Robert Blatt
Robert BlattFounder

Robert Blatt, mit, lit

Mr. Robert Blatt is the founder and Managing Consultant of EID and has over 35+ years of extensive technical and design experience in the content and document management and workflow industries. Starting his career at AT&T Bell Labs in 1979, Mr. Blatt, began working with interactive videodisc leading into content and document management technologies with a strength in storage technologies and process analysis and design. Since then, Mr. Blatt has participated in the analysis, design, project management and implementation of a very significant number of large and medium sized content /document management and workflow-based solutions.

EID has other very senior industry resources available that provide various content/records management services ranging from record analysis using the GARP model through vendor/technology roadmap development and solution design. The following sections provide more detailed information on Records/Content & Information Governance and eForensic (EDF) expertise.

Records/Content and Information Governance Expertise

Mr. Blatt’s extensive electronic records management experience includes emphasis on governance of information assets, strategic planning, project management, planning / implementation oversight, business process analysis and content/records assessments. This expertise includes building and leading Document/Records Management and Data Governance/Preservation related teams for over 35 years and most importantly has deep expertise and industry knowledge needed to identify areas within a records governance and preservation environment that would potentially need to be updated and/or modified.

Most client projects lasted 1 ½ – 2 years in length, as the services provided would typically begin with a detailed ISO 18829 (GARP) records assessment to identify issues and areas that would, or should, be modified or initiated, through project planning, cost justification, vendor selection, and rollout planning.

Over the years Mr. Blatt focused on developing and overseeing Records Governance & Preservation (RGP) programs for clients and training client resources to maintain the programs after implementation. All of these projects required establishing a close working relationship with IT, business units, and legal to develop manageable programs that address identified issues and establish a path forward that complies with industry standards and best practices. Mr. Blatt is also convener of several ISO and industry standard setting committees and working groups related to these technologies and has been engaged in this work since founding EID, and is a credentialed ANSI expert representing the US to ISO TC/171 SC2.

Due to this extensive experience planning and implementing these technologies Mr. Blatt established a reputation throughout the Content/Records management industry as having a great depth of knowledge and expertise Mr. Blatt was inducted into the AIIM Company of Fellows (#173). Since 1963, approximately 265 people received this industry accreditation, approximately 75 are still active in the content/records management industry Mr. Blatt holds 3 of the highest industry certifications that go far beyond the CIP and IGP certifications. These Content/Records Management certifications include the AIIM Master of Information Technology; AIIM Laureate certification in Content Management; and the Laureate certification in Workflow.

eForensic Expertise

Mr. Blatt has over 15 years of Electronic Forensic (EDF) experience and over 35 years of content /document management, and advanced technology experience ranging from technical design and implementation of large enterprise systems and holds the CHPP certification from the National Sheriff’s Association (CHPP # 306739)

These EDF services included providing detailed analysis and examination of electronically stored information (ESI) in various forms received during legal discovery and regulatory investigations. This information being examined would typically be originally stored in enterprise wide and/or distributed computing and storage environments resulting in the need for the EDF forensic expert to have a deep understanding of how records and information is stored in these environments enabling the regulators and other counsel to decide how to word the discovery requests.

This expertise enabled Mr. Blatt to perform record related “timeline analysis” on the produced information ensuring counsel and/or regulators received all the requested information. This is critical, especially for regulatory investigations as many times the volume of produced records would being hundreds of thousand records being produces in a variety of formats. Provided technical investigative experience to state securities regulators on the first 2 national eDiscovery cases and have spoken at numerous enforcement training conferences and other training venues. Please contact Mr. Blatt for additional, or more detailed information related to eForensic services.

EID has been recognized by the industry as being one of the industry’s oldest truly vendor neutral content/records management industry analysts. Robert Blatt is frequently asked to develop articles for magazines and to provide guidance and direction throughout the industry and is a frequent speaker on the topics of Trustworthy ECM solutions and overall ECM technologies.

Along with an extensive technical background (Beginning at Bell Labs), Mr. Blatt also has a law enforcement background and participated in numerous large national forensic investigations over the past several years, primarily focusing on Electronic Document Forensics. These investigations have included data and pattern analysis, data recovery from enterprise systems, and technical guidance to regulatory/enforcement counsel throughout several cases along with other technical forensic services. Mr. Blatt is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Morris County Police Chiefs Association, and the National Sheriff’s Association CHPP. Mr. Blatt also has led the development of most of the ECM industry ISO/ANSI standards on Trustworthy ECM Solutions. Other resources with EID are available for more extensive investigative projects related to electronic records and providing expert witness testimony related to records management issues and utilization ensuring compliance, or lack of compliance to published retention schedules and procedures.

Professional Associations & Industry Participation

Association for Image and Information Management (AIIM).
2008 – Received Thomas Bagg Standards Award
2005 – Inducted into AIIM Company of Fellows (#173)
2002 – Received Distinguished Service Citation
2002 – Received National Standards Leadership Award
2000 – Received ANSI/AIIM Standards Excellence Award
1998 – Appointed to the AIIM – U.S. Technical Advisory Group
1998 – Awarded Laureate of Information Technologies in Workflow
1998 – Awarded Laureate of Information Technologies in Document Image Management
1997 – Awarded Master of Information Technology

National & International Standardization Participation

2007 – 2014: Member ANSI/AIIM Standards Board
2006 – Present:   Co Chair US TAG to ISO/TC/171
2006 – Present:   ISO Liaison Officer TC/171 to TC/46/SC11
2004 – Present:   Chairman of ANSI/AIIM C21 Advanced Data Storage
2002 – Present:  ISO/TC171 SC2 ISO 22957 – US Chief Delegate to SC1, ISO Project Leader
2002 – Present:  ISO/TC171 SC2 ISO 22938 – US Chief Delegate to SC3, ISO Project Leader
2000 – Present:   Chairman of AIIM Implementation Guidelines Working Group
1999 – Present:   ISO/TC171 SC2 Technology – Chief US Delegate
1999 – Present:  ISO/TC171 SC1 Quality Issues – Document Imaging – US Expert
1999 – Present:  ISO/TC171 SC3 Legality Issues – Document Imaging – US Expert
1998 – Present:   Member of ANSI/AIIM US TAG
1998 – Present:   Chairman of C27.1 Document Management over the Internet standards
1997 – Present:   Chairman of C21.2 COLD/ERM standards committee
2014 – Present:  ISO Convener TC/171 SC1/WG8 Trusted WORM
2014 – Present:  ISO Convener TC/171 SC1/WG4 Trusted System Assessments

Short list of ANSI/AIIM/ISO Standards Developed (Additional Standards available)

ISO 18759 – Trusted WORM Specifications (ANSI/AIIM 25)
ISO 18829 – Trusted System Assessments
ISO 15801 – Information Stored Electronically – Recommendations for Trustworthiness and Reliability
ISO 22938 – XML Data Interchange
ISO 22957 – Analysis, Design, and Implementation Guidelines for ECM technologies (AIIM ARP 1)
ISO DIS 12029 – Forms design optimization for electronic image management
ISO DTS 12033 – Compression Technologies
ANSI/AIIM 25 Trusted ECM System Assessment
ANSI/AIIM ARP 1 – Analysis, Selection, & Implementation Guidelines for ECM Technologies
ANSI/AIIM TR41 – Optical Disk Storage Technology, Mgmt., and Standards (ISO NWI)
ANSI/AIIM TR45 – RFP guidelines for ECM technologies (Chairman) (ISO NWI)
ANSI/AIIM TR35 – Human/Org. Issues for Successful EIM Implementation
ANSI/AIIM TR39 – Guidelines for the Use of Media Error Monitoring & Reporting
ANSI/AIIM MS59 – Media Error Monitoring/Reporting Techniques for Data Verification
ANSI/AIIM TR27 – Information/Image Mgmt. Electronic Imaging RFP Guidelines (ISO NWI)
ANSI/AIIM MS55 – Recommended Practice for ID and Indexing of Page Components
ANSI/AIIM MS56 – Recommended Practice for Index Fields for Retrieval of Documents
ANSI/AIIM MS66 – Metadata for Interchange of Files on Sequential Storage Media
ANSI/AIIM MS71 – Conformance Tests for ANSI/AIIM MS66 – FSMS Metadata
ANSI/AIIM MS59 – XML data Interchange format

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