Advocacy with a personal touch: Why RIMPA is a strong partnership for the records and Objective community

Objective is excited to announce that it is a proud Platinum Industry Partner for Records and Information Management Professionals Australia (RIMPA).

Objective has a rich 30-year history delivering solutions that enable enterprise records management. These solutions are used across all forms of government, from local councils all the way to agencies such as the Australian Defence Force, New Zealand Ministry of Social Development and The Scottish Government.

While Objective continues to invest heavily in our core EDRMS platform Objective ECM, we have also extended our capabilities with a full, modern user experience, document-based workflow, governance for third-party systems such as Microsoft Teams and secure external collaboration. Key to build these solutions is listening to feedback and understanding the challenges facing record keepers.

Through partnership with organisations like RIMPA, Objective has a direct line into the daily work life of practitioners who care deeply about records management and understand its core purpose in government.

“Good record keeping practices are not something to be dismissed. With the extraordinary amount of digital information being widely shared and accessed today, it is more important than ever to engage directly with the records community to identify opportunities for improving how information is managed in modern organisations,” explained Jon Palin, Chief Product Officer at Objective.

Good record keeping practices are not something to be dismissed. With the extraordinary amount of digital information being widely shared and accessed today, it is more important than ever to engage directly with the records community to identify opportunities for improving how information is managed in modern organisations.

Jon Palin

Chief Product Officer at Objective

“Records in context support informed decision-making, effective business practices and increased transparency. This in turn delivers improved community outcomes and builds trust in government. There is a great opportunity to combine sound records management practices and modern technology approaches to ensure all records can be managed efficiently now and preserved for the future.”

Records in context support informed decision-making, effective business practices and increased transparency. This in turn delivers improved community outcomes and builds trust in government.

Jon Palin

Chief Product Officer at Objective

This partnership is also personal.

For some team members at Objective, the RIMPA partnership is a bit more personal. Gary Somerville, who heads up Sales Operations and Enablement at Objective, is a lifetime member of RIMPA. Gary joined RIMPA back in the 1970’s when it began and was known as RMAA. With such an enduring relationship right within the Objective ranks, we asked Gary to provide some background on RIMPA and its importance to the industry.

Q: What were the early days of RIMPA like

“Back in the early 70s, RMAA (now RIMPA) was formed by Jim Shepherd, a former boss at Brisbane City Council. The association was set up for people in records management to converse and run training courses in order to gain more interest in the industry. I became interested in records from my time at Brisbane City Council and the roll out of a computerised system. As RMAA gained traction as an association, I became a member and went on to obtain a records management role at the Moreton Bay Regional Council to implement a Computerised Microfilm RMS.”

“Meanwhile, RMAA became RIMPA and as it kept growing, the goal has always been to train records people to implement changes, make improvements to current systems and get recognised for it. I am looking forward to the industry and community outcomes which will result from the RIMPA partnership.”

Q. Why is this partnership between RIMPA and Objective important?

“As I have had extensive experience in the industry, I’ve seen records transition from physical paper before computerisation –recording everything on cards to computerised physical, introduction of microfilm integration with RMS Systems to full electronic systems.”

“Objective can bring a lot to RIMPA as we have always presented around solving the problem and improving our customers’ experience. Together with the association, I think we can help people who work in records gain more credibility to make important changes.”

Q. What has been the impact of technology on record keeping?

“With the recent changes to our modern remote work force, one can argue that record keeping is more important now than ever before.”

“In the early days, it was all card systems – a lot coming in and going out, records written on three or four different cards by three or four different people and then put in a file. Now, the person writing a letter put it in the file and in the system, and bang, and that’s it. Technology has automated a lot of things.”

“But a record is still a bunch of documents that put context around the record. It’s not just any one document you’re recording. It could be a whole group or a file or multiple files that bring the whole story together.” 

A record is still a bunch of documents that put context around the record. It’s not just any one document you’re recording. It could be a whole group or a file or multiple files that bring the whole story together.

Gary Somerville

Sales Operations and Enablement at Objective

“As such and with an explosion of information shared across various platforms and collaboration tools, it is important that organisations understand the challenges presented to them and how they could move forward to implement better solutions for their organisations and community, while maintaining the context of the record.”

Q. How can this partnership build credibility and advocate for the records community?

“At Objective, we look to offer any help we can to senior management – to the decision-makers and records people. This is an opportunity to try and help them get better recognition for what they’re doing within their organisations. We look forward to working with RIMPA to offer a degree of confidence as trusted advisors – and how we offer solutions to challenges.”

“The partnership with RIMPA is an opportunity to advocate for the records management community. At Objective, we are always looking out for what’s coming into the market and identifying what will be the headaches for government and record keeping. Then we work on a solution and then look for feedback from within the industry.”

Ultimately, Objective strives to drive stronger communities by creating software that helps to make a difference. The partnership with RIMPA can only strengthen this goal and produce better outcomes for communities, and accountability that builds trust in government.