This is a draft unpublished paper that has been prepared in association with a National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA) annual conference presentation in Sacramento, California, July 16-19, 1997. Any references to this paper should note, along with attribution to the author, that it is an unpublished draft paper.

Business Systems Analysis: Tool for Information Management and Macro-Appraisal

Business Systems Analysis: Municipal Modelling and Functional Thesauri

Julie Luckevich, BA, MLIS, Toronto, Canada

Abstract

This paper answers the question: Can a business enterprise model be used by Records Managers and Archivists to provide a framework for organizing records? This paper describes a project for the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (Ontario) Canada that would integrate a business enterprise model called the Municipal Reference Model (MRM) and a controlled thesaurus designed for public sector agencies (Keyword AAA) to apply a controlled indexing vocabulary to a multi-dimensional database that would track all records-related information necessary to manage a Corporate-wide records management program. The benefits of using an enterprise model include: instant documentation of the relationships between the various parts of the organization, an instant classification structure, which can be used to integrate both paper and electronic record keeping systems, and an almost instantaneous high-level controlled indexing vocabulary, which ensures access and retrieval of "the right information at the right time". Keyword AAA is helpful as an adjunct to the MRM in providing more specifically records related terminology resulting in a truly comprehensive controlled vocabulary for describing the entire information holdings of an organization.

"The task of constructing a mirror of society is difficult, but possible, and it is this role which archivists should seek to fulfill."(1)

Introduction

What is a business model? a business model identifies business functions, and the information subjects created and used in the performance of those functions, and then links these to the organizational units and business locations.(2)

When referring to 'business functions', I do not mean function in any sense which links it to organizational structure. The business functions, in the sense in which I am using them, are completely independent of the organizational structure, and instead focus on what is being done. What program is being offered to the residents of a municipality? What services are provided, as part of that program? What activities need to be performed, in order to provide that service? And finally, what information is being created?

I like to think of a municipality of a system for providing certain generally recognized amenities - clean water to drink, schools for our children, safe roads, emergency response, parks and other recreational facilities, and safe disposal of waste products of the people and businesses that live and operate in that municipality.

If you think about analyzing it as a system, what would it look like?

Think of a model home at a home show, or a modular home building kit . If you were seriously interested in purchasing that home, you would probably want to make some modifications. You might want the sink moved to a different side of the kitchen. You might want one large front hall closet instead of two smaller hallway closets. You would customize it to suit your needs.

The Municipal Reference Model works in much the same way. a city decides to purchase the generic model, which it then customizes to reflect the specific programs and services which it provides to its citizens.

Another way of looking at it, is to think of Tinker Toys. For those of you who never played with Tinker Toys, they were standardized pieces that could be put together to make larger things. There were disks with holes around the edges, and small sticks which you stuck in the holes. The elements were simple and interchangeable, and you could put them together in different ways; they ended up looking a lot like molecular models. The MRM is like that too. The use of strictly controlled vocabulary to describe programs and activities means that much of the language stays the same; the rest is as meaningful and descriptive as possible.

The Business Systems Analysis Approach

The Municipal Reference Model is a pre-built enterprise model specifically designed for municipalities. It is intended to be used as a planning tool

• for understanding municipal business from the client's perspective, and
• for developing IT architecture and plans and assessing current systems(3)

While not intended as a records management tool, this paper describes a method of using the Model to meet the needs of a Corporate-wide, integrated Records Management and Archives program. The Model comes as a software tool, pre-populated with an inventory of typical municipal programs, services, resources, events and activities. When a municipality purchases it, they immediately begin to populate it with their particular mandate, organization structure and culture. The municipality does this using a rigorously defined controlled vocabulary.

At the macro-level of a business function, this controlled vocabulary is also used to describe the life cycle of activities associated with each business function. These business function life cycles can be used by archivists and records managers as a framework for much of the necessary work of acquiring, appraising, describing, indexing and retrieving information collections.

It is my belief that using a business model as an analytical tool will provide many benefits. For example, the MRM

• provides a high-level view of the organization that places all the records in a Corporate-wide framework that clearly identifies the goals of every Corporate program (in other words, it provide a clear, consistent basis for documenting the 'context' of the records);

• provides a list of what records to look for, based on the standardized templates of which activities must be performed in order to provide a particular service (in other words, provides a starting point for where to look for evidence that certain activities actually took place);

• provides a technique for analyzing existing collections, and for consistently describing those collections with a standardized vocabulary; this vocabulary, if applied consistently, will substantially improve subject access, providing a different 'view' of the records that was not possible when the records were organized by organizational unit.

Statement of Purpose

Using a database of metadata about the record series, I propose to use the business systems analysis approach as a way of providing a stratified view of the organization. This view of the organization will assist archivists and records managers to plan, organize and put in place systems for the arrangement and description of their organization's information collections. This approach will make use of two key tools: the Municipal Reference Model, and Keyword AAA.

I propose to use the Human Resources function to show how examining the records using a business systems analysis approach can make appraisal decisions easier and more representative.

Case Study: Overview of Human Resources in the MRM

All activities identified in the Model share a template for the types of activities. These activities are organized into four phases of a "life cycle". The phases are:

• management/planning activities
• acquisition/use activities
• monitoring activities
• disposal activities

For each of these phases, there are specific activities, specific things which the Corporation probably does in support of a program or service.

Example: Human Resources

Phase of Life Cycle	Resource Type Activities
Management/Planning Activities	Forecast requirements for human resource Define human resource development objectives and strategies Define human resource policies, procedures and standards Define compensation and benefit schedules for human resource Negotiate human resource agreements
Acquisition/Use Activities	Recruit human resource Record human resource activities Pay human resource Develop human resource Counsel human resource
Monitoring Activities	Monitor human resource performance Monitor compliance with human resource policies
Disposal Activities	Transfer human resource Terminate human resource

For each of the activities identified, there should be records showing that this work was actually done by the organization.

This template can be used as a "treasure hunt" for records which the archivist suspects must exist, but has no knowledge of.

Another use of the Model is in providing a stratified view of the same business function, across all organizational units.

STRATIFIED SAMPLING

What is it?

Stratified sampling is a method for achieving objectivity when making judgements in the disposal of case and survey files. It overcomes some of the deficiencies of random sampling, (certain files of significant research value may be overlooked) without substituting that principle of archival selection which, in effect, says, use your best judgement.

According to the ALA World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services,

One method used to overcome this deficiency [of random sampling] is to create a stratified sample that includes all files at the high level of a scale and reduced percentages at lower levels of the scale.(4)

Typical strata, viewed from left to right, might include the following typical types of files which would be of interest to archivists:

|| Policies, procedures || Program Mgmt. || Program Admin. || Case files ||

Or, one could view a stratified sample as being a sort of pyramid. The layers of the pyramid can represent the different strata of records produced by the business unit. The archivist could then assign a percentage to the quantity of records to be selected from each strata. The

strata could be based on the Business Functions Life Cycle, or other template.

|| Mgmt/Planning || Acquisition/Use || Monitoring || Disposal ||

Type of files Percentage kept

Acquisition/Use 1 ? %

Disposal 10 ? %

Monitoring 80 ? %

Management/Planning 100 ? %

Or, the archivist might find that case files, for example, include records relating to more than one phase of the life cycle. The archivist could use the life cycle to ensure that they had documented the important records under each activity; they could then "map" the record series to the activities, or vice versa. The resulting activity to record series relationships could provide very interesting information to researchers about how the organization worked.

How does the Model help?

Because the Model links records by business activity, it naturally pulls together records dealing with the same activity, no matter where it takes place in the organization. This means, for example, that all records dealing with human resources could be identified not only by organizational unit, but by where they fit within the larger organization, cutting across all organizational lines. It's a view that provides instant context; a map, or guide to where archivists should focus their efforts as far as documenting the key functions of the organization.

Another aspect of the Model, that is of critical importance to records managers and archivists, is that it assigns the level of authority for each program and service.

The levels of authority are represented by three codes which are assigned to each particular program and service: P - Primary, I - Involved, and D - Decision Making. For each specific program or service, the model can track which organizational unit has primary authority for running the program or providing the service, which unit is merely involved in the program or service, and which unit has decision-making authority regarding that particular program or service. Where the model is most helpful, is that it can show, quite easily, where, for example, one program is offered by several units, areas or locations within the same organization. It can also show, quite clearly, where there is, apparently, no decision-making unit within an organization for a particular program or service. These tables could be of great benefit to records manager trying to establish official copies of documents for retention purposes, and to archivists trying to establish lines of authority and decision-making.

For example, suppose a new program appears in 1986, Recycling (Blue Box Program). The Model instantly puts Recycling within the larger context of the Environment Program, together with all of the other municipal services classified as belonging to the Environment Program. If the archivist was looking for documentation of the social conditions and business environment that led to the decision to add this program to the municipal portfolio of services provided to its residents, he or she would know that the records would most likely be found in the record series classified as belonging to the Environment Program, just prior to and during the initial implementation of the Blue Box Program. The example below lists all of the municipal services classified as belonging to the Environment Program, and the Department responsible for them:

Example: Metro Works Department, Environment Program

Program Service

Environment Program Storm water removal

Pollution control service

Solid waste disposal

Environmental approval services

Sanitary/Liquid waste removal

Industrial discharge inspection

Solid waste recycle

Infrastructure improvement grant service

In the example above, the Model would link this information the organizational structure. As part of the customization of the Model, the Municipality would add the information showing the level of authority for specific Programs, Services and Activities, i.e. who had primary responsibility for running the program, who was involved in it (however peripherally), and who had decision making authority for it.

It's important to try, graphically (or otherwise), to represent the existence of records flowing out of what the business is and does. The Model provides this structure.

How can the Model be implemented?

By creating a database of metadata about the records, linking it to the terms from the Model, in addition to the organizational hierarchy.

Problem Definition

This proposal to use the Model as a records management and archives tool began with the recognition of a business problem within the Corporate Records Management Program at the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto.

As the Senior Records Analyst for Classification and Documentation, it was my job to collect and track project statistics for work done by Records Analysts for the individual departments. These projects consisted primarily of active records conversions, but also included transfers of inactive records, transfers of active records, and file consolidations/splitting of files.

Conversions also included development of an operational file plan, and data entry of the records into our software. We had software to track the files, but nothing to track the management of the projects within the larger context of the Corporation's total information holdings. We wanted to get and keep a handle on the total information holdings of the Corporation (both paper and electronic), and we wanted one tool to both manage the metadata, as well as the project-related data. We then wanted to extract project-related statistics from the database, and be able to roll them up from the smallest aggregate unit, e.g. a unit of a section of a division of a department, to the department or higher level for two purposes: reporting to senior management, and managing the four portfolios of departments. (The portfolios mapped to the four Standing Committees of Metro, and did not always group whole departments. The Human Services portfolio, for example, included the Corporate Access and Privacy division of the Clerk's Department. The Infrastructure and Facilities portfolio included the entire Transportation and Works Departments, but only sections of Parks and Culture Department. The other two portfolios were Planning, and Corporate Functions, where the rest of the Clerk's Department was located.)

Briefly, the problems were as follows:

1. Service Statistics

• Service statistics not being captured in sufficient detail
• Need to demonstrate value due to budgetary pressures
• Need for better quantitative data re: project work performed (and for better, easier ways of collecting and reporting it)
• Need for professional project management "look" and time-saving tools.

2. Retention By-laws

• Many not revised since 1970s
• By-laws related to Departments, not functions
• Cross-departmental/functional approach desired to passing of Corporate-wide revisions to by-laws
  • for practicality (time savings for Senior Records Analyst, Retention and Systems Scheduling)
  • allow for destruction of duplicates across all departments, without having to pass revisions for each department.

3. Organizational Change

• Re-structuring of administrative processes (Corporate Administrative Work Plan)
• Some operational re-structuring
• Planned amalgamation of 6 lower-tier municipalities into new City of Toronto, effective January 1, 1998 (from 12,000 employees and an annual budget of $3.5 billion for the upper tier to 25,000 employees and a budget of $4.5 - 5 billion for the new "Megacity" City of Toronto).

Process That Was Followed

• Researched and documented program benchmarks

• Prepared templates of project types, project stages, tasks, costs, and benchmarks for each stage of each type of project

• Researched project management software

• Identified need for multi-dimensional database to capture metadata about records (existing project management software did not enable us to capture enough information about the record series)

• Functional tools identified
  • Municipal Reference Model
  • Keyword AAA

• Municipal Reference Model (MRM)
  • generic business model for municipalities
  • characterized by rigorous use of language
  • high level schema for how municipalities operate (process flow model)
  • its primary purpose is to assist municipalities with system architectures, reengineering processes, streamlining, and as a common basis for the application of new technology
  • hierarchical structure of entities:
    • municipal programs
    • municipal services
    • activities
  • links to two other main types of entities used to actually "do" the programs, services and activities:
    • resources
    • organizational units
  • the model specifies the relationships between the entities
  • 29 subscribers, primarily municipal governments, including City of Phoenix, Shanghai, China, Metro Toronto and others
  • cost: $25,000 CDN one time fee, plus annual maintenance fee of 10% (includes software to manage the Model)

• Keyword AAA (Accuracy Accessibility Accountability)
  • functionally oriented approach to reflect the business activities documented by records(5)
  • also characterized by rigorous use of language (conforms to ISO 2788 Establishment and Development of Monolingual Thesauri
  • hierarchical structure, with three levels of terms
  • covers general terminology, i.e. terms common to the business functions and activities of most organizations
  • designed to be used with functional terms that describe each organization's unique business functions and activities
  • intended to be used to create a merged thesaurus that provides comprehensive coverage of an entire Corporation's information holdings
  • cost: approximately $2000-2500 CDN, depending on whether or not you purchase the software as well.

Solution Proposed

• Request for Proposal for a comprehensive Program Management System

• Application Architecture
  • Project Tracking System
    • MSProject or other off-the-shelf product ok, but links required to Program Management System
  • Program Management System
    • Original design to include all Program Management activities
    • Modules to track either a) the costs or resources or b) the service statistics that needed to be captured.
    • Three Core Modules:
      • Record Series Matrix
      • Functional Thesaurus (composed of overlays of terms from the MRM and from Keyword AAA)
      • Project Summary Module, for tracking project statistics against the Record Series Matrix (to allow for highly structured queries combining the data from both Modules)

• Need for Record Series Matrix to be linked to a separate organizational module, which would track organizational change, and which would also be used to provide the links to specific record series.

Business Systems Analysis Approach

• The MRM would be customized with Metro's terminology for its programs, services and activities

• Record series would be "catalogued" by assigning the appropriate terms from the Metro Business Framework

e.g. Program: Internal Support Activities

Service: Human Resource Management - Compliance

• Match term from the Model with top level terms from Keyword AAA

e.g. Human Resource Management - Compliance might include

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Programs

• From Keyword AAA, pick appropriate narrower terms from activity descriptors

e.g. EEO: enquiries, grievances, legislation, meetings, planning, policy, procedures, programs, reporting, standards

• From Keyword AAA, pick appropriate additional terms from subject descriptors, or add our own controlled terms, or free text, if desired

e.g. EEO: agenda papers, briefing papers, complaints, customer surveys, disability plans, minutes, registers, regulations, reports, returns, reviews

Example:

Function: Human Resources

Keyword: Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

Activity Descriptor: Grievances

Subject Descriptor: Reports

Subject Descriptor: Alternative Dispute Resolution

Free text/Controlled Term: Mediated Settlement

As can be seen from the examples above, these terms could also be used to provide a standardized to naming convention for how record series are named, and how files are titled.

The terms from Keyword AAA can be used with the Model to create, in effect, a controlled indexing vocabulary. A subject/functional vocabulary is analogous to the use of Library of Congress Subject Headings to index library material. The difference is that the organization starts with the structure only (and some general terminology), and must create its own Corporate Thesaurus. This Corporate Thesaurus should ideally be controlled by either a Descriptive Standards Office, the standards position on the Records Management side, or both, with Records Management probably being the source of many of the new terms, and the archives program putting in the links (see and see also references, use and used for references) from the new terms to the older, or no longer used Corporate terminology (or vice versa, from the old terms to the new terms).

Benefits

General Benefits

I think that what all of this leads to, is using the Model to create a highly rigorous subject/functional classification scheme, that solves the problem of tracking cumbersome revisions to the Corporate records classification scheme. By describing the records at the basic business process level (the macro level), and by using a highly structured language to describe the business functions (programs, services and activities) one can be relatively confident that the top level terms will not change very often, and will, in fact, be quite stable, and will only need very periodic revisions to add new programs and services. Since the organizational changes are tracked in a separate module, the records management program is freed up from some of the tedious labour of updating retention schedules merely to reflect changes to the organization.

Another benefit of adopting the Model and Keyword AAA as a subject/functional classification, is that they provide a framework for integrating paper and electronic versions of the same records. This means that it can also be used as a framework for approaching enterprise-wide document management systems.

When IT departments use the Model to develop their various system architectures, or to assess their current systems, they create a bridge between the electronic records and the paper records. One of the advantages to using the Model to structure the Corporate information infrastructure, is that IT departments can use the framework to make better hardware and software decisions. The IT infrastructure is like having an interstate system of highways that connects all of the states. It provides the links, based on classification of the business processes, at the macro-level for electronic records and business systems. If Records Management and Archival programs also used the same framework for organizing and managing the records created by the business, then I have no doubt that greater efficiency of record keeping will be the result.

Benefits Specific to Records Managers and Archivists

The benefits of using the Business Systems Analysis approach for Records Managers and Archivists can be summarized as follows:

• cross-departmental views help with prioritizing and co-ordinating projects Corporate-wide

• provides a method of vocabulary control; standardized file titles, Corporate naming conventions

• provides a method to streamline retention scheduling
  • schedule all related records once
  • simplifies maintenance
  • can still pull retention schedules by organizational unit for easier implementation

• ensures comprehensive capture of related records Corporate-wide

• enables new types of analyses of records by "slicing and dicing" the information in new ways

• consistent vocabulary aids communication
  • internally - between Records Management and Archives staff
  • externally - between Records Managers, Archivists, and clients and researchers

• allows for a more efficient transfer of records from Records Management custody to Archives custody and control, since, ideally, both will be using the same classification system and indexing vocabulary.

• creates a better understanding of the relationships between the organization and the records it creates

• helps Records Managers and Archivists to "see the forest" not the trees; in other words, helps to provide context.

What Happened to the Project?

The RFP went out in November, 1996. There were four responses. After review, it was determined that none of the proponents met the requirements of the RFP, and the RFP was cancelled. There was also not enough funding to cover the cost of the first choice proponent.

It was determined that the Project Tracking component of the RFP could be implemented first, and that, when funding became available for the Other modules, the linkages between data fields could be added at that time. MSProject was selected as the Project Management Software, and Project Templates for the Records Management projects were entered. As of this date, the rest of the RFP is "on hold" pending funding as well as implementation of the "Megacity" re-organization, which is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 1998. (a decision on several legal court challenges to the constitutionality of the City of Toronto Act are expected within a few weeks.)

Conclusion

The success of the MRM as a management tool is its ability to provide a key link between a corporate strategic plan, which sets out broad goals and objectives, with the fundamental operations of the municipality.(6)

If the mandate of an archives program is to provide a mirror of the organization to itself, then I believe that using a business enterprise model is a key tool for archivists and records managers. The model provides the link and structure between the organization's goals and objectives, and how it carries them out. It provides almost instant documentation of the relationships between the various parts of the organization, and provides signposts to the archivist on where to look for the records that document the important decisions made by the organization.

From a records management point of view, an enterprise business model is good because it provides an instant classification structure, which can be used to integrate both paper and electronic record keeping systems (particularly if an organization's IT department bases its architecture on the same model). It also requires less frequent updating, since the classification is independent of the organizational hierarchy.

And finally, an enterprise business model is good for both, and particularly for the organization as a whole, because it provides an almost instantaneous high-level controlled indexing vocabulary, which ensures access and retrieval of "the right information at the right time". Keyword AAA is a helpful tool which can be used, in conjunction with an enterprise business model, to provide more specific record-type terminology for a truly comprehensive controlled vocabulary for any type of organization.

FOOTNOTES

1 Ann Pederson, ed., Keeping Archives (Australian Society of Archivists, Inc., 1987), 100. This book has an excellent chapter on the principles of appraisal, including a checklist of questions to be asked when doing appraisal.(Return to text)

2 See extract included as Appendix for more information about the MRM, taken from The Municipal Reference Model Program: Program Overview (Toronto: Municipal Reference Model Program, n.d.).(Return to text)

3 Municipal Reference Model: Business Modelling Workshops: Overview of the Model Concepts (Toronto: Municipal Reference Model Program, June 1997), 6.(Return to text)

4 ALA World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services, 2nd ed. (Chicago: American Library Association), 59.(Return to text)

5 Keyword AAA: Evaluation Package (n.p.: Government of New South Wales, Records Management Office, 1995), 4.(Return to text)

6 The Municipal Reference Model Program: Program Overview (Toronto: Municipal Reference Model Program, n.d.), 2.(Return to text)

APPENDIX: Extract from "The Municipal Reference Model Program: Program Overview"

1. What are Enterprise Models?

"Enterprise Models" are models of an organization, which typically define:

• goals and objectives
• business strategies
• products and services
• customers and suppliers
• resources required to deliver products and services
• business activities required to deliver the products and services
• business activities required to manage the resources
• information required to carry out the business activities, and
• organization structure, roles, and responsibilities

for the client. These models are then used by municipalities to achieve higher performance from their people and processes, enable them to understand the linkages and impacts of a strategy, decision, tactics, or process design on all aspects of the business, and link the business plans and strategies with Information Technology investment plans, architectures, and evolution strategies.

A Generic Enterprise Model (GEM) is a pre-built enterprise model which is delivered in a database with software tools for customization, analysis and planning. a GEM can be used to promulgate standards (guidelines, best practices, performance metrics, etc.) sanctioned by regulatory bodies and associations, enable organizations to create higher quality enterprise models for less up-front investment, and use them more effectively.

For a municipality that has made the decision to use an enterprise model as their primary planning tool, the cost difference between using a generic enterprise model versus developing one from scratch can be a significant savings. Furthermore, the quality of the results is measurably enhanced by using a generic enterprise model because the model is pre-built utilizing consistent and high quality "industry" standards.

2. What is the MRM^TM?

The Municipal Reference Model is a pre-built generic enterprise model, built for municipalities, which is pre-populated with a robust inventory of municipal programs, services, resources, events and activities - all important ingredients to a municipal business model. When a municipality receives the MRM, they immediately go into edit mode and begin to shape the model to reflect their particular mandate, their particular organization structure, and their culture.

The database contains generic models or inventories of:

• the programs and services,
• the business activities, and
• the information requirements

of a municipal government. These lists are inter-related, so it is possible to see which services support which programs, which business activities are required to manage and deliver which services, and what information is created or used by each business activity.

The success of the MRM as a management tool is its ability to provide a key link between a corporate strategic plan, which sets out broad goals and objectives, with the fundamental operations of the municipality. This can be accomplished through the identification of municipal programs and services.