It’s great to be back on the GTEC.CA blog as we ramp up for the main event in October 2009. What a year it has been for the world of Government 2.0 and enterprise collaboration.  Use of social media and online communities for citizen engagement are now routinely front page news. “Enterprise 2.0” has moved from the fringe of public sector priorities into the mainstream, and early adopter departments and agencies worldwide are showing tangible and measurable success.

But what are organizations really trying to accomplish with a 2.0 strategy? Why is a renewed emphasis on collaboration important to the departmental mission?  Beyond the hype, beyond the fluff – what the real objective?  Ultimately success in the knowledge economy –whether public or private sector – rests on connecting the three fundamental elements of business: People, Processes and Content.  Balancing these three elements is not as easy as it seems. As public sector workplaces became automated in the 1980s and ‘90s, this world of “1.0” meant focus on process and content – the rapid rise of email, of shared network drives, of workflow tools endlessly routing items into inbox task lists: transactional content was pushed and pulled from eyeball to eyeball.  Process and Content? Yep! Got it covered.  People? Err… not so much.

Public sector employees personify contributors to the knowledge economy:  program development, delivery of citizen services, protection of infrastructure and populace, regulation and monitoring to ensure high quality of life for residents.  Information is the lifeblood of public sector activity – and this content comes from people.

When we talk about this new generation of collaboration -  inspired by the tools and practices of the 2.0 phenomenon -  we often hear the term “social”:  social networking, social media, social computing.  Social in this context does not mean leisure, or fun and games, it means people. It means bringing the human voice back into the wired world of the electronic workplace.  Organizations wanting to adopt a 2.0 strategy are seeking a more Social Workplace.  The “Social Workplace” is an ideal expression of Web 2.0 technologies to connect people with their peers and with critical content and information. Culturally, it helps break down hierarchical and administrative barriers to innovation and idea exchange among rank and file employees. Technologically, it introduces simpler content creation and communication tools and uses the Web to bridge geographical and generational gaps.

As Web-based collaboration becomes energized by the introduction of social and rich media, sharing and maintaining quality content can accelerate employee productivity. Where individual knowledge was previously hidden, successful teams are seeing shared information and experiences becoming part of broader organizational culture. Employees who actively share their knowledge emerge as experts, and departments that encourage employees to share their knowledge build stronger peer-to-peer and community networks, accelerating internal productivity gains. Providing a variety of simple, interactive, personalized community tools accessible over the Web or smart phones can achieve measurable positive results in this Social Workplace.  In Part 2 of this discussion, we’ll explore the essential scenarios best served by the Social Workplace:

• Attraction, retention, and better use of talent as part of human capital management
• More transparency in corporate governance and communication
• Enablement of front line staff to respond and serve
• Support for a more virtual enterprise
• Respect and protection of institutional memory

Stay tuned…

With a day to go before the event kick off, we’d like to thank the GTEC event organizers for the invitation to blog here over the last few weeks.  As the ECM leader in delivering Enterprise 2.0 to public sector, Open Text is proud to be a Gold Sponsor of the event and invite you to come chat with us in person Tuesday Oct 28 and Wednesday Oct 29.

Come by Booth # 605 – we’ll have a range of Content Experts available to talk about our public sector solutions, the importance of content lifecycle management, and how to get ready for Enterprise 2.0

I am personally thrilled to be speaking on Wednesday morning at 11:30 am on the subject of “Managing Corporate Memory: the Impact of Disruptive Forces in the Workplace”, and will be sharing my 3+ years of research in this area.

My colleague Brian MacLeod, Chief IM Architect at Open Text for Canadian Public Sector is speaking at 2:15 on Tuesday on the subject “Web 2.0 Technologies – Where is the Value?” 

And finally, Dan Larocque, VP of the Canadian Public Sector team will participate in a keynote panel on Wednesday at 9am.  Dan will also be representing us at the Gala Dinner, Monday evening.  Good luck to all of the Award Finalists!

Come say hi! And enjoy this tremendous educational and networking annual event.

News south (err… north) of the border this week as controversy erupts over the email of a current state governor and vice-presidential nominee.  This issue first hit the radar with the apparent hacking and inappropriate distribution of email sent through a free hosted service but has now resurfaced as the focal point of a debate over transparency, email records and appropriate use of communication forms that could be subject to Open Records legislation.  Alaska’s Open Records Act defines public records very much like any North American jurisdiction with Access to Information or Freedom of Information “sunshine” laws:

books, papers, files, accounts, writings, including drafts and memorializations of conversations, and other items, regardless of format or physical characteristics, that are developed or received by a public agency, or by a private contractor for a public agency, and that are preserved for their informational value or as evidence of the organization or operation of the public agency

While this particular incident is receiving front-page attention because of the impending US election, it most surely is not an isolated incident or one restricted to public sector.  Enterprise Content Management and Records Management professionals have since 2001 been working to develop awareness, solutions and information governance strategies to meet rigorous disclosure, records retention and electronic discovery requirements in the US and increasingly in Canada.

The Alaskan email controversy serves as a wake up call to information management practitioners regardless of the jurisdiction or department we serve – public business communication must be preserved, protected and disclosed regardless of the individual format, program or communication channel that is used.

Back to basics – manage the content, not the container it came in.  Use of unsanctioned email, text, chat or other electronic communication tools does not preclude the record from inclusion in an ATIP/FOI or discovery order in most jurisdictions. Unmanaged, uncontrolled business correspondence is a time bomb in government and commercial enterprise. 

Transparency is as crucial a component of compliance as is a retention schedule. 

Open Text hosted its annual Canadian Public Sector Days in Gatineau, Quebec September 16-17, 2008, and were pleased to host 600 registrants from not only the Canadian Federal government, but provinces, cities and regional governments as well.  University of Waterloo Dean of Arts – Dr. Ken Coates – provided an inspirational and thought-provoking keynote on Tuesday morning, challenging public sector professionals to take up the task to help propel Canada into a leadership position internationally by accelerating our Digital Depth and becoming and information-rich nation.

One of the sessions I delivered has been an area of interest and research for the last year – Information Governance.  Inspired by some of the research from www.gartner.com over the last 2 years, Information Governance challenges information management professionals to think beyond compliance and retention pressures when considering an information management strategy.  According to researchers Debra Logan, Toby Bell and Ted Friedman, Information Governance is a “strategic business discipline that better controls data via valuation, policies and process”.  It “requires cross-disciplinary business and IT strategy … that better relate people, policies, processes and technology to the information needs of business leadership”[1]

We know that there are emerging challenges to public sector:  demographic shifts due to the retirement wave that is pending,  the disruptions to content and processes when reorganizations, mergers/spinoffs or elections occur,  the rise of the 2.0 culture and the cultural and technology changes it implies, as well as the constant need for vigilance to ensure business continuity and emergency preparedness to ensure delivery of citizen services during periods of crisis.  These challenges can only be adequately addressed by creating strategic perspectives and objectives with respect to the management of government information. Striking the right balance between security and open disclosure, aligning retention and storage practices with the value and importance of content types, ensuring meaningful categorization, metadata assignment and access controls on information throughout all key stages of its creation or capture, revision and review, publication and consumption and final storage and disposition.

Canadians can be proud that our federal government is internationally recognized as a leader in defining Information Governance strategies.  The most recent articulation of the “Management of Government Information” mandate by the Treasury Board is clear: government must “…achieve efficient and effective information management to support program and service delivery; foster informed decision making; facilitate accountability; transparency and collaboration; and preserve and ensure access to information and records for the benefit of present and future generations”.[2]

Open Text is pleased to be a partner with government to help build an Enterprise Content Management framework as part of a strategic approach to information governance. We are committed to providing ongoing education and communication with its Canadian public sector customer base.

Interesting developments south of the border…

On July 30, 2008, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted “unanimously” to start looking at web sites – specifically emerging interactive technology – as new ways to open up channels of communication and disclosure between corporations and the investor and shareholder community. According to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox in the July 30 statement,  “Ongoing developments in technology have increased both the markets’ and investors’ demand for more timely company disclosure on the Web, and in turn, raised new securities law issues for public companies to consider”.  

While on the surface this new guidance might not have direct applicability to Canadian public sector, this statement represents a critical turning point in the journey to Government 2.0.  Increasingly regulatory and legislative bodies are being compelled by emerging technology and changing information worker habits to look at new content forms and channels.  This SEC development recognizes that corporate disclosures can now legitimately be made through new communication channels – including blogs and investor communities or forums. Companies who want to pursue cost effective and interactive shareholder communication can now explore these Web 2.0 inspired tools that have proved so valuable in other areas of customer engagement.

Open Text will be watching this interesting collision between 2.0 culture and content and the legal compliance obligations we see in both private and public sector.  As new forms of content and online communication become more widely accepted in the eyes of courts, regulatory bodies and public sector agencies, those of us who are concerned about records retention, preservation, corporate memory retention and appropriate disposal policies need to think hard about how new 2.0 content types are handled.  Ensuring that information governance strategies and retention best practices extend to the next generation of electronic content is what we do best.

Click here if you’ve thought about these issues. We want to know: Are You Ready?

We at Open Text are committed to being champions of education and awareness – ensuring that our customers and prospects are armed with the right data to make informed decisions about technology and the implications these decisions will have on their internal processes.  Just a few weeks ago I delivered a seminar as part of the ARMA Canada National Conference in Fredericton, NB on the topic “What Do Records Managers Need to Know about Web 2.0?”   After the session, a familiar face came up and reached a hand out – “thank you”, she said.  “My boss keeps telling me to put our best practices manual up into a wiki, and until today I didn’t really know what a wiki was”.  

So how would you describe a wiki to a non-technical colleague?

In a recent conversation with Rob Koplowitz, Principal Analyst with Forrester Research, we talked about getting away from technology buzzwords when talking to non-technical application users. “Editable web pages” was a simple, useful description of wiki functionality.  At its simplest, a wiki is an easy-to-navigate, textual, browser-based, multi-author web page that can be open for wide public access, or more locked down for only authenticated authors and editors.  FAQ documents, best practices, meeting notes, status reports, team worklists and brainstorming sites:  all ideal content types that can be served with a wiki. 

The records and information managers in the audience that day were particularly interested in some of the unique features that most wiki platforms offer: 

• Full built-in auditing of content – who made the change, what day and time, what specific text was changed
• Documented discussion and collaboration on why changes and edits are made
• Easy navigation back to previous versions and original text
• Simple and intuitive topic hierarchies, pages and cross reference links or URLs to associated information

Example: Open Text Online Customer Community Wiki with tips and tricks for new members.

So think beyond Wikipedia.org – likely the only wiki a non-technical user will have used or seen.  Wikis in public sector business need to be built on a wiki platform that is suited to management, moderation, appropriate use guidelines and ultimately can be captured and preserved as a record or artifact as would any other electronic content created in the course of public business.

Sometimes we forget that government is usually ahead of the private sector in building programs and policies to protect its core intellectual assets and records.  Many businesses in North America only took content management and records retention seriously after 2001 when more laws and regulations were imposed to combat financial misdeeds and fraud.  Government understands the value of protecting content, safely destroying expired sensitive records, and preserving and disclosing information that has long term public value. It’s not new in public sector like it is for many commercial enterprises.  Compliance with National or Provincial Archives mandates, ATIP/FOI disclosures, protection of sensitive and personal information – all decades old requirements.

But somewhere in the 1980s and 1990s, technology burst through and changed the way many public sector information workers did their jobs.  Email, networks, personal desktop computers, everyone with their own word-processor – technology helped melt down traditional hierarchies and changed how content was created and distributed. It was possible and common for a document to live only in electronic form, never having a paper ‘original’.  Getting a handle on new work practices and new content forms took time – and not all departments or agencies have been able to bring information governance principles to electronic content. Yet, even as many of us still struggle with the volume of email, we still need to look ahead. 

Technology is about to burst through a second time.  And this time it will be with new content authoring tools inspired by the personal productivity tools many of us have learned in personal online activities – wikis, blogs, interactive discussion sites, instant messaging. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be exploring a few aspects of what we mean by the buzzword Web 2.0, and what is might mean inside public sector. What should we expect? And how do we learn from the lessons of email in the ‘90s and not get caught unready.

However, inside an agency, critical resources are often intangible: know-how, specialized knowledge, experience, and team culture. Planning for the projected retirement wave disruption needs to bring together human resources and the lines of the agency business most at risk, supported by records and knowledge management professionals within the organization. Establishing mentorship programs, collaborative work environments and a structured approach to the capture, protection and dissemination of legacy work are activities that need to happen today. Clear recommendations and best practices are emerging.

Agencies should look at the demographics and at the mechanisms and programs that can be put in place now to capture key competencies and critical work knowledge of employees who will soon be eligible to retire. When blending a work force of young and old workers, managers should consider different learning needs and prepare to customize programs.

The development of structured knowledge-gathering or exit interview sessions in advance of the departure of a scheduled retirement is key. Bringing junior staff into the process as part of corporate memory transfer is important for continuity and maintenance of long-term best practices. Creating context around the artifacts left behind – boxes, files, even ore and lab samples – better ensures the preservation of a career’s worth of research and work and salvages the agency’s investment.

At the same time, agencies must incorporate the new work styles of the 20-somethings who are working their way up the ladder: Agencies should expect their technology envelops to be pushed. Demands for rapid search, online access to agency content, collaborative chats, and Web or video conferencing are increasing to default channels of communication. The incoming generation is more wired, more mobile and more demanding of technology for productivity and networking. With the demands of this new online generation, government is presented with a new opportunity to take control of electronic knowledge assets.

I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to work with the GTEC team as we ramp up for the October 2008 Conference.  GTEC is the must-attend event for Canadian public sector IT and IM professionals, and as a showcase sponsor it is a great opportunity to meet face to face with clients and hear first hand how technology is directly improving citizen services.

My name is Cheryl McKinnon, Director of Collaborative Content Management with Open Text and over the last 15 years I’ve been privileged to work with Canadian-based software vendors who are passionate about making Canadian public sector successful with content management initiatives. Over the next few months, I’d like to share some of the thoughts, trends and emerging best practices in areas of collaboration, technology as innovation enabler, unique trends in public sector, and what Web 2.0 means for government.

Though I have spent much of my work life in the technology world, my academic background is in Canadian history and have spent many hours knee deep in boxes in our National Archives.  We need to take care of our electronic heritage. We need to ensure that we can capture, preserve and protect the right information so future historians understand how we lived and worked in the early years of the 21^st century.