Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies, and Best Practices

CHAPTER 5

Strategic Planning and Best Practices for Information Governance

Securing a sponsor at the executive management level is always crucial to projects and programs, and this is especially true of any strategic planning effort. An executive must be on board and supporting the effort in order to garner the resources needed to develop and execute the strategic plan, and that executive must be held accountable for the development and execution of the plan. These axioms apply to the development of an information governance (IG) strategic plan.

Also, resources are needed—time, human capital, and budget money. The first is a critical element: It is not possible to require managers to take time out of their other duties to participate in a project if there is no executive edict and consistent follow up, support, and communication. Executive sponsorship is a best practice and supports the key principle of accountability of the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles® (The Principles)¹ (see Chapter 3 for more detail). And, of course, without an allocated budget, no program can proceed.

The higher your executive sponsor is in the organization, the better.² The implementation of an IG program may be driven by the chief compliance officer, chief information officer (CIO), or, ideally, the chief executive officer (CEO). With CEO sponsorship come many of the key elements needed to complete a successful project, including allocated management time, budget money, and management focus. ...