RecFind 6 versus SharePoint 2010 as a records management solution

by Frank 25. February 2012 06:00

I have written about this many times before (see links below) but our customers continue to ask for advice, usually when being ‘told’ by IT that they will have to use SharePoint as their records management solution.

http://www.knowledgeonecorp.com/news/pdfs/IntegratingWithSharePoint.pdf

http://www.knowledgeonecorp.com/news/pdfs/SharePoint%20-%20A%20Primer.pdf

In the past I have treated the subject softly and leaned over backwards to be kind to SharePoint, after all, who am I to argue with mighty Microsoft? Now however, I am just going to tell it how it is.

  • Out of the box RecFind 6 is an infinitely better and lower cost and faster to roll out records management solution than SharePoint 2010.
  • You can easily and quickly configure RecFind 6 to meet one hundred-percent of your records management requirements. No matter how much time and money you throw at SharePoint 2010 you will never be able to meet one hundred-percent of your records management requirements.
  • Whereas the initial licensing costs of SharePoint 2010 may appear to make it a better financial proposition than RecFind 6, once you start pouring in the money required to get SharePoint to do what RecFind 6 does out of the box the situation reverses very quickly. By the time you finish paying your SharePoint consultants (and you probably never will) you will end up paying at least ten times what you would have paid for RecFind 6.
  • Worse, whereas Knowledgeone Corporation does all the maintenance and adds all the new features to RecFind 6 as part of your annual maintenance (ASU),  with SharePoint you have to design, implement, test and fund all the maintenance and improvements to your SharePoint system. This means that the ongoing costs are also around ten times what it would cost to maintain an equivalent RecFind 6 system.

It is important to note that this is just not my opinion. As an example, please refer to the advice given to state government agencies by NSW State Records:

http://futureproof.records.nsw.gov.au/initial-advice-on-implementing-recordkeeping-requirements-in-sharepoint-2010/

Allow me to summarize:

  • SharePoint 2010 is a good collaboration & intranet solution but will not apply good records management functionality out of the box.
  • It will take a significant investment of time, money and strategy to build an effective EDRMS with SharePoint 2010.
  • While licence costs for SharePoint may be relatively inexpensive, the complexity and cost of designing, developing, implementing and maintaining a SharePoint 2010 EDRMS is considerable and needs to be factored into the decision to implement EDRMS functionality with SharePoint.
  • SharePoint 2010 is not compliant to records management standards including with reference to:
    • Difficulties in capturing email;
    • Lack of native security classification and access control; plus
    • An inability to manage hybrid records (i.e. both electronic & hard copy records).
  • As SharePoint generally operates as a series of team sites, the complexity & costs of design, development, implementation and on-going maintenance should reflect the fact that each team site will need to be specifically implemented to meet the particular recordkeeping requirements of each business area.
  • Without proper design & implementation a SharePoint EDRMS implementation will become another sprawling, uncontrolled network or shared drive environment, with content existing everywhere. SharePoint’s native structure is much like a website, where it is possible to implement as many specific sites for different teams and projects or business areas as your organisation requires. Without strong records management frameworks, recordkeeping can quickly scale out of control in this kind of environment.

If your main interest is physical records management then don’t even begin to consider SharePoint because it simply cannot do it.

If your main interest is email management then SharePoint also does not have the required functionality.

However, RecFind 6:

  1. Delivers all of the EDRMS functionality a customer will every need out of the box.
  2. Is fully compliant to all known records management standards (e.g. has achieved full compliance with all of the latest VERS standards).
  3. Has comprehensive out of the box capabilities to manage hybrid records (electronic and / & hard copy records).
  4. Has the administration application called the DRM that allows the customer to customize RecFind 6 and change almost anything including the data model and any business process, easily & quickly, without source code changes, whilst remaining on the standard product.
  5. Has a SharePoint 2010 integration module so that a customer can take advantage of the good collaboration & intranet capabilities of SharePoint and the best-in-class EDRMS functionality of RecFind 6 within the one integrated environment.

So there we have it, no more Mr nice guy. As a records management solution RecFind 6 blows SharePoint out of the water. It costs less, is easier and faster to roll out and has infinitely more RM functionality in the standard product than you will ever be able to develop in SharePoint.

Now I feel much better.

I have a solution for Greece

by Frank 23. February 2012 17:24

It is simple, it is brilliant and it came to me this morning as I tried to find any breakfast news channel showing real news instead of endless rehashes and boring talking-head analysis of the embarrassing and grubby Gillard-Rudd squabble. We do a trade.

Greece is in financial trouble and has millions of people out of work with little or no prospect of employment. Australia has a need for workers and a long and proud history of successfully integrating Greek immigrants. Australia also has a large Greek community, especially in Melbourne, well able and willing to support and advise new Greek immigrants.

Greeks may well have a reputation for not working hard in Europe but not so in Australia. Greeks in Australia have always been well regarded as hard-working, industrious and strongly family oriented people; exactly the kind of people Australia needs to grow and prosper. The history of Greek migrants in Australia is a history of hard work, home ownership and pride. In our experience, Greeks look after their families and their homes and take pride in being employed and productive. We need more Greeks.

Julia and Kevin on the other hand we don’t need and don’t want and neither has added anything to our economy other than new taxes and expensive stuff-ups (ceiling bats, school revolution, etc.).  So the equation is simple, add Greeks and take away Julia and Kevin for a growing and healthy Australian economy. It is so simple and logical and such a self-evident solution to our current woes that I don’t know why Tony Abbott hasn’t yet proposed it. I am sure our new Greek citizens will vote for Tony as long as he reduces their taxes (and mine).

Here is the deal. We make an offer to Greece for Australia to take one-million Greek immigrants. The offer includes us funding the travel and relocation costs. We are already doing this for the illegal boat people so it shouldn’t be a problem doing it for legal immigrants. In return, Greece takes Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. It gives them Greek citizenship and a seat in parliament so they can continue doing what they do best. The dysfunctional Greek parliament should be an ideal environment for Julia and Kevin to practice their trade. The Greek economy is already so screwed up it is not like Kevin and Julia can do much harm. Greeks already mistrust and dislike their parliamentarians so Kevin and Julia will fit right in.

The value proposition? Kevin and Julia leaving Australia will have an enormous and positive impact on the Australian economy. Kevin and Julia arriving in Greece will make little difference to an economy already in its death throes. One-million Greek immigrants will have an enormously positive impact on the Australian economy. One-million less Greek citizens and unemployed people to support will have an enormously positive impact on the Greek economy; significantly reducing the debt burden and almost certainly solving the unemployment problem. The Greek and Australian economies will both grow and everyone will be better off.

The downside? The Canberra press gallery will have little to write about and news programs will have to spend more money on gathering real news. Other than this, it is all good news.

Does anyone have the contact details of the Greek ambassador in Canberra?

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