Records Management Tools: Choices Abound

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1 Markets, K. Shegda Research Note 18 March 2003 Records Management Tools: Choices Abound A range of vendors offer records management functionality. Enterprises must decide whether they are seeking standalone records management or functionality incorporated as a feature in other applications. Core Topic Knowledge & Content Mgmt., Collaboration & E-Learning: Content, Media and Publishing Key Issue Which vendors will provide critical support in content, media or document management? Enterprises looking for records management tools have a choice should they work with a records management specialist vendor to supplement their records-generating applications or should they look at records management capability already integrated into their document management applications? Standalone electronic records management (ERM) products generally establish a separate records management repository or work as an adjunct to a document management product. Document management vendors Documentum, IBM, Open Text and Hummingbird have bought technology outright by acquiring records management vendors and are integrating it as a component in their integrated document management (IDM) offerings. In some cases, IDM vendors continue to sell records management as a stand-alone offering. Other leading IDM vendors, such as FileNet and imanage, partner with records specialists like MDY Advanced Technologies and Tower Software. The benefit of integrating records management with IDM is that it allows information-bearing media (generated or received by an enterprise) to be managed through the entire life cycle (from creation to destruction). Therefore, records management capabilities are increasingly becoming features of broader content management suites. Choosing an IDM vendor that offers integrated records management functionality can provide greater product stability and eliminate added costs associated with integrating a separate product. A downside is that enterprises may have to buy document management to get records management. The following are representative records management vendors to consider, as they have established market awareness. They are organized in two categories: the records management specialists and the document management vendors that have integrated records management functionality into their offerings. Be aware Gartner Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

2 that many of the specialist records management vendors have modest financial strength. Their records management software revenue is typically less than $10 million. Most of these vendors have designed their software to comply with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) "Design Criteria Standard for Electronic Records Management Software Applications," commonly known as DoD (see "ERM and IDM Markets Converge in DoD Standard.") Records Management Specialists MDY Advanced Technologies One of the few remaining pure records management vendors, MDY has focused on this area since Its core offering, FileSurf, is a Webenabled records management system that also provides core library services. FileSurf has been certified for the original and the new DoD Standards (effective since June 2002), and is scheduled for U.K. Public Record Office (PRO) certification. It is also compliant with the U.S. government's Rehabilitation Act, Section 508 accessibility requirements. FileSurf manages physical and electronic records (including Microsoft Office documents, images, audio and video), as well as messages and their attachments. FileSurf integrates with Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise, enabling users to file incoming and outgoing e- mails as documents of record directly from within their applications. MDY partners with several document management vendors, including imanage. MDY also offers network integration, software development, and help desk and training services. Tower Software A private company founded in 1985, Tower Software has been a leading ERM software vendor. Tower Software has partnered with many of the leading IDM and document imaging vendors. Tower Software's primary vertical market is government (representing about 70 percent of its business). In the private sector, it has had success in the pharmaceutical, power, insurance and other regulated industries. It markets its products through channel partners. Its flagship product is the Trim suite, which includes Trim Context and Trim Captura. Tower Software has embedded core document management library services as part of its Trim product. It can build its own records management repository capable of storing images, presentations, and audio and video formats, along with more-conventional electronic records. Trim's distinction is that it features document management functionality such as check-in and check-out, version control and full-text search with thesaurus capabilities, as well as workflow. Tower Software has technology partnerships with Kofax Image Products (for imaging), Adobe Systems (formerly Jetform), Captiva 18 March

3 Software (forms processing) and Stellent (for the Inso viewer). It integrates with Microsoft Outlook, Notes Mail and GroupWise for cataloging. emanage A privately held Canadian firm that focuses on management and records management, this Microsoft partner integrates with SharePoint and Microsoft Exchange, enabling enterprises to apply records management policies to documents and electronic content stored in Exchange and SharePoint. emanage is certified to the DoD ERM standard and complies with Section 508 accessibility requirements. Content Management/Records Management Vendors Open Text Recognizing the importance of records management, Open Text purchased PSSoftware in Open Text offers records management capabilities to its customers through a stand-alone offering, irims, as well as an optional module for its flagship product, Livelink. irims is a comprehensive records management solution for customers that do not have Livelink. Livelink Records Management is a Web-based add-on module for Livelink that embeds records management capabilities in the Livelink system, enabling the life cycle of all electronic records in Livelink to be managed. Livelink Records Management and irims are certified as compliant with the DoD standard, including Chapter 4 for managing classified records, and irims is PRO-approved. Livelink Records Management is scheduled to undergo PRO approval. Both products comply with Section 508 accessibility requirements. Hummingbird Compared to many of its IDM competitors, Hummingbird has a strong focus on records management. Rather than simply partner with third-party records management specialists, it owns its own records management technology, which it acquired in Although Hummingbird RM is priced separately from Hummingbird DM, the two offerings are tightly integrated and share the same repository for all documents and records. When implemented together, Hummingbird DM and Hummingbird RM provide a shared user interface, as well as shared user/group administration, shared security, shared search and retrieval, and shared history/audit trail features. Hummingbird RM provides functionality for the management of physical records, including location designations, bar coding and boxing, storage movement processing and census/inventory processing. Hummingbird partners with Accutrac Software for management of physical records in instances where a site needs to manage its own warehouse. Hummingbird RM is a core element of Hummingbird Enterprise. It enables enterprises to set disposition rules and 18 March

4 treat documents as electronic records, thereby controlling the complete life cycle of all physical and electronic knowledge resources. Hummingbird RM and Hummingbird DM share the same repository and user interfaces. Hummingbird RM complies with Section 508 accessibility requirements, and with the DoD and PRO standards. IBM In November 2002, IBM acquired Tarian Software, a privately held developer of e-records software. Tarian's unique approach involved building a records engine for each environment, rather than adding yet another repository to the content infrastructure. This approach enables records management capabilities to be applied to any document without moving or copying the document to a separate repository. Many IBM applications will benefit from ERM technology. For example, users of IBM's WebSphere portal and Web content management functions can benefit by easily classifying appropriate Web content as an enterprise record. In the Domino world, there is a significant amount of enterprise knowledge in collaborative discussion threads as well as the Domino.Doc document management system. The Tarian technology has been rebranded as IBM Records Manager and is being marketed as a stand-alone product and an integrated offering. It currently works with a variety of content management systems, including IBM Content Manager, and is DoD (to June 2002 level) certified. IBM Records Manager provides full physical records management (paper records). Meridio A U.K. vendor established in 2001, Meridio focuses on providing an integrated infrastructure for document and records management. A Microsoft partner, Meridio has a tight integration with Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server. Meridio has achieved PRO accreditation in the United Kingdom, and distributes its software through system integrators in Europe and Fujitsu in the Far East. Meridio does not yet market in the United States and is not DoD compliant. Documentum Documentum purchased TrueArc (formerly Provenance Systems), a former records management specialist, in In the early 1990s, TrueArc helped found the ERM market and had a strong focus on records management compliance. The TrueArc Foremost product has been rebranded Documentum Records Manager and is DoD certified. Documentum Records Manager secures content and metadata from Documentum 4i or Documentum 5 repositories. It can synchronize with the Documentum repository, enabling content to remain in Documentum. Enterprises can choose to remove the content from Documentum and store it in separate repositories. 18 March

5 Documentum also has the ability to manage physical records. Tower Technology A leading IDM vendor, Tower Technology addresses its customers' needs for records management in several ways. Tower IDM has been DoD certified as the repository for Tower Software's Trim. In addition, Tower Technology has developed a new product, Seraph, that is built on an n-tier, Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition architecture and brings together document management, records management and case management capabilities into a single application with a single administrative interface and a common repository and code base. Announced in March 2003, Seraph is positioned specifically for government applications. This new offering is scheduled to undergo DoD compliance testing in June 2003 and PRO certification soon after. Acronym Key DoD DOMEA ERM IDM MoReq PRO VERS U.S. Department of Defense Document management and electronic archiving Electronic records management Integrated document management Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records Public Record Office Victorian Electronic Records Strategy Bottom Line: Enterprises should look for a records management vendor that has experience in their industry and that is certified to meet the latest standards requirements Department of Defense Standard in the Unites States, document management and electronic archiving (DOMEA) in Germany, Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS) in Australia, Public Record Office (PRO) accreditation in the United Kingdom and Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records (MoReq) in the European Union and should carefully consider the vendor's ability to execute and long-term viability. If you decide to go with a best-of-breed, stand-alone records management tool, look for one that integrates well with your current document/content management system. 18 March