A Group Information Manager

A bit of chat on while we decide where to sit (the team has a ‘hot desk’ policy and only 8 desks per 10 people) and we log in to the system, , then the buzz of busy people working takes over.

First decision of the day: a team is moving to another organisation but will continue to use our IT and work in our building for a year. I am asked what to do about their accounts on the ERDM system – the easy solution is to make no change but I need to think through the implications. By making them in to a distinct unit with their new organisation’s name we immediately identify the information that is no longer ‘ours’, potentially important if we get PQs, FoI requests etc. This will need talking through with the team leader but she isn’t in today so I fire off an email.

Emails are arriving thick and fast about the looming ISO 27001 information security audit so as chair of the Information Security Forum I get all the paperwork. I need to check the terms of reference and other paperwork, of particular importance this time as Gordon Brown changed our name and remit when he became PM, and we have had internal restructurings as well. Three pages of picky corrections go back to the secretariat managing the work and I can move on to the next job.

Following a system problem a few weeks ago and I have an on-going programme of checks on access controls on records to make sure they are correct. While at first sight it is quite procedural I do need to know the business in order to asses the controls, and if necessary update them, and have to understand the complex inter-relationships our new access controls allow. Given the complexity of the access controls in this area this is definitely one of those tasks you do in relatively short bursts so the brain doesn’t overload!

I have a reminder on my screen; I am about to be late for a meeting to discuss the review of a library service in another department. I got a last minute invitation to the meeting when someone remembered that I provided professional support for many years. Walking back I discuss a proposed restructuring in the information management area with a colleague.

Next I meet with one of my staff to discuss a pile of queries about approving new folders in our ERDM system. Mostly he has reached the right answer himself but it is useful to go through them so I understand the issues he faces, and it also gives us a chance to discuss how we tie this in to our awareness programme.

Bureaucracy busting has a high profile at present. We cannot do more with less without stream-lining processes and identifying ‘stop its’. I sit in a team with many cross cutting roles and am therefore involved with a few initiatives. Today I am meeting with a couple of colleagues to review some changes to one of our key forms, one that manages creating, amending and closing accounts and entries on key departmental systems. We are all pleased to come out of it in agreement, with a few small final changes to be made before we can pilot it. The timing is good too as we are about to send out a monthly update and it is always good to announce successes.

Now all I have to do is a final check of my emails and I can go home!