DEVELOPMENTS IN PRACTICE VIII:

Enterprise content management (ECM) is an integrated approach to managing all of an organization’s information including paper documents, data, reports, web pages, and digital assets. ECM includes the strategies, tools, processes, and skills an organization needs to manage its information assets over their lifecycle. While many vendors would suggest that their software is a panacea, most knowledge managers recognize the greater challenge – to develop an overall ECM strategy that will ensure good information practices are in place and effectively integrated with technology where appropriate. An effective ECM strategy should address each of the four lifecycle stages: 1. Capture – all activities associated with collecting content. 2. Organize – indexing, classifying and linking content and databases together to provide access within and across business units and functions. 3. Process – sifting and analyzing content in ways that inform decision-making. 4. Maintain – ensuring that content is kept up-to-date