Many readers will be familiar with the terms ECM (Enterprise Content Management) and ERM (Enterprise Records Management). So what is ECRM and where does it fit in the information management landscape?

According to Wikipedia, "Content Management is a set of processes and technologies that support the evolutionary life cycle of digital information. Digital content may take the form of text, such as documents, multimedia files, such as audio or video files, or any other file type which follows a content lifecycle which requires management." While I agree with Wikipedia's definition, I would expand it to include physical information as well. Physical content may take the form of paper documents, drawings, charts, ore samples, etc.

According to ARMA, "Records are the evidence of what the organization does. They capture its business activities and transactions, such as contract negotiations, business correspondence, personnel files, and financial statements, just to name a few." Much like 'content', records may take digital or physical forms. The discipline of Records Management is devoted to ensuring that an organization's records are "retrievable, authentic and accurate".

At Access Sciences, we've coined the phrase ECRM (Enterprise Content and Records Management) to describe the intersection of content and records management. Taken at its simplest, content describes an organization's digital and physical information assets and it's official records make up a subset of its overall content. The term ECRM allows us to treat information assets holistically while recognizing and managing official records according to industry standards and best practices.