Records Management

Electronic records are more complicated than preserving and managing physical records, in order to successfully manage electronic records you need to be aware of the following:

• Management strategy of electronic records
• Preservation
• File naming
• Metadata
• File formats
• Digital media
• Storage Facilities
• Management systems of electronic documents
• Management of e-mail correspondence
• Digital imaging
• Management of web content
• Digital and electronic signatures

Although not all of that is necessary to successfully manage your electronic records at first, it is crucial for a successful company to have all those aspects taken care of.

Electronic records management strategy is the most important part as it refers to almost every aspect needed to successfully manage your electronic records.

• First part of the strategy is legal framework. Your electronic management must follow certain legal guidelines:
• Providing public responsibility
• Telling the difference between not-public and public records
• Creating  retention schedule
• Establishing and maintaining a trustworthy method for management of electronic records

To explain things a little better, the official definition of an electronic record is: An electronic record is a record created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means. With that being said you know what items belong to the electronic records category, and all those documents need to be managed and stored.

The first part of the strategy is organizing the records, or placing the electronic records in series. Record series is a group of electronic records placed together because those records belong to a certain group, type or function. Every single record series ought to be managed on accordance to the records retention schedule. By doing that you will easily manage those records because each of those series fall under a certain law or rule of storage and disposition. So a certain record series may need to be kept for 10 years before it can be disposed.

There are three basic record components important for electronic records management:

• Content, the facts that document your business and your operations.
• Context, information showing relation of the records to your business or other records.
• Structure, records technical details and characteristics.

The next step, once you manage the informational stage is records continuum. Records continuum is defined as use, manage, and retaining of the records throughout the life cycle of the records. To put it differently, real records management. The steps are similar to physical records management:

• Identification, identifying a document as a record
• Intellectual control, deciding related to the records
• Provision of access, access to the records by the staff
• Physical control, managing the location and the format of records

Once you identify your electronic records and sort them you need to place them in storage. There are several different ways in which you can store an electronic record.

Online storage is very easy to use and maintain, it has great functionality and allows different users to connect through the network. The downside to online storage is that you will need to build a high security, so this option is not the best for important records.

Nearline storage is storing the records in a system that is not directly connected with your network, but it needs to have some access to the network. This has a little less functionality but it’s more secure.

Offline storage is storing the records on a system that can’t be accessed through your network. This option has the least amount of functionality but it is the safest method and probably the best suited method for important records.

If you choose nearline or offline method of storage there are several methods to preserve your records. If you use a CD-R or DVD-R you can protect your records from being copied by making them read only. If you are using CD-RW or other media that can be recorded several times however, the best option would be to use them for public records. Not only the privacy issue is in question here, but the lifespan of the media you are using. Depending on that you may need to perform a backup every now and then to make sure the documents are held through the required time by the law.

Electronic records management can be an easier and more accessible method than physical records management, but it bears the risks of low security if not attended properly. Although most companies are switching to electronic records management you should make sure that you have a good plan before you follow their footsteps.  

Brief introduction to electronic records management, planning and management strategy with possible storage options on various electronic media.