How to Build a RIM Playbook Part 1 - Interview the Key Players

I wrote an article for ARMA Magazine a couple of years ago called “Build and Sustain Your Records Program with a Records Playbook. (https://magazine.arma.org/2022/09/build-and-sustain-your-records-program-with-a-records-management-playbook/). In it, I described the benefits of a playbook, what it should contain, and a very high-level overview of how to build one. In this series, I’ll dive deeper into each of the steps in the process for building a playbook.

Step 1: Interview the key players.

A RIM playbook doesn’t need to be years in the making. However, it will require some effort, resources (including, potentially, external ones), and time. The first step in the process, then, is to meet with the person who will make those resources available. It is important to understand the vision for the playbook and determine the scope. Will it cover just RIM? Or the entire IG program? Will it cover subsidiaries? If your organization is international in scope, will it cover all jurisdictions?  

Depending on the scope, it may also be helpful to talk to other relevant stakeholders such as Legal, IT, Privacy, etc. You’ll need to talk to them anyway as you’re building your plays, but it’s not a bad thing to let them know it’s coming and a rough estimate of when you’ll need their input. But even if your scope is fairly narrow, e.g., a RIM playbook, there will still be RIM plays that rely on some cross-departmental cooperation. For example, many organizations have a play called something like, "Place a Legal Hold". This play would require collaborating with Legal and might involve IT as well depending on the scope and context of the hold. 

Later in the process, you'll undertake another round of interviews in order to gather documentation and understand which plays are being executed and how. If you use records coordinators, they will be valuable sources of information and should be able to confirm or clarify how plays are executed. We'll discuss this in detail in another article. 

Next up: Part 2 - how to develop the draft list of plays.  

I teach a workshop on how to build playbooks - you can find more details about the course and approach at https://athroconsulting.com/?page_id=981. 

I also build playbooks for organizations - drop me a note at jesse.wilkins@athroconsulting.com and let's talk about what that would look like.