An Integrative Document and Content Management Planning Model.

Today's organizations must manage recorded information in many formats, including paper documents, e-mails, images, drawings, and Web content. At the same time, the risks of mismanaging recorded information are high, and the need to 'align technologies for managing recorded information with enterprise-planning initiatives is great.

Recognizing those imperatives, Len Asprey and Michael Middleton wrote Integrative Document and Content Management: Strategies for Exploiting Enterprise Knowledge to present their planning model for integrative document and content management (IDCM). Their planning model combines the development of an IDCM management framework consisting of policies and change management strategies with the definition, development, and implementation of systems to support overall document lifecycle management in alignment with enterprise planning imperatives.

Integrative Document and Content Management was written for:

* Business managers responsible for managing different types of recorded information (e.g., engineering managers and personnel responsible for managing engineering drawings)

* Information professionals responsible for implementing and managing systems to organize and disseminate documents to meet organizational objectives such as facilitating knowledge sharing (e.g., document controllers, records managers, librarians, and archivists)

* Information management/information technology students seeking to explore the business applications of information management

The book is divided into four parts. Part one, "The Business Context," begins by tracing the evolution of document types and discussing the role of documents in today's organizations. It also briefly reviews the technological developments that impact document management and how organizations manage different document types without the benefit of IDCM systems.

Recognizing that many large organizations have implemented a mix of systems to address specific recorded information management needs (e.g., an imaging system to manage digitized images, a drawing management system to control drawings, and a correspondence tracking system), the authors examine the subsystems that can be elements of an IDCM system. Part one also examines the capability of IDCM systems to interface with an organization's operational and administrative systems.

The next part, "Preliminaries," discusses the planning aspects of an IDCM project and typical project deliverables during the planning and subsequent project phases. The authors also examine the policy frame work necessary for successful IDCM implementation and strategies for effectively implementing those policies. The importance of a feasibility study to make a preliminary identification of requirements and determine the financial, technical, and operational feasibility of a project are also explored at length. Part two concludes with an examination of how to develop a business case for IDCM.

Part three, "Requirements Analysis and Definition," begins by introducing a framework for conducting requirements analysis and discussing the types of user requirements often identified (e.g., need for a backfile conversion of paper documents). The process to identify the functional requirements to manage each of the following document types is explored at length (one chapter per document type): paper documents, digital office documents, e-mails, document imaging and recognition technologies, workflow, engineering and technical drawings, and Web content management, in addition, part three discusses defining non-functional 1DCM requirements, such as system sizing, and system administration requirements, including the information technology environment in which an IDCM solution will be deployed.

The last part, "Package Selection and Implementation Strategies," examines the typical procurement process for selecting an IDCM solution, provides tips for contract negotiation, and presents guidelines for implementation planning (e.g., change management strategy) and post-implementation review. Much of the content is suitable to the selection and implementation of any type of software.

The book also includes five appendices: glossary, bibliography, list of Web resources, representative list of software vendors, and brief discussion of electronic storage media such as read-only memory (ROM). The list of software vendors is disappointing because it does not categorize the functionality of each application into records, document, or content management. In addition, the utility of the October 2002 Web resources list is minimal; many of the promised updates and additions on the specified Web sites cannot be located.

At 528 pages, Integrative Document and Content Management is not a quick read. It is weighty--both in content and actual weight. But it is comprehensive, well-written, and well-organized. Objectives are clearly stated at the beginning of each of the four parts. An overview, objectives, and summary are provided for each of the 22 chapters. The comprehensive index helps readers locate specific pages of interest.

Some may find the book expensive; however, it is an invaluable reference for anyone responsible for developing, planning, or deploying a strategy that marries technology and enterprise-planning initiatives with the management of documents and content.

Editor's Note: The authors define "document" as "any medium that carries symbolic representation of human thought; recorded information on paper such as a form, report, directive, correspondence, book or map, or its equivalent created and used on another medium such as film or disk. (A document, to be a record, must have evidentiary value). Recorded information or object that can be treated as a unit. ]

TITLE: Integrative Document and Content Management: Strategies for Exploiting Enterprise Knowledge

AUTHORS: Len Asprey and Michael Middleton

ISBN: 1-59140-055-4

PUBLISHER: Idea Group Publishing

PUBLICATION DATE: 2003

LENGTH: 526 pages

PRICE: $71.96 (U.S.)

SOURCE: Idea Group Publishing (www. idea.group.com)

Sheila Taylor, CRM, is a Principal with CONDAR Consulting Inc., a product-independent information management consulting firm with offices in Ottawa and Brampton, Ontario, Canada. She is also the Chair of the Canadian Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Committee (CLARA) of ARMA International. She may be contacted at [e-mail].