Storing critical business information across various repositories can be a complicated and daunting burden often placed upon end-users. As your organization continues to grow, the odds are the number of content repositories used is also growing. In order to build an effective information governance strategy to manage the totality of content, it’s important to explore all records management methods to find the right one for your organization. In-place records management allows end-users to manage existing repositories without the need for migration.
What is In-Place Records Management?
When describing in-place records management, it might be helpful to think of the way a Google search is conducted. By aggregating data across multiple repositories, Google’s search algorithm is designed to get you the most relevant material based on your search, regardless of that data’s location. In a very similar fashion, in-place (as opposed to centralized) records management solution can manage your content from one hub across multiple locations, simplifying processes and achieving compliance across the enterprise. Aggregation sorted by relevance can give the end-user exactly what they want throughout all of the organization’s content storage, without needing to worry about which repository to search.
Is In-Place Records Management Right for My Organization?
An in-place records management system allows for users to manage their content in the repository it already resides in. For example, if you have records stored in Documentum, SharePoint, and a physical repository, in-place records management can apply policy for that content from one hub. The content itself never has to move and can be visible from one singular access point despite being stored in different repositories. Because the content doesn’t move, your workflows remain unaffected, saving time and money that would go into updating the workflows already in place. By making it easier for records managers to find important content, time (and therefore additional money) is saved.
Migrating and consolidating content is extremely costly. With an in-place system, you can leverage existing infrastructure. There is no migration necessary in order to achieve your information governance goals.
Oftentimes, having information in separate databases requires multiple file plans unique to their respective repositories. In-place records management allows for your organization to have one file plan that can be implemented across all of your data repositories, simplifying the business process. Your policies can be managed by a single web interface with a central dashboard.
Finally, an in-place records management system is repository-agnostic, meaning it doesn’t matter where the content lives. You can apply retention from one location and be able to reach out to those various repositories, applying the same (or specialized) rules to all content.
A Single File Plan for Everything?
In order to determine whether in-place records management is right for your organization, consider the following benefits from this approach:
- Allows for the management of content in-place
- Avoids the costly expense of migrating and consolidating content
- Applies a single file plan across all repositories
- Can apply retention to all locations
If you’re looking to control your content from one access point, without costly consolidation, in-place records management might be the perfect solution.