HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 8123 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. si x-4
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0 �O Council May 5, 1998
X ) To the Mayor and Members of the City Coun
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REPORT ON RECD �' ,� � PROJECT
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Background .m-,....m:P.. wowa o-o
In April of 1997 the City Council authorized execution of a contract with Wilke
Consulting to develop a strategic Information Management Plan at a not-to-exceed!cost
of$103,000. The purpose of the Plan was to provide a "blueprint" for protecting the
City's most critical and historical records and information, as well as a "road map" for
migrating many current and future recordkeeping processes to an electronic environment.
Over a nine month period, the four members of the Wilke team collected a large amount
of data and met at least once with representatives from every City department. They
visited many departmental work areas and inactive record storage areas and reviewed
current technology and evolving standards relating to electronic recordkeeping. Their
Final Report consists of a 274 page document, from which the attached Executive
Summary has been abstracted for your review.
Findings
In their review and analysis, the Wilke team identified 37 issues and 209 tasks to address
these issues over a planned and specified timeline. The following are a few of their
general findings and observations:
--The City's history is being lost as documents deteriorate in the basement of City Hall
and other locations. A City Archive needs to be fully funded.
--Although the City is spending several million dollars for an electronic infrastructure,
failure to do what is needed to improve access to information will result in an
ineffective use of the technology, dramatically reducing the value of this
investment;
--The City has not identified and protected some of its most vital and essential records
and information. For example, vital infrastructure documents, including water and
sewer as-builts and other infrastructure plans, drawings, profiles, and project files,
have been lost or suffered significant deterioration due to poor maintenance and
storage conditions;
--The City is in conflict with fire codes in the storage of its inactive records;
--The City spends relatively little on its citywide Records Management Program,
and the problems identified are a direct result of a lack of resources. At the same
time, failure to identify its records and information and put them into shareable form
with standards and naming conventions costs the City money in wasted labor and
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO C" COUNCIL MEMBERS No.
ce—OT 2to May 5, 1998
Or To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
Subject: REPORT ON RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROJECT
rers
lost productivity. Employees continually re-create information that has already been
created.
Recommendations
The Final Report of the Wilke Team includes many steps to convert recordkeeping
processes from paper-based to electronic systems. Major efforts toward these conversion
goals cannot begin in the short term since the ISS Department is heavily involved with
Year 2000 conversion and other major tasks. There are many critical concerns, however,
in traditional records management areas that can be addressed now. Addressing these
concerns now will aid in the electronic conversion process. The tasks, costs, and timeline
shown in the summary below include traditional records management projects, as well as
initial planning for Electronic Document Management Systems.
A. 0 to 6 Months
1) Hire Additional Records Management Staff $75,000
2) Establish Policies Cost--Negligible
B. 0 to 12 Months VE
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1) Develop Detailed Plans for Phases $5
2) Complete Records Control Schedules $5 o
3) Acquire Records Management Software $3
C. 6 to 24 Months
I) Identify and Protect Infrastructure Records $2 0000
2) Protect Historical Records $50,000
3) Manage Inactive Records $80,0007
The Final Report of the Wilke Team recommends that the City meet its fiduciary
responsibilities to its citizens by managing its information assets just as it does its people,
property, and financial assets. Funding of this Report's recommendations will be the first
step in doing so. The FY 98-99 Budget Submission may include funding for some or all
of these recommended projects.
caikL(�Z
Bob Terrell
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS