2005 Iron Mountain/ARMA International Award for Excellence winners announced

ARMA International, a not-for-profit professional association and the authority on managing records and information, has announced that Procter & Gamble and PNM Resources are the winners of the Iron Mountain/ARMA International Award for Excellence in Records and Information Management.

The prestigious Iron Mountai /ARMA International Awards for Excellence in Records and Information Management are the highest honor bestowed in the Records and Information Management field. Winners exemplify the best practices in records and information management today. There are two award categories given, Overall Program Excellence and Excellence in Program Innovation and Improvement.

Procter & Gamble wins the Overall Program Excellence award for their efforts to create a global retention schedule and policy while making records management a part of everyday business life, and to improve the management and sharing of critical and research records.

One juror comment from the award competition states, "The P&G project showed RIM professionalism at its best: application of RIM principles, strong systems analysis and project management methodology, appropriate use of technology, partnership among business units, and sponsorship from top management. It is a great example for anyone (from any size organization) to use as a template to approach RIM issues."

"Records management is important at P&G. First and foremost, it's part of P&G's commitment to good governance. Second, it helps ensure we have the right information available at the right time in the right place to make smart business decisions. Third, it makes us more efficient and helps keep costs low -- and lower costs ensure P&G brands provide superior consumer value," says A.G. Lafley, Chairman of the Board, CEO of Procter & Gamble.

PNM Resources, a gas and electricity utility in New Mexico and wholesale power provider in the western United States, is the recipient of the award for Excellence in Program Innovation and Improvement.

PNM Resources evaluated their record policy and retention schedule, and found it needed to be reworked. The company created a project to revise the policy and its associated operating procedures, and to reengineer the record retention schedule.

"Having a modern, comprehensive RIM system is critical to so many of our business areas," says Alice Cobb, PNM Resources Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. "Corporate data and records are some of our most important assets. Protecting and ensuring the integrity of company data and records is a business priority."

The project successfully established a legally credible records retention program that was accurate, included all functional areas of the company, and incorporated records of all media.

The program also created record retention policy that is enforceable, user-friendly and easily accessible on the Intranet to all PNM Resources employees. Records management awareness and training were also provided across the corporation.

The award ceremony to recognize the winners was held on September 19, 2005 at ARMA's 50th Annual Conference and Expo in Chicago. For the past 5 years, Iron Mountain has sponsored the Iron Mountain/ARMA International Award for Excellence in Records and Information Management.

Previous winners of the award include:
2004 Overall Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios
2004 Improvement Procter&Gamble
2004 Improvement Greater Vancouver Regional District
2003 Improvement Joint Pipeline Office
2003 Improvement Lucash, Gesmer & Updegrove, LLP
2003 Overall San Antonio Federal Credit Union
2002 Improvement Weck
2001 Excellence/Corp Ford Motor Company
2001 Overall Library of Virginia
2000 Excellence/Corp Sony Pictures Entertainment
2000 Excellence/Gov City of Escondido