, 175,134 Folders, 781 GB
• ...and counting....

28. Managed Shared Drive
Benefits
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Enhanced corporate compliance
Managed risk
Improved efficiency
Systematic, logical permissions
Capitalized on knowledge assets
Facilitated information sharing and collaboration
Readiness for future technologies

29. Managed Shared Drive
Lessons Learned
• Department level solutions = Manageable scope
• Focus efforts – critical collections
• Benefits were easy for Sr. Mgrs & Users to see &
experience – not contrived
• Users much more positive & supportive than anticipated
• High level of ownership
• User participation key to maintaining structure
• Do not underestimate importance of change
management

30. Managed Shared Drive
More Lessons Learned
• Reinforced importance of identification & organization of
collections before migration to DM
• Users viewed broken links as manageable and
unavoidable nuisances
• Volumetric statistics are misleading
• Train IT Support re: permissions, folder structures,

31. Thank you!