Frequently Asked Questions : Records Management

There is a common misconception that documents and records are the same thing. Whereas a document can contain any information for it to be a record it must provide evidence of a business decision or action. It could also be in any format, traditionally people tend to think of pieces of paper as documents whereas a record could be anything from emails to voice mails, reports, diagrams, images anything that forms part of the organisation's corporate memory.

Records within a business operation are generally classified as either financial, operational, legal or historical. They are effected by numerous laws and regulations regarding how long they should be retained, how accessible they need to be and whether they are accessible by individuals outside the organisation.

Key Electronic Records Management Issues - There are several key issues that need to be considered as part of your Electronic Records Management policy.

Compliance - There are numerous existing laws and regulations that determine how long you need to retain specific information and how accessible it needs to be. New laws and regulations are constantly being introduced or amended and it is therefore necessary as part of a Records Management strategy to continuously review and interpret new laws and legislation to ensure compliance.

Disposition - The act of disposing, arranging, ordering, regulating, or transferring records.

Disaster Recovery - Because records represent a corporate memory and may be called upon to assist operational and strategic  decision making or be required as part of evidential material in legal matters it is important that your records are backed up and preferably stored in another location.

Email - Emails are a core part of business communication and contain information related to the operation of the business such as communications between customer and suppliers. The potential cost of retrieving emails from traditional backups can be very high, leading many organisations to consider some automated form of email archiving.

Discovery - If your company or organisation is involved in any form of litigation having a suitable records management strategy in place can reduce the costs and increase the likelihood of finding and presenting requested information.

Risk Reduction - The main driver for many records and document management strategies is to reduce corporate. There is now less of a focus on saving space and more on retaining knowledge for competative advantage and to comply with request for data related to legal action