Record Management
INTRODUCTION Records management means the planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training, promoting, and other managerial activities involved with respect to records creation, maintenance, use, and disposition in order to achieve proper documentation. According to the Federal Records Act a record is, “recorded information, regardless of medium or characteristics, made or received by an organization that is evidence of its operations and has value requiring its retention for a specific period of time.” (Priscilla Emery, 2005). Moreover, record management is the practice of identifying, classifying, archiving, preserving, and sometimes destroying records. There is an International Standard on records management, ISO 15489: 2001. This defines record management as the field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of record. (Ismael D. Tabije, 2007). Besides that, according to Laurier Varendorff (2003): “records management is a core business activity, without which, no organization, however large or small, can sustain its operational activities, its moral responsibilities, or can document proof of meeting its statutory, legal, financial or shareholder responsibilities, or provide for its history. It is the foundation stone on which all organizations are built and, without which, they cannot operate effectively or efficiently. It is A, or THE core business activity and not an add-on, which we are forced to implement by threat of penalties, or embarrassment. Records Management is good management practice and should be at the forefront of any executive mindset as a strategy for best practice, so as to provide efficient, effective and cost minimization initiatives. Without effective Records Management systems in place,
References: Emery Priscilla. (2005). Why Records Management? Retrieved from http://www.realstorygroup.com/Feature/127-RM-101 Gunnlaugsdottir Johanna. (2002). An International Standard on Records Management: An Opportunity for Librarians Ismael D. Tabije. (2007). Record Management. Retrieved from http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/52057.html Varendorff Laurier. (2003). What is Records Management ? Retrieved from http://www.recordsmanagement.com.au/publications.shtml?what_is_records_