Prior to implementing SharePoint and Collabware CLM, the First Nations Summit (FNS) relied mainly on filing cabinets and shared drives for storing their documentation. This resulted in challenges such as cluttered shared drives, redundancy of content and a struggle to ensure RIM compliance. We'll cover how the FNS team was able to turn things around and turn three major pain points to victories. For the full story on challenges, process and successes that the FNS experienced, you can access the customer success story below.
Backstory
Composed of a majority of First Nations and Tribal Councils in BC, the FNS is an action and solutions-oriented organization that works to ensure the process of addressing treaty negotiations is accessible for all First Nations in BC.
For their ongoing role negotiating with all levels of government, the FNS requires proper content storage and the ability to access and research documentation. Before starting their implementation project, the FNS experienced the following three challenges...
Challenges
1. Cluttered, Complex Shared Drives & Physical Records
The FNS stores documentation dating back to 1991. This includes both physical and digital records including such paper records, meeting binders, transcripts, video tape and more. Their subjective folder structures had grown full and difficult to navigate, and they recognized that they would soon exceed their storage capacity.
2. Redundant Document Versions/Copies
Because disparate old draft versions of documents were rarely deleted, redundant material piled up and made searchability for the correct copy a difficult task.
3. Need for Additional RM Capabilities and Compliance
Desiring additional records management capabilities and compliance, FNS first hired on a consulting firm and upgraded to SharePoint 2010 with some customizations. Unfortunately, this portion of the project did not provide them with the necessary RIM compliance, structures, and protocols out-of-the box that FNS required.
Breaking Point
The desire to address these challenges led to the organization’s implementation of SharePoint, and then further work searching for an appropriate third party add-ons. After additional vendor research and demo viewings, FNS chose to purchase Collabware CLM.
Benefits
1. Freed up Volumes of Storage Both Digitally and Physically
Through the implementation process, storage limits were freed up both physically and digitally. With the new, easy-to-navigate SharePoint site, many physical records could now be digitized, classified, and stored with less of a limit on retention.
Nearly three decades’ worth of FNS information: around 12,250 documents as of December 2018, were included in this implementation.
2. Clearing Redundant Copies and Excessive Inboxes
With SharePoint, staff can now maintain a version history for each document, eliminating the need to save and merge multiple versions of a file when collaborating. This has increased productivity by allowing multiple users to simultaneously edit a single document.
3. Ensured RIM Compliance with Automated Retention Policies and End-to-End Lifecycle Workflow Features
The FNS was able to meet their records management and compliance requirements with Collabware CLM. This solution was selected because it provides in-place RM and seamlessly integrates into SharePoint, allowing end users to go about their day-to-day tasks rather than focusing on managing their content.
They leverage Collabware CLM’s automation capabilities for their retention policies, where the combo of the content type and metadata is used to automatically classify documents as records without any direct action by FNS staff. They have also gotten great use from the solution’s Workflow feature which reflects how the end-to-end lifecycle of their records needs to be managed.
Conclusion
Overall, the FNS’s decision to implement SharePoint and Collabware CLM has not only freed up volumes of exceeded storage space and improved content accessibility, but also automated and ensured their RM compliance. This has allowed FNS to evolve and scale as they continue to develop the collaborative functionality of their SharePoint sites.
We consider our customers' success is our success. Check out the full story of the FNS's prior challenges, breaking point, search and implementation process, and victories here:
Can you relate to the FNS's prior challenges? Contact us, let's chat about how we can support your team and improve your information governance and overall business process needs:
