This document discusses information governance and provides definitions, approaches, lessons learned, and case studies. It defines information governance as consistent management, policies, processes and decision-making for information. A holistic approach that considers information across systems and applications is recommended over governance by individual application. Case studies show benefits like storage savings, eDiscovery time savings, and ROI within 9-10 months. Metrics like storage reduction, server consolidation, and document reduction after disposition are discussed.

1. Copyright © OpenText Corporation. All rights reserved.
Information Governance
Beyond Compliance
Paula J Smith, ARIM
Open Text Professional Services
September 2013

2. House Rules 
 Open Conversations are encouraged
 Its good to have a different opinion; that’s how we
learn
 All vendor hats are left outside, including mine!
 The only silly question is one no one asks
 This is your session, if you want something ask 

3. Definitions

4. So what is governance
 governance relates to consistent management,
cohesive policies, guidance, processes and decision-
rights for a given area of responsibility
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governance
 The information with which to make decisions and to
retrospectively test how good those decisions were”
(Tombs 2002)
 information and records management underpins, in a
direct or indirect way, many of the vital aspects of
corporate governance. (Willis 2005)

5. Gartner’s view on information governance
Information governance is the specification of decision
rights and an accountability framework to encourage
desirable behavior in the valuation, creation, storage,
use, archival and deletion of information. It includes the
processes, roles, standards and metrics that ensure the
effective and efficient use of information in enabling an
organization to achieve its goals.

6. So……
Why are we talking about
information governance and
not records management
governance?

7. Approaches to IM Governance

8. Information at rest is information at RISK
(until it is)… captured
(and under)…control
(and put into)…motion
(to be leveraged for its)…value

9. Our approach
eDiscoveryDM & Collaboration
DAM, Social and
Web
Records
Management
Knowledge
Management Storage
Privacy &
Security
Define information governance in its widest sense, and embed it

10. Lessons learnt

11. First - define your principles
1. Information is a corporate asset, and is managed as such
2. Information exists in multiple contexts
3. Information isn't created in a vacuum – it has a purpose
4. Information demands accountability
5. Information has stakeholders, internal & external
6. Information has value, which changes at various points
7. Information has a shelf life
8. Information has many forms
9. Information carries obligations, legal and regulatory
10.Information carries risks and opportunities
* Some of these principles are adapted/duplicated from Chris P Walker’s Principles of Holistic
Information Governance

12. Where do you start
1. Define scope of IG
2. Define your principles
3. Define your approach
4. Assign roles & responsibilities
5. Create the framework
i. Policies & Procedures
ii. Monitoring & Reporting
iii. Accountability and Decision Making
iv. Process
v. Guidance and Training

13. Governance by application
 Easier and faster to implement
 Easy for people to understand, so communication effort is easier
 Easier to manage scope as related to application (though difficult with apps like SharePoint
which have multiple uses)
 Consensus easier to achieve as platform is the same; so drivers typically the same
 Allows governance activities to be ring-fenced
 Standards, support model and training requirements easier to define as focus on single
application
 Any coordination across the enterprise will be at the application owner’s discretion
 Enterprise level ownership virtually impossible to obtain
 Likely to be a technology driven not business driven model
 Increase in rework and duplication of outputs
 Doesn’t allow for a holistic view
 No standardisation will differ across applications
 Lack of interoperability as governance elements don’t align
 Some cross over naturally exists with Data Management & IM, and other applications –
clear terms of engagement will be needed
 Difficult to achieve clarity on responsibilities when process and content flows overlap
systems
 Danger of governance and related activities being driven by the technology instead of
business need and best practice

14. Holistic EIM Governance Model
 Ensures governance is systematically applied
 Reduces rework
 Ensures an end to end view of process and content across system boundaries
 Provides forum for holistic view to be generated
 Ability to define as a group the supporting activities e.g. support frameworks, roles &
responsibilities and training needed across system boundaries
 Better aligns to processes, so allowing productivity gains to be established, monitored and
realised
 Centrally coordinated, with representatives from across the business
 Allows collaboration and shared ownership
 Achieving consensus can be more difficult
 More time consuming to setup initially
 Compromise will always be needed
 Can be perceived as too “big brother”
 Decision by committee can reduce chances of success where agreement cannot be
obtained
 Will require strong leadership and functional role to own – chairperson or
 Requires executive level buy in as operational responsibility can be delegated to the group
(e.g. Privacy Act requirements)
 Some cross over naturally exists with Data Management & IM – clear terms of reference
will be needed

15. Case Study Excerpts

16. Return on Investment:
Excerpts from Open Text customer study
Actual ROI Comments
ROI was 9 months “The real value is not in the electronic storage savings,
although they are indisputable. The real value to our
organization has been how completely RM has seeped
into everything we do, every day.“
ROI was 10 months They saved the equivalent of 5 FTEs per year.
ROI was 1.17 years They achieved a 4:1 cost reduction between print-to-file
and ECM!

17. RIM Metrics

18. The impact of Disposition

19. Storage savings - example
Before After
10 Terabytes 5 Terabytes
30 Exchange Servers 7 Exchange Servers
10% Overall Office Space Enough to accommodate one complete
business unit (20 staff members). A
savings of $430K over three years (cost of
prime location lease).
A 2004 audit revealed 38,350
folders, 14 levels deep, storing
approximately 285,000 electronic
documents.
Decreased by 50%

20. eDiscovery Savings - example
Before After
A completely manual process –
•Contact project team around globe
•Individuals manually search files
•Send data on CD to legal
•Wait weeks/months for all data
•Resource & time intensive
•Incomplete & frustrating
•Search 1.5 million documents
•Put a litigation hold on 6,500
documents
•Process completed within 5
minutes

21. Summary
 Name is irrelevant, how you scope it is critical
 Holistic approach will deliver a better outcome but
needs more commitment
 Governance must be seen in terms of value and
opportunity not merely risk
 Look for synergies; inside & outside
 Embed and enable

22. Resources & Additional Reading
 Corporate governance and management of information
and records
 Willis A, RM Journal Vol. 15 No. 2, 2005
 Principles of Holistic Information Governance
 OpenText IG Blog, April 2013
 What do we mean by governance?
 Tombs K, RM Journal Vol 12 No. 1, 2002
 Governance Sucks but Doesn’t Have To
 Chris Walker, September 2012

23. Copyright © OpenText Corporation. All rights reserved.
Paula J Smith, ARIM, MSc, BSc (Hons)
Senior ECM Consultant, APAC Professional Services
Open Text Corporation
www.opentext.com
nz.linkedin.com/in/paulajsmith1/
@cerr1d