Presentation about the development of the Information Management Strategy at the European External Action Service, an ambitious information governance framework aiming to transform the management of information within the institution. Presented at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) in 2019

1. Information Management Strategy at the EEAS.
Promoting Information Governance within an
International OrganizationACA@UBC Seminar,
15 February 2019
Gustavo Castaner

2. • 1) Information Management at the EEAS today
and our future vision
• 2) Strategy
• 3) The winding way to approval
• 4) Lessons learned
• 5) Next steps
Presentation
outline

3. Information
Management at the
EEAS today and our
future vision

4. • Youngest of the EU institutions. Created in 2011
• Mixture of Commission and Council Services plus
diplomats from Member States
• European Union's diplomatic service. It helps the EU's
foreign affairs chief – the High Representative for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – carry out the
Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy.
• HQ in Brussels, 139 Delegations outside of the EU,
5,000 staff, coordination of civilian and military
Missions
The EEAS in a Nutshell

5. • Already a concern since EEAS creation
• Information Management Strategy (April 2013),
drafted by the Information Management Working
Group
• Draft strategy presented to EEAS senior
management meeting, no concrete follow-up resulted
due to lack of ownership
EEAS Information Management
Strategy from 2013

6. • September 2015: document management cell
integrated with IT Division and turned into
Information Management Sector with a larger
mandate.
• January 2016: arrival of a new Head of Sector.
Efforts start to prepare drafting of a new strategy
answering the needs of the EEAS in this area.
A new player: the Information
Management Sector

7. • June 2015: "Reflection Paper on Data, Information and
Knowledge Management".
• Better structure than our 2013 document:
− Vision,
− Problem Statement,
− 4 building blocks that result in 29 objectives and enabling
conditions
− and most specially recommendations for next step actions
grouped in 6 main areas
This document combines Vision (where do we want to go) and
Strategy (how do we get there).
Led to a communication of the Commission in October 2016:
C (2016) 6626 final, "Data, Information and Knowledge and the
European Commission"
The Commission: Data,
Information and Knowledge

8. • Review of best information management practices in other
international organizations and foreign ministries of member
states. The list includes:
− US Department of State
− World Bank
− European Central Bank
− International Atomic Energy Agency
− UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
− Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
− Council of Europe
Benchmarking with peer
international organizations

9. • From February 2017 to January 2018
• Over 30 staff members met regularly to discuss how information
was currently managed in the institution, how it should ideally
be managed, and how to make this vision a reality. An external
facilitator managed the meetings. Group members represented
the widest possible range of staff in the institution: working in 22
different Divisions across 10 Managing Directorates; civilian and
military; with Headquarters and Delegation backgrounds; and
administrators and assistants. They were mandated by their
management, and regularly reported on the group’s work to
their hierarchy and colleagues, who also provided regular
feedback.
Working Group

10. • Information is our raw material, but is not managed
• Retrieving comprehensive information is challenging or impossible
• Information scattered
• Weak version control
• High degree of staff rotation leads to loss of data and institutional memory
• Non-comprehensive policies and not followed by staff
• IT tools not fully adapted to our needs. Prevalent role for outdated tools like
shared folders and personal email. Intranet's design could be improved and
finding relevant information not easy.
• Fragmented landscape: we produce a lot of information but we keep it in silos
(HQ- Delegations, Military-Civilians, MDs)
Problem statement

11. • Collaborative working as preferred working method
• Right Balance between Duty to Share and Need to Know
• Reduce Information Silos created by different IT systems ,
information classification levels and organizational structure
• Engagement of Management and Buy-In of Staff
• Knowledge-centric Organization
• Added Value for Member States and partner organizations
Vision

12. Strategy

13. • A strong culture of collaboration
• The right information accessible to the right staff
• Preserving and securing information and
knowledge
• Institution-wide governance and commitment to
information management
• Effective training and support
A Strategy with 5 objectives

14. • The institution values information, collaboration and feedback;
• Administrative groups (e.g. Managing Directorates, Divisions)
exist alongside content groups (Communities of interest);
• Information will be shared by default (“duty-to-share”) in the
framework of applicable rules and policies (other policies may
apply, for example “need-to-know” for classified information);
• Our first priority is effective internal collaboration; our second
priority is effective collaboration with civilian and military
missions, operations and EUSRs, as well as with other EU
entities, the Member States and third parties.
A strong culture of collaboration

15. • Optimise information available to staff based on their roles;
• Clear roles and responsibilities are easily identifiable across the
EEAS;
• All information is easily searchable across platforms for those
vetted for access;
• Information is categorised by importance and relevance;
• The right information reaches the right staff automatically, and is
easily accessible on demand.
The right information accessible
to the right staff

16. • Information and records are preserved and retrievable for the
necessary amount of time;
• Information with long-term relevance is stored in a knowledge
database;
• Sensitive information is protected through a culture of security,
enabled by policies, procedures and tools: appropriate
classification continues as necessary, and access to EUCI is
granted in accordance with applicable EEAS security rules;
• Security awareness exists at all levels.
Preserving and securing
information and knowledge

17. • Information management policies apply to, and are supported
by, every member of staff at all levels; Senior Management
leads by example;
• A Chief Information Officer oversees information management.
Institution-wide governance and
commitment to information
management

18. • Staff at all levels follow mandatory pre-service training in
information management policies, procedures and tools, and
are invited to additional in-service training;
• All staff has access to support for information management
tools.
Effective training and support

19. The winding way to approval

20. • February reorganization promoted Head of Division of IT to
Director for Budget and Administration and our sector is moved
directly under him and rebranded as "Information and
Document Management"
• Note to the Secretary General by the Director General of
Budget and Administration sent in May 2018
• Discussion with up to different 4 political assistants to the SG in
different periods. Questions posed and answered with long
stretches of no progress
• Finally, the SG read the proposal and the document was
adopted on a Senior Management meeting with ample support
the 28 January 2019
Welcome to the Senior
Leagues…

21. Lessons learned

22. • You cannot do it alone. Build a network of allies. International
organizations are complex
• Be prepared to descend from your Recordkeeping Ivory Tower
and make compromises
• The Working Group and the external facilitator were
instrumental for success
• Persistence is key. Wait for the right moment. “Il sert a rien avoir
raison trop tot”
• No replacement possible for management with direct with vision
and drive
Some hard-earned lessons

23. Next steps

24. • First step creation of an Information Management Commitee
(key element of a three–tiered structure: formal, executive and
operational)
• ECM study project already in motion to select 3 best adapted
choices for collaborative platform and enterprise search
• Great expectations. We need to start delivering!
What's next?

25. Gustavo CASTANER MARQUARDT
Head of Information and Document
Management Sector
BA.BS.IDM
gustavo.castaner-marquardt@eeas.europa.eu