Right-Size the Governance Model for Your ECM Program

In the face of exponential growth in the variety and volume of content, organizations everywhere are transforming their information management practices in order to take advantage.
Investments in enterprise content management (ECM) systems have steadily increased as organizations turn to technology to help manage their digital and physical content.
The promised benefits of ECM systems are not guaranteed out of the box; information quality, findability, availability, and compliance to regulations and standards require people and process to enact enforcement.
ECM projects often evolve out of point-in-time need, and afterwards users often revert back to ad hoc and informal behavior patterns that jeopardize the efficacy of an ECM system.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

You cannot not manage content. Every organization, and every unit, is managing content; the question is how well are you doing it?
Governance prevents the sins of the past. Without people and process to design, police, and enforce standards, ad hoc content management prevails.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Start with minimum-viable governance, and optimize the model over time as part of the ECM program's continuous improvement.

Impact and Result

Understand the need for ECM governance to make your desired ECM program a reality, and coordinate your governance projects by setting a vision and mission aligned to the overall ECM program vision.
Set the initial project scope by knowing where your ECM governance maturity stands today and where you’re headed tomorrow.
Support your organizational dynamics by choosing an ECM governance model with the right mix of centrality and formality.
Define the structures, roles, and functions that will comprise your ECM governance model.
Ensure quality across the information lifecycle by determining classifications and policies.
Gauge ECM program success and inform continuous improvement by setting performance metrics.
Create a roadmap of work initiatives to establish ECM governance and execute an ECM program release.

Right-Size the Governance Model for Your ECM Program Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should right-size your ECM governance program, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Right-Size the Governance Model for Your ECM Program – Executive Brief

1. Structure the ECM governance project

Determine the major gaps preventing you from attaining your desired ECM governance maturity and craft a vision to coordinate all projects.

2. Determine your ECM governance model

Right-size the structure, roles, functions, and policies included in your ECM governance model.

3. Plan the next release of your ECM governance model

Build a roadmap of work initiatives to establish and evolve your ECM governance model.

4. Supplemental Resources

Refine your ECM governance program by leveraging these additional materials.

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Table of Contents

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 3-phase advisory process. You'll receive 8 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation 1: Structure the ECM governance project

Call 1: Review your ECM governance maturity assessment and provide feedback.
Call 2: Develop ECM vision and mission, and develop an ECM governance charter to reflect them.
Call 3: Assist you in properly scoping the ECM governance project.

Guided Implementation 2: Determine your ECM governance model

Call 1: Verify the roles you have defined and make sure the roles are fit for purpose and work together with related roles in your organization.
Call 2: Review the information governance policies and ensure they are aligned with your ECM vision and mission.

Guided Implementation 3: Plan the next release of your ECM governance model

Call 1: Define compelling metrics to measure your ECM success.
Call 2: Scope additional work initiatives to continuously improve your ECM governance program.
Call 3: Help plan essential communication by defining the right message, audience, and delivering methods.