February Minutes

ITAC MEETING MINUTES
February 17, 2011

Attendees: Daren Baughman, Gloria McNeill, Robert Michaud, Niamh Darcy, Dr. Marc Hoit, Hank Cox, Darryl McGraw

Absent: Steve Kim, Vass Johnson; Michael Reilly absent due to work schedule conflict

Wake County: Lib Wanner, Dan Edwards, Paula Richardson, Debbie Moore

The meeting began at 9:03 a.m.

Lib Wanner welcomed everyone to the meeting and ensured that all members had received the proper documentation. Lib then introduced the group to Dan Edwards, IT Manager for Applied Technologies, and Paula Richardson, Records Manager.

Lib then turned the meeting over to Dan Edwards who went over the agenda and then introduced Paula Richardson to lead the discussion on the topic of Enterprise Records Management. Paula started out with reviewing the vision, mission and goals of the initiative. She indicated that the County wants to create a way to manage public records to improve transparency. Paula went on to say, we want to make it easy for the public to see our records. We have official records and we need to know where they are and that we are managing them as required by law. Paula covered the way we need to educate our departments on the regulations governing these records. Paula explained that the approach is to “grow” experts in each department with consulting and training regarding the policies and procedures governing records management and to make sure that the departments are on board with this process.

Darryl asked where the cost of hardware for storage, scanners, and web access funding is coming from and if the County is charging the cost back to the departments. Lib replied by saying that the plan is to see what the needs are and what type of technology is needed and then budget for the costs in the County’s capital plan model. Lib said she is not recommending using a charge back model at this time.

Dan reviewed the records manager’s responsibilities with the group and how Paula will be actively involved. Dan indicated that she will be working with the Privacy Officer in the County Attorney’s Office in preparing standard procedures and guidelines and in ensuring all HIPAA requirements are met.

Paula then went on to review some of the research she, Dan and Lib have done regarding establishing the records management program. She indicated that valuable information was gained from a peer of Lib’s in Clark County, NV-CIO Laura Fucci-which included the following points:

• Set up a steering committee to oversee the effort and show top management support
• Have an outside service come in and inventory our records
• Develop records management standards before applying technology
• Work with the departments that show interest first 
• Educate, train and support the departments
• Include E-Discovery requirements in the program
• Use this as an opportunity to business process reengineering.

Darryl asked if we intend to automate paper processes as part of this effort or work with the records in the mediums they are currently in. Dan replied that the approach will be to first determine if there are format requirements related to retention requirements (e.g., microfiche) and ensure that records are put in those formats and thereafter prioritize areas where applying automation would make the most sense. Lib indicated that some of the considerations for prioritization would include the condition of the records (e.g., deteriorating documents/maps would take precedence over paper documents that are in good shape), the amount of space that could be freed up and used for other purposes, the frequency of access of the records, etc.

Marc asked about the authority to direct how records are managed. He indicated that some departments may have systems that they love and may not want to move to a different system which could increase the number of platforms the IS Department would need to support. Lib answered that he was right and some departments do, in fact, have unique needs – like the Register of Deeds Office – and that the idea is not to make changes in these areas where the current solution fits their business well. Lib said most departments do not have any records management technology in place and she felt it was possible to offer one or two solutions that would fit the needs of most departments in the organization.

Darren asked if other local governments in NC have records management systems and asked if we could partner with any of them in putting a system in. Lib responded by saying that some do, but she does not know of any other counties that have a full enterprise-wide platform in place. Darren commented on how large and expensive this project sounds like it will be and asked how we plan to manage such a big effort. Dan replied that the idea is to first get rid of “junk in the closet” by applying records retention requirements to our current paper records and then apply technology to automate processes and put records into an electronic format.

Darren asked if HIPAA regulations are driving this. Lib replied that HIPAA compliance was not the driving force behind the effort, rather we believe we are keeping too many records we don’t need to keep which take up space that is costly. She also indicated that putting the records we do need to keep into an electronic form and applying work flow tools to them will enable the County to more effectively manage the information in the records and may allow us to reduce the number of staff needed to perform our work functions, or slow down the need to add staff to address increased work loads.

Marc indicated that what worked for NC State was to lead with giving the business units cheap imaging options to help them better manage the paper records they have and then work on improving their business processes with things like work flow. Lib indicated that approach made a lot of sense to her.

Niamh suggested that the County consider incorporating proper record management into new projects. Lib and Dan agreed that was an excellent idea.

Marc recommended that the County keep the retention schedule simple. He suggested having 3 categories that people can understand. Dan replied that was exactly what we were planning to do.

Paula indicated the first department that she is going to meet with is the HR department and we will try out our categories and overall approach with them. Paula said she will review with them the records retention schedules that apply to them, review their current records, determine how they fit into the retention categories and discuss records destruction procedures. Dan indicated we will use this effort to get better clarity on what is expected of the department’s records managers and how best to work with them.

Lib thanked Paula and Dan and continued the meeting with reviewing the draft for “2010 Report to the Board”. Lib asked for suggestions of changes or anything to be added.

Marc and Hank suggested Lib add into the report the actions the IS Department took as a result of the input ITAC gave on the topics discussed. Lib replied that she thought that was a great suggestion and would do so. She indicated she would have the revisions completed so the group could review the updated draft at the March meeting.

Lib then verified with Darryl that the March meeting would be held at the Wake Tech campus and that she and Darryl would work together on the meeting topic of cloud computing. She indicated she would include directions to the campus in the meeting reminder.

Lib thanked the group for their input and participation.

Meeting adjourned at 9:50 a.m.