Andrew Warland professional biography (January 2025)

Andrew Warland is an experienced and independent, information management and Microsoft Office 365/SharePoint specialist consultant with over four decades (since January 1982) of practical working knowledge across the full spectrum of information, records and content management issues with a strong focus on digital recordkeeping. Since 2019, he has provided specialist advisory services to more than 100 Australian Federal, State and Local government public, private sector organisations, and international organisations on approaches to managing records in Microsoft 365.

Professional Experience

• Current: Freelance consultant: Microsoft 365 and SharePoint Online consulting advisory services. Member of the UK IRMS-chaired Customer Advisory Board (CAB), designed to help influence the direction of the records management capabilities provided within the Microsoft 365 platform.
• April 2012 to June 2019: Information Architect, Office 365 Global Administrator (from August 2016), SharePoint Administrator and evangelist/trainer. Uniting (formerly UnitingCare NSW ACT - 9,000 employees).
• October 2011 to April 2012: Senior Business Analyst, Information Management. Australian Prudential Regulatory Agency (APRA). Development of information architecture for using SharePointfor document and records management.
• July 2009 to October 2011: Senior Systems Manager. City of Sydney. Implemented the city's digital recordkeeping strategy.
• October 1999 to June 2009: Senior Information Management Consultant. Converga. Consulted to a wide range of Australian public and private sector agencies including: the Departments of Health and Ageing, Finance, Immigration and Citizenship, Infrastructure, Industry, Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Federal Police, the Future Fund, the National Health and Medical Research Centre (NHMRC), Deloitte, Vodafone, and New Zealand Post.
• January 1994 to October 1999. Director of Change, subsequently Director of Resource Planning and Evaluation. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, Australia.
• January 1982 to January 1994. Various geographical desks. Department of Foreign Affairs, Canberra.

Experience

• Administration of and governance for the Microsoft 365 ecosystem
• Configuring Microsoft/Office 365 to manage records, including (but not limited to) records created or captured in Exchange Online mailboxes, SharePoint Online/OneDrive, Microsoft Teams and other locations
• Appraising and disposing of content stored in SharePoint (on-prem and online)
• Implementation of records disposal programs for physical records
• Reviewing and advising organisations on their offsite storage holdings
• Design and configuration of records storage warehouses
• Development of records retention and disposal schedules
• Development of file plans and Business Classification Schemes (BCS)
• Review and advice on scanning and digitisation processes
• Development of records management policies and procedures
• Review of the management of records, and development of road maps and strategies for change
• Review of organisational recordkeeping practices
• Identification of opportunities to reduce risk, achieve compliance and improve the efficiency of business processes
• Development of Requests for Quote, Requests for Information, and Requests for Tender to acquire electronic document and records management systems and participation in vendor evaluations

Presentations

• Delivery of six two-hour workshops on managing records in Microsoft 365. These have been regularly presented since 2019.
• 'Information Governance and Records Management - Past Present and Future'. Keynote presentation to UK IRMS 2024 Conference in Brighton, UK, 13 May 2024.
• 'Managing Records in Microsoft 365'. Keynote presentation to IM Tech Conference in Brighton, UK, 15 May 2024.
• 'Managing Records in Microsoft 365'. Online presentation for Provincial Government of Nova Scotia, Canada, March 2023.
• 'Optimising access to knowledge in Microsoft 365'. Online presentation for BIS, September 2022.
• 'Microsoft Purview for records managers'. Presentation with Carolyn Hartman to RIMPA, Geelong, July 2022.
• 'Microsoft 365 - Information and data management/governance, challenges and opportunities'. Online presentation for the National Archives of Australia (NAA) Special Interest Group (SIG), May 2022.
• 'Managing Records in Microsoft 365'. Online presentation to RIMPA Vic/Tas in February 2022.
• 'Managing Records in Microsoft 365'. Online presentation to the Scottish Government, October 2021.
• 'Microsoft 365 - Old and new'. Presentation to RIMPA Vic/Tas on 25 August 2021.
• Workshops - Multiple workshops on how to approach the management of records in Microsoft 365 delivered to a wide range of public and private sector organisations across Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
• Digital recordkeeping - a changed paradigm. South African conference. 23 June 2021 (Cancelled).
• Online presentation for RIMPA's all-day workshops on the subject of 'Using Office 365 to Tame the Information Beast', 19 November 2020.
• Webinar - Managing records in Microsoft 365. For the Information and Records Management Society (IRMS), London, 17 June 2020.
• Webinar - The Microsoft 365 'Records Management' Solution. For Information Awareness Month (IAM), RIMPA, 27 May 2020.
• 'More than metadata'. Presentation to a Liquid Learning conference on 17 February 2020.
• Workshop - Implementing Office 365 and SharePoint Online to manage records. All-day session provided to a Liquid Learning conference in Melbourne on 16 February 2020.
• Workshops - Implementing Office 365 and SharePoint Online to manage records. Presentations and workshops for RIMPA Western Australia (May 2019), RIMPA Tasmania (August 2019), Public Records Office Victoria (PROV)(July and November 2019)
• Managing documents as records, out of the box, using SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2015. Workshop for the Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia (RIMPA) annual conference, September 2015.
• Working with Information in the Public and Private Sectors. Akolade Public Sector Conference, July 2015.
• Are Folders Necessary? Presentation to Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia (RIMPA) annual conference, September 2014.
• Managing documents as records, out of the box, using SharePoint 2010. Presentation to Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia (RIMPA), March 2013.
• Managing documents as records, out of the box, using SharePoint 2010. Presentation to Sydney SharePoint Users Group, February 2013.
• The Integrity of Digitised Medical Records. Presentation to the Australian Lawyers Alliance, Sydney, July 2012.
• Managing Records in Sharepoint 2010. Presentation to Information Awareness Week, Perth, May 2011.
• The effective management of digital records. Presentation to eDiscovery Conference, Melbourne, April 2011.
• The effective management of digital records. Presentation to eDiscovery Conference, Melbourne, April 2011.
• The Future of Records Management - A Personal View. Keynote presentation to CSIRO (March 2011).
• Risk Management and Records Management. Keynote presentation to Annual RMAA Conference, September 2010.
• Enforcing Information Management Systems ... and Strategies that Work. 4th Annual Information Management and e-Discovery Summit, Sydney. June 2010.
• Web 2.0(introductions to the session and speakers). RMAA NSW Branch Lunch Session at Sydney Institute/TAFE. May 2010.
• How to ensure your scanned documents stands up as evidence in court. Lunchtime speech to RMAA NSW Branch Sydney Institute/TAFE. October 2009.
• Web 2.0 and its impact on records management. Maximising productivity and compliance of records management systems, Learning Network Solutions, Canberra, May 2009.
• What's so Funny about Records Management. Dinner speech to RMAA NSW Branch Sydney Institute/TAFE. March 2009.
• Records in the Web 2.0 world. Breakfast presentation to RMAA Branch. November 2008.

Publications

• Andrew Warland (translated by Çev. Özhan Saglik). 2020. 'Belgelei Deploma Hizmeti Veren Kuruluslarda saklamak ya da Sayisallastirmak: Hangisi Daha Verimli?' Translation of blog post of 1 May 2020 titled 'Storing offsite or digitising paper records - which is more cost effective? The Archives World (Arsiv Dünyasi), Turkish Archivists Association.
• Roslin Ab. Hamid, Umi Asma’ Mokhtar Maryati Mohd. Yusof, Andrew Warland. Electronic Records Management in Schools: The Case Study of School Examination Analysis System (Sistem Pengurusan Rekod Elektronik di Sekolah: Kajian Kes ke atas Sistem Analisis Peperiksaan Sekolah). Jurnal Pengurusan 57(2019) ISSN 0127-2713 Scopus, Cabell, ASEAN Citation Index (ACI) and MyCite Indexes.
• Mikaela Jorgensen, Joyce Siette, Andrew Georgiou, Andrew Warland, Johanna Westbrook 2017. Modelling the effect of home care services on entry into residential aged care: a cohort study using routinely collected data.
• Heather E Douglas, Andrew Georgiou, Amina Tariq, Mirela Prgomet, Andrew Warland, Pauline Armour, Johanna Westbrook 2017. Implementing Information and Commmunication Technology to Support Community Aged Care Service Integration: Lessons from an Australian Aged Care Provider. International Journal of Integrated Care, (X(X), pp 1-13.
• Andrew Warland 2016 (editor). Thai Burma Railway 1939 - 1945: "F" Force Official Report. 8 volumes (300,000 words) of transcribed original source material held by the Australian War Memorial. Published in electronic form only. More infomation: https://sway.com/QCDKgdHDowONBQxy
• Andrew Warland 2015. Why do we keep records for 7 years? IQ Magazine: Official Journal of the Records and Information Management Professionals Association of Australasia (RIMPA). February 2015.
• 'Robbie to Dorie: The life and letters home of Lt Col John Charles Robertson MC VD'. Released 24 April 2014 in Melbourne. Published by Australian Scholarly Publishing. For more details, see this page.
• Andrew Warland with Umi Asma Mokhtar (Malaysia) 2013. Can technology classify records better than humans? IRMS Bulletin (UK): Official Journal of the Information and Records Management Society (IRMS). January 2013.
• Andrew Warland with Umi Asma Mokhtar (Malaysia) 2012. Can technology classify records better than a human? Image and Data Manager, November/December 2012.
• Andrew Warland with Umi Asma Mokhtar (Malaysia) 2012. Can technology classify records better than a human? IQ Magazine: Official Journal of the Records Management Association of Australasia (RMAA). September 2012.
• Andrew Warland with James Lappin (UK) 2011. Moreq2010 - A specification that matters for the management of electronic records. IQ Magazine: Official Journal of the Records Management Association of Australasia (RMAA). September 2011.
• Andrew Warland 2011. What Records Managers need to know about Sharepoint 2010. IRMS Bulletin (UK): Official Journal of the Information and Records Management Society (IRMS). September 2011.
• Andrew Warland 2011. What Records Managers need to know about Sharepoint 2010. IQ Magazine: Official Journal of the Records Management Association of Australasia (RMAA). July 2011.
• Andrew Warland 2010. The future of records management and the implications for RM education - a personal view. IQ Magazine: Official Journal of the Records Management Association of Australasia (RMAA). September 2010.
• Andrew Warland 2010. Six Key Economic Conditions for Digital Sustainability - Ensuring long term access to digital information. IQ Magazine: Official Journal of the Records Management Association of Australasia (RMAA). May 2010, page 35.
• Andrew Warland (Australia), Umi Asma Mokhtar and Zawiyah M. Yusof (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) Do policies for managing electronic records matter, and do they work? A Malaysian and Australia view. IQ Magazine: Official Journal of the Records Management Association of Australasia (RMAA). February 2010.
• Andrew Warland 2009. The Cost of Poor Recordkeeping: Has the Penny Finally Dropped? Informaa Quarterly: Official Journal of the Records Management Association of Australasia (RMAA). November 2009, page 31.
• Andrew Warland 2009. Have You fallen Into the RIM Generation Gap? Informaa Quarterly: Official Journal of the Records Management Association of Australasia (RMAA). August 2009, pages 35 - 37.
• Andrew Warland 2009. Records Practitioners Take Note. Keeping business records in electronic form instead of printing them out has been given an indirect boost with the release of Practice Note 17. Image and Data Manager, March/April 2009. 39 - 41.
• Andrew Warland 2008. SAAS (Software as a Service) in the Spotlight. Image and Data Manager, November/December 2008, 14 - 15.
• Andrew Warland 2008. One Standard to Bind Them All. Image and Data Manager, September/October 2008, 26 - 27.
• Andrew Warland 2008. Managing the Crowd. Book Review. Image and Data Manager, July/August 2008, 42 - 43.
• Andrew Warland and Stephen Macintosh 2008. NAA Makes Changes to DIRKS: A Long Overdue Reform Finally Arrives. Informaa Quarterly: Official Journal of the Records Management Association. February 2008, 8 - 9.

Education

• Graduate Diploma in Administration (Major: Information Systems) University of Canberra (1994 to 1995)
• Certificate in Arabic Literature, University of Qatar (1981)
• Bachelor of Arts (Hons), University of Melbourne (Majors: Arabic, Islamic Studies, French (1977 to 1981)
• The Geelong College, Geelong (1971 to 1976)

Other research

• Link to details of my book 'Dear Dorrie', a biography of my grandfather and history of the 2/29th Battalion
• Link to my research on the history of the 2/29th AIF Bn at Muar/Bakri in WW2
• Link to my research on F Force (Thai Burma Railway in WW2)
• Link to my family history research