Manual for the Design and Implementation of Recordkeeping Systems (dirks)

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Implement change management strategies
Tip: Use existing guidance to plan your change management strategies
Use champions
Use committees
Consult regularly with system users
Example: Ways of communicating with users
Build your work on prior experiences
Example: Build on experiences
Undertake pre-DIRKS training for your staff to initiate change management
Tip: Communicate widely
Be aware that you may upset some people

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Implement change management strategies

You need to consider change management before your DIRKS project begins. If you are planning a large and complex project, you will need to encourage staff involvement. This involvement will provide you with the information you need to undertake your work and will also make users more accepting of the outcomes and products you deliver.

^ Tip: Use existing guidance to plan your change management strategies

The Office of Information Technology, New South Wales, Australia, has published a ссылка скрыта which provides useful guidance about planning for change management.

Remember to encourage change management throughout your DIRKS project, not just at its beginning and end. There are a number of ways you can encourage change management in your organization.
^

Use champions

Using 'champions' can help you to help promote your DIRKS project and its objectives in the workplace. A champion is a person who can explain and promote your project to colleagues and who can assist you by providing advice and other forms of guidance.

Champions could include:

senior managers with broad responsibilities for the areas in which your work is taking place
IT managers, or
other staff with influence in the areas in which you are operating.

Use committees

Establishing a committee within your department/section to help guide your DIRKS project and provide ongoing feedback and promotion can be useful.

There may also exist committee structures that you can leverage for this purpose. If you have hired consultants to undertake your DIRKS project, you could arrange regular committee meetings at which the consultants can report upon their progress and obtain feedback from a range of staff.

Another option is to form an information management committee.

Information management committee:
Objectives	a forum for: progressing and gaining consensus for your DIRKS project promoting an understanding of the technical and other detailed issues associated with the project maintaining an awareness of related developments in the UN. obtaining knowledge of organizational requirements and practices
Membership	comprised of key representatives from your department/section who have an interest in improving information resources business unit managers in areas affected by your DIRKS project senior managers, if possible, to assist with decision making and resource allocation
Meetings	should meet regularly (say every four to six weeks) to provide you with the advice and guidance you need

Consult regularly with system users

User involvement in your DIRKS project increases the likelihood that the system you develop will be successfully implemented. Users should therefore be consulted throughout about their requirements and asked to test solutions developed as an ongoing part of your system development work.

^ Example: Ways of communicating with users

One organization needed to develop a new recordkeeping system to support the needs of a broad business area. They did the following as means to inform staff of the changes they wished to make and to encourage feedback:

established a user group comprised of representatives from each business unit to feed ideas from other staff into the development and implementation process for their new system
created an information management steering committee which included senior management and staff with a vested interest in the project such as IT staff
held briefing sessions for general staff at the commencement of the project
held monthly updates for general staff and more detailed talks for particular groups
provided continuously updated information material on the intranet, and
issued monthly e-mail bulletins.

Build your work on prior experiences

Talk to people both within your organization and beyond it who have undertaken similar projects. See what knowledge and experiences you can use or draw from. Ask people to summarize some of the lessons they have learned in the course of project development and implementation. Even very simple comments or reflections may provide you with useful guidance for your project.

^ Example: Build on experiences

'Lessons learnt along the way include the desirability of securing support from all technical staff, a willingness to experiment, knowing that perfection may not be achieved immediately, and a leap of faith in the future of...technology.' [6]

Building on prior knowledge will save you from 'reinventing the wheel' and may help foster relationships that will be of mutual benefit throughout your DIRKS project. Talking to people about previous experiences may also guide you towards a range of documentation or other resources that will be of benefit to your project. It will also help you to avoid mistakes that others may have made before you.
^

Undertake pre-DIRKS training for your staff to initiate change management

Irrespective of whether your DIRKS project is led by internal staff or consultants, it will require the involvement and commitment of a large number of people. It is important at the outset to explain the objectives of your DIRKS project to these people, as a means of outlining what the project means and what it will require of them.

Explaining your project and its goals clearly and early will help people to understand its objectives and will encourage them to be more willing to commit their time and expertise to it when you:

ask to interview them
require them to review some documentation
ask them to be part of a focus group, or
present them with a brand new system.

Early involvement of a range of staff will help to initiate the process of change management in your department/section.

^ Tip: Communicate widely

Try to talk to as many staff as you can about your project. The more people who are aware of it at the outset, the better. More information will be available to you and people will be more willing to participate if they already know about your project and its benefits. You will also save a lot of time and effort during the course of your project if you do not have to constantly repeat your project brief and a statement of its benefits each time you want to seek the advice of someone new.

You can tell people about your project:

in newsletters
at staff meetings
via an email circular or
in special meetings you convene to tell people about your project and the types of contributions you would like them to make.

Be aware that you may upset some people

Depending on the scale and type of your DIRKS project, be aware that when you are developing your project team and consulting people about your project, you may be seen as 'treading on toes' or as interfering in another manager's business domain. You may also be seen as pushing the boundaries of records management, and invading another staff member's turf. You may find that you need to convince managers why you can or should examine and redesign 'their' work processes or 'their' systems.

Records management cuts across your department/office and so proposed changes to it, particularly radical ones, can inspire this reaction.

To try and avoid such confrontations:

talk openly and work collaboratively with people
obtain senior management support for your project, as this will help to convince others of its value
repeat your message and your goals and work with people, rather than against them in order to initiate the types of changes you desire
use a range of other change management techniques to encourage support for your project and to enable the best organizational outcome.

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