Records Management Handbook

Ira A. Penn, Gail B. Pennix

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351906166
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Lingue e linguistica
• Subtopic: Scienze dell'informazione e biblioteconomia

Records Management Handbook is a complete guide to the practice of records and information management. Written from a multi-media perspective and with a comprehensive systems design orientation, the authors present proven management strategies for developing, implementing and operating a '21st century' records management programme. Where most available titles are biased toward dealing with inactive records, this book gives a balanced treatment for all phases of the record's life cycle, from creation or receipt through to ultimate disposition. The Records Management Handbook is a practical reference for use by records managers, analysts, and other information management professionals, which will aid decision-making, improve job performance, stimulate ideas, help avoid legal problems, minimize risk and error, save time and reduce expense. Special features of the second edition include: ¢ new chapters on record media, active records systems and records disposition ¢ new information on management strategies and programme implementation ¢ revised guidance and material on records appraisal and record inventorying ¢ expanded and increased information on retention scheduling, records storage and electronic forms.

Part 1

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Records management is concerned with the management of information. Both the public and private sectors need information to function properly; if that information is mismanaged or is not available, organizations might cease to exist. As government and business have expanded during the twentieth century, so has the need for information and records management.

In examining the records management function in Chapter 1, as much importance has been placed on management as on records, and this is studied further in succeeding chapters. We have considered that management is a practical function and that records management, the concern of the whole organization and not just an individual, is a staff function.

Chapter 2 examines the concept of the life cycle of information – its creation, its maintenance and use, and its disposition. These three phases form the basis of records management programs, and it is on this concept that the effective, efficient and economic use of information is founded.

Chapter 3 deals with record media. The variety of media available today presents new challenges for the records manager. Understanding the various media alternatives and the technologies associated with them is paramount if effective record systems are to be developed.

1

The records management function

We live in an information society. This is not something that will happen or is happening; it has already happened. Information is our basic resource, and information is our product.

Although we consume more food than ever before, only 3 percent of the workforce is engaged in agriculture. Although we consume ‘hard goods’ at an ever increasing rate, only 14 percent of the workforce is involved in manufacturing. By contrast, over 50 percent of the workforce is employed in offices and 80 percent of the office employees are considered to be ‘information handlers.’

What is this information that has taken over the economy so completely in only a few short decades? There is probably no single answer to that question. Depending on the philosophic approach one might take, information could be considered to be raw facts, commonly referred to as data, or it could be knowledge, which would be the same facts evaluated, organized and synthesized into meaningful intelligence.

Regardless of the definition one wishes to ascribe to information, there is little doubt that it all has to be managed. Information must be managed so that it can be used. The usability and usefulness of information can mean the difference between the success or failure of an organization. Unmanaged, data are relatively useless, merely a conglomeration of unrelated details. Unmanaged, knowledge is not worth much more than the original data from which it was derived – not updatable and, possibly, not even retrievable.

If we accept that information must be managed to be usable, where do records fit into the picture? The answer is quite simple – records are recorded information. Indeed, a record may be defined as any information captured in reproducible form that is required for conducting business.

Obviously, within this broad definition there are limitations. A standard dictionary, for example, would meet the criteria just described, yet is most certainly not a record. The determination as to what constitutes a record is based on the context in which the information is created. The standard dictionary may well be required for conducting business, but it was not specifically created by or for the particular organization using it.

We may wish to enhance the definition of a business record, therefore, to suggest that it is any information that is:

• recorded on any physical form or medium

• generated or received by a business enterprise as evidence of its organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, and internal or external transactions

• valuable because of the information it contains.

Records require a specific type of management. It is not sufficient to manage records like other forms of information because they are a distinct category of information and must be treated accordingly. Distinguishing between library material and records may serve to illustrate this point.

Library material must be managed. The information in various books, periodicals, and published monographs would not be a usable resource if it were all just thrown in a big pile in the middle of the library floor. But library material is received in a historical manner. Library material is not specifically created by or for the library. The library obtains information after the fact, places it in logical order so that it is readily available to the users, and disposes of it when it is obsolete. The library’s concern, therefore, is information maintenance and disposition.

Records, on the other hand, must be managed by the organization that originates them from the moment they are created. How records are created and what information they contain is as much a records management consideration as is the maintenance of that information while it is being used, and its ultimate disposal when it is no longer needed.

An author would not ask a librarian for advice about the content or format of a book prior to its publication. A creator of records, however, might well pose that question regarding information to a professional records manager.

Data versus records

The difference between the information used to record the validity of a business contract, and the summary information used to speed up the processing of its day-to-day transactions, is worth exploring. The best way to do this is to focus on three key terms in our definition of a business record – physical form, evidence, and value. It is these terms that differentiate the management of business information into two distinct and separate subsets – records management and data processing.

As the term record (or, sometimes, document) implies, this information is permanently etched on a medium or physical object such as paper, microfilm, magnetic tape, videotape, or magnetic or optical disk. The types of records captured and stored on these media include text, maps, photographs, and drawings. The discipline and standards for the capture, storage, and management of information in a meaningful format is the substance of records management.

Data (both textual and numerical), on the other hand, is information that is raw or unformatted in that it is constantly being updated, edited, manipulated, and moved about irrespective of its physical storage medium. Even in the early days of business, when all information was written or printed on paper, data was extracted from documents to speed processing, or to produce summary reports. Most contract documents were typeset on ‘legal-size’ paper, and most summary information was more swiftly handwritten like the now historical hand posted accounting ledgers. Because virtually all of this summary information was numbers, computers were first conceived to deal strictly with data. Hence the original name of working with computers was data processing.

The media for data today are almost exclusively magnetic-electronic, such as tapes and disks, or specialized compact laser optical disks. Within an organization, information in the form of data is extracted from source documents, which are created or received by the organization, to keep management updated on the status of day-to-day operations, or to allow employees faster access to the facts. Information in the form of physically structured data-records, on the other hand, provide the evidence or proof of these business transactions, should they be required by regulation, litigation, tax audit, and so on.

An example of how these two subsets of information management relate in business could be found in the execution and administration of a house mortgage. The original mortgage document is dated, the terms and repayment schedule are clearly stated, and the agreement is signed and sealed by both the mortgager and the mortgagee, legally binding both parties to the terms of the transaction. Other documents involved in the transaction might be a survey map of the property, blueprints of the home and buildings, land transfer agreements, and proof of a legal title search.

All of these records are permanently stored in a physical form on some medium – almost always paper for this type of transaction – as evidence of the existence of a business transaction and the terms which govern its execution. However, during the execution of a mortgage, the party holding the mortgage (mortgagee) may, for example, want to inform the party who owes the money (mortgager) of the current financial status of the mortgage (as it is always wise to stay in regular contact with your debtors). This data is usually generated by a computer which automatically compares payments to interest obligations, prepares a dated credit/debit statement, and reports the net outstanding balance. Another example of why data is extracted from the documents might be for a report in response to an executive of the mortgage company who wants to see a summary of performing and non-performing loans. These statements are not in themselves legally binding, but are for status and comparison purposes only. They reflect the current status of the legally binding contract evidenced by the documents (records) previously discussed. It should be obvious from this discussion that records have administrative value and legal value. They also have research value and historical value. All of these values and their access and storage implications will be described in detail in this book.

Records management and data processing, then, should be viewed as indispensable, complementary building blocks in the information structure. While it is important to understand the relationship between the two, the focus of this book will be on the management of information as documents, or records management. As we will see in later chapters, however, there are new technologies being used to automate the management and storage of records. The ability of these computerized systems instantly to make available full documents or custom iterations of data, may someday render obsolete the distinction between data and records.

WHAT IS RECORDS MANAGEMENT?

Having defined a record, it is not too difficult to go one step further and define records management. We simply say that records management is the management of any information captured in reproducible form that is required for conducting business. But while this is certainly a definition in the classical sense, it is similar to the original record definition in that it requires additional explanation. This explanation is necessary, not so that we will have a further understanding of the terms ‘information’ or ‘record,’ but so that we will have some understanding of the functions of ‘management.’

Management

Much has been written about management. Advanced degrees in management are offered at the most prestigious universities throughout the world. Yet an individual can become a manager with no prior training or knowledge of the subject. This is not meant to be derogatory to managers but it shows that it is necessary to look at the subject of management from an objective viewpoint, not from the perspective of one who is awestruck.

First, management is not a science. Although management literature abounds with various theories and principles, they are not applicable in the same manner as scientific knowledge is applied. Secondly, management is not an art. Although that word has been used to describe the discipline, such description is totally erroneous and is usually only proposed by those persons who are desperately arguing against the idea of management being a science.

Management is a practice. It is performance based on knowledge, skill and responsibility. If managers are to be effective they must practice management using all three of these attributes. Through this practice the purpose and scope of the organizational mission should be defined; work should be organized logically so that employees achieve a high level of productivity; and a relationship between the organization and the society in which it operates should be maintained.

If the manager as practitioner seems somewhat ethereal, consider the manager as administrator. A manager must carefully administer the organizational resources available so as to obtain the maximum possible productivity from them. While this may not, on the surface, seem like an inordinately difficult task, the magnitude of the problem comes more clearly into focus when one considers that the primary resource in most organizations is people. As an administrator of people, a manager is responsible for creating and maintaining a working environment where groups of individuals can perform efficiently and effectively toward the attainment of the organization’s goals.

The organization’s goals referred to here are those of the organization as a whole, for example, the corporation, academic institution, law partnership or government agency. The goals of any entity within an organization, such as a division, department or branch, must be consistent with the overall organizational goals or they become, by definition, antithetical to them and the organization will be destroyed from within.

Although this seems obvious when stated in a theoretical manner, the concept, when implemented, often becomes distorted. It is not uncommon to find entities within an organization that seem to have lost sight of the reason for the organization’s existence. One of the main reasons for this problem is the misunderstanding of the functions of line and staff.

Within all organizations there are two types of functional entities: line entities which have direct responsibility for accomplishing the objectives of the organization (production, marketing, sales); and staff entities which support the line in their efforts (personnel, accounting, purchasing). In general, the characteristic that distinguishes line from staff is that staff operate in an advisory capacity unless specifically delegated functional authority. Using the personnel function as an example, unless the managing director of a corporation specifically delegates functional authority to the director of personnel, the personnel department would only be able to advise in matters of hiring, firing, employee relations, etc., and all actions/decisions would have to be made by the managing director. To avoid the bottleneck that would inevitably occur from such an arrangement, functional authority for personnel activity is delegated from the managing director to the director of personnel. For that particular functional area, the staff entity has authority over the other line areas within the organization.

How the delegated functional authority is handled by the staff entities is the key to a successful operation. Far too often, staff managers and staff personnel forget that regardless of the functional authority delegated, their one and only purpose is support of the line entities. No organization exists to perform staff functions. An automobile manufacturer exists to produce cars, not to prepare budgets. A transportation authority exists to operate buses and trains, not to prepare press releases. A department store exists to sell merchandise, not to perform employee appraisals. Whenever the staff entities exercise their delegated authority in such a manner as to become nuisances, or become so large and powerful that the line entities appear to be working for them, instead of vice versa, then the organization has reached a critical stage of bureaucratization and is, for all practical purposes, internally hemorrhaging.

It should not be inferred from this discussion that a line manager should have no interest in, or responsibility for staff activities. That is the exact opposite of the situation. A line manager is inherently responsible for dealing with functions such as personnel, budget, and public relations as part of the practice of management. To ignore responsibility for these areas is to be guilty of mismanagement. It is the prioritization of activities and the overall balance that is important, and in this respect the records management activity may be viewed in perspective. Records management is a staff function.

The records management function

Records management is a logical and practical approach to the creation, maintenance, use and disposition of records and, therefore, of the information that those records contain. With a viable records management program in operation, an organization can control both the quality and quantity of the information that it creates; it can maintain that information in a manner that effectively serves its needs; and it can efficiently dispose of the information when it is no longer valuable.

A complete records management program encompasses a multitude of disciplines including forms, reports, correspondence, directives, mail, files, copying, retention scheduling, vital records protection, archival preservation, and ultimate disposal. Each discipline has its own particular principles, practices, methods, and techniques for accomplishing the necessary end results, and certain technological tools that may be employed...