Managing Electronic Records: Methods, Best Practices, and Technologies

CHAPTER 21

Securing Executive Sponsorship

Securing an executive sponsor at the senior management level is always crucial to projects and programs. 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. It is a best practice and supports the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles® principle of Accountability.1

The higher your executive sponsor is in the organization, the better. The implementation of an ERM program with information governance (IG) principles may be driven by the chief compliance officer, CIO, or ideally, the 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.

It is important to bear in mind that this ERM/IG effort is truly a change management effort, in that it aims to change the structure, guidelines, and rules within which employees operate. The change must occur at the very core of the organization's culture. It must be embedded permanently, and to do so, the message must be constantly and consistently reinforced. To achieve this kind of change requires commitment from the very highest levels of the organization.

If the CEO is not the sponsor, then another high–level executive must lead the effort and be accountable for meeting milestones as the program progresses. “Executive Sponsorship is one of those project success factors that are required for any project ...