Ensuring stakeholder conversation records are captured accurately is vital to a development project. It reduces non-technical risks and non-routine delays. It is the proof that engagement with a stakeholder occurred and is supported with original documentation. Lastly, but most importantly, it improves stakeholder relations because you know the history and dialogue with your stakeholders. Records Management Specialists oversee and execute this process, scrub and audit the data, and deliver information to support applications, hearings and decision making.
So, how can you improve your stakeholder records management process?
1. Know Your Audience
Who are your records going to? Are they going to the legal team before going to the regulator? Are they being used for relationship building or for submissions for an application? Knowing the answers to these questions will ensure your records have captured the right information for the right audience.
2. Consistency From the Start
You want a process and consistency from the start. As the months go by it can become an overwhelming process to establish a process halfway through the project especially depending on how many stakeholders you’ve consulted with. Early records management actions may include creating protocols for your team to follow, templating a records of contact form and identifying roles.
3. Point Person
We’ve found it’s easier to have a point person - a person responsible for ensuring you have accurate consistent documents as you go forward. This is especially important when there are multiple people consulting with different groups. This point person can maintain a consistent process as well as consistency in language and tone in your records.
4. Be Non-Routine Ready
At BRITT we strive for our client’s to be non-routine ready at a moment’s notice, so we start the records management process early on and do an audit on a monthly basis. When there is an emergency log pull, or a legal proceeding going on and we need logs for the past two years, we’re ready to submit them with minor effort needed. Having a strong process in place right from the start ensures that you avoid the last-minute scramble to pull together the required records, if or when necessary.
5. Pick Your Tool
Depending on the size and scope of your project, a database is something you should be looking at. For simplistic projects, you could get away with Excel. For larger projects with a higher volume of stakeholders there are a variety of software tools to use. But whatever your tool is ensure that you’ve established your platform in the beginning so that you’re ready to record as soon as the consultation starts.
Having the right people in place to execute this work is key. BRITT RADIUS’ Records Management team are experts in consultation, commitments tracking, and compliance.
Reach out for a free consultation and assessment of records management for your project.
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