Migrating-in-Place for ECM Consolidation

Migrating-in-Place for ECM Consolidation

We recently covered why organizations are moving swiftly to Next Gen Repositories.  No longer are modern organizations satisfied with the old “system of record” with all of its upkeep, overhead, and user charges.  They want something from which relevant, actionable data can be derived and pulled out by Gen X & Y users as they demand it.  A perfect example of this new, “system of engagement” is being delivered as part of the actual migration from the old repository to the new.  Let me explain.

Instead of simply mass-migrating the existing data to the new target system, many are choosing to “Migrate in Place.”  In other words, they leave the existing archive in place and allow users to continue to pull and view content.  What results is a process by which users dictate the content that is actually required in the new system.  Behind the scenes, the data being actively selected gets migrated dynamically to the new environment.  If you are from the document scanning world, this is similar to “scan on demand” which left paper archives in place until retrieved and scanned.  Once retrieved, they live again as a digital asset, and are ingested into workflow and repository systems with specific retention periods.   

One big assumption here is that the organization has decided that keeping the legacy system in place for some period is desirable.  This may be due to factors such as:

·        Legacy system can be accessed, with or without API’s

·        Legacy system maintenance is no longer required to maintain system access

·        Knowledgeable staff is no longer around to properly administer the legacy system (“How can we shut down what we don’t even understand?”)

What happens to data that never gets selected?  It simply ages off, or is migrated based upon specific configurable requirements.  For example, a life insurance company may have policies in force for life of the insured (100 years?) + seven years, so those policy documents would obviously be chosen to move to the new system even if not chosen by user retrievals.  This type of “Migrate Based on Retention” process can be configured and automated.

One other important note is that it’s not necessary to own API’s to the legacy system because of the advent of new access methods such as the CMIS Interface, (LINK TO INFO ON CMIS) an open access protocol to many ECM systems, and due to repository adapters which can be easily built by savvy integrators, with or without a CMIS interface.

One of the dangers of any mass data migration is what happens when you find entire libraries of data that don’t appear to have any disposition requirements.  “What is this data and to whom does it belong?”  Worse than that: “Who do we even ask to find out who owns the data?”  Vital to any successful migration is maintaining a regular communication channel with key user communities which access this data.  Think about setting up a spreadsheet or table with content type, user group and “go-to” individuals’ contact details so that you can make these important disposition decisions expeditiously.  The cost of this process is not in running the process but in deciding what to do with “orphan” data and how to bring the business and IT together long enough to decide.    At the end of the day, you have many fewer orphan decisions to make when you migrate-in-place. 

               “Isn’t setting all this up really expensive?” is one obvious question.  The answer is: “not really.”  The key is deploying a relatively light weight repository with excellent process flow and decision capabilities.  If done right, you can easily access both the legacy and new systems with zero coding.

               Here are the Do’s and Don’ts for Migrating-in-Place:

·        Implement a light-weight repository with excellent process flow capabilities so that decision making can be automated

·        Don’t worry about using or buying API’s to the legacy system as there are other ways to access the content

·        Avoid orphan document situations by establishing regular touch points with business users

·        Set up simultaneous access to both systems making it transparent to users

 

Gartner, Forrester and Doculabs have all been following the Integrated Document Archive and Retrieval System (IDARS) marketplace since all the way back in the early 90’s.  The concept is not new: store high volumes of internally generated content in a highly efficient system with a database for metadata, and separate storage for documents themselves.  With security, allow internal users and external customers access to the database, and the documents that the database points to. 

The concept has been a smashing success.  Virtually all mid-to large sized enterprises have deployed some version of IDARs to reduce printing costs, make content available to CSR’s so that they can answer customers’ questions on their statements or bills in real-time, and vendors have built solutions that have scaled, integrated them into total content management infrastructures with federated search across IDARs, and other content repositories. And we’ve all made or saved a few bucks in the process.

So, after 30 years of solid but rudimentary success, you’d think there would be nothing further to do here.  These systems are now embedded within the enterprise, the vendors have built mini-empires based upon the results they’ve delivered, and it’s a pretty static landscape in terms of new developments.  So, it’s surprising that a division of Actuate, squarely in the business analytics space, has decided after all this time to throw their hat in the Repository ring as well:

http://www.actuate.com/company/news/press-release/?articleid=24054

There are two compelling reasons why customers want more than the traditional IDARs: User Interactivity and Cost Allocation.  Let’s first discuss why users are bored with their current IDARS:

 Internally generated content like reports, customer statements, insurance claims documents and complex financial reports are not an island unto themselves.  This content fits into a framework of information that organizations are increasingly mining to make decisions, predict behaviors, and satisfy broad regulatory requirements.  I recently visited a top five P&C insurer, and the news is that first tier organizations are no longer content with content as usual.  They are thinking about the requirement to store underwriting documents, and all the process-related decisions that generated the documents, for example.  They need to generate a view into the rules that generated the decision to underwrite a policy with a specific risk calculation, so they can evaluate that decision against actual claims data mined from data warehouses and claims reports.  This is not your granfather’s IDARS or ECM system anymore.  We are talking about merging, linking structured and unstructured content and being able to present not only views of documents, but more interactive views of rules engines, documents and compare predictions with data actuals.

Cost Allocation: Traditional IDARS systems are pretty vanilla when it comes to how they report on who uses the system, what percentage of the content is being retrieved from, say, the Variable Annuities LOB, vs. the Protection LOB.   You get a pretty standard set of admin screens and you basically have to build your own reporting based on system logs.  Because ECM is truly an enterprise application these days, set up centrally to manage content from all business units, the need to do this reporting is key from a “who pays, and how much” standpoint.  What if you could generate dynamic reports that allow you to generate dynamic reports that show usage be department in terms of total bytes stored, total numbers of retrievals, which departments added the most new reports, and do all of this with a simple, no-programming interface?  The answer is that you’d be able to better allocate costs, but you’d be able to better predict what your costs will be for new applications, because you can easily view what’s happened in the past.  And, there is more going on here than simply the ability to generate beautiful, 3D graphs, and interact with the reports, we are also talking about being able to make associations between the granular data you store, how it is indexed, and how it ties into records retention.  It is not good enough to store and records manage “corporate financial reports.” These reports relate specifically to individual corporate entities, and people, and if you have a system that can see those associations, and allow you to manage at that level, you get a much more elegant content delivery platform, and you will attract user communities that know they will get value based upon actual usage.

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: dynamically generated reporting about what’s in the repository

 

And this brings us to why an analytics company announced a new IDARS system.  Today’s ECM systems are primarily focused on systems of record.  Store unstructured content, and serve it up to users who request it.  But, as the insurance company told us, those are yesterday’s requirements.  What’s needed now, is a system of engagement that can store, link and dynamically present information derived from a variety of structured and unstructured content, and to do so over web, mobile and touch-tablet device channels.  The Next Gen Repository discreetly manages content by the audience that views it, not just by the name of the content.  Please stay tuned as we uncover more trends on this topic.  One thing’s for sure: yesterday’s methods will only produce yesterday’s results!         

Scaling From Humble Beginnings

New York City is the apex of max scaling, but my meetings this week remind that scaling sometimes means staring small and growing rapidly.

There is an opportunity for providers of technology to offer models that get started at modest price points but expand with customers' success. Seems like such a simple concept and yet I hear that leaders in composition, ECM, and business intelligence have made their offerings so fully featured and complex, that adding modest, new projects can hardly ever be justified. And I am not talking about licensing or vendor implementation costs only. No, this is really about how complex these systems are compared to the point value they provide.

Successful innovators will find new ways to make offerings scalable downwards in ways that will make offerings cost justifiable for projects that are not $ millions every time. And for that to work, here are some specifics that will need to change:

- Better communication with customers on how to easily add new projects
- Flawless communication on licensing and services options that are supportive
- Communities of like minded customers who are self-supporting on best practices

Providers would do well to establish social media with the above as goals, and the social media as purely a conduit toward these ends.

It'll be a very exciting time if we can make it easier to put more technology to work solving problems. There's never been a better appetite to improve business process and remain competitive than right now. Let's figure it out!

Scaling Is In The Air

Jim Collins, Author of From Good To Great was on Charlie Rose a few weeks ago and he made a comment about innovation and the US I found fascinating. Our unique ability as a society to innovate is not due to an innovation gene alone. Rather, it's our ability to introduce scale to innovation that multiplies the impact. Think Henry Ford with mass-produced cars, IBM with massively scalable computer systems.

While in New York recently, the innovation plus scale model was on display everywhere. Whether its the new World Trade Center rising up from Ground Zero or the remodeled Grand Central Station, NYC clearly is the epicenter of American cultural and business super sizing. Lately, we've been reminded only of the downside of that quirk in our character.   Remember Credit Default Swaps?  But, here, in New York, the new shoots are pushing through everywhere. Do you believe the new growth and scaling models will literally take our breath away just like the automobile, Times Square and the motion picture? I submit that all the same ingredients are here - still. Bring on the new wave.

From System of Record to System of Engagement

OK, we've established that organizations are quickly moving away from simply informing customers and users, to engaging them.  This has an immediate impact on the way we do ECM.

Well, futurist and author Geoffrey Moore is also onto this trend.  He's doing a webinar sponsored by AIIM on Tuesday, December 14th at 3PM Eastern.  Title: A Future History of Content Management.  Moore is author of Crossing the Chasm, Inside the Tornado and Living on the Fault Line.  You don't want to miss this one.   Here is the link:

http://www.aiim.org/Events/Webinars/20101214-webinar

How about some Pulp with that ePaper?

Nooooo! Don't Do It!

Dunder Mifflin's stock continues to rise despite an all-out assault by the entire ECM industry.  Are we going to continue to furnish paper executives' offices with rich, burled walnut, or will we finally wake up?  

AIIM says it doesn't look too promising: www.slideshare.net/mobile/jmancini77/world-5533332#61


- We now print 1 trillion pages annually
- 115 Billion of those pages are printed from personal computers
- Printing of web content is expected to triple
- Fastest growing devices initiating print: mobile devices - huh?


What in the world is going on here?  Are the Dunder Mifflins out there out-marketing everybody else?  Are paper printing and postage costs unexpectedly dropping?


Doubtful.  Our perspective on this is that it's generational.  Are Boomers to blame?  We Boomers built solid eDelivery frameworks, but the end result is merely an electronic copy of paper.  We call it ePaper.  Turn all your paper into a searchable, hyperlinked PDF, and guess what users do with it?  Print it.  We were in Best Buy last night, and some of us thought the coolest product was an iPhone printer which can wirelessly print photos.  Stop and think about this!  After spending small fortunes to develop 960x640 color displays on mobile devices, all we want to do is print photos at half the resolution!   


In order to break the Dunder Mifflin stranglehold, AIIM has some tips like "focus not on 'paperless' but instead on less paper.  "Focus on the the business process".  We agree, but there will have to be some paradigm-busters the break the hold, and we think we smell some on the horizon.


1. Proliferation of tablet computers.  When asked why users print ePaper, many responded that they could not easily view the information on their mobile phone and using even a laptop is too cumbersome.  Enter the Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle, and a raft of new entrants and we suddenly have ubiquitous instant-on delivery platforms for compelling information.


2. Interactivity.  ePaper will literally melt away if users are presented with a more interactive experience that THEY customize to their preferences.  The folks in finance don't want the boring AR Aging Report, they want the color chart that shows who is delinquent, past due and on-time with payments. 


3. Loss of opposable thumbs.  OK, not likely to happen but it would seriously reduce our need to get the paper in our hot little paws.


For more on this topic, please check out our upcoming webinar Wednesday, November 17th at 11:30AM.
  
http://www.xenos.com/company/xenos-connex/events/power-of-5-webinar-series/







        

The Secret to Dunder Mifflin's Success



We hope you’ve all been enjoying the latest posts on the convergence of ECM and Business Intelligence, but we have a unique opportunity this week.  We had the great fortune to run into Mr. Michael Scott of Dunder Mifflin, and Michael agreed to an exclusive interview, just for ECM Trends From the Field.  Michael is one of the most successful regional managers in the paper business with an impressive resume delivering results, and building a talented field organization.

First some background.  You probably know of Dunder Mifflin from the wildly successful reality TV show on NBC which follows the daily, sometimes embarrassing interactions of the Scranton branch of one of the fastest growing paper products companies in the U.S.

Despite compelling newer technologies, Dunder, founded in 1949, continues to thrive by selling more and more paper to corporate America.  In 2009, even though Michael had several near-mutinies, he was able to grow sales by over 30% with smaller headcount than in 2008.

ECM: So Michael, thanks very much for agreeing to this interview.  We are hearing about your company’s success because our industry, ECM, claims to be reducing paper usage, and yet there you are growing sales by 30%.  What do you attribute this success to?

Michael: Well, let me first say that my office is much more spacious and luxurious than this dump.  I’m even thinking about some walnut paneling, just because, you know, I’m kind of a big deal.

ECM:  Er, well of course, but our readers are very keen to know why so many of your customers continue to pay for vast quantities of paper while they are at the same time investing significantly to drive content to the web?

Michael: Maybe they’ve realized that by using paper they perpetuate the whole circle of life thing.  Check out our website, buddy.  For each and every metric ton of paper we ship, we plant a little tree: http://www.dundermifflin.com/think_green/.

ECM: Yeah, and we love the tagline: Dunder Mifflin, Green as We Have To Be. 

Michael: You bet, that was my touch.   

ECM: So, can you also tell us a little about any competitive pressures you are feeling either from other paper companies, or from disruptive technologies like online reporting or eStatement delivery?

Michael: Doug, it is our expert opinion that paper is a treasure handed down from the Greeks, and that sure, you can present the information online, but there will always be customers that demand to have the good old papyrus, just because, you know, it’s in their DNA.

ECM:  I think we’ll leave that one alone, but we do agree that even though online information delivery is exploding, financial institutions in particular are loathe to take anything away from a profitable customer, even charging $2 per month for paper is not worth it to some banks – they are afraid of a backlash.

Michael: Speaking of backlash, I’m still waiting for the question, Doug.  My limo downstairs is burning high octane…

ECM: Of course, well, just one more question then.  As Gen Y starts to earn the big bucks, don’t you think paper will go the way of the transistor or microfiche?  I mean, what’s your exit plan?

Michael:  Well, I don’t want to give away any secrets here, but first, the show has made us all stars.  Did you know that the paparaz have started showing up at the branch lately?  And, as for the paper biz, I think if I were you, I’d buy more stock, symbol MIFF.  We are a micro cap and we are kicking butt.

ECM: Thanks very much Michael, it has been a pleasure interviewing you and learning some of your thoughts, but just one more question, just for fun? 

Michael: Always here for the fans – what do you got?




Paper Tiger - Michael Scott

 

ECM: You are the epitome of THE boss in contemporary business. And yet, nobody is perfect.  Could you share some of your faults?

Michael:  Faults?  Sure, I’ve got faults.  I sing in the shower sometimes.  Sometimes I spend too much time volunteering – that really gets on people’s nerves.  And, sometimes I hit people with my car, so sue me.



ECM: On that note, we’d like to say, again, thanks to Michael Scott, Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin, Inc, leading provider of paper products in the U.S.