Records Management

Identifying records is the first step required for physical records management. That includes that the declaration of the records had been completed and now needs to be authenticated. That is especially important if it is a legal record in question. Sometimes, depending on the importance of the record, forensic experts may need to inspect the document in question in order to determine the authenticity. Forensic inspection is also performed to determine if the document has been altered, damaged by any means or if some content is missing from the document. In some cases the forensic investigation may even require x-ray, microscope and radiocarbon dating to analyze the document. That is very rare and it is used only in important and special cases.

Storing records is a very important step in records management. There are several reasons why storing of the records is crucial for good records management. First of all the records must be well protected. They should be stored in a safe place where they will be protected from environmental damage and theft. A special file room is the best choice for records storage. It provides a practical keeping of the documents as you may install electronics to monitor and maintain a certain level of temperature and humidity that will not harm the records and keep them preserved.

The most important records, the top priority ones, are often placed in a separate place. A well guarded and resistant safe is the best option. Important documents are protected from floods, fires, earthquakes and eventual theft this way. Another way of storing important documents is to have a copy of the original that will be for public display, while the original is protected in the safe. Another option of maintain those records is transferring them into electronic format, but certain type of records require to be held in their original form. There are some unwritten rules about storing records:

• It is important that the access to those records is limited to trustworthy personnel.
• Designated records storage rooms must have Employees assigned to managing the records, appropriate security procedures and eventually third party offsite storage.
• Records stored in off-site locations must have appropriate security.

There is also the storage of semi-active records. Semi-active records are not normally used records but they still need to be kept for possible reference or historical significance.

• Vital records are records are the most important records.
• Confidential records are records of private nature that should be stored separately.
• Archival records have historical value and they are transferred to the Provincial Archives as soon as they are no longer needed by the company.

When a record is out of the storage, tracking that record is called circulation. There are many ways to monitor the circulation of a record. Companies still use the basic writing method, but the new and most often used way these days is electronic monitoring. Most companies use computerized systems to follow the documents, which can be achieved with bar codes, or even radio frequency ID technology to track the records. Mostly the electronic marking and tracking of the records is used for unauthorized movement of the records.

Disposal of the records is the last step in physical records management. Disposing of the records doesn’t necessarily mean the destruction of those records. Disposal can include placing them into public archives, historical archives, museums or even private archives. There are three ways of disposal accession, destroying and reviewing. Accession involves transferring the records to a third party before destroying the records. Review is used to eventually prolong the life cycle of a record if they are found important for further use. Destroy, or destruction of the records is plain burning, shredding or pulverizing of the records.

Before records can be destroyed the destruction must be authorized. That can be done by a certain operating procedure that has to be authorized by law or some other institution or regulation. When the records are being disposed certain measures must be taken in order to prevent the disclosure of information. The process of destroying the records must be documented. An inventory of the destroyed records must be composed, including the proof of destruction. One thing to remember is that documents should never be simply discarded once their life cycle ends. Doing that will breach all the safety protocols done during the life of the records and protecting those documents will be meaningless.

Physical records management description, from the declaration and identification of the records, through storage and eventual disposal of the records.