UOC Information Governance Discussion

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ofenina1994

Computer Science

University of the Cumberlands

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Your readings in Chapter 9 this week, as well as the handout discussing the risk companies face over unstructured data raises concerns that need to be addressed when a company uses social media.

With your industry in mind, identify and discuss these concerns and address how this can be effectively handled. Support with references.

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INFORMATION GOVERNANCE Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons is the oldest independent publishing company in the United States. With offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, Wiley is globally committed to developing and marketing print and electronic products and services for our customers’ professional and personal knowledge and understanding. The Wiley CIO series provides information, tools, and insights to IT executives and managers. The products in this series cover a wide range of topics that supply strategic and implementation guidance on the latest technology trends, leadership, and emerging best practices. Titles in the Wiley CIO series include: The Agile Architecture Revolution: How Cloud Computing, REST-Based SOA, and Mobile Computing Are Changing Enterprise IT T by Jason Bloomberg Big Data, Big Analytics: Emerging Business Intelligence and Analytic Trends for Today’s Businesses by Michael Minelli, Michele Chambers, and Ambiga Dhiraj The Chief Information Officer’s Body of Knowledge: People, Process, and Technology by Dean Lane CIO Best Practices: Enabling Strategic Value with Information Technology (Second Edition) by Joe Stenzel, Randy Betancourt, Gary Cokins, Alyssa Farrell, Bill Flemming, Michael H. Hugos, Jonathan Hujsak, and Karl Schubert The CIO Playbook: Strategies and Best Practices for IT Leaders to Deliver Value by Nicholas R. Colisto Enterprise Performance Management Done Right: An Operating System for Your Organization by Ron Dimon Executive’s Guide to Virtual Worlds: How Avatars Are Transforming Your Business and Your Brandd by Lonnie Benson IT Leadership Manual: Roadmap to Becoming a Trusted Business Partnerr by Alan R. Guibord Managing Electronic Records: Methods, Best Practices, and Technologiess by Robert F. Smallwood On Top of the Cloud: How CIOs Leverage New Technologies to Drive Change and Build Value Across the Enterprise by Hunter Muller Straight to the Top: CIO Leadership in a Mobile, Social, and Cloud-based World (Second Edition) by Gregory S. Smith Strategic IT: Best Practices for Managers and Executivess by Arthur M. Langer and Lyle Yorks Transforming IT Culture: How to Use Social Intelligence, Human Factors, and Collaboration to Create an IT Department That Outperformss by Frank Wander Unleashing the Power of IT: Bringing People, Business, and Technology Together by Dan Roberts The U.S. Technology Skills Gap: What Every Technology Executive Must Know to Save America’s Future by Gary J. Beach Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies and Best Practicess by Robert F. Smallwood INFORMATION GOVERNANCE CONCEPTS, STRATEGIES AND BEST PRACTICES Robert F. Smallwood Cover image: © iStockphoto / IgorZh Cover design: Wiley Copyright © 2014 by Robert F. Smallwood. All rights reserved. Chapter 7 © 2014 by Barclay Blair Portions of Chapter 8 © 2014 by Randolph Kahn Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Smallwood, Robert F., 1959Information governance : concepts, strategies, and best practices / Robert F. Smallwood. pages cm. — (Wiley CIO series) ISBN 978-1-118-21830-3 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-41949-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-42101-7 (ebk) 1. Information technology—Management. 2. Management information systems. 3. Electronic records—Management. I. Title. HD30.2.S617 2014 658.4’038—dc23 2013045072 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For my sons and the next generation of tech-savvy managers CONTENTS PREFACE xv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii PART ONE— Information Governance Concepts, Definitions, and Principles p 1 CH APT ER 1 The Onslaught of Big Data and the Information Governance Imperative 3 Defining Information Governance 5 IG Is Not a Project, But an Ongoing Program 7 Why IG Is Good Business 7 Failures in Information Governance 8 Form IG Policies, Then Apply Technology for Enforcement Notes 10 12 2 Information Governance, IT Governance, Data Governance: What’s the Difference? 15 CH APT ER Data Governance 15 IT Governance 17 Information Governance 20 Impact of a Successful IG Program Summing Up the Differences 20 21 Notes 22 CH APT ER 3 Information Governance Principles 25 Accountability Is Key 27 Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles® Contributed by Charmaine Brooks, CRM Assessment and Improvement Roadmap 27 34 Who Should Determine IG Policies? 35 Notes 38 PART TWO— Information Governance Risk Assessment and Strategic g Planning g CH APT ER 41 4 Information Risk Planning and Management 43 Step 1: Survey and Determine Legal and Regulatory Applicability and Requirements 43 vii viii CONTENTS Step 2: Specify IG Requirements to Achieve Compliance 46 Step 3: Create a Risk Profile 46 Step 4: Perform Risk Analysis and Assessment 48 Step 5: Develop an Information Risk Mitigation Plan 49 Step 6: Develop Metrics and Measure Results 50 Step 7: Execute Your Risk Mitigation Plan 50 Step 8: Audit the Information Risk Mitigation Program 51 Notes 51 5 Strategic Planning and Best Practices for Information Governance 53 CH APT ER Crucial Executive Sponsor Role 54 Evolving Role of the Executive Sponsor 55 Building Your IG Team 56 Assigning IG Team Roles and Responsibilities 56 Align Your IG Plan with Organizational Strategic Plans 57 Survey and Evaluate External Factors 58 Formulating the IG Strategic Plan 65 Notes 69 CH APT ER 6 Information Governance Policy Development 71 A Brief Review of Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles® 71 IG Reference Model 72 Best Practices Considerations 75 Standards Considerations 76 Benefits and Risks of Standards 76 Key Standards Relevant to IG Efforts 77 Major National and Regional ERM Standards 81 Making Your Best Practices and Standards Selections to Inform Your IG Framework 87 Roles and Responsibilities 88 Program Communications and Training 89 Program Controls, Monitoring, Auditing and Enforcement Notes PART THREE— Information Governance Key Impact p Areas Based on the IG Reference Model CH APT ER 89 91 95 7 Business Considerations for a Successful IG Program 97 By Barclay T. Blair Changing Information Environment 97 CONTENTS ix Calculating Information Costs 99 Big Data Opportunities and Challenges 100 Full Cost Accounting for Information 101 Calculating the Cost of Owning Unstructured Information 102 The Path to Information Value Challenging the Culture New Information Models 105 107 107 Future State: What Will the IG-Enabled Organization Look Like? 110 Moving Forward Notes CH APT ER 111 113 8 Information Governance and Legal Functions 115 By Robert Smallwood with Randy Kahn, Esq., and Barry Murphy Introduction to e-Discovery: The Revised 2006 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Changed Everything 115 Big Data Impact 117 More Details on the Revised FRCP Rules 117 Landmark E-Discovery Case: Zubulake v. UBS Warburg 119 E-Discovery Techniques 119 E-Discovery Reference Model 119 The Intersection of IG and E-Discovery By Barry Murphy 122 Building on Legal Hold Programs to Launch Defensible Disposition 125 By Barry Murphy Destructive Retention of E-Mail 126 Newer Technologies That Can Assist in E-Discovery 126 Defensible Disposal: The Only Real Way To Manage Terabytes and Petabytes By Randy Kahn, Esq. Retention Policies and Schedules 137 By Robert Smallwood, edited by Paula Lederman, MLS Notes 144 9 Information Governance and Records and Information Management Functions 147 CH APT ER Records Management Business Rationale 149 Why Is Records Management So Challenging? 150 Benefits of Electronic Records Management Additional Intangible Benefits 152 153 Inventorying E-Records 154 Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles® E-Records Inventory Challenges 155 155 130 x CONTENTS Records Inventory Purposes 156 Records Inventorying Steps 157 Ensuring Adoption and Compliance of RM Policy 168 General Principles of a Retention Scheduling 169 Developing a Records Retention Schedule 170 Why Are Retention Schedules Needed? 171 What Records Do You Have to Schedule? Inventory and Classification 173 Rationale for Records Groupings 174 Records Series Identification and Classification Retention of E-Mail Records 174 175 How Long Should You Keep Old E-Mails? Destructive Retention of E-Mail 176 177 Legal Requirements and Compliance Research 178 Event-Based Retention Scheduling for Disposition of E-Records 179 Prerequisites for Event-Based Disposition 180 Final Disposition and Closure Criteria 181 Retaining Transitory Records 182 Implementation of the Retention Schedule and Disposal of Records 182 Ongoing Maintenance of the Retention Schedule 183 Audit to Manage Compliance with the Retention Schedule 183 Notes 186 10 Information Governance and Information Technology Functions 189 CH APT ER Data Governance 191 Steps to Governing Data Effectively 192 Data Governance Framework 193 Information Management 194 IT Governance 196 IG Best Practices for Database Security and Compliance 202 Tying It All Together Notes 204 205 11 Information Governance and Privacy and Security Functions 207 CH APT ER Cyberattacks Proliferate 207 Insider Threat: Malicious or Not Privacy Laws 208 210 Defense in Depth 212 Controlling Access Using Identity Access Management 212 Enforcing IG: Protect Files with Rules and Permissions 213 CONTENTS xi Challenge of Securing Confidential E-Documents 213 Apply Better Technology for Better Enforcement in the Extended Enterprise 215 E-Mail Encryption 217 Secure Communications Using Record-Free E-Mail 217 Digital Signatures 218 Document Encryption 219 Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Technology 220 Missing Piece: Information Rights Management (IRM) 222 Embedded Protection 226 Hybrid Approach: Combining DLP and IRM Technologies Securing Trade Secrets after Layoffs and Terminations 227 228 Persistently Protecting Blueprints and CAD Documents 228 Securing Internal Price Lists 229 Approaches for Securing Data Once It Leaves the Organization 230 Document Labeling 231 Document Analytics 232 Confidential Stream Messaging 233 Notes 236 PART FOUR— Information Governance for Deliveryy Platforms CH APT ER 239 12 Information Governance for E-Mail and Instant Messaging 241 Employees Regularly Expose Organizations to E-Mail Risk 242 E-Mail Polices Should Be Realistic and Technology Agnostic 243 E-Record Retention: Fundamentally a Legal Issue 243 Preserve E-Mail Integrity and Admissibility with Automatic Archiving 244 Instant Messaging 247 Best Practices for Business IM Use 247 Technology to Monitor IM Tips for Safer IM Notes CH APT ER 249 249 251 13 Information Governance for Social Media 253 By Patricia Franks, Ph.D, CRM, and Robert Smallwood Types of Social Media in Web 2.0 253 Additional Social Media Categories 255 Social Media in the Enterprise 256 Key Ways Social Media Is Different from E-Mail and Instant Messaging 257 Biggest Risks of Social Media 257 Legal Risks of Social Media Posts 259 xii CONTENTS Tools to Archive Social Media 261 IG Considerations for Social Media 262 Key Social Media Policy Guidelines 263 Records Management and Litigation Considerations for Social Media 264 Emerging Best Practices for Managing Social Media Records 267 Notes CH APT ER 269 14 Information Governance for Mobile Devices 271 Current Trends in Mobile Computing 273 Security Risks of Mobile Computing 274 Securing Mobile Data 274 Mobile Device Management IG for Mobile Computing 275 276 Building Security into Mobile Applications 277 Best Practices to Secure Mobile Applications 280 Developing Mobile Device Policies 281 Notes 283 CH APT ER 15 Information Governance for Cloud Computing 285 By Monica Crocker CRM, PMP, CIP, and Robert Smallwood Defining Cloud Computing 286 Key Characteristics of Cloud Computing 287 What Cloud Computing Really Means Cloud Deployment Models 288 289 Security Threats with Cloud Computing 290 Benefits of the Cloud 298 Managing Documents and Records in the Cloud 299 IG Guidelines for Cloud Computing Solutions 300 Notes CH APT ER 301 16 SharePoint Information Governance 303 By Monica Crocker, CRM, PMP, CIP, edited by Robert Smallwood Process Change, People Change 304 Where to Begin the Planning Process 306 Policy Considerations 310 Roles and Responsibilities 311 Establish Processes 312 Training Plan 313 Communication Plan 313 Note 314 CONTENTS xiii PART FIVE— Long-Term g Program g Issues CH APT ER 315 17 Long-Term Digital Preservation 317 By Charles M. Dollar and Lori J. Ashley Defining Long-Term Digital Preservation 317 Key Factors in Long-Term Digital Preservation Threats to Preserving Records 320 Digital Preservation Standards 321 318 PREMIS Preservation Metadata Standard 328 Recommended Open Standard Technology-Neutral Formats 329 Digital Preservation Requirements 333 Long-Term Digital Preservation Capability Maturity Model® 334 Scope of the Capability Maturity Model 336 Digital Preservation Capability Performance Metrics 341 Digital Preservation Strategies and Techniques 341 Evolving Marketplace Looking Forward Notes 344 344 346 18 Maintaining an Information Governance Program and Culture of Compliance 349 CH APT ER Monitoring and Accountability 349 Staffing Continuity Plan 350 Continuous Process Improvement 351 Why Continuous Improvement Is Needed 351 Notes 353 A Information Organization and Classification: Taxonomies and Metadata 355 APPEN DI X By Barb Blackburn, CRM, with Robert Smallwood; edited by Seth Earley Importance of Navigation and Classification 357 When Is a New Taxonomy Needed? 358 Taxonomies Improve Search Results 358 Metadata and Taxonomy 359 Metadata Governance, Standards, and Strategies 360 Types of Metadata 362 Core Metadata Issues 363 International Metadata Standards and Guidance 364 Records Grouping Rationale 368 Business Classification Scheme, File Plans, and Taxonomy Classification and Taxonomy 369 368 xiv CONTENTS Prebuilt versus Custom Taxonomies 370 Thesaurus Use in Taxonomies 371 Taxonomy Types 371 Business Process Analysis 377 Taxonomy Testing: A Necessary Step Taxonomy Maintenance 379 380 Social Tagging and Folksonomies 381 Notes 383 B Laws and Major Regulations Related to Records Management 385 APPEN DI X United States 385 Canada 387 By Ken Chasse, J.D., LL.M. United Kingdom 389 Australia 391 Notes 394 C Laws and Major Regulations Related to Privacy 397 APPEN DI X United States 397 Major Privacy Laws Worldwide, by Country Notes GLOSSARY 400 401 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 417 ABOUT THE MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS 419 INDEX 421 398 PREFACE I nformation governance (IG) has emerged as a key concern for business executives and managers in today’s environment of Big Data, increasing information risks, colossal leaks, and greater compliance and legal demands. But few seem to have a clear understanding of what IG is; that is, how you define what it is and is not, and how to implement it. This book clarifies and codifies these definitions and provides key insights as to how to implement and gain value from IG programs. Based on exhaustive research, and with the contributions of a number of industry pioneers and experts, this book lays out IG as a complete discipline in and of itself for the first time. IG is a super-discipline that includes components of several key fields: law, records management, information technology (IT), risk management, privacy and security, and business operations. This unique blend calls for a new breed of information professional who is competent across these established and quite complex fields. Training and education are key to IG success, and this book provides the essential underpinning for organizations to train a new generation of IG professionals. Those who are practicing professionals in the component fields of IG will find the book useful in expanding their knowledge from traditional fields to the emerging tenets of IG. Attorneys, records and compliance managers, risk managers, IT managers, and security and privacy professionals will find this book a particularly valuable resource. The book strives to offer clear IG concepts, actionable strategies, and proven best practices in an understandable and digestible way; a concerted effort was made to simplify language and to offer examples. There are summaries of key points throughout and at the end of each chapter to help the reader retain major points. The text is organized into five parts: (1) Information Governance Concepts, Definitions, and Principles; (2) IG Risk Assessment and Strategic Planning; (3) IG Key Impact Areas; (4) IG for Delivery Platforms; and (5) Long-Term Program Issues. Also included are appendices with detailed information on taxonomy and metadata design and on records management and privacy legislation. One thing that is sure is that the complex field of IG is evolving. It will continue to change and solidify. But help is here: No other book offers the kind of comprehensive coverage of IG contained within these pages. Leveraging the critical advice provided here will smooth your path to understanding and implementing successful IG programs. Robert F. Smallwood xv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to sincerely thank my colleagues for their support and generous contribution of their expertise and time, which made this pioneering text possible. Many thanks to Lori Ashley, Barb Blackburn, Barclay Blair, Charmaine Brooks, Ken Chasse, Monica Crocker, Charles M. Dollar, Seth Earley, Dr. Patricia Franks, Randy Kahn, Paula Lederman, and Barry Murphy. I am truly honored to include their work and owe them a great debt of gratitude. xvii PART ONE Information Governance Concepts, Definitions, and Principles CHAPTER 1 The Onslaught of Big Data and the Information Governance Imperative T he value of information in business is rising, and business leaders are more and more viewing the ability to govern, manage, and harvest information as critical to success. Raw data is now being increasingly viewed as an asset that can be leveraged, just like financial or human capital.1 Some have called this new age of “Big Data” the “industrial revolution of data.” According to the research group Gartner, Inc., Big Data is defined as “high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making.”2 A practical definition should also include the idea that the amount of data—both structured (in databases) and unstructured (e.g., e-mail, scanned documents) is so massive that it cannot be processed using today’s database tools and analytic software techniques.3 In today’s information overload era of Big Data—characterized by massive growth in business data volumes and velocity—the ability to distill key insights from enormous amounts of data is a major business differentiator and source of sustainable competitive advantage. In fact, a recent report by the World Economic Forum stated that data is a new asset class and personal data is “the new oil.”4 And we are generating more than we can manage effectively with current methods and tools. The Big Data numbers are overwhelming: Estimates and projections vary, but it has been stated that 90 percent of the data existing worldwide today was created in the last two years5 and that every two days more information is generated than was from the dawn of civilization until 2003.6 This trend will continue: The global market for Big Data technology and services is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 27 percent through 2017, about six times faster than the general information and communications technology (ICT) market.7 Many more comparisons and statistics are available, and all demonstrate the incredible and continued growth of data. Certainly, there are new and emerging opportunities arising from the accumulation and analysis of all that data we are busy generating and collecting. New enterprises are springing up to capitalize on data mining and business intelligence opportunities. The U.S. federal government joined in, announcing $200 million in Big Data research programs in 2012.8 3 4 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE The onslaught of Big Data necessitates that information governance (IG) be implemented to discard unneeded data in a legally defensible way. But established organizations, especially larger ones, are being crushed by this onslaught of Big Data: It is just too expensive to keep all the information that is being generated, and unneeded information is a sort of irrelevant sludge for decision makers to wade through. They have difficulty knowing which information is an accurate and meaningful “wheat” and which is simply irrelevant “chaff.” This means they do not have the precise information they need to base good business decisions upon. And all that Big Data piling up has real costs: The burden of massive stores of information has increased storage management costs dramatically, caused overloaded systems to fail, and increased legal discovery costs.9 Further, the longer that data is kept, the more likely that it will need to be migrated to newer computing platforms, driving up conversion costs; and legally, there is the risk that somewhere in that mountain of data an organization stores is a piece of information that represents a significant legal liability.10 This is where the worlds of Big Data and business collide. For Big Data proponents, more data is always better, and there is no perceived downside to accumulation of massive amounts of data. In the business world, though, the realities of legal e-discovery mean the opposite is true.11 To reduce risk, liability, and costs, it is critical for unneeded information to be disposed of in a systematic, methodical, and “legally defensible” (justifiable in legal proceedings) way, when it no longer has legal, regulatory, or business value. And there also is the high-value benefit of basing decisions on better, cleaner data, which can come about only through rigid, enforced information governance (IG) policies that reduce information glut. Organizations are struggling to reduce and right-size their information footprint by discarding superfluous and redundant data, e-documents, and information. But the critical issue is devising policies, methods, and processes and then deploying information technology (IT) to sort through which information is valuable and which no longer has business value and can be discarded. IT, IG, risk, compliance, and legal representatives in organizations have a clear sense that most of the information stored is unneeded, raises costs, and poses risks. According to a survey taken at a recent Compliance, Governance and Oversight Counsel summit, respondents estimated that approximately 25 percent of information stored in organizations has real business value, while 5 percent must be kept as business records and about 1 percent is retained due to a litigation hold. “This means that Big Data values massive accumulation of data, whereas in business, e-discovery realities and potential legal liabilities dictate that data be culled to only that which has clear business value. THE ONSLAUGHT OF BIG DATA AND THE INFORMATION GOVERNANCE IMPERATIVE 5 Only about one quarter of information organizations are managing has real business value. With a smaller information footprint, it is easier for organizations to find the information they need and derive business value from it. [about] 69 percent of information in most companies has no business, legal, or regulatory value. Companies that are able to dispose of this data debris return more profit to shareholders, can leverage more of their IT budgets for strategic investments, and can avoid excess expense in legal and regulatory response” (emphasis added).12 With a smaller information footprintt, organizations can more easily find what they need and derive business value from it.13 They must eliminate the data debris regularly and consistently, and to do this, processes and systems must be in place to cull valuable information and discard the data debris daily. An IG program sets the framework to accomplish this. The business environment has also underscored the need for IG. According to Ted Friedman at Gartner, “The recent global financial crisis has put information governance in the spotlight. . . . [It] is a priority of IT and business leaders as a result of various pressures, including regulatory compliance mandates and the urgent need for improved decision-making.”14 And IG mastery is critical for executives: Gartner predicts that by 2016, one in five chief information officers in regulated industries will be fired from their jobs for failed IG initiatives. s 15 Defining Information Governance IG is a sort of super discipline that has emerged as a result of new and tightened legislation governing businesses, external threats such as hacking and data breaches, and the recognition that multiple overlapping disciplines were needed to address today’s information management challenges in an increasingly regulated and litigated business environment.16 IG is a subset of corporate governance, and includes key concepts from records management, content management, IT and data governance, information security, data privacy, risk management, litigation readiness, regulatory compliance, long-term digital preservation, and even business intelligence. This also means that it includes related technology and discipline subcategories, such as document management, enterprise search, knowledge management, and business continuity/ disaster recovery. IG is a subset of corporate governance. 6 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE IG is a sort of superdiscipline that encompasses a variety of key concepts from a variety of related disciplines. Practicing good IG is the essential foundation for building legally defensible disposition practices to discard unneeded information and to secure confidential information, which may include trade secrets, strategic plans, price lists, blueprints, or personally identifiable information (PII) subject to privacy laws; it provides the basis for consistent, reliable methods for managing data, e-documents, and records. Having trusted and reliable records, reports, data, and databases enables managers to make key decisions with confidence.17 And accessing that information and business intelligence in a timely fashion can yield a long-term sustainable competitive advantage, creating more agile enterprises. To do this, organizations must standardize and systematize their handling of information. They must analyze and optimize how information is accessed, controlled, managed, shared, stored, preserved, and audited. They must have complete, current, and relevant policies, processes, and technologies to manage and control information, including who is able to access what information, and when, to meet external legal and regulatory demands and internal governance policy requirements. In short, IG is about information control and compliance. IG is a subset of corporate governance, which has been around as long as corporations have existed. IG is a rather new multidisciplinary field that is still being defined, but has gained traction increasingly over the past decade. The focus on IG comes not only from compliance, legal, and records management functionaries but also from executives who understand they are accountable for the governance of information and that theft or erosion of information assets has real costs and consequences. “Information governance” is an all-encompassing term for how an organization manages the totality of its information. According to the Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA), IG is “a strategic framework composed of standards, processes, roles, and metrics that hold organizations and individuals accountable to create, organize, secure, maintain, use, and dispose of information in ways that align with and contribute to the organization’s goals.”18 IG includes the set of policies, processes, and controls to manage information in compliance with external regulatory requirements and internal governance frameworkss. Specific policies apply to specific data and document types, records series, and other business information, such as e-mail and reports. Stated differently, IG is “a quality-control discipline for managing, using, improving, and protecting information.”19 Practicing good IG is the essential foundation for building legally defensible disposition practices to discard unneeded information. THE ONSLAUGHT OF BIG DATA AND THE INFORMATION GOVERNANCE IMPERATIVE 7 IG is “a strategic framework composed of standards, processes, roles, and metrics, that hold organizations and individuals accountable to create, organize, secure, maintain, use, and dispose of information in ways that align with and contribute to the organization’s goals.”20 IG is how an organization maintains security, complies with regulations, and meets ethical standards when managing information. Fleshing out the definition further: “Information governance is policy-based management of information designed to lower costs, reduce risk, and ensure compliance with legal, regulatory standards, and/or corporate governance.”21 IG necessarily incorporates not just policies but information technologies to audit and enforce those policies. The IG team must be cognizant of information lifecycle issues and be able to apply the proper retention and disposition policies, including digital preservation where records need to be maintained for long periods. IG Is Not a Project, But an Ongoing Program IG is an ongoing program, not a one-time project. IG provides an umbrella to manage and control information output and communications. Since technologies change so quickly, it is necessary to have overarching policies that can manage the various IT platforms that an organization may use. Compare it to a workplace safety program; every time a new location, team member, piece of equipment, or toxic substance is acquired by the organization, the workplace safety program should dictate how that is handled. If it does not, the workplace safety policies/procedures/training that are part of the workplace safety program need to be updated. Regular reviews are conducted to ensure the program is being followed and adjustments are made based on the findings. The effort never ends. s 22 The same is true for IG. IG is not only a tactical program to meet regulatory, compliance, and litigation demands. It can be strategicc, in that it is the necessary underpinning for developing a management strategy that maximizes knowledge worker productivity while minimizing risk and costs. Why IG Is Good Business IG is a tough sell. It can be difficult to make the business case for IG, unless there has been some major compliance sanction, fine, legal loss, or colossal data breach. In fact, the largest IG is a multidisciplinary program that requires an ongoing effort. 8 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE impediment to IG adoption is simply identifying its benefits and costs, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. Sure, the enterprise needs better control over its information, but how much better? At what cost? What is the payback period and the return on investment?23 It is challenging to make the business case for IG, yet making that case is fundamental to getting IG efforts off the ground. Here are eight reasons why IG makes good business sense, from IG thought leader Barclay Blair: 1. We can’t keep everything forever. IG makes sense because it enables organizations to get rid of unnecessary information in a defensible manner. Organizations need a sensible way to dispose of information in order to reduce the cost and complexity of the IT environment. Having unnecessary information around only makes it more difficult and expensive to harness information that has value. 2. We can’t throw everything away. IG makes sense because organizations can’t keep everything forever, nor can they throw everything away. We need information—the right information, in the right place, at the right time. Only IG provides the framework to make good decisions about what information to keep. 3. E-discovery. IG makes sense because it reduces the cost and pain of discovery. Proactively managing information reduces the volume of information exposed to e-discovery and simplifies the task of finding and producing responsive information. 4. Your employees are screaming for it—just listen. IG makes sense because it helps knowledge workers separate “signal” from “noise” in their information flows. By helping organizations focus on the most valuable information, IG improves information delivery and improves productivity. 5. It ain’t gonna get any easier. IG makes sense because it is a proven way for organizations to respond to new laws and technologies that create new requirements and challenges. The problem of IG will not get easier over time, so organizations should get started now. 6. The courts will come looking for IG. IG makes sense because courts and regulators will closely examine your IG program. Falling short can lead to fines, sanctions, loss of cases, and other outcomes that have negative business and financial consequences. 7. Manage risk: IG is a big one. Organizations need to do a better job of identifying and managing risk. The risk of information management failures is a critical risk that IG helps to mitigate. 8. E-mail: Reason enough. IG makes sense because it helps organizations take control of e-mail. Solving e-mail should be a top priority for every organization.24 Failures in Information Governance The failure to implement and enforce IG can lead to vulnerabilities that can have dire consequences. The theft of confidential U.S. National Security Agency documents THE ONSLAUGHT OF BIG DATA AND THE INFORMATION GOVERNANCE IMPERATIVE 9 by Edward Snowden in 2013 could have been prevented by properly enforced IG. Also, Ford Motor Company is reported to have suffered a loss estimated at $50 to $100 million as a result of the theft of confidential documents by one of its own employees. A former product engineer who had access to thousands of trade secret documents and designs sold them to a competing Chinese car manufacturer. A strong IG program would have controlled and tracked access and prevented the theft while protecting valuable intellectual property.25 Law enforcement agencies have also suffered from poor IG. In a rather frivolous case in 2013 that highlighted the lack of policy enforcement for the mobile environment, it was reported that U.S. agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation used government-issued mobile phones to send explicit text messages and nude photographs to coworkers. The incidents did not have a serious impact but did compromise the agency and its integrity, and “adversely affected the daily activities of several squads.”26 Proper mobile communications policies were obviously not developed and enforced. IG is also about information security and privacy, and serious thought must be given when creating policies to safeguard personal, classified or confidential information. Schemes to compromise or steal information can be quite deceptive and devious, masked by standard operating procedures—if proper IG controls and monitoring are not in place. To wit: Granting remote access to confidential information assets for key personnel is common. Granting medical leave is also common. But a deceptive and dishonest employee could feign a medical leave while downloading volumes of confidential information assets for a competitor—and that is exactly what happened at Accenture, a global consulting firm. During a fraudulent medical leave, an employee was allowed access to Accenture’s Knowledge Exchange (KX), a detailed knowledge base containing previous proposals, expert reports, cost-estimating guidelines, and case studies. This activity could have been prevented by monitoring and analytics that would have shown an inordinate amount of downloads—especially for an “ailing” employee. The employee then went to work for a direct competitor and continued to download the confidential information from Accenture, estimated to be as many as 1,000 critical documents. While the online access to KX was secure, the use of the electronic documents could have been restricted even afterr the documents were downloaded, if IG measures were in place and newer technologies (such as information rights management [IRM] software) were deployed to secure them directly and maintain that security remotely. With IRM, software security protections can be employed to seal the e-documents and control their use—even after they leave the organization. More details on IRM technology and its capabilities is presented later in this book. Other recent high-profile data and document leakage cases revealing information security weaknesses that could have been prevented by a robust IG program include: ■ Huawei Technologies, the largest networking and mobile communications company in China, was sued by U.S.-based Motorola for allegedly conspiring to steal trade secrets through former Motorola employees. Ford’s loss from stolen documents in a single case of intellectual property (IP) theft was estimated at $50 to $100 million. 10 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE ■ MI6, the U.K. equivalent of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, learned that one of its agents in military intelligence attempted to sell confidential documents to the intelligence services of the Netherlands for £2 million GBP ($3 million USD). And breaches of personal information revealing failures in privacy protection abound; here are just a few: ■ ■ ■ ■ Health information of 1,600 cardiology patients at Texas Children’s Hospital was compromised when a doctor’s laptop was stolen. The information included personal and demographic information about the patients, including their names, dates of birth, diagnoses, and treatment histories.27 U.K. medics lost the personal records of nearly 12,000 National Health Service patients in just eight months. Also, a hospital worker was suspended after it was discovered he had sent a file containing pay-slip details for every member of staff to his home e-mail account.28 Personal information about more than 600 patients of the Fraser Health Authority in British Columbia, Canada, was stored on a laptop stolen from Burnaby General Hospital. In December 2013, Target stores in the U.S. reported that as many as 110 million customer records had been breached in a massive attack that lasted weeks. The list of breaches and IG failures could go on and on, more than filling the pages of this book. It is clear that it is occurring and that it will continue. IG controls to safeguard confidential information assets and protect privacy cannot rely solely on the trustworthiness of employees and basic security measures. Up-to-date IG policies and enforcement efforts and newer technology sets are needed, with active, consistent monitoring and program adjustments to continue to improve. Executives and senior managers can no longer avoid the issue, as it is abundantly clear that the threat is real and the costs of taking such avoidable risks can be high. A single security breach is an IG failure and can cost the entire business. According to Debra Logan of Gartner, “When organizations suffer high-profile data losses, especially involving violations of the privacy of citizens or consumers, they suffer serious reputational damage and often incur fines or other sanctions. IT leaders will have to take at least part of the blame for these incidents.”29 Form IG Policies, Then Apply Technology for Enforcement Typically, some policies governing the use and control of information and records may have been established for financial and compliance reports, and perhaps e-mail, but they are often incomplete and out-of-date and have not been adjusted for changes in the business environment, such as new technology platforms (e.g., Web 2.0, social IG controls to safeguard confidential information assets and protect privacy cannot rely solely on the trustworthiness of employees and basic security measures. THE ONSLAUGHT OF BIG DATA AND THE INFORMATION GOVERNANCE IMPERATIVE 11 media), changing laws (e.g., U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 2006 changes), and additional regulations. Further adding to the challenge is the rapid proliferation of mobile devices like tablets, phablets, and smartphones used in business—information can be more easily lost or stolen—so IG efforts must be made to preserve and protect the enterprise’s information assets. Proper IG requires that policies are flexible enough not to hinder the proper flow of information in the heat of the business battle yet strict enough to control and audit for misuse, policy violations, or security breaches. This is a continuous iterative policymaking process that must be monitored and fine-tuned. Even with the absolute best efforts, some policies will miss the mark and need to be reviewed and adjusted. Getting started with IG awareness is the crucial first step. It may have popped up on an executive’s radar at one point or another and an effort might have been made, but many organizations leave these policies on the shelf and do not revise them on a regular basis. IG is the necessary underpinning for a legally defensible disposition program that discards data debris and helps narrow the search for meaningful information on which to base business decisions. IG is also necessary to protect and preserve critical information assets. An IG strategy should aim to minimize exposure to risk, at a reasonable cost level, while maximizing productivity and improving the quality of information delivered to knowledge users. But a reactive, tactical projectt approach is not the way to go about it—haphazardly swatting at technological, legal, and regulatory flies. A proactive, strategic program, with a clear, accountable sponsor, an ongoing plan, and regular review process, is the only way to continuously adjust IG policies to keep them current so that they best serve the organization’s needs. Some organizations have created formal governance bodies to establish strategies, policies, and procedures surrounding the distribution of information inside and outside the enterprise. These governance bodies, steering committees, or teams should include members from many different functional areas, since proper IG necessitates input from a variety of stakeholders. Representatives from IT, records management, corporate or agency archiving, risk management, compliance, operations, human resources, security, legal, finance, and perhaps knowledge management are typically a part of IG teams. Often these efforts are jump-started and organized by an executive sponsor who utilizes third-party consulting resources that specialize in IG efforts, especially considering the newness of IG and its emerging best practices. So in this era of ever-growing Big Data, leveraging IG policies to focus on retaining the information that has real business value, while discarding the majority of information that has no value and carries associated increased costs and risks, is critical to success for modern enterprises. This must be accomplished in a systematic, consistent, and legally defensible manner by implementing a formal IG program. Other crucial elements of an IG program are the steps taken to secure confidential information by enforcing and monitoring policies using the appropriate information technologies. Getting started with IG awareness is the crucial first step. 12 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE CHAPTER SUMMARY: KEY POINTS ■ The onslaught of Big Data necessitates that IG be implemented to discard unneeded data in a legally defensible way. ■ Big Data values massive accumulation of data, whereas in business, e-discovery realities and potential legal liabilities dictate that data be culled to only that which has clear business value. ■ Only about one quarter of the information organizations are managing has real business value. ■ With a smaller information footprint, it is easier for organizations to find the information they need and derive business value from it. ■ IG is a subset of corporate governance and encompasses the policies and leveraged technologies meant to manage what corporate information is retained, where, and for how long, and also how it is retained. ■ IG is a sort of super discipline that encompasses a variety of key concepts from a variety of related and overlapping disciplines. ■ Practicing good IG is the essential foundation for building legally defensible disposition practices to discard unneeded information. ■ According to ARMA, IG is “a strategic framework composed of standards, processes, roles, and metrics that hold organizations and individuals accountable to create, organize, secure, maintain, use, and dispose of information in ways that align with and contribute to the organization’s goals.”30 ■ IG is how an organization maintains security, complies with regulations and laws, and meets ethical standards when managing information. ■ IG is a multidisciplinary program that requires an ongoing effort and active participation of a broad cross-section of functional groups and stakeholders. ■ IG controls to safeguard confidential information assets and protect privacy cannot rely solely on the trustworthiness of employees and basic security measures. ■ Getting started with IG awareness is the crucial first step. Notes 1. The Economist, “Data, Data Everywhere,” February 25, 2010, www.economist.com/node/15557443 2. Gartner, Inc., “IT Glossary: Big Data,” www.gartner.com/it-glossary/big-data/ (accessed April 15, 2013). 3. Webopedia, “Big Data,” www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/big_data.html (accessed April 15, 2013). THE ONSLAUGHT OF BIG DATA AND THE INFORMATION GOVERNANCE IMPERATIVE 13 4. World Economic Forum, “Personal Data:The Emergence of a New Asset Class”(January 2011), http:// www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_ITTC_PersonalDataNewAsset_Report_2011.pdf 5. Deidra Paknad, “Defensible Disposal: You Can’t Keep All Your Data Forever,” July 17, 2012, www .forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/07/17/defensible-disposal-you-cant-keep-all-your-data-forever/ 6. Susan Karlin, “Earth’s Nervous System: Looking at Humanity Through Big Data,” www.fastcocreate .com/1681986/earth-s-nervous-system-looking-at-humanity-through-big-data#1(accessed March 5, 2013). 7. IDC Press Release, December 18, ,2013, http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24542113 New IDC Worldwide Big Data Technology and Services Forecast Shows Market Expected to Grow to $32.4 Billion in 2017 8. Steve Lohr, “How Big Data Became So Big,” New York Times, August 11, 2012, www.nytimes. com/2012/08/12/business/how-big-data-became-so-big-unboxed.html?_r=2&smid=tw-share& 9. Kahn Consulting, “Information Governance Brief,” sponsored by IBM, www.delve.us/downloads/ Brief-Defensible-Disposal.pdf (accessed March 4, 2013). 10. Barclay T. Blair, “Girding for Battle,” Law Technology News, October 1, 2012, www.law.com/jsp/lawtechnologynews/PubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1202572459732&thepage=1 11. Ibid. 12. Paknad, “Defensible Disposal.” 13. Randolph A. Kahn, https://twitter.com/InfoParkingLot/status/273791612172259329, November 28, 2012. 14. Gartner Press Release, “Gartner Says Master Data Management Is Critical to Achieving Effective Information Governance,” www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/1898914, January 19, 2012 15. Ibid. 16. Monica Crocker, e-mail to author, June 21, 2012. 17. Economist Intelligence Unit, “The Future of Information Governance,” www.emc.com/leadership/ business-view/future-information-governance.htm (accessed November 14, 2013). 18. ARMA International, Glossary of Records and Information Management Termss, 4th ed., 2012, TR 22–2012. 19. Arvind Krishna, “Three Steps to Trusting Your Data in 2011,” IT Business Edge, posted March 9, 2011, www.itbusinessedge.com/guest-opinions/three-steps-trusting-your-data-2011. (accessed November 14, 2013). 20. ARMA International, Glossary of Records and Information Management Termss, 4th ed., 2012, TR 22–2012. 21. Laura DuBoisand Vivian Tero, “Practical Information Governance: Balancing Cost, Risk, and Productivity,” IDC White Paper (August 2010), www.emc.com/collateral/analyst-reports/idc-practicalinformation-governance-ar.pdf 22. Monica Crocker, e-mail to author, June 21, 2012. 23. Barclay T. Blair, Making the Case for Information Governance: Ten Reasons IG Makes Sense, ViaLumina Ltd, 2010. Online at http://barclaytblair.com/making-the-case-for-ig-ebook/ (accessed November 14, 2013). 24. Barclay T. Blair, “8 Reasons Why Information Governance (IG) Makes Sense,” June 29, 2009, www. digitallandfill.org/2009/06/8-reasons-why-information-governance-ig-makes-sense.html 25. Peter Abatan, “Corporate and Industrial Espionage to Rise in 2011,” Enterprise Digital Rights Management, http://enterprisedrm.tumblr.com/post/2742811887/corporate-espionage-to-rise-in-2011. (accessed November 14, 2013). 26. BBC News, “FBI Staff Disciplined for Sex Texts and Nude Pictures,” February 22, 2013, www.bbc. co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21546135 27. Todd Ackerman, “Laptop Theft Puts Texas Children’s Patient Info at Risk,” Houston Chroniclee, July 30, 2009, www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Laptop-theft-puts-Texas-Children-s-patient-info-1589473. php. (accessed March 2, 2012). 28. Jonny Greatrex, “Bungling West Midlands Medics Lose 12,000 Private Patient Records,” Sunday Mercury, September 5, 2010, www.sundaymercury.net/news/sundaymercuryexclusives/2010/09/05/bungling-west-midlands-medics-lose-12–000-private-patient-records-66331–27203177/ (accessed March 2, 2012). 29. Gartner Press Release, “Gartner Says Master Data Management Is Critical to Achieving Effective Information Governance.” 30. ARMA International, Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. s CHAPTER 2 Information Governance, IT Governance, Data Governance: What’s the Difference? T here has been a great deal of confusion around the term information governance (IG) and how it is distinct from other similar industry terms, such as information technology (IT) governance and data governance. They are all a subset of corporate governance, and in the above sequence, become increasingly more granular in their approach. Data governance is a part of broader IT governance, which is also a part of even broader information governance. The few texts that exist have compounded the confusion by offering a limited definition of IG, or sometimes offering a definition of IG that is just plain incorrectt, often confusing it with simple data governance. So in this chapter we spell out the differences and include examples in hopes of clarifying what the meaning of each term is and how they are related. Data Governance Data governance involves processes and controls to ensure that information at the data level—raw alphanumeric characters that the organization is gathering and inputting— is true and accurate, and unique (not redundant). It involves data cleansing (or data scrubbing) g to strip out corrupted, inaccurate, or extraneous data and de-duplication, to eliminate redundant occurrences of data. Data governance focuses on information quality from the ground up at the lowest or root level, so that subsequent reports, analyses, and conclusions are based on clean, reliable, trusted data (or records) in database tables. Data governance is the most rudimentary level at which to implement information governance. Data governance efforts seek to ensure that formal management controls—systems, processes, and accountable employees who are stewards and custodians of the data—are implemented to govern critical data assets to improve data quality and to avoid negative downstream effects of poor data. The biggest negative consequence of poor or inaccurate data is poorly and inaccurately based decisions. 15 16 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE Data governance uses techniques like data cleansing and de-duplication to improve data quality and reduce redundancies. Data governance is a newer, hybrid quality control discipline that includes elements of data quality, data management, IG policy development, business process improvement, and compliance and risk management. Data Governance Strategy Tips Everyone in an organization wants good-quality data to work with. But it is not so easy to implement a data governance program. First of all, data is at such a low level that executives and board members are typically unaware of the details of the “smoky back room” of data collection: cleansing, normalization, and input. So it is difficult to gain an executive sponsor and funding to initiate the effort.1 And if a data governance program does move forward, there are challenges in getting business users to adhere to new policies. This is a crucial point, since much of the data is being generated by business units. But there are some general guidelines that can help improve a data governance program’s chances for success: ■ ■ ■ ■ Identify a measureable impact. A data governance program must be able to demonstrate business value, or it will not get the executive sponsorship and funding it needs to move forward. A readiness assessment should capture the current state of data quality and whether an enterprise or business unit level effort is warranted. Other key issues include: Can the organization save hard costs by implementing data governance? Can it reach more customers or increase revenue generated from existing customers?2 Assign accountability for data quality to business units, not IT. Typically, IT has had responsibility for data quality, yet it is mostly not under that department’s control, since most of the data is being generated in the business units. A pointed effort must be made to push responsibility and ownership for data to the business units that create and use the data. Recognize the uniqueness of data as an asset. Unlike other assets, such as people, factories, equipment, and even cash, data is largely unseen, out of sight, and intangible. It changes daily. It spreads throughout business units. It is copied and deleted. Data growth can spiral out of control, obscuring the data that has true business value. So data has to be treated differently, and its unique qualities must be considered. Forget the past; implement a going-forward strategy. It is a significantly greater task to try to improve data governance across the enterprise for existing data. Remember, you may be trying to fix decades of bad behavior, mismanagement, and lack of governance. Taking an incremental approach with an eye to the future provides for a clean starting point and can substantially reduce the pain required to implement. A proven best practice is to implement a from-thispoint-on strategy where new data governance policies for handling data are implemented beginning on a certain date. INFORMATION GOVERNANCE, IT GOVERNANCE, DATA GOVERNANCE 17 Good data governance ensures that downstream negative effects of poor data are avoided and that subsequent reports, analyses, and conclusions are based on reliable, trusted data. ■ Manage the change. Educate, educate, educate. People must be trained to understand why the data governance program is being implemented and how it will benefit the business. The new policies represent a cultural change, and people need supportive program messages and training in order to make the shift.3 IT Governance IT governance is the primary way that stakeholders can ensure that investments in IT create business value and contribute toward meeting business objectives.4 This strategic alignment of IT with the business is challenging yet essential. IT governance programs go further and aim to “improve IT performance, deliver optimum business value and ensure regulatory compliance.”5 Although the CIO typically has line responsibility for implementing IT governance, the CEO and board of directors must receive reports and updates to discharge their responsibilities for IT governance and to see that the program is functioning well and providing business benefits. Typically, in past decades, board members did not get involved in overseeing IT governance. But today it is a critical and unavoidable responsibility. According to the IT Governance Institute’s Board Briefing on IT Governance, “IT governance is the responsibility of the board of directors and executive management. It is an integral part of enterprise governance and consists of the leadership and organizational structures and processes that ensure that the organization’s IT sustains and extends the organization’s strategies and objectives.”6 The focus is on the actual software development and maintenance activities of the IT department or function, and IT governance efforts focus on making IT efficient and effective. That means minimizing costs by following proven software development methodologies and best practices, principles of data governance and information quality, and project management best practices while aligning IT efforts with the business objectives of the organization. IT Governance Frameworks Several IT governance frameworks can be used as a guide to implementing an IT governance program. (They are introduced in this chapter in a cursory way; detailed discussions of them are best suited to books focused solely on IT governance.) IT governance seeks to align business objectives with IT strategy to deliver business value. 18 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE Although frameworks and guidance like CobiT® and ITIL have been widely adopted, there is no absolute standard IT governance framework; the combination that works best for an organization depends on business factors, corporate culture, IT maturity, and staffing capability. The level of implementation of these frameworks will also vary by organization. CobiT® CobiT T (Control Objectives for Information and related Technology) is a processbased IT governance framework that represents a consensus of experts worldwide. Codeveloped by the IT Governance Institute and ISACA (previously known as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association), CobiT addresses business risks, control requirements, compliance, and technical issues.7 CobiT offers IT controls that: ■ ■ ■ ■ Cut IT risks while gaining business value from IT under an umbrella of a globally accepted framework. Assist in meeting regulatory compliance requirements. Utilize a structured approach for improved reporting and management decision making. Provide solutions to control assessments and project implementations to improve IT and information asset control.8 CobiT consists of detailed descriptions of processes required in IT and also tools to measure progress toward maturity of the IT governance program. It is industry agnostic and can be applied across all vertical industry sectors, and it continues to be revised and refined.9 CobiT is broken out into three basic organizational levels and their responsibilities: (1) board of directors and executive management; (2) IT and business management; and (3) line-level governance, and security and control knowledge workers.10 The CobiT model draws on the traditional “plan, build, run, monitor” paradigm of traditional IT management, only with variations in semantics. The CobiT framework is divided into four IT domains—(1) plan and organize, (2) acquire and implement, (3) deliver and support, and (4) monitor and evaluate—which contain 34 IT processes and 210 control objectives. Specific goals and metrics are assigned, and responsibilities and accountabilities are delineated. The CobiT framework maps to the international information security standard, ISO 17799, and is also compatible with IT Infrastructure Library y (ITIL) and other “accepted practices” in IT development and operations.11 ValIT® ValIT is a newer value-oriented framework that is compatible with and complementary to CobiT. Its principles and best practices focus is on leveraging IT investments to gain maximum value. Forty key ValIT essential management practices (analogous to CobiT’s control objectives) support three main processes: value governance, portfolio management, and investment management. ValIT and CobiT “provide a full framework and supporting tool set” to help managers develop policies to manage business risks and deliver business value while addressing technical issues and meeting control objectives in a structured, methodic way.12 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE, IT GOVERNANCE, DATA GOVERNANCE 19 CobiT is process-oriented and has been widely adopted as an IT governance framework. ValIT is value-oriented and compatible and complementary with CobiT, yet focuses on value delivery. ITIL ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a set of process-oriented best practices and guidance originally developed in the United Kingdom to standardize delivery of IT service management. ITIL is applicable to both the private and public sectors and is the “most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world.”13 As with other IT governance frameworks, ITIL provides essential guidance for delivering business value through IT, and it “provides guidance to organizations on how to use IT as a tool to facilitate business change, transformation and growth.”14 ITIL best practices form the foundation for ISO/IEC 20000 (previously BS15000), the International Service Management Standard for organizational certification and compliance.15 ITIL 2011 is the latest revision (as of this printing), and it consists of five core published volumes that map the IT service cycle in a systematic way: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ITIL Service Strategy ITIL Service Design ITIL Service Transition ITIL Service Operation ITIL Continual Service Improvement16 ISO 38500 ISO/IEC 38500:2008 is an international standard that provides high-level principles and guidance for senior executives and directors, and those advising them, for the effective and efficient use of IT.17 Based primarily on AS 8015, the Australian IT governance standard, it “applies to the governance of management processes” that are performed at the IT service level, but the guidance assists executives in monitoring IT and ethically discharging their duties with respect to legal and regulatory compliance of IT activities. The ISO 38500 standard comprises three main sections: 1. Scope, Application and Objectives 2. Framework for Good Corporate Governance of IT 3. Guidance for Corporate Governance of IT ITIL is the “most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world.” 20 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE ISO 38500 is an international standard that provides high-level principles and guidance for senior executives and directors responsible for IT governance. It is largely derived from AS 8015, the guiding principles of which were: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Establish responsibilities Plan to best support the organization Acquire validly Ensure performance when required Ensure conformance with rules Ensure respect for human factors The standard also has relationships with other major ISO standards, and embraces the same methods and approaches.18 Information Governance Corporate governance is the highest level of governance in an organization, and a key aspect of it is IG. IG processes are higher level than the details of IT governance and much higher than data governance, but both data and IT governance can be (and should be) a part of an overall IG program. The IG approach to governance focuses not on detailed IT or data capture and quality processes but rather on controlling the information that is generatedd by IT and office systems. IG efforts seek to manage and control information assets to lower risk, ensure compliance with regulations, and improve information quality and accessibility while implementing information security measures to protect and preserve information that has business value.19 (See Chapter 1 for more detailed definitions.) Impact of a Successful IG Program When making the business case for IG and articulating its benefits, it is useful to focus on its central impact. Putting cost-benefit numbers to this may be difficult, unless you IG is how an organization maintains security, complies with regulations and laws, and meets ethical standards when managing information. INFORMATION GOVERNANCE, IT GOVERNANCE, DATA GOVERNANCE 21 also consider the worst-case scenario of loss or misuse of corporate or agency records. What is losing the next big lawsuit worth? How much are confidential merger and acquisition documents worth? How much are customer records worth? Frequently, executives and managers do not understand the value of IG until it is a crisis, an expensive legal battle is lost, heavy fines are imposed for noncompliance, or executives go to jail. There are some key outputs from implementing an IG program. A successful IG program should enable organizations to: ■ ■ ■ ■ Use common terms across the enterprise. This means that departments must agree on how they are going to classify document types, which requires a crossfunctional effort. With common enterprise terms, searches for information are more productive and complete. This normalization process begins with developing a standardized corporate taxonomy, which defines the terms (and substitute terms in a custom corporate thesaurus), document types, and their relationships in a hierarchy. Map information creation and usage. This effort can be buttressed with the use of technology tools such as data loss prevention, which can be used to discover the flow of information within and outside of the enterprise. You must first determine who is accessing which information when and where it is going. Then you can monitor and analyze these information flows. The goal is to stop the erosion or misuse of information assets and to stem data breaches with monitoring and security technology. Obtain “information confidence””—that is, the assurance that information has integrity, validity, accuracy, and quality; this means being able to prove that the information is reliable and that its access, use, and storage meet compliance and legal demands. Harvest and leverage information. Using techniques and tools like data mining and business intelligence, new insights may be gained that provide an enterprise with a sustainable competitive advantage over the long term, since managers will have more and better information as a basis for business decisions.21 Summing Up the Differences IG consists of the overarching polices and processes to optimize and leverage information while keeping it secure and meeting legal and privacy obligations in alignment with stated organizational business objectives. IT governance consists of following established frameworks and best practices to gain the most leverage and benefit out of IT investments and support accomplishment of business objectives. Data governance consists of the processes, methods, and techniques to ensure that data is of high quality, reliable, and unique (not duplicated), so that downstream uses in reports and databases are more trusted and accurate. 22 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE CHAPTER SUMMARY: KEY POINTS ■ Data governance uses techniques like data cleansing and de-duplication to improve data quality and reduce redundancies. ■ Good data governance ensures that downstream negative effects of poor data are avoided and that subsequent reports, analyses, and conclusions are based on reliable, trusted data. ■ IT governance seeks to align business objectives with IT strategy to deliver business value. ■ CobiT is processoriented and has been widely adopted as an IT governance framework. ValIT is valueoriented and compatible and complementary with CobiT yet focuses on value delivery. ■ The CobiT framework maps to the international information security standard ISO 17799 and is also compatible with ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library). ■ ITIL is the “most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world.” ■ ISO 38500 is an international standard that provides high-level principles and guidance for senior executives and directors responsible for IT governance. ■ Information governance is how an organization maintains security, complies with regulations and laws, and meets ethical standards when managing information. Notes 1. “New Trends and Best Practices for Data Governance Success,” SeachDataManagement.com eBook, http://viewer.media.bitpipe.com/1216309501_94/1288990195_946/Talend_sDM_SO_32247_EBook_1104.pdf, accessed March 11, 2013. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. M.N. Kooper, R. Maes, and E.E.O. RoosLindgreen, “On the Governance of Information: Introducing a New Concept of Governance to Support the Management of Information,” International Journal of Information Managementt 31 (2011): 195–120, http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2297895. (accessed November 14, 2013). 5. Nick Robinson, “The Many Faces of IT Governance: Crafting an IT Governance Architecture,” ISACA Journall 1 (2007), www.isaca.org/Journal/Past-Issues/2007/Volume-1/Pages/The-Many-Facesof-IT-Governance-Crafting-an-IT-Governance-Architecture.aspx 6. Bryn Phillips, “IT Governance for CEOs and Members of the Board,” 2012, p.18. 7. Ibid., p.26. 8. IBM Global Business Services/Public Sector, “Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (CobiT®) Internationally Accepted Gold Standard for IT Controls & Governance,” http:// www-304.ibm.com/industries/publicsector/fileserve?contentid=187551(accessed March 11, 2013). INFORMATION GOVERNANCE, IT GOVERNANCE, DATA GOVERNANCE 23 9. Phillips, “IT Governance for CEOs and Members of the Board.” 10. IBM Global Business Services/Public Sector, “Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (CobiT®) Internationally Accepted Gold Standard for IT Controls & Governance.” 11. Ibid. 12. Ibid. 13. www.itil-officialsite.com/ (accessed March 12, 2013). 14. ITIL, “What Is ITIL?” www.itil-officialsite.com/AboutITIL/WhatisITIL.aspx(accessed March 12, 2013). 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid. 17. “ISO/IEC 38500:2008 “Corporate Governance of Information Technology” www.iso.org/iso/ catalogue_detail?csnumber=51639(accessed November 14, 2013). 18. ISO 38500 www.38500.org/ (accessed March 12, 2013). 19. www.naa.gov.au/records-management/agency/digital/digital-continuity/principles/ (accessed November 14, 2013). 20. ARMA International, Glossary of Records and Information Management Termss, 4th ed. TR 22–2012 (from ARMA.org). 21. Arvind Krishna, “Three Steps to Trusting Your Data in 2011,” CTO Edge, March 9, 2011, www.ctoedge .com/content/three-steps-trusting-your-data-2011 CHAPTER 3 Information Governance Principles* P rinciples of information governance (IG) are evolving and expanding. Successful IG programs are characterized by ten key principles, which are the basis for best practices and should be designed into the IG approach. They include: 1. Executive sponsorship. No IG effort will survive and be successful if it does not have an accountable, responsible executive sponsor. The sponsor must drive the effort, clear obstacles for the IG team or committee, communicate the goals and business objectives that the IG program addresses, and keep upper management informed on progress. 2. Information policy development and communication. Clear policies must be established for the access and use of information, and those policies must be communicated regularly and crisply to employees. Policies for the use of email, instant messaging, social media, cloud computing, mobile computing, and posting to blogs and internal sites must be developed in consultation with stakeholders and communicated clearly. This includes letting employees know what the consequences of violating IG policies are, as well as its value. 3. Information integrity. This area considers the consistency of methods used to create, retain, preserve, distribute, and track information. Adhering to good IG practices include data governance techniques and technologies to ensure quality data. Information integrity means there is the assurance that information is accurate, correct, and authentic. IG efforts to improve data quality and information integrity include de-duplicating (removing redundant data) and maintaining only unique data to reduce risk, storage costs, and information technology (IT) labor costs while providing accurate, trusted information for decision makers. Supporting technologies must enforce policies to meet legal standards of admissibility and preserve the integrity of information to guard against claims that it has been altered, tampered with, or deleted (called “spoliation”). Audit trails must be kept and monitored to ensure compliance with IG policies to assure information integrity.1 4. Information organization and classification. This means standardizing formats, categorizing all information, and semantically linking it to related information. It also means creating a retention and disposition schedule that spells out how * Portions of this chapter are adapted from Chapter 3 of Robert F. Smallwood, Managing Electronic Records: Methods, Best Practices, and Technologiess, © John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2013. Reproduced with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 25 26 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. long the information (e.g. e-mail, e-documents, spreadsheets, reports) and records should be retained and how they are to be disposed of or archived. Information, and particularly documents, should be classified according to a global or corporate taxonomy that considers the business function and owner of the information, and semantically links related information. Information must be standardized in form and format. Tools such as document labeling can assist in identifying and classifying documents. Metadata associated with documents and records must be standardized and kept up-to-date. Good IG means good metadata management and utilizing metadata standards that are appropriate to the organization. Information security. This means securing information in its three states: at rest, in motion, and in use. It means implementing measures to protect information from damage, theft, or alteration by malicious outsiders and insiders as well as nonmalicious (accidental) actions that may compromise information. For instance, an employee may lose a laptop with confidential information, but if proper IG policies are enforced using security-related information technologies, the information can be secured. This can be done by access control methods, data or document encryption, deploying information rights management software, using remote digital shredding capabilities, and implementing enhanced auditing procedures. Information privacy is closely related to information security and is critical when dealing with personally identifiable information n (PII). Information accessibility. Accessibility is vital not only in the short term but also over time using long-term digital preservation (LTDP) techniques when appropriate (generally if information is needed for over five years). Accessibility must be balanced with information security concerns. Information accessibility includes making the information as simple as possible to locate and access, which involves not only the user interface but also enterprise search principles, technologies, and tools. It also includes basic access controls, such as password management, identity and access managementt, and delivering information to a variety of hardware devices. Information control. Document management and report management software must be deployed to control the access to, creation, updating, and printing of documents and reports. When documents or reports are declared records, they must be assigned to the proper retention and disposition schedule to be retained for as long as the records are needed to comply with legal retention periods and regulatory requirements. Also, information that may be needed or requested in legal proceedings is safeguarded through a legal hold process. Information governance monitoring and auditing. To ensure that guidelines and policies are being followed and to measure employee compliance levels, information access and use must be monitored. To guard against claims of spoliation, use of e-mail, social media, cloud computing, and report generation should be logged in real time and maintained as an audit record. Technology tools such as document analytics can track how many documents or reports users access and print and how long they spend doing so. Stakeholder consultation. Those who work most closely to information are the ones who best know why it is needed and how to manage it, so business units must be consulted in IG policy development. The IT department understands INFORMATION GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES 27 Principles of successful IG programs are emerging. They include executive sponsorship, information classification, integrity, security, accessibility, control, monitoring, auditing, policy development, and continuous improvement. its capabilities and technology plans and can best speak to those points. Legal issues must always be deferred to the in-house council or legal team. A cross-functional collaboration is needed for IG policies to hit the mark and be effective. The result is not only more secure information but also better information to base decisions on and closer adherence to regulatory and legal demands.2 10. Continuous improvement. IG programs are not one-time projects but rather ongoing programs that must be reviewed periodically and adjusted to account for gaps or shortcomings as well as changes in the business environment, technology usage, or business strategy. Accountability Is Key According to Debra Logan at Gartner Group, none of the proffered definitions of IG includes “any notion of coercion, but rather ties governance to accountability [emphasis added] that is designed to encourage the right behavior. . . . The word that matters most is accountability.” The root of many problems with managing information is the “fact that there is no accountability for information as such.”3 Establishing policies, procedures, processes, and controls to ensure the quality, integrity, accuracy, and security of business records are the fundamental steps needed to reduce the organization’s risk and cost structure for managing these records. Then it is essential that IG efforts are supported by IT. The auditing, testing, maintenance, and improvement of IG is enhanced by using electronic records management (ERM) software along with other complementary technology sets, such as workflow and business process management suite (BPMS) software and digital signatures. Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles® Contributed by Charmaine Brooks, CRM A major part of an IG program is managing formal business records. Although they account for only about 7 to 9 percent of the total information that an organization holds, they are the most critically important subset to manage, as there are serious compliance and legal ramifications to not doing so. Accountability is a key aspect of IG. 28 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE Records and recordkeeping are inextricably linked with any organized business activity. Through the information that an organization uses and records, creates, or receives in the normal course of business, it knows what has been done and by whom. This allows the organization to effectively demonstrate compliance with applicable standards, laws, and regulations as well as plan what it will do in the future to meet its mission and strategic objectives. Standards and principles of recordkeeping have been developed by records and information managementt (RIM) practitioners to establish benchmarks for how organizations of all types and sizes can build and sustain compliant, defensible records managementt (RM) programs. The Principles In 2009 ARMA International published a set of eight Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles,® known as The Principles4 (or sometimes GAR Principles), to foster awareness of good recordkeeping practices. These principles and associated metrics provide an IG framework that can support continuous improvement. The eight Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles are: 1. Accountability. A senior executive (or person of comparable authority) oversees the recordkeeping program and delegates program responsibility to appropriate individuals. The organization adopts policies and procedures to guide personnel, and ensure the program can be audited. 2. Transparency. The processes and activities of an organization’s recordkeeping program are documented in a manner that is open and verifiable and is available to all personnel and appropriate interested parties. 3. Integrity. A recordkeeping program shall be constructed so the records and information generated or managed by or for the organization have a reasonable and suitable guarantee of authenticity and reliability. 4. Protection. A recordkeeping program shall be constructed to ensure a reasonable level of protection to records and information that are private, confidential, privileged, secret, or essential to business continuity. 5. Compliance. The recordkeeping program shall be constructed to comply with applicable laws and other binding authorities, as well as the organization’s policies. 6. Availability. An organization shall maintain records in a manner that ensures timely, efficient, and accurate retrieval of needed information. 7. Retention. An organization shall maintain its records and information for an appropriate time, taking into account legal, regulatory, fiscal, operational, and historical requirements. 8. Disposition. An organization shall provide secure and appropriate disposition for records that are no longer required to be maintained by applicable laws and the organization’s policies.5 The Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles consist of eight principles that provide an IG framework that can support continuous improvement. INFORMATION GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES 29 Table 3.1 Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles Levels Level 1 Substandard Level 2 In Development Level 3 Essential Level 4 Proactive Level 5 Transformational Characterized by an environment where recordkeeping concerns are either not addressed at all or are addressed in an ad hoc manner. Characterized by an environment where there is a developing recognition that recordkeeping has an impact on the organization, and the organization may benefit from a more defined information governance program. Characterized by an environment where defined policies and procedures exist that address the minimum or essential legal and regulatory requirements, but more specific actions need to be taken to improve recordkeeping. Characterized by an environment where information governance issues and considerations are integrated into business decisions on a routine basis, and the organization consistently meets its legal and regulatory obligations. Characterized by an environment that has integrated information governance into its corporate infrastructure and business processes to such an extent that compliance with program requirements is routine. Source: Used with permission from ARMA. The Principles apply to all sizes of organizations, in all types of industries, in both the private and public sectors, and can be used to establish consistent practices across business units. The Principles are an IG maturity model, and it is used as a preliminary evaluation of recordkeeping programs and practices. Interest in and the application of The Principles for assessing an organization’s recordkeeping practices have steadily increased since their establishment in 2009. The Principles form an accountability framework that includes the processes, roles, standards, and metrics that ensure the effective and efficient use of records and information in support of an organization’s goals and business objectives. As shown in Table 3.1, the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles maturity model associates characteristics that are typical in five levels of recordkeeping capabilities ranging from 1 (substandard) to 5 (transformational). The levels are both descriptive and color coded for ease of understanding. The eight principles and levels (metrics) are applied to the current state of an organization’s recordkeeping capabilities and can be cross-referenced to the policies and procedures. While it is not unusual for an organization to be at different levels of maturity in the eight principles, the question “How good is good enough?” must be raised and answeredd; a rating of less than “transformational” may be acceptable, depending on the organization’s tolerance for risk and an analysis of the costs and benefits of moving up each level. The maturity levels define the characteristics of evolving and maturing RM programs. The assessment should reflect the current RM environment and practices. The principles and maturity level definitions, along with improvement recommendations (roadmap), outline the tasks required to proactively approach addressing systematic RM practices and reach the next level of maturity for each principle. While the Generally Accepted The Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles maturity model measures recordkeeping maturity in five levels. 30 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE Recordkeeping Principles are broad in focus, they illustrate the requirements of good RM practices. The Principles Assessment can also be a powerful communication tool to promote cross-functional dialogue and collaboration among business units and staff. Accountability The principle of accountability y covers the assigned responsibility for RM at a senior level to ensure effective governance with the appropriate level of authority. A seniorlevel executive must be high enough in the organizational structure to have sufficient authority to operate the RM program effectively. The primary role of the senior executive is to develop and implement RM policies, procedures, and guidance and to provide advice on all recordkeeping issues. The direct responsibility for managing or operating facilities or services may be delegated. The senior executive must possess an understanding of the business and legislative environment within which the organization operates, business functions and activities, and the required relationships with key external stakeholders to understand how RM contributes to achieving the corporate mission, aims, and objectives. It is important for top-level executives to take ownership of the RM issues of the organization and to identify corrective actions required for mitigation or ensure resolution of problems and recordkeeping challenges. An executive sponsor should identify opportunities to raise awareness of the relevance and importance of RM and effectively communicate the benefits of good RM to staff and management. The regulatory and legal framework for RM must be clearly identified and understood. The senior executive must have a sound knowledge of the organization’s information and technological architecture and actively participate in strategic decisions for IT systems acquisition and implementation. The senior executive is responsible for ensuring that the processes, procedures, governance structures, and related documentation are developed. The policies should identify the roles and responsibilities at all levels of the organization. An audit process must be developed to cover all aspects of RM within the organization, including substantiating that sufficient levels of accountability have been assigned and accountability deficiencies are identified and remedied. Audit processes should include compliance with the organization policies and procedures for all records, regardless of format or media. Accountability audit requirements for electronic records include employing appropriate technology to audit the information architecture and systems. Accountability structures must be updated and maintained as changes occur in the technology infrastructure. The audit process must reinforce compliance and hold individuals accountable. The results should be constructive, encourage continuous improvement, but not be used as a means of punishment. The audit should contribute to records program improvements in risk mitigation, control, and governance issues and have the capacity to support sustainability. An audit process must be developed to cover all aspects of RM in the organization. INFORMATION GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES 31 To be effective, policies must be formalized and integrated into business processes. Transparency Policies are broad guidelines for the operation of the organization and provide a basic guide to action that prescribes the boundaries within which business activities are to take place. They state the course of action to be followed by the organization, business unit, department, and employees. Transparencyy of recordkeeping practices includes documenting processes and promoting an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders. To be effective, policies must be formalized and integrated into business processes. Business rules and recordkeeping requirements need to be communicated and installed at all levels of the organization. Senior management must recognize that transparency is fundamental to IG and compliance. Documentation must be consistent, current, and complete. A review and approval process must be established to ensure that the introduction of new programs or changes can be implemented and integrated into business processes. Employees must have ready access to RM policies and procedures. They must receive guidance and training to ensure they understand their roles and requirements for RM. Recordkeeping systems and business processes must be designed and developed to clearly define the records lifecycle. In addition to policies and procedures, guidelines and operational instructions, diagrams and flowcharts, system documentation, and user manuals must include clear guidance on how records are to be created, retained, stored, and dispositioned. The documentation must be readily available and incorporated in communications and training provided to staff. Integrity Record generating systems and repositories must be assessed to determine recordkeeping capabilities. A formalized process must be in place for acquiring or developing new systems, including requirements for capturing the metadata required for lifecycle management of records in the systems. In addition, the record must contain all the necessary elements of an official record, including structure, content, and context. Records integrity, y reliability, and trustworthiness are confirmed by ensuring that a record was created by a competent authority according to established processes. Maintaining the integrity of records means that they are complete and protected from being altered. The authenticity of a record is ascertained from internal and external evidence, including the characteristics, structure, content, and context of the records, to verify they are genuine and not corrupted or altered. In order to trust that a record is authentic, organizations must ensure that recordkeeping systems that create, capture, and manage electronic records are capable of protecting records from accidental or unauthorized alteration or deletion while the record has value. 32 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE Protection Organizations must ensure the protection of records and ensure they are unaltered through loss, tampering, or corruption. This includes technological change or the failure of digital storage media and protecting records against damage or deterioration. This principle applies equally to physical and electronic records, each of which has unique requirements and challenges. Access and security controls need to be established, implemented, monitored, and reviewed to ensure business continuity and minimize business risk. Restrictions on access and disclosure include the methods for protecting personal privacy and proprietary information. Access and security requirements must be integrated into the business systems and processes for the creation, use, and storage of records. LTDP is a series of managed activities required to ensure continued access to digital materials for as long as necessary. Electronic records requiring long-term retention may require conversion to a medium and format suitable to ensure long-term access and readability. Compliance RM programs include the development and training of the fundamental components, including compliance monitoring g to ensure sustainability of the program. Monitoring for compliance involves reviewing and inspecting the various facets of records management, including ensuring records are being properly created and captured, implementation of user permissions and security procedures, workflow processes through sampling to ensure adherence to policies and procedures, ensuring records are being retained following disposal authorization, and documentation of records destroyed or transferred to determine whether destruction/transfer was authorized in accordance with disposal instructions. Compliance monitoring can be carried out by an internal audit, external organization, or RM and must be done on a regular basis. Availability Organizations should evaluate how effectively and efficiently records and information are stored and retrieved using present equipment, networks, and software. The evaluation should identify current and future requirements and recommend new systems as appropriate. Certain factors should be considered before upgrading or implementing new systems. These factors are practicality, cost, and effectiveness of new configurations. A major challenge for organizations is ensuring timely and reliable access to and use of information and that records are accessible and usable for the entire length of the retention period. Rapid changes and enhancements to both hardware and software compound this challenge. Retention Retention is the function of preserving and maintaining records for continuing use.The retention schedule identifies the actions needed to fulfill the requirements for the retention and disposal of records and provides the authority for employees and systems to retain, destroy, or transfer records. The records retention schedule documents the recordkeeping requirements and procedures, identifying how records are to be organized INFORMATION GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES 33 and maintained, what needs to happen to records and when, who is responsible for doing what, and whom to contact with questions or guidance. Organizations must identify the scope of their recordkeeping requirements for documenting business activities based on regulated activities and jurisdictions that impose control over records. This includes business activities regulated by the government for every location or jurisdiction in which the company does business. Other considerations for determining retention requirements include operational, legal, fiscal, and historical ones. Records appraisal is the process of assessing the value and risk of records to determine their retention and disposition requirements. Legal research is outlined in appraisal reports. This appraisal process may be accomplished as a part of the process of developing the records retention schedules as well as conducting a regular review to ensure that citations and requirements are current. The records retention period d is the length of time that records should be retained and the actions taken for them to be destroyed or preserved. The retention periods for different records should be based on legislative or regulatory requirements as well as on administrative and operational requirements. It is important to document the legal research conducted and used to determine whether the law or regulation has been reasonably applied to the recordkeeping practices and provide evidence to regulatory officials or courts that due diligence has been conducted in good faith to comply with all applicable requirements. Disposition Disposition is the last stage in the life cycle of records. When the retention requirements have been met and the records no longer serve a useful business purpose, records may be destroyed. Records requiring long-term or permanent retention should be transferred to an archive for preservation. The timing of the transfer of physical or electronic records should be determined through the records retention schedule process. Additional methods, including migration or conversion, are often required to preserve electronic records. Records must be destroyed in a controlled and secure manner and in accordance with authorized disposal instructions. The destruction of records must be c...
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Running Head: INFORMATION GOVERNANCE
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Information Governance
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INFORMATION GOVERNANCE

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Information Governance

There are massive volumes of data consumed and processed daily by people interacting
with different organization’s applications (Diaconita, 2015). The usage and accessibility of
unstructured data for decision-making, regulatory, and analytic purposes is driving the essence
for scrutinizing and searching the data. Volumes of unstructured data in all industries are set to
increase tremendously in the near future. Unstructured data is increasing with a 40-60% rate and
is expected to increase by 800% in 2022 (Inmon & Nesavich, 2008). The Information security
industry is currently experiencing massive growth in unstructured data. It generates diverse data
in the ...


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