Insights.
Useful methodologies, tips and thoughts about information governance.
Latest posts
Data security: not just an IT issue
What comes to mind when you hear the term ‘data security’? For a lot of people, it conjures images of malevolent hackers: high-tech criminals stealing sensitive information for profit. And there’s some truth to that. In February, the Office of the Australian...
Better than a spreadsheet
While it can be tempting to use a spreadsheet to build information governance tools, there are real benefits for using purpose-built software like a.k.a.. Integrated for greater efficiency A relational database enables links to be made between different data elements....
Before you start building your new classification (metadata) scheme…
To paraphrase Patrick Lambe (yet again): Building classification schemes is at the same time deceptively simple and fiendishly complicated. It's deceptively simple because it's one of those tasks that you can just start by putting terms into a spreadsheet, or into the...
What makes metadata work?
Metadata, like the electrical grid and the highway system, fades into the background of everyday life, taken for granted as just part of what makes modern life run smoothly. When metadata is doing its job well it fades into the background, almost to the point of being...
Information asset registers: the Swiss Army knife for compliance
Throughout the pandemic, our dependence on digital information has significantly increased. Its not just remote workers who need access to records, public demand for information has also been increasing. The speedy adoption of new technologies has made it a great deal...
Recordkeeping: what’s changed in 5,000 years?
More than 5,000 years ago a transaction took place: it involved 29,086 measures of barley and a payment term of 37 months. We know this because, carved on a clay tablet in early Sumerian cuneiform, is the receipt. The tablet is signed “Kushim”. That’s likely a person,...
Records don’t have rights
Records management has a key role to play in preserving people’s rights. It’s one of the reasons we err on the side of caution; when given the choice, we opt to preserve records for the longest possible retention period. While this approach generally increases...
Information asset registers: the ultimate onboarding tool
We tend to think of information asset registers in their top-down capacity – as a tool for senior management overseen by ICT and information professionals. Their application as a self-serve means of navigating an organisation is often overlooked. With remote work on...
Being shovel ready for Microsoft 365
2020 was a year like no other – a year of massive change forced upon as we collectively reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Much has been written about the way in which we adapted to our changing circumstances, in particular, the need to pivot our business models to...
Metadata really does make digital transformation easier!
When you're pushing a particular barrow, it's good to validate your arguments. So, over the holidays, I caught up with a few Gartner reports to confirm their take on the link between metadata and digital transformation. I’ve extracted a few (not so random) quotes, so...
Intelligent automation of recordkeeping – an approach that really works
Over the past few months a remarkable collaboration has taken place between three parties: Pingar NZ, Synercon Australia and our client Auckland Transport. We each brought existing knowledge and toolsets, which we combined to build an Intelligent Automation platform...
Barriers to autoclassification for information governance and how to overcome them
After my last post on classification, I got into conversations with colleagues about why we haven’t been able to leverage autoclassification more for information governance (IG). Given that its no longer possible for us humans to process the vast quantities of...
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