John Montaña, JD, Speaks at May Meeting

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"The Data Trap: Why You Need to Manage Electronic Data, and How" was the topic of John Montaña's presentation to thirty attendees at the May 11, 2010 monthly educational meeting.  John Montaña is Vice President and General Counsel of the PelliGroup, a records and information management consulting firm based in West Point, Virginia.  He is also a frequent speaker at ARMA and other events.

In beginning his presentation, Mr. Montaña made a strong case for WHY we need to manage electronic records in today's environment.  It's not just the requirements flowing from laws, regulations, legal actions (i.e. discovery) or an audit.  There are other pressing needs like managing electronic clutter, information privacy and determining e-commerce record authenticity requirements.

Electronic clutter affects capacity, system performance and tends to inhibit retrieval of information.

Many countries view privacy much differently than the United States. Some countries (e.g. European Union) are much more restrictive with retention and disclosure.  Other countries have no rules such that personal information may easily pass to unintended persons.  Records and information managers dealing with multinational records must check the local rules and plan accordingly.

Laws pertaining to the authenticity of records in e-commerce vary based on jurisdiction.  Mr. Montaña noted that "U.S. - centric systems may not comply with requirements in foreign jurisdictions".  Some countries have no laws; others range from permissive to restrictive.  Our speaker related a story about a Kuwait bank patron who was able to fraudulently claim he did not make an ATM withdrawal because the transaction's electronic record was not accepted in the local court. In Kuwait, bank losses due to such incidents are simply a cost of doing business. 

So HOW do we get a handle on records and information?  Mr. Montana offered a detailed plan, with an explanation of the issues and pitfalls one may encounter.  "Get a handle on things" says Montaña ..."by developing an infrastructure map of all repositories and content".  Understand who knows where information resides and who are the gatekeepers.  Beware of information clouds and unstructured data, this content is usually the most difficult to define and control.

Montaña suggests that any significant e-doc RIM project requires substantial planning. The project plan must address critical dependencies, precedent tasks, assigning enough resources and getting input from key stakeholders.  Do not underestimate the time, cost and resources necessary to successfully complete your project.

A complete PDF version of Mr. Montana's presentation can be found  at   http://www.armaconnecticut.com/links.html 

Connecticut Chapter Annual Membership Meeting

By Bill Ludkiewicz CRM, CPA, Immediate Past President

It was a good turnout for the Chapter's Annual Membership Meeting.  The meeting was held on May 11, 2010 at the Cromwell Crowne Plaza just prior to the educational meeting.   President Anita Castora, CRM welcomed all members and friends.  As is customary for the annual meeting, Anita provided us with a recap of another successful year that officially ends June 30, 2010.  Highlighting the year was a variety of well-attended educational meetings, all made possible by a sustaining chapter membership, chapter sponsors and the hard work of the board and its committee members. 

 

Also during the meeting the biennial election of board