Should we cost the RM function?

A key finding of a recent survey (Miles, 2009)⁷ indicated that compared with recent years, cost savings has taken a clear lead over compliance as the main business driver for investment in document and records management. Although this survey primarily concerned enterprise content management (ECM) implementations in the organisation such statements could easily carry across to records management in general. Due to the changing economic climate investment in records management programmes will now undoubtedly be subject to more economic scrutiny than in previous years.

The vendor material, whether it is a white paper, case study or article in a professional magazine often contains pockets of information relating to the efficiency gains their products can provide to an organisation. The information provided in the vendor material is illustrative of the benefits possible but rarely, if ever, expresses costs within the same context so it is difficult to assess the overall economic impact of the benefits stated. Cost details tend to be absent from information sources such as commercial white papers or vendor authored articles which is, perhaps, to be expected as these are promotional vehicles highlighting the benefits of a particular product but nevertheless makes it difficult to achieve a true indication of the degree of the benefits realised.

In order to assess the economic impact of records management an appreciation of the costs involved in carrying out activities is required. Saffady (ARMA International, 1998)⁸ acknowledged the evolving skills sets of the records manager and brought together standard management cost analysis concepts and methods and presented them within a records management context. This resource primarily focuses on quantifying costs associated with a records management initiative; it introduces the concept of return on investment, but here the focus is on cost avoidance rather than quantifying the benefits.

In addition there are articles within the professional magazines that also tackle the concept of return on investment and these have become more prevalent with the development of technologies that require large investment of resources.

Allen ( 2007, pp.34-41)⁹, states that 'Determining the ROI for a significant investment, such as adopting an ECM or BPM system is no easy task' and goes on to state that 'Developing effective ROI models should include the impact of implementing such solutions on both costs and revenues.' Allen outlines considerations to include in assessing the return on investment between a digital and paper-based filing system. In addition to cost avoidance, Allen mentions efficiency gains as a valid part of the business case, but the piece does not go into the detail as to how to measure such gains.

Asprey (2004, pp.7-13)¹⁰ in his opinion piece advocates the use of professionals within an organisation to assist in the development of a business case suggesting that where appropriate information professionals should utilise the organisation's resources such as management accountants for return on investment calculations, or IT managers for assistance with technical aspects of a records management solution. This approach not only avoids the dangers of working in 'silos' but is also tacit acknowledgement that records managers do not and should not be expected to have expertise in all the facets of the roles they must play and that instead of merely attempting to do the best they can, suggests that there may be advantages to collaborating with, and using, fellow professionals with true expertise in these areas.