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Alaska JPO honored for new information management project
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief
Responding to the challenge of information management and records retention requirements for a dozen state and federal agencies, Alaska’s Joint Pipeline Office established an information accountability project. This summer the agency won an award for that project from the International Association for Records Managers.
Susan Anderson, Joint Pipeline Office records analyst and project manager, received the Iron Mountain Award for Excellence in Records and Information Management in Program Innovation and Improvement on behalf of the agency at the annual International Association for Information Management Professionals meeting in Boston. Anderson said the Joint Pipeline Office was nominated for a portion of its information accountability project: creation of a compliance records case file “and the creation, after 10 years, of a broad-based records retention plan which met the needs of all federal and state agencies associated with JPO for records retention.”
Twelve entries were selected as semi-finalists. The agency’s competition for the award included Boeing, Hewlett Packard, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and international law firms, Anderson said. Business and history must be recorded The Joint Pipeline Office said its 12 state and federal agencies “must accurately record the business and history of JPO and record compliance and operation of pipelines and rights of way in accordance with governing documents,” a challenge with separate state and federal regulations for records, and different retention schedules and records authorities.
A single retention plan was necessary, and a single records authority, which JPO placed in information technology, rather than in administration where it is more typically housed.
“The challenge was to create one retention plan and one basic filing system for the JPO incorporating the individual agency regulations,” said John Kerrigan, the state pipeline coordinator. A bonus benefit, Kerrigan said, is that the agencies now have “access to an enormous cache of information accumulated over the years.” JPO also anticipates “substantial long-term savings and improved customer relations as a result of this project,” he said.
“The desired results have been surpassed for this project,” said Jerry Brossia, the Joint Pipeline Office federal authorized officer. Normal information management challenges were “complicated times 12” at the JPO, Brossia said. “We can now easily retrieve information and have greater confidence that we are meeting all regulatory requirements for records retention, not an easy feat to accomplish.” A group effort is in place The overall project includes scanning of all incoming and outgoing information, which is then available in a group mailbox; scanning of many existing documents into a data search and retrieval system; a comprehensive monitoring program database which includes results from oversight activities; an overall records retention plan which encompasses the retention requirements of all participating agencies and has been approved by the state of Alaska and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the lead federal agency at the Joint Pipeline Office; availability electronically of the most recent updates of manuals and governing documents; and identification of reports and documents due in and out of the office, which are tracked for timely delivery.
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