ENABLING THE SECURED EXCHANGE OF TRUSTED INFORMATION
Recognizing and Mitigating Risk
The primary goal of the solution was to enable information consistency and sharing at the same time with the right people. A risk assessment of the organization revealed many of their pain points could be ameliorated by implementing policies and supporting guidelines. It was also important in designing the solution to maintain the client’s corporate agility and minimize any impact on existing work practices.
We developed a communication policy to provide guidance on how information should be disseminated, both internally and externally. It also defined content ownership regarding information sharing, clarifying when information requests should be fulfilled and when they should be funneled up.
To provide a support system, we designed a new function and role to coordinate the exchange of project information and manage the information access rights of the partners. A functional mailbox facilitated communication between the new role and project staff and served as a central collection point for relevant email communications. Documents were managed in a central repository to control versions and reduce duplicates.
The breadth and many moving pieces of the project required all involved to be comfortable and confident in the process and comply with their responsibilities regarding the exchange of information. To facilitate their desire and ability to comply, we communicated the importance and value of the new process and we provided training materials.
THE BUSINESS VALUE
The combination of people, processes, and tools in the newly created information infrastructure benefited our client, its JV partners, and the host country by:
- Empowering users to make informed decisions, thereby protecting information assets and reducing the likelihood of lost business and profits.
- Enriching the client’s information governance program, facilitating contractual compliance, and safeguarding confidential information from being inadvertently exposed.
- Tracking the frequency and nature of information requests and responses, analyzing data to identify trends and variations, and using this information to identify and make improvements.
THE RESULT
Our client now communicates more effectively with its partners using:
- A communication policy to guide how information should be disseminated.
- Well-defined processes and procedures to appropriately share and shield information while maintaining the client’s corporate agility and minimizing the impact on existing work practices.
- The client’s existing document and workflow management system that adapted to automate the new processes.
- A communication coordinator directs the exchange of project information and manages the information access rights of the partners.
