High level talk given at AIIM Canada's breakfast event March 23, 2017. The talk goes through the challenges of information management in the era of BYOD and cloud services. The last part of the talk is how to start with a small but impactful project to show the value of IMaaS.

1. Information Management as-a-Service
Christopher Wynder, Ph.D
Director of Client Services
ThinkDox, Inc.
@ChrisW_thinkdox
chrisw@thinkdox.com
Matching IM strategy to business goals

2. Overview
ThinkDox INC.
Solving the digital divide
problem
What can you do to get started
Understanding how information
flows between users

3. Burst
Lift
Mortar
Information management has fundamentally changed
Burn
Fuel
Com. P2P
Fire Control
Pre-BYOD Today
ThinkDox INC.

4. Patterns of HOW work gets done have changed
Strictly Org. Chart Nodal
ThinkDox INC.
Model adapted from Dion Hinchcliffe @dionhinchcliffe; IT models
Image from: http://gmdd.shgmo.org/Computational-
Biology/ANAP/ANAP_V1.1/help/anap-userguide/manual.html
• Information passed upwards.
• Access to information was strictly tied to
position in hierarchy.
• Ability to action on information tied to
hierarchy
• Information passed between nodes based on
relationships within organization.
• Ability to action on information tied to role
and project.

5. How information is conveyed and used is no longer tied to
artifacts
Users do not have “silo’ed” work days where
they handle just records or handle just
documents.
Documents contain of information that is
used for particular business processes.
There is NO INHERENT VALUE in the
container.
Records are a subclass of documents that
must be treated differently. Specifically, they
must be maintained in the format that
conveyed the information. i.e. the
container has value.
9am
DATE
?
5pm
The average user’s day
ERP/CRM
ThinkDox INC.

6. The days of separate information sources is over
Organization-owned content stores
Departmental
controlled
content stores
Resource driven view of the
corporate information
Individual corporate
stores
Individual personal data
DATE
?
Service driven view of
corporate information
ERP/CRM
ERP/CRM

7. It’s not a tech problem- it is a alignment
problem
ThinkDox LLC.
Solving the digital divide
problem
Preparing for success
How to ensure that you meet the
actual needs of the organization

8. Most records handling issues are
systemic not antagonistic
Use and understanding of “e”
records technology
“Technology agnostic problems”

9. The technical issues typically stem from user habits
Collaboration
System of record
Access control
Templates
PDF generation as designed
strips metadata and is not linked
to a form type in SoR
Admin kept copy
of template on
HD No one actually used
SharePoint for
version control
Template
IT had tied
metadata to
“live” copy

10. What we think happens
Add

11. The reality of how processes actually get done
Add


12. Effective ECM is service
driven:
It is embedded into normal work
processes
Provides time-savings to system
users
Aligns with organization strategy
and goals

13. How to ensure that you meet the
actual needs of the organization
Moving process into the digital forum
ThinkDox LLC.
Understanding how information
flows between users
Preparing for success

14. Current practices in information management are designed
based on content control rather than information movement
• Rigid
organization-
enforced
taxonomy.
• Retention
rules
• Disposition
workflow
• Audit of
deletion
schedules
Capture Organize Use
Archive or
retire
How it is
generated does
not matter in a
paper world. The
physical artifact
is “handed over”
Use is
controlled
via
ownership
of artifact.

15. Nodal working patterns mean that workers path through information
sources looks chaotic
User journey though information source
Finance

16. Supporting Nodal working patterns
An architect plans the design of information:
Brings structure to unstructured sources.
Provides easy access to information users already know
about.
Requires existing user compliance and understanding of
information sources.
A gardener sets the parameters of access:
Single point of entry across multiple types of
information based on process.
Provides access to a wide variety of information.
Requires understanding of how work gets done.
ThinkDox INC.

17. Refresh scheduleMix of content types
The Information Garden
Harvest schedule
ThinkDox INC.

18. Integrate the Information Architecture into
the garden at the “plot” level
• Re-Think Information architecture
to be “feature” of each
information source
• The financial system and the
ECM holding the POs will
have different IA
• Both however need to be
intuitive to the user
IT
Efficiency
Risk
Mitigation
Business
Efficiency
IA is simply the balancing of
efficiency(s) and risk mitigation

19. Generate a information lifecycle for different asset classes
Capture Organize Use
Archive or
retire
ECM
lifecycle
User
information
lifecycle
Generate Record Use
Forget or
store
?
Organize Re-Organize
ECM works best when
the information is
organized at capture
The un-asked question-”How do
users get work done?”
This is key to how users expect to
find information
Users lack the
tools to
appropriately
archive content
Re-use leads to lots
of local copies.

20. Addressing the “Why” – understand how each user works
Admin
Student
records
Facilities
management
User Journey of a Admin’s day
Check
information
Get
Approval
Confirm
Updates
Request
updates
Review
orders
Send
orders
Request
approval
Draft
orders
Analysis:
The nature of approvals is the real issue.
Facilities management is completely done through accounting
software. Has no ability to capture “wet signatures”
Approver wants to just send an email.

21. Focus on cross application metadata to ensure information
findability
The right two pieces of process information will
allow users to find the right documents
Weak recall
Object
=
Weak recall
Who
=
Strong
recall
=
People are hard wired to remember WHO they:
Work with
Communicated with
Made the original

22. Matching access to resources to working patterns
9am
DATE
?
5pm
The average user’s day
How many different
applications are they
using
How many times are they
breaking compliance
ERP/CRM
Generate-
How do users generate content-what are the filetypes,
what are the key applications
Record
Where is the information from that content being
recorded? Office documents, applications
Organize
What is the point of the content? Is the information
being shared? Is it for revenue generation? Does it
need to be moved to other people?
When
..is the information source used again. What do users
really need, what can you securely provide them.

23. Categorize the descriptors based on GROW fields
Contract
negotiations
Billing
Contracts
Secondary
office
Remote
CRM logs
Surveys
Direct
interaction
Location
financials
Call list
Daily
activities
Calendar
Hand-over
Workgroup
Potential
taxonomy
descriptors
(GROW)
These could
be the drop-
down terms
Wide
category
Remember this initial goal is about gaining control
over documents. The long term goal is a living set of
descriptors that mirror business practices.
These are probably too specific.
Additional personas will generalize
these further to make them usable.

24. Insight
Day-to-
day
operations
Content
creation
Archive
Marketing
Financial
Competitive
Hiring processes
A/P processes
Time-off
External comm.
User store
Group “junk drawer”
Legal
Long term value
Use
Archive
Run-off
Context
Multi-
department
use
Key forward
thinking information
Value of content increases
Numberofnodesfor
contentincreases

25. Information management is no longer about choosing the right Application it is
about ensuring information is served to users appropriately.
Financial Services
IT service
Resource planning
Business process
ERP, “S drive”, excel
Applications
ATL Data center,
local SAN,
web service
Infrastructure
User care about:
1. How do I get to
the right App?
2. Where is the
information I
need to complete
my task?
3. How do I find
that information?
IT should know:
1. Which
application(s)
management wants
users to use.
2. Who should have
access to all the
applications in the
process
3. Compliance risk of
information
managed
Management should know:
Cost of application
Cost of maintaining
application(s)
IT should measure:
Usage of App
Cost of contracts
CIO should know:
Cost of infrastructure
Cost of IT time to maintain
IT should control:
Usage of bulk storage for
high risk processes

26. Information Management a-a-S is a multi-project move
Information risk
and value
Enterprise wide policies
Archiving
Disposition, growth control
Information
Organization
Build a taxonomy
Storage management
Enterprise wide storage control
through deletion
The key to controlling growth is translating management practices
into governance policies
Management Governance Long term ROI
PolicyTech

27. Move from here to IMaaS carefully
ThinkDox INC.
What is shaping ECM and
information management in
general
Managing IMaaS
How to ensure that you meet the
actual needs of the organization

28. Design an information platform for long term use
Public
Access
Home
Mobile
Client
Web
Access
API?
Data Lake?
Connector?
User access?
Vendor consolidation?
ECM

29. Your security plan needs to change to
protect your information
ThinkDox INC.
Web Access
Home
AD
Mobile Client
Client
Web Access
Home
AD
Mobile Client
Client
ECM

30. Build your IM-aaS iteratively
Principals of Kanban
1. Visualize Work
• By creating a visual model of your work and workflow,
you can observe the flow of work moving through your
Kanban system.
2. Limit Work in Process
• You can also avoid problems caused by task switching
and reduce the need to constantly reprioritize items.
3. Focus on Flow
• By using work-in-process (WIP) limits and developing
team-driven policies, you can optimize your Kanban
system to improve the smooth flow of work, collect
metrics to analyze flow, and even get leading indicators
of future problems by analyzing the flow of work.
4. Continuous Improvement
• Once your Kanban system is in place, it becomes the
cornerstone for a culture of continuous improvement.
Teams measure their effectiveness by tracking flow,
quality, throughput, lead times and more.
Use Kanban as a starting point
Kanban is from Toyota’s “Just-in-Time”
model of supply management.
This required precise knowledge of when
parts were needed, how many and what
the rate of replenishment was for any
given part.
Similarly, from a users perspective
information is only useful at the time of
use- and out of date data is wasteful.
Unless you are an academic- you likely
want the information in order to do
something now.

31. Alignment and mapping of goals and how-to
User perspective
What do users need to
know to perform their
job?
Is it tied to a process or
just general knowledge?
Does it expire? Or change
based on time or location?
Enterprise
perspective
What are the required
permissions for users to get
their job done?
Does access to information
enhance process efficiency?
Where is necessary
information for a process
coming from?

32. Don’t impede day-to-day operations
User perspective
Don’t re-build process in
version 1.0.
Aggressively push for
more access to base
information.
Limit the need for
application switching for
information only purposes
Enterprise
perspective
Design simple,
implementable versions
that fix a pain point.
Think information
movement first, technical
integration second.
Limit the number of apps
that manage processes
ECM

33. Look to cull “extra” people-steps
User perspective
Collect data, focus on
changes that reduce
tedious steps.
Embed compliance
steps into automation.
Design for “peak
laziness”
Enterprise
perspective
Focus on efficiency of
whole process.
Be willing to pay for
automation to be done
correctly.
Provide ECM/BPM team
will full access to
compliance needs
ECM

34. Have a plan for version 3.0 before completing 1.0
User perspective
Have a transparent
roadmap for what you
are building towards.
Keep assuming there are
steps that can be
removed from users.
Stage the transfer of user
driven to machine
performed steps so as to
be seamless.
Enterprise
perspective
Place a premium on
process efficiency as a
design element
Engage process users to
reduce the headaches of
change.
Automate steps that
impede information
movement.
ECM

35. Dept. level
Balance strategy with reality
Org. level
System of
interaction
System of
record
Access control
Findability
Archive
Ad hoc/
Fileshare
Holistic planning for information management
Infrastructure planning
Requirement gathering
Implementation
Integrated retention and disposition schedules
Understanding trends in content generation
Information management strategy
Technological support for managing information

36. DO NOT underestimate the role of engagement as part of the move
to IMaaS
Over-explain the need for user
involvement in the move to IMaaS
project.
Provide a mechanism for feedback.
Schedule and keep to the schedule of
feedback.
Nothing kills a ECM project faster
than silence from the ECM team.
Communicate
Build collaborative partnerships
with the business when shaping the
changes in related processes;
employee on-boarding, retire/fire,
financial reporting.
Create a clear, shared vision
between the key stakeholders and
IT. Take everyone with you,
develop a shared agenda.
Collaborate
Build confidence in the change
– allocate time and resources for
user testing and training.
Provide visible and active post
rollout support. Get feedback, fix
problems, and keep
communication channels open.
Build Confidence
Focus on the three key tactics for success when implementing change:

37. IMaaS is as much about IT staffing as it is about choosing
the right platforms
• Start by determining how similar the key intra- and inter-
departmental information movement patterns are across key IT
platforms.
• Start with SERVICE issue; “Salesforce isn’t working” may be
the equivalent of “I can’t find the customer ID” to users. The
Application support team and Service desk team need to
work in concert.
• IT Asset Management and Capacity planning are they the
necessary skills for technical success.
• Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. Every aspect of
any “aaS” is about clear lines of communication between
support and users.

38. Thank you
Have questions or want a copy of the presentation:
Email me: chrisw@thinkdox.com
Don’t want to email me:
See our websites presentation page
http://thinkdox.com/news/white-papers-and-presentations/
We are on twitter and LinkedIn
@Thinkdox
@ChrisW_thinkdox

39. ThinDox LLC.

40. Provide a single strategy to manage
information
ThinDox LLC.
A single
value
focused
governance
plan
Physical
Records
Documents
Records
Databases
Putting a value on
information not artifacts
Reducing risk through
process
Reducing mundane tasks

41. Multiple service offerings
ThinDox LLC.
Workshops Clinics Consulting/Teaching
Provides peer support and
specific information
management training through
problem solving.
These are designed to be both
networking events and skills
development.
Typically industry focused on
process or technology
Provides planning advice,
recommendations and
technology review customized
to you.
Private, focused problem
solving engagement.
Designed to provide a plan for
solving a problem as well as the
processes for development.
Provides project management
and an extra pair of hands to
get past issues when you have
momentum.
Long term, traditional
professional services.

42. Take full advantage of your software's
strong suits
ThinDox LLC.
Automated
Optimized
Simplified
Keep up with the
users
Re-evaluate the technology
Review the schedules and
alignment with regulations
Expand the connections
between information
sources.