Records and Information Management (RIM) Strategy

The City’s need for a records and information management (RIM) strategy was first articulated in 2012 in the Corporate Technology Strategic Plan:

“The development of a Records and Information Management (RIM) program for the City is a key recommendation of the IT Corporate Strategic Plan. In June 2012, Council approved funding to support the first phase of this program which will focus on the development of an inventory of City records and current record and information management practices. The findings of this assessment review will be used to inform the future development of a broad-based RIM strategy for the City. A RIM strategy will articulate the needs of the organization with respect to information management and will provide a roadmap for the future.”

The City engaged Ergo Information Management Consulting (Ergo) to develop a five year RIM strategy to outline key phases and deliverables necessary for developing a holistic and integrated lifecycle approach to information management, including physical paper and electronic records from active to inactive and permanent retention, and establish a detailed roadmap for a corporate RIM program.

To support development of the RIM Strategy, Ergo completed a current environment assessment which included:

  • Assessing the City’s current RIM landscape by reviewing relevant City documentation/ data, surveying employees about their RIM practices and needs (22% survey response rate), and consulting with selected stakeholders about the RIM strategy and RIM program development.
  • Using an online survey to document and assess the RIM trends and approaches of selected comparator municipalities (100% response rate).
  • Benchmarking the City’s current RIM environment and practices against the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles®.
  • Assessing the similarities and differences between the principles in the Information Governance Maturity Model and the document and content management requirements in The DAMA Guide to the Data Management Body of Knowledge (DAMA-DMBOK Guide).

This document (the RIM strategy) provides recommendations to address the gaps/risks which were identified and enable the City to take a comprehensive, holistic, defensible, and best practices-based approach to the lifecycle management of all of its information assets.