Effective Records Management Part 1 A management guide to the value of BS ISO 1 5489 1 Effective records management — Part 1 A management guide to the value of BS ISO 1 5489 1 David Best Ref BIP 0025[.]
Effective Records Management Pa rt : A m a n a g em en t g u i d e to th e va l u e of BS I SO 489 -1 Effecti ve records man agemen t — Part : A man agemen t gu i de to th e val u e of BS I SO 5489-1 Davi d Best Ref: BI P 0025-1 : 2002 Whils t every care has b een taken in develop ing and comp iling this p ub lication, BS I accep ts no liab ility for any loss or damage caused, arising directly or indirectly in connection with reliance on its contents excep t to the extent that such liab ility may not b e excluded in law © Britis h S tandards Ins titution 002 Rep rinted 003 Copyright C op yright sub sists in all BS I p ub lications E xcep t as p ermitted under the C op yright, D esigns and Patents Act 988, no extract may b e rep roduced, s tored in a retrieval s ys tem or transmitted in any form or b y any means – electronic, p hotocop ying, recording or otherwise – without p rior written p ermis sion from BS I If p ermis sion is granted, the terms may include royalty p ayments or a licensing agreement D etails and advice can b e ob tained from the C op yright Manager, BS I, 89 C hiswick H igh Road, London, W4 4AL, UK BIP 0025-1 ISBN 580 39007 Con ten ts Foreword iii I n trod u cti on Ben efi ts of a stan d ard s-d ri ven approach to record s m an ag em en t Record s m an ag em en t an d kn owl ed g e m an ag em en t Th e rol e of record s m an ag em en t i n corporate g overn an ce 13 H ow to d evel op a record s m an ag em en t strateg y: sector speci fi c exam pl es 19 Con cl u si on 25 Bi bl i og raph y / Referen ces 27 Abou t th e au th or 29 Fi g u re Th e record s m an ag em en t l i fe cycl e Tabl e Rel ati on sh i p between record s m an ag em en t an d kn owl ed g e m an ag em en t 10 i Foreword All b usinesses , whether p rivate or p ub lic s ector, rely on information and records to conduct their affairs in a systematic and legally comp liant way The strategic management of records and information is essential to this p roces s and never more so than in an age of e- commerce and e- government With a rap idly changing and develop ing b usiness context there are considerab le organizational b enefits to adop ting a consistent and standardized ap p roach to the management of records and information In O ctob er 001 the first international standard for the management of records, was launched in Montreal, C anada The two- p art p ub lication of S tandard and Technical Rep ort, imp lemented in the United Kingdom as BS IS O 489- : 001 and PD IS O /TR 489- : 001 were the culmination of three years’ work b y a group of international exp erts to synthesize b est p ractice from around the world in the strategic management of records This S tandard and Technical Rep ort are ap p licab le to multinational comp anies and small enterp rises alike and p rovide an es sential tool for the management of records and information The S tandard p rovides a framework within which the necessary management of records and information can take p lace This p ub lication is the first in a s eries of p ub lications on records management sup p orted b y BS I and is intended to comp lement the S tandard and Technical Rep ort and help p lace them in context for the us er The p ub lications exp and on the framework that the S tandard creates and p rovide b oth interp retation and illustration of good p ractice E ach volume has b een written p redominantly from the United Kingdom p ers p ective b y leading United Kingdom p ractitioners, who have firs t hand, p ractical exp erience of, and insight into, the iss ues facing United Kingdom organizations today I can wholeheartedly recommend this informative s eries to the reader, which p rovides insight into the ap p lication of b oth BS IS O 489 - : 001 and PD IS O /TR 489- : 001 The other b ooks in this s eries are: — BIP 002 - : 002 , BS ISO 5489-1 ; — BIP 002 - : 003 , Effective records management — Part 2: Practical implementation of and Effective records management — Part 3: Performance management for BS ISO 5489-1 Further p ub lications may b e added in future Philip A Jones C hairman ID T/2 /1 iii iv Introduction 1 Th e sta n d a rd BS ISO 5489- is the first standard on records management and has its roots in the first ever Australian national standard on records management, AS 4390-1 /6 It is accompanied by a Technical Report, PD ISO/TR 5489- 2, which provides further details and explanation together with a methodology for implementing the standard Both publications are implementations of ISO documents PD ISO/TR 5489- is an implementation guide for records management professionals (and others) who have been assigned responsibility for managing their organization’s records This book summarizes the case for implementing records management at an appropriate level in most if not all organizations Wh a t d oe s re cord s m a n a g e m e n t h a ve to d o wi th m e ? Whether your organization is in the public or private sector, records management is of vital importance It will and does affect almost every area of corporate affairs The application of the new standard, BS ISO 5489- , is not merely more red tape It is the first comprehensive attempt for some years to bring the relevance of records management to the awareness of management in general, rather than j ust to the specialist records manager It does this by a comprehensive and readable description of what makes up a proper and professional records management system, comprising policies, procedures, standards and technologies There are many well publicized events and subj ects where records management has had a significant role in either the discovery of problems and/or the recovery from those events in the last few years, in banking, industry, commerce and the media In each of these cases, the presence (or in some cases absence) of good records management had a material impact on the outcome There are many more that are not in the public domain In some cases these records were physical, in some cases digital, but in each case they had a significant effect on the way in which events unfolded A m an ag em en t g u i d e to th e val u e of BS I SO 5489-1 Wh at d oes th i s g u i d e cover? In each section, where possible, case studies have been used to inform or illuminate the text The key points of this publication are as follows • Proper recording of the transactions of the organization is essential, not j ust in the areas of finance and production but also in all the organization’s activities This remains true independent of sectors, though some sector differences are highlighted, for example between regulated and unregulated and public and private sector businesses • Records provide the raw material for the exploitation of information about: – intellectual property; – the customer; – a range of supplier information; and – how to streamline cost or enhance productivity in: - procurement; - production; - logistics; - sales and marketing; and - administration • The payback on the implementation cost can be rapid, but the strategy for achieving such results should be set out in advance and should be clear and agreed by all senior management interests • An understanding of the basic issues of records management by senior managers is therefore very important and in some cases forms part of good corporate governance • The benefits (which are also described in BS ISO 5489- ) from the point of view of a practising senior manager are as follows – customer and supplier management can be carried out in a demonstrably consistent and equitable way – the standards and policies to accomplish this are part of the records framework; – legislative and audit or regulatory compliance is less of an effort and inspections or inquiries are more easily accommodated at lower cost because the records and documents (electronic or paper based) are there and available as a matter of routine; – the corporate knowledge base is more accessible and less incomplete with an effective records management system in place; – business continuity and the training and development of key staff is less complex because of the availability of information in an accessible and standard form Figure describes the life cycle of all information in the organization whether in paper or in electronic form Usually when problems arise in the processes or accountability of the business, it is found that some part of this cycle has not been properly attended to Either the records policies on how to create a record, or the indexing and retrieval issues have not been addressed Introduction Creation of the record Final disposal Active use of the record Retention Many iterations around this part of the cycle are possible Retrieval Figure Storage The records management life cycle This leads to cas es where decis ions cannot b e recalled b ecause the documents are incomp lete, or a series of events cannot b e recons tructed b ecause the integrity of the record has b een comp romis ed These events occur whether the record is held in p aper form or on electronic media They are p rob lematic b ecause of the increas ed sp an of control in modern flat organizations , and b ecaus e the increas ed demands for transp arency and accountab ility in corp orate and p ub lic affairs have not b een consis tently reflected in the ways that organiz ations and managements deal with the cycle, p ictured s o decep tively s imp ly ab ove BS IS O 489- recognizes and addres ses the is sues inherent in managing each s tage of this cycle in an ap p rop riate way and in a way designed to p romote excellence and b es t p ractice to the b enefit of thos e organizations ap p lying it