Records and Information Management 2

Records and
Information
Management
University of Nairobi ISO 9001:2008 1 Certified
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Management
 Management is the process of using an organization’s
resources to achieve specific goals through the functions of:
 planning,
 organizing,
 leading and
 controlling.
 Information is an important and valuable business resource.
 To survive, businesses and organizations must have up-to-
date information
 in the right form,
 at the right time, and
 in the right place
 to make management decisions.
What is a Record
 The term record has a specific meaning in records
management. ARMA International (an association for
information management professionals) defines a
record as:
 stored information, regardless of media 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.
 ISO 15489 defines a record as follows:
 A record is information created, received, and
maintained as evidence and information by an
organization or person, in pursuance of legal
obligations or in the transaction of business.
Records Management
 Records management is the systematic control of all

records from their creation or receipt, through their
processing, distribution, organization, storage, and
retrieval, to their ultimate disposition.
 Because information is such an important resource to
organizations, the records management function also
includes information management.
 Therefore, records management is also known as
records and information management (RIM).
The Purpose of
Records
Management
 Is to ensure that:
 The record is present – your organisation should ensure that it
has the information that is needed so that it can reconstruct
activities or transactions that have taken place. This ensures that
the organisation is accountable to its stakeholders (whether they
are citizens, parliament or shareholders).
 The record can be accessed – the people in your organisation
must be able to locate information when required. This is vital in
areas where there is freedom of information legislation but just as
important to support the efficient operation of the organisation’s
business.
 The record can be interpreted – if required, an organisation
should be able to establish a record’s context, who created it, as
part of which business process and how it relates to other records.
This is a vital part of the organisation’s accountability and
transparency.
The Purpose of
Records
 Is to ensureManagement
that:
 The record can be trusted –records should be reliable
and representative of actual information used in or
created by the business process, and its integrity and
authenticity can be demonstrated.
 The record can be maintained through time –ensure
that the qualities of accessibility, interpretation and
trustworthiness can be maintained for as long as the
record is needed.
 The record will be disposed of - as part of a planned
system, through the implementation of disposal schedules
to ensure the retention of the minimum volume of records
consistent with effective and efficient operations.
Records
Classification
 Records management procedures for each
organization specify which documents or information
become records based on classification of records.
 Common records, such as correspondence (letters
and memos), reports, forms, and books, can appear
on paper, on optical or digital storage media, or on an
organization’s intranet pages.
 An organization may receive these records through
regular mail, electronic mail, facsimile machines (fax),
special couriers, or by accessing computer networks
including the Internet and company intranets.
Records
Classification
 Other types of records to consider are oral records that
capture the human voice and are stored on cassettes
and other magnetic media.
 Records also are stored on film, CDs, DVDs, videotapes,
photographs, and microfilm.
 Records are valuable property, or resources, of a firm;
and, like all other resources, they must be managed
properly.
 Usually, records are classified in three basic ways:
 (1) by the type of use,
 (2) by the place where they are used, and
 (3) by the value of the records to the firm.
1. Classification by
Use
 Classification according to records use includes
transaction documents and reference
documents.
 A TRANSACTION DOCUMENT is a record used in an
organization’s day-to-day operations.
 These documents consist primarily of business forms
which can be created manually, electronically, or
generated via e-commerce systems on the Internet.
 Examples are invoices, requisitions, purchase and
sales orders, bank checks, statements, contracts,
shipping documents, and personnel records such as
employment applications, time sheets, and attendance
reports.
Use
 A REFERENCE DOCUMENT, on the other hand, contains

information needed to carry on the operations of a firm over
long periods.
 These records are referenced for information about previous
decisions, quotations on items to purchase, statements of
administrative policy, and plans for running the organization.
 The most frequently used category of records maintained in an
office, are business letters, reports, and interoffice e-mail.
 Other examples include catalogs, price lists,
brochures, and pamphlets.
Place of Use
 Classification by place of use of the records refers to external and
internal records.
 An EXTERNAL RECORD is created for use outside an organization.
 Examples of such records are letters, faxes, or e-mail sent to a
customer, client, supplier, or to the various branches of the
government.
 An INTERNAL RECORD contains information needed to operate an
organization.
 Such a record may be created inside or outside an organization.
 Many internal records are created through the use of e-commerce
systems using databases and web server applications.
 Examples are communications between a firm and its employees
(payroll records, bulletins, newsletters, and government regulations)
and communications among a firm’s departments (inventory control
records, interoffice memos or e-mail, purchase requisitions, and
reports).
Value of the
 From anRecord to the Firm
inventory and analysis of the use of each major
record category, a manager determines the value of the
record to the firm.
 This evaluation is used to develop a records retention
schedule specifying how long to keep the records in an
organization.
 Some records are so valuable to a firm that they require
special measures of protection.
 Each record maintained by a firm falls into one of four
categories used to determine how records should be
retained and the level of protection they require.
 These categories are (1) vital, (2) important, (3) useful,
and (4) nonessential
CATEGORIES OF
RECORDS

Value of Records
 Records serve as the memory of a business.
 They document the information needed for
complying with regulations and the transactions of
an organization.
 For example, management policies are developed
and recorded to furnish broad guidelines for
operating a business.
 Each department (for example, Finance, Marketing,
Accounting, and Human Resources) bases its entire
method of operations upon records.
 Usually, records are used and retained because they
have one or more of the values listed here to a firm
VALUE OF
RECORDS
The Significance of
Records
 Supporting the delivery of services – you may document
how policies and statutes are carried out, what services were
provided, who carried out the work and how much it cost, and, in
the longer term, and an organisation’s accomplishments.
 Supporting administration – by providing information for the
direction, control, decision-making and coordination of business.
 Documenting rights and responsibilities – an organisation
needs to provide evidence of the scope of its terms of reference,
evidence of what it owns and evidence of its obligations.
 Records are important also in documenting the rights of
corporate bodies and individuals in matters such as ownership,
legacy, etc.

The Significance of
Records
 Legal documentation – many records comprise formal legal
documents – regulations, local orders, etc. – or formal
documentation of the relationship between governments and
people or institutions.
 They may, in this respect, be used in legal undertakings or be
required for evidence in a court of law.
 Evidence of the work of public authorities – an
organisation needs to document the decisions, actions and
obligations that it undertakes, and in this way provide
accountability measures.
 Future research – some of the records an organisation
creates and uses will be preserved and will form the contents
of archival establishments, providing important historical
information on political, social,ISO
University of Nairobi
economic
9001:2008
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Certified
Historical
Development of
Records
 What are the earliest records of civilization?
 Hieroglyphics drawn on rock walls and caves reflect
ancient humanity’s need to tell stories.
 Museums of the world tell the story of ancient
civilizations with artifacts and relics.
 How have records evolved from the beginning of time?
 Most of the business records before 1600 were based
upon simple trade transactions that provided evidence
of money received and spent, lists of articles bought
and sold, and simple contracts.
 These records and any copies were created by hand
until the printing press and later the typewriter were
invented
Early Records
 Until the 1950s when computers were first used in
business, records were almost entirely paper documents.
 The most important emphasis during this stage in history
was getting the records properly placed in the files.
 Emphasis on retrieval surfaced later.
 Little importance or status was granted to records and to
records management functions at this time.
 Before World War II, management directed its main
business efforts toward work performed in factories and
plants.
 Usually the plant workforce was large compared with the
office staff.
Early Records
 Consequently, managers gave their main attention to
the factory because the factory produced the salable
products that resulted in profits and against which
expenses were charged.
 In this setting, management assumed that records
should be the sole responsibility of the office staff
and not managed as an important resource.

RECORDS
MANAGEMENT
FUNCTIONS
 Management is the process of using an organization’s
resources to achieve specific goals through the functions
of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
 In records management therefore;
 Planning involves establishing goals or objectives and the
methods required to achieve them.
 With the firm’s goals in mind, organizing involves arranging
the tasks, people, and other resources needed to meet the
goals set in the planning stage.
 Leading refers to managerial behavior (such as training,
supervising, and motivating) that supports the achievement of
an organization’s goals.
 Finally, controlling involves measuring how well the goals
have been met.
The lifecycle of
records
 The life-cycle concept of the record is an analogy from the
life of a biological organism, which is born, lives and dies.
 In the same way, a record is created, is used for so long
as it has continuing value and is then disposed of by
destruction or by transfer to an archival institution.
 The effective management of records throughout their life
cycle is a key issue.
 For example, without a management programme that
controls records through the earlier phases of their life
cycle, those of archival value cannot readily be identified
and safeguarded so that they can take their place in due
course as part of the nation’s historical and cultural
heritage.
The lifecycle of
records
 In the simplest version of the life-cycle concept -particularly
applicable to paper records-, three biological ages are seen
as the equivalents of the three phases of the life of a record:
 Current – records are regularly used in the conduct of
current business and are maintained in their place of origin
or in the file store of an associated records office.
 Semi-current – records are still used, but only infrequently,
in the conduct of current business and are maintained in a
records centre.
 Non-current – records are no longer used for the conduct of
current business and are therefore destroyed unless they
have a continuing value for other purposes, which, for
example, may merit their preservation as archives in an
archival institution.
The lifecycle of
records
 This concept of the life cycle has been seen to be difficult to
apply to electronic records.
 It is true to say that the boundaries between the three phases
become very blurred in an electronic context.
 For example, electronic records that may still have use in the
conduct of current business may need to be captured for
preservation because the systems on which they were created
and maintained are being replaced.
 It has also been said that the life cycle concept perpetuates the
division of responsibility between records managers and
archivists which is untenable in the modern era of record
keeping.
 In order to overcome these two criticisms a concept of the
record continuum has been formulated in recent years.
The lifecycle of
records
 The facilities where records of an organization are
preserved because of their continuing or historical value
are called the archives.
 The record life cycle is an important concept in records
and information management.
 Many interrelated parts must work together for an
effective records and information management program.
 Knowing the meaning and importance of each part of the
entire record life cycle, will enable you to understand
what is needed to manage both print and digital records.

The record lifecycle

THE RECORD
CONTINUUM
CONCEPT
 The continuum concept defines a consistent and
coherent process of records management throughout
the life of records, from the development of record
keeping systems through the creation and preservation
of records to their retention and use as archives.
 It suggests that four actions continue or recur
throughout the life of a record:
 identification
 intellectual control
 provision of access
 physical control.
The Records
Continuum concept
 According to the continuum concept, the distinction
between records management and archives
management need not be rigidly maintained.
 From this principle a unified model has been
developed.
 The model reflects the pattern of a continuum.
 Four actions continue throughout the life of a record
and cut across the traditional boundary between
records management and archival administration.

Records / Archives
Continuum
 These are:
 the creation or acquisition of the record;
 its placement within a logical, documented system that
governs its arrangement and facilitates its retrieval
throughout its life;
 its appraisal for continuing value, recorded in a disposal
schedule and given effect at the due time by appropriate
disposal action;
 its maintenance and use, that is, whether it is maintained in
the creating office, a records office, a records centre or an
archival repository, and whether the use is by its creator or
a successor in function or by a third party, such as a
researcher or other member of the public.
Records / Archives
Continuum

RECORDS
APPRAISAL
 The term ‘appraisal’ is used to mean the process of
deciding what records need to be kept for continuing
business use and for historical preservation.
 Appraisal is the process of evaluating an
organisation’s activities to determine what records
should be kept, and for how long, to meet the needs
of the organisation, the requirements of government
or other accountability, and the expectations of
researchers and other users of the records.

Records Appraisal
 It may also be used to determine what records
need to be created and captured into record
keeping systems.
 Deciding what records should be kept and for
how long is an important task for public sector
bodies.
 A feature of government in the twentieth century
has been the phenomenal growth in the quantity
of records generated.
 The advent of the information age and electronic
records has only accelerated this process.
Records Appraisal
 Appraisal is not just the process of determining the
medium- to long-term value of a record.
 It also involves determining what the records are (or
what they will be once they are created), who creates
them and why, how they relate to the creating
agency’s functions and to other records, how, when
and by whom they are used.
 Once all this information is known, the continuing
utility or enduring value of the records can be
assessed.
 The appreciation and analysis of the context of a
record is a vital part of the overall process of appraisal.
 Making decisions on the continuing utility of records for an
organisation’s own purposes is, in effect, risk
management.
 In other words records and information managers must
weigh relative costs, such as the actual financial cost of
retaining records on the off-chance that the information
will again be used against the loss of effectiveness or
accountability by not having the information available.
 This is not the same as saying that regulatory
requirements, such as audit, can be ignored if there is
only a small chance that particular records may be
required for regulatory purposes.

 One of the aims of records management is to ensure
that regulatory requirements are met.
 Any records that might be needed for audit must
therefore be retained until the audit period is over.
 The process of appraisal is important to ensure that
the records that should be kept are kept for as long
as they are required – either for finite, identified
periods or as archives – and that disposal decisions
are properly justified and documented

APPRAISAL
PROCEDURES
 Records appraisal must not be an ad hoc exercise.
 It should not be undertaken in a hurry when the quantity of
records has outgrown the storage space available or when an
organisation has to move to new accommodation.
 If it is done in such an unplanned, non-systematic manner,
the wholesale, uncritical destruction of records may take
place.
 Similarly it is often the case that records are examined item-
by-item in order to separate current, semi-current records
and non-current records – a very time-consuming exercise.
 Some of the non-current records may then be offered to an
archival institution for appraisal to determine whether any of
them have historical value.
 Several different systems of appraisal have been
formulated over the years.
 The objective of appraisal is threefold
 to identify those records of continuing use to the
functions and activities of the organisation
 to aid the selection of records that document the
history of the organisation/sector (it’s ‘memory’), and
 the provision of records for historical research
 Three methodologies among others used for
appraisal are discussed below
1. File-by-file Review
 This involved only paper records.
 It is done in two stages/reviews:
 The First Review is mainly the provenance of the
records manager of the organisation where
records are held.
 The Second Review is a joint operation between
the Records manager and staff.
 Going through individual files is labour intensive.
 No matter how knowledgeable the records
manager might be, it is not possible to find enough
time to deal with all the records of a modern
government department in this two-stage way.
2. Macro Appraisal
 Macro appraisal methodologies have gained greater
prominence with the increased creation and use of
electronic information.
 Far more electronic records are being created than the
print.
 Working patterns have changed over the years and there
is more unquenchable thirst for more information.
 Electronic systems will often create information
automatically and may not present it in the form we want
to use it.
 This mass of information cannot be appraised in the same
way as paper records.
 Therefore, a higher level evaluation needs to take place.
 This may mean losing some information that might
normally have been selected in paper methodologies
or even selecting some information that would
normally have been discarded with traditional
methodologies.
 The electronic records manager needs to strike a
balance between this possible loss and losing all the
information by not appraising in time.

 The macro approach involves:
 Examining the background to the organisation – the
legislation under which it operates and its
administrative history.
 Analysing the organisation’s structure to establish
what it did, how it did it and why it did it; also what it
does now and how it does it.
 Identifying relationships with other organisations and
with stakeholders.

 Micro appraisal focuses on the record and
information structure
 It can be defined as assessing the value of records at
an organisational, departmental or unit level rather
than at an individual document or file level.
 The methodology requires the examination of an
organisation’s structure, what it did, how it did it,
why it did it, what it does now and how it does it.
 The focus is on identifying what parts of the
organisation contain information that is likely to be of
long-term value. T
3. Functional
Appraisal
 Functional appraisal may be seen as a subset of macro
appraisal.
 Its central argument is that records do not have intrinsic
value but take their value from the importance of the
function that produces them.
 Assessment of the value of functions is seen as a more
objective approach than trying to assess the possible
future research value of a subject.
 In functional appraisal, therefore, it is necessary to focus
on organisations and what they do.
 The main aspect of this approach is to understand the
context in which the records were created – a functional
analysis.
 There are three levels of an organizations business
operations to be considered when carrying out functional
appraisal:
 Functions
 The main areas of responsibility through which an organisation
achieves its goals; they are usually stated in statutes and annual
reports.
 Activities
 These are the major areas of work that need to be done to carry out
the function; these can be obtained from an analysis of the functions or
from documentary sources such as annual reports, organisation charts
and manuals.
 Transactions
 They are the specific actions necessary to ensure that the activity is
made operational.
University
It is at this level that most records ISO
of Nairobi are9001:2008
created. 44 Certified
 The main activities in the appraisal may include:
 Collection of information from documentary sources and
interviews.
 Identification and documentation of each business function,
activity and transaction: assigning terms to functions and
activities, defining the scope of functions and activities, and
assigning dates to functions and activities.
 Development of a business classification scheme.
 Linking stakeholders to to functions and activities.
 Assessment of risk.
 Recording findings.
 Validation.
Records Creation
 The overall purpose of creating, using and managing records is to
support the business of an organisation
 Each operational/business unit of an authority should have in place
an adequate system for documenting its activities.
 This system should take into account the legislative and regulatory
environments in which the authority works.
 Records of a business activity should be complete and accurate
enough to allow users to undertake appropriate actions in the
context of their responsibilities, to:
 facilitate an audit or examination of the business by anyone so
authorised,
 protect the legal and other rights of the authority, its clients and any
other person affected by its actions, and
 provide authenticity of the records so that the evidence derived
from them is shown to be credible and authoritative.

 Record creation should be based on the business
needs of an organization, the benefits to be gained
by that organization, relevance to the external
requirements and means of access and use.
 The records so created are meant to support an
organization’s functions and tasks in various units for
effective day-to-day operations.

Records Retention
 Determining which records should be kept, how long
they should be kept, and how they are dispositioned
(destroyed or stored permanently) are critical
activities that are governed by approved policies and
procedures.
 Records retention procedures and policies are valuable
components of a comprehensive RIM program.
 Through these procedures and policies, an
organization can assure that records are available for
recommended periods.
 A basic records control tool is the records retention
schedule, which is a listing of an organization’s
records along with the stated time that categories of
records must be kept.
DISPOSAL
SCHEDULES
 Disposal schedule is the most important element of any
records management system.
 Disposal schedules provide better control over records
and promote a more efficient record keeping system.
 The schedules cover series or collections of records for
which a retention period can be determined and agreed
upon between an organisation’s business manager and
the records manager.
 The schedules identify and describe each record collection
or series and not the individual records they contain.
 If possible, all the records of an organisation should be
covered by disposal schedules.
Benefits of Disposal
schedule
 Disposal schedules have far-reaching benefits:
 Faster retrieval of important records from systems due to the early
elimination of records of no further value.
 Clear instructions on what happens to records when they are no
longer needed to support the organisation’s business.
 Definitive periods of time for which records should be kept and
remain accessible.
 Consistency in retention of records across the organisation
 Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
 Evidence of what records were created but destroyed.
 Highlighting of records that require special handling due to
sensitivity.
 Identification of historically important records at an early stage.
 Elimination of duplicate records at the earliest possible opportunity.
Components of a
Disposal Schedule
 The name of the department/operational area or unit.
 A schedule reference number.
 Reference numbers (if applicable) of the records.
 Descriptions of the record series/collections.
 Disposal action/retention period.
 Date of the schedule.
 Signatures of the Records Manager and Business
Manager.
 Disposal action will either be to destroy or select for
permanent preservation in an archives.


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 Records management is the systematic control of all

 A REFERENCE DOCUMENT, on the other hand, contains

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