Our systems are in place, why don't our users use them?
We're often asked by organisations why, after spending a great deal of time, money and effort, staff are reluctant to use EDRMS systems.
Rarely is there a single answer, but in our experience, some of the underlying reasons are:
- The organisation did not involve a wide range of voices in the selection of the package - sometimes it's just the records management team who chooses the systems, while others it's foistered on the organisation by IT. Regardless of who takes the lead with the decision, it needs to be collaborative, so that the voices of all stakeholders, including the users are heard.
- You were not consulted about your business requirements and there was an assumption made by the implementation team that they knew what those requirements would be.
- There was no leadership from the top promoting and advocating the benefits of the system.
- The users did not understand why the system was being implemented.
These are often very common scenarios in many organisations. But how do we turn the situation around?
One of our client organisations had to do just that.
The first step was to get an understanding of why the users were not using the system. A report and presentation to management outlined what the problems were and what was required to get users on board.
The users concerns were:
- They did not understand the classification scheme.
- The configuration of the system was too complex
- The security and access regime in the system had not been mapped to the business functions and activities.
- There was not enough user consultation in the development of the system.
Recommendations were made and subsequently undertaken, they were:
- Implementation of a change management program and employment of a change manager to guide the organisation through the change. As the system was already in place and the general feeling for the system was negative a Change Manager was a very important addition to the project team.
- A review of the existing business classification scheme. A new business classification scheme based on work processes was introduced. There was a large amount of involvement from key staff in the development and verification of the scheme.
- A review of the existing system configuration. Key staff attended business requirements workshops to provide input into the new configuration.
- A training program was developed and implemented.
Getting the ingredients right in a project is an important part of success.
