Government agency replaces its outdated EDRMS to improve efficiency and lower costs

When it came time to replace an aging electronic document and records management system (EDRMS), this Australian state government agency wanted something seamless to improve efficiency.

Its existing EDRMS, OpenText Content Manager, had many drawbacks. The system was difficult to maintain from a security perspective, requiring many technical support staff. The system also placed a burden on all employees to conduct records management tasks such as checking content in and out with use. This slowed all employees down and lowered productivity.

Information managers struggled with the system’s search capabilities and lack of a common management framework and support for policies and procedures, which would help them to guarantee compliance with the Public Records Act. Finally, the total cost of ownership of this system was proving too high for the agency.  

While the leadership team decided to adopt SharePoint Online as a cloud-based solution, this formed only part of the solution. The agency still needed a system to make the management of records seamless.

A seamless interface and improved collaboration

The agency conducted a market evaluation in late 2019, where RecordPoint emerged as the clear winner. The RecordPoint platform provided a seamless interface and allowed the agency to meet the requirements of the Public Records Act.

Adopting SharePoint Online and RecordPoint provided users with better collaboration tools that did away with obligations for the average employee and the records administrator. Employees no longer needed to check documents in and out as they used them, and administrators were no longer required to manage access to documents.

Instead, users can rely on site owners to manage access and trust that RecordPoint to ensure documents are correctly classified and categorized. The agency's business technology manager says this move offered immediate efficiency and security returns.

"When you move from a prescriptive, heavily controlled records management environment to an open user-controlled environment, with a records management system sitting in the background still making sure that you're compliant, you introduce enormous amounts of efficiency to your agency."

However, the agency also found this approach introduced an opportunity for risk. Team members who are empowered to create new sites may lead to unmanaged documents. The agency used the RecordPoint platform to leverage automation to avoid this result. As a result, whenever a user requests a new SharePoint site using ServiceNow, RecordPoint will automatically ingest the data and ensure records are managed.

Personnel problems require a rapid response

Adopting RecordPoint improved the agency's situation, but fresh challenges arose with the resignation of the agency's sole records manager in early 2020. The agency needed an urgent solution to fill the gap and remain compliant.

Here, RecordPoint provided another solution in Success Plan. Success Planis a flexible service where, following a short onboarding process, the RecordPoint team can act as a records manager for the agency, performing routine records management tasks and more strategic projects and improvements.

The RecordPoint team meets regularly with the agency to discuss priorities. It proactively completes tasks such as critically assessing disposal processes and removing documents that are not required, saving the agency money and improving security and productivity.

Initially framed as a short-term solution, the agency gained such significant value that it has continued to renew the service and plans to do so even when the team has found a replacement full-time records manager.

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