How to Manage Records in the E-Environment

Catherine Hare, Julie Mcleod

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781135475802
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Information Management
• Index: Business

A practical approach to developing and operating an effective programme to manage hybrid records within an organization. This title positions records management as an integral business function linked to the organization's business aims and objectives. The authors also address the records requirements of new and significant pieces of legislation, such as data protection and freedom of information, as well as exploring strategies for managing electronic records. Bullet points, checklists and examples assist the reader throughout, making this a one-stop resource for information in this area.

Chapter 1

The organisational context

We live today in the information age which means that information is a key resource and exploitable asset in the home, in society at large and especially in the workplace. This is particularly true for services that add value by better, faster and cheaper information. It applies particularly in the developed world which, because of its social costs, finds it more and more difficult to compete especially in the traditional manufacturing sector.

Information comes in a variety of media but more and more is in electronic and digital format in the e-environment. This e-environment has resulted from the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs). In addition, these technologies have replaced the map of national economies and national markets with a global economy and global markets because transport and delivery costs of e-products are the same, wherever the production is happening. Competition is, therefore, worldwide.

Information is at the heart of your organisation. Much of this information will be in the form of records that your organisation generates and receives in conducting its business. In order to maintain and hopefully improve its effectiveness and efficiency your organisation must manage its information and its records. The way to do this is to put in place a framework of policies, procedures and practical guidelines so that everyone within the organisation who is involved with information and records understands and executes their roles and responsibilities in managing information and records effectively and efficiently.

However, managing information and records in this e-environment is a huge, complex and challenging task. It covers not only information in digital form, but also an environment, which, in fact, is a hybrid of paper, electronic and other formats. It involves issues at the operational, tactical and strategic levels.

This relatively short guide cannot cover all aspects of the task in detail; it can only scratch the surface. It aims to provide:

•a top level framework

•practical guidance for developing and operating effective and efficient records management for those new to managing records in the e-environment.

It also aims to:

•outline current approaches

•provide examples of best practice to help you tackle the challenges, and

•point you in the direction of more detailed information available elsewhere.

The focus is primarily on information, captured in the form of records, created electronically, but also addresses records in paper and other formats. The first three chapters establish general principles which are accepted internationally and the remaining chapters provide practical guidelines for dealing with the various tasks involved in managing records in the e-environment. The examples, while taken from the United Kingdom, are not unique to a specific national context and therefore are applicable elsewhere.

In order to establish the role and purpose of records management, we need to begin by looking at

•information and its management in the business context

•what constitutes the records of an organisation, and

•the issues relating to information and records in electronic format.

1.1. Business context and the e-environment

No matter what type of organisation you work in, you will be aware of the e-environment. In the public sector it is manifest in the e-government programme first led by the Office of the e-Envoy and which aimed, by 2005, to ensure that:

“all services which can be electronically delivered should be’’ (Office of the e-Envoy, 2000)

Driven by the e-Government Unit since 2004 it has a broader mission of

“ensuring the IT supports the business transformation of Government itself so that we can provide better, more efficient public services”
(e-Government Unit www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/e-government/index.asp).

In the private sector a focus is e-business, or e-commerce, where the transactions between supplier and customer are contracted and conducted remotely. There are many other examples, including e-learning, e-working, e-skills, e-books, e-journals.

All of these activities use technology but fundamentally rely on information. Information is an essential input to and output from business activities. It is bought, transformed and sold, represents a corporate resource and asset and so needs to be managed. However, before focusing on information itself, we need to look at the drivers for information and records management, which will vary from sector to sector.

1.2. Drivers for information and records management

All organisations should manage their own information for business needs, i.e. to ensure the effective and efficient running of their operations. From the private sector Michael Clarke of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Clarke, 2003) emphasizes this point in stating that

“effective information management is now critical to delivering e-enabled business models required today.’’

From the public sector The National Archives (formerly the Public Record Office) (The National Archives, 2001) confirm that

“information age government is underpinned by the effective management of electronic records.’’

So, across all sectors the importance of information and managing it effectively is seen not only as a way of doing business efficiently, but also as a means of doing business better than your competitors do. In the private sector this might mean

•getting more quickly to market with a new product

•faster turnaround of orders, and

•more flexible customer relations.

In the public sector, where the aim is to provide better customer service to the citizen, the focus will be on

•demonstrating accountability

•transparency of operations, and

•value for money.

All of these objectives depend on having to hand the right information of the right quality.

In addition to and deriving from this universal need for effective information and records management there are other drivers, which are to do with legislative requirements. Some are common to all organisations. Other legal or regulatory demands are specific to certain sectors. For example, in the public sector currently, a key legal driver is the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which covers more than 70,000 public bodies in England and Wales. Issued under the Act is a Code of Practice for records management (Department for Constitutional Affairs, 2002). The Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, declared, at the Records Management Society of Great Britain’s annual conference in Leeds in April 2003 that organisations should be aiming to have well kept records to which they are happy to give access. These legal frameworks are identified and covered more fully in Chapter 4.

Other shared drivers relate to risk management and business continuity, which we explore in more detail in Chapter 5. However, there are compliance drivers, which are specific to particular sectors because of the nature of their activities. One is compliance with standards-based requirements.

Some organisations, in both the public and private sectors, are registered for compliance with such series of international standards as

•ISO 9000 (2000) for quality management and

•ISO 14001 (2004) for environmental management systems.

Both explicitly require registered organisations to create and keep records. For example, ISO 14001 (2004) specifies requirements for an environmental management system. It explicitly states in paragraph 4.5.4 that

“The organization shall establish and maintain records as necessary to demonstrate conformity to the requirements of its environmental management system and of this International Standard, and the results achieved.

The organization shall establish, implement and maintain a procedure(s) for the identification, storage, protection, retrieval, retention and disposal of records.

Records shall be and remain legible, identifiable and traceable.’’

Even if your organisation does not operate in a sector regulated by a specific international standard, the standards- based approach can help all organisations. David Best (BIP 0025:1, 2002) clearly identifies the general benefits of establishing a common approach, which ensures a system that is

“auditable independently of the organisational setting in which it is practised.’’

These general benefits include:

•consistency

•best practice, and

•the accumulation of a body of knowledge.

Best’s comments relate to another standard, which is of critical importance to records management. Launched in 2001, ISO 15489 is the first ever international standard on records management. While it is not a compliance standard, the standard itself (ISO 15489-1, 2001) and the accompanying Technical Report (ISO/TR 15489-2, 2001) provide a framework and implementation guide for managing records and information in organisations today. Its appearance at the beginning of the 21st century confirms the importance attached globally to information and records.

1.3 Information as a corporate asset

Information has been referred to as the fourth resource after people, money and property (Best, 1996). More recently, the list of resources has grown to five and now includes technology (Fifth Resource Inc, 2004).

The information which an organisation produces and receives during the normal course of its business is recognised as a...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1 The organisational context
• Chapter 2 Challenges of the dynamic e-environment for records management
• Chapter 3 How to manage records in your organisation
• Chapter 4 Managing records for legal and regulatory compliance
• Chapter 5 Risk management and business continuity
• Chapter 6 Scheduling Records for Retention
• Chapter 7 Approaches to managing e-records
• Chapter 8 Managing email in practice
• Chapter 9 Making the case for records management
• References
• Appendix A: Checklists
• Appendix B: Glossary of terms
• Appendix C: Selected further resources:
• Index