Electronic records are information stored on disks, e-mails, tapes, optical disk and any other form of digital media. The same basic principles of records management apply to electronic records management as well. Electronic records however, have extra issues that need to be looked after. Basically it is much harder to preserve the content and structure of an electronic record and to protect it than it is with a physical record.

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

Electronic records managementstrategy 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.

Records management is a practice of gathering documents classifying them as records and maintaining them through certain phases until their life cycle ends. That means that either they are destroyed or archived. There are two types of records, physical and electronic. Physical records management is a bit more complicated and slower than electronic records management and it requires a variety of expertise.

Identifying records

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

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.

Circulating records

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 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.

Crucial part of records management is the life cycle of a record. A record’s life cycle begins when a document is identified as a record and ends once the disposition takes place according to the retention schedule. Disposition is the last phase in the life cycle of a record and the record can be disposed in three ways.

There are a few steps that every company needs to take care of in order to maintain good records management. The first step and the most important step before filing your records is content analysis. Content analysis describes and categorizes content in the enterprise that may become records, provides source locations, and describes how the content will move to the records management application.

Content analysis use

Content of your records first needs to be analyzed in order to file those records into appropriate sections. Ole Holsti has created 15 groups of uses for content analysis and they show their purpose in general, what questions they need to answer as well as to which element of communication archetype they apply.

The first use has a purpose of making inferences about the progenitor of communications. It is intended to figure out who is the source, and its use is to answer the question of possible disputed authorship. Once that has moved out of the way the question is why? The answers and uses are:

• Secure military and political intelligence
• Analyze character of individuals
• Infer cultural aspects and change
• Provide both legal and evaluative evidence

The second purpose is describing and making assumptions about the aspects of communications. The questions asked are how, what and to whom. The answers are:

How?

• Analyze persuasion techniques
• Analyze style

What:

• Describing communication content trends
• Make a connection between familiar characteristics of given sources into messages produced by them
• Compare content of communication with standards

To whom:

• Connect familiar audience characteristics into produced messages
• Describe communication patterns

The last purpose is to interpret the communication consequences. The question is to what effect?

The answer:

• Measuring the readability
• Analyzing the information flow
• Assess communication responses

Although all of this sound quite complicated it is a necessary part of records management. Until you get over this part there is no real records management. As far as the real process of records management with content analysis goes there are six questions that need to be answered in every aspect of content analysis:

• What data should be analyzed?
• How is the data defined?
• From which population are they drawn?
• What is the connection between the context and the analyzed data?
• What are the analysis boundaries?
• What is the deduction target?

The basic concept and of analysis is frequency. Basically the density of some words, similar to keyword density in search engine optimization, is important and they may reflect significant concerns related to communication. So the content analysis begins with counting of words and frequency of keywords, but it extends even beyond that. Homonyms and synonyms are also used to analyze the content of a document.

Next step of content analysis is divided into dictionary based or quantitative and qualitative approach. Dictionary based approach is used to set up a list of categories that are retrieved from the list of frequently repeated words and phrases. They also control the distribution of those words throughout the text. That method is used to transform the observations found into statistical data.

Qualitative content analysis is used for strict implications and intentions of the text. The qualitative analysis allows you to classify the data and order it in groups rather than statistics.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Content Analysis

Advantages:

• Looking directly at the communication using transcripts or texts, and in that way it obtains the direct view of the social interaction
• It allows qualitative and quantitative operations
• Analysis of the text will provide you with very valuable cultural and historical insights over a certain period of time
• It will allow you a close relation to the text that can go from specific categories to relationships, it can also statistically analyze a text in coded form
• You can use it to interpret a text for any other purpose like the development of specialized expert systems
• It is an inconspicuous way to analyze interactions
• It will also provide you with an insight into the complex models of language use and human thoughts
• If done properly it is the perfect research method

Disadvantages:

It can be time consuming

• There is a big room for error, especially when analysis of relations is used in order to attain a larger level of facts interpreted
• Sometimes it lacks a theoretical side and it may focus on meaningless issues
• One of the biggest disadvantages is reductions over time, especially if you are working with a hard and complex transcript
• It relies too much on word count
• It can sometimes overlook the context that makes the text

Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of records management you should be aware that all of this is rarely done by people. Nowadays we have different types of software for that, they will save you time and money. Besides that the margin for error is much lower than when it is performed by a human.

The key points of content analysis and the importance of using content analysis in records management.

Every now and then some of the records you keep or even active documents may fall under some court case. If that happens you will have to go through several phases of discovery, but that will be out of your hands. Discovery is a process that is usually ordered by courts. It relates to the hold orders issued and it involves searching through the company documents, whether they are classified as records or not makes no difference. Their job is to find and identify documents that match the discovery and hold order issued.

When you need to remove a document due to attorney-client privilege or due to some other restriction you need to follow the negotiation on both sides of the legal issue. When the search is complete the documents must become records if they are not already and they need to be placed under a hold. In some cases they will be copied and transferred to the opposing council for reference.

So whenever a court or some other authority orders a company to go through a discovery process they need to search all of their documents and find the matching ones. They are placed on hold or suspension so that the normal procedures of retention schedule wouldn’t affect them. The company or organization that is performing the discovery must ensure that the original context of those documents is not altered, meaning that those documents need to be delivered in their original form. Performing spoliation under those conditions would mean breaking the law.

To better understand the process of discovery you need to understand what hold and spoliation are. Hold is a simple legal process that ensures that the documents in question are not destroyed as a part of the retaining schedule. Hold ensures that they are kept away from their destruction date, which remains until the hold is lifted. When the court case is over if there is no need for those documents anymore the hold will be lifted, but sometimes the documents may be copied and archived by the court for future reference.

With that being said it is understandable why spoliation is forbidden. Spoliation is deliberate destroying or altering the content of the documents in question. The team or organization that is performing the discovery must ensure that they do not alter the content of the document.
If you happen to find yourself in a process of discovery either by court order or a government investigation you will go through three legal hold processes:

1. Hold notification
2. Segregated repository for ESI
3. Ongoing preservation obligation
4. Hold Notification

When a discovery order is issued the legal hold begins. The first phase is hold notification. Hold notification involves informing the custodian of the records in question either by the company or by legal means from the court or authority that ordered the discovery. The notification that the custodian receives is not just a receipt telling that he received the order. This notification allows custodian responses and it will also provide reporting and real time following on those responses from the custodian.

Isolated ESI Repository

ESI stands for “Electronically stored information”. Unlike with physical records, electronic records are harder to find and cross-reference, they are easier to modify. They are also harder to identify, the system used needs to have a very accurate approach that at the same time enables electronic and archived communication. That includes e-mails, web transactions, metadata and communication from manual devices. All of them need to be sorted according to relevance. ESI have a greater risk of being altered or deleted so they should be kept in an isolated repository.

Ongoing Preservation Obligation

Ongoing preservation obligation is not actually a phase nor a process but rather an obligation given to the company by the authorities. It states that once a company is presented with a notice of a lawsuit all further electronic communication will also fall under the legal hold. So it is a warning stating to watch their future communication.

In order to fully understand what a legal hold is the definition says it clearly: “Legal hold starts with a notice or any form of communication coming from the legal counsel that is directed to a company which at that point puts a stop to processing or disposition of the records, that includes tape recycling, any form of archived media or other form of storage and documents management and information. Legal hold shall be issued as an outcome of an anticipated litigation, lawsuit, government investigation, audit or any other similar matter on order to avoid possible spoliation of evidence. A legal hold may encompass procedures that affect active data, even recycling of backup tapes”

One thing to keep in mind is that more and more organizations are using electronic records rather than physical records. Electronic records can be modified and destroyed much easier and sometimes it is hard to even prove the existence of an electronic record. So in case you receive a discovery order a smart thing to do would be to keep a physical record backup and a physical file plan.

The article describes in length what a discovery is, the effects of it and the effects of legal hold as an important step in records management discovery.

Record is defined as a document either in physical or electronic form found in a company or organization that serves as a proof of particular activity, such as transaction, performed by the company/organization. Records management is a modern practice of keeping and maintaining the records of a company from the time of creation up to the disposition or archival preservation. A record can be in any form such as a birth certificate, office document, database, application data, e-mail and other electronic forms. Records management is a process that follows and maintains various forms of evidence and activities of a certain organization, usually applied according to the records value.

 The records management procedure has a few basic points:

The one thing that office managers dread is the management of the files that record almost all the details of the office. However with technology records management is becoming a task that can be handled well. There are two kinds of documents in an office.

Some are in the printed form or the hard copy and some in the computer in the form of a soft copy. When it comes to the management if all the records of the office all these need to be organized. The documents need to be organized in a manner that they are safe and at the same time can be retrieved when necessary.

What is file management software?

Gone are the days when people would have to sit late in offices and spend hours with finding Records management solutions. Nowadays there is software that can help you with this tedious and time consuming task that most of the office bearers dread. These file management solution software helps the business to sort, arrange and file the documents that needs to be stored in a very systematic and neat manner. This software is so productive that today businesses feel that they cannot survive without software like this. It helps to bring an order to the business in a short span of time which otherwise would have consumed a lot of time and effort.

Everyone will be aware of the number of documents that are a part of the everyday running of the organization. These documents include invoices, receipts, bills, order placed, certificates and various other kinds. All these documents are stored either in the form of hard copies in files stored in some cabinets or in the form of soft copies in the computers in different folders. The complexity of the filing system accompanied by the large number of documents will result in the loss of many documents and even if they are not lost retrieving them will be a tedious task.

The after effects of losing documents in an organization can be serious. At times it can affect the reputation of the entire organization. Therefore filing and maintaining a filing record is necessary and when there is help in the form of software then Records management solutionsbecomes much easier.

Different solutions for file management:

More and more areas of the business are depending on computers for solutions. Records management solutions do not only help to manage the hard copies but the soft copies are also organized in a systematic manner. The best way of getting the documents organized is by making all the documents into the electronic format. This will help in the sorting out of the documents easier and more efficient. Once the documents are in the electronic format then they are classified and stored in applicable folders. This makes the retrieving of documents much more reliable and quicker.

The other option available to organizations is to get the Records management solutions done through a company that specializes in get the documents organized. The only thing that the business should be careful about is to find an organization that is reputed and one that has the experience to handle such type of work. Once all the documents are handed over to the firm then they will see to it that the documents are filed in an appropriate manner. In order to find a firm that will assist your business in this field all you need to do is go online and such information is readily available.

Importance of file management:

In case of some businesses it is mandatory that they keep their documents in an organized manner as they may have to produce them at any point of time. Therefore the security and safety of all the documents of the organization is of utmost importance. This is necessary so that they do not in any way disobey or breach any law that protects the data of the organization.

At times storing away documents in filing cabinets can be time consuming and more importantly space consuming. In this event businesses may have to buy extra space in order to store the documents. Such type of investments can be avoided if Records management solutions are adopted. Also if the documents stores of a legal nature then you also need to put extra security and this would mean more expense for the organization.

If records management solutions are adopted then it takes care of the recording and the security of the documents. These solutions are made in a manner that the documents are well taken care of and at the same time they are also well organized. Once the documents are handed over to the management firm then they are safe in their custody. The organization can give instruction to the Records management solutions firm regarding the person who can be handed over the documents and the necessary proof that he needs to submit. This increases the security for your documents and it will also avoid any miscreants taking away any of your vital documents.

Apart from the fact that your documents will be in an organized manner and also in safe hands the other advantage of Records management solutions is that you will save a lot of your office space that you can use in a more profitable manner.

Records need to be kept in an orderly manner so that they can be preserved and retrieved as and when the need arises. Record management of these records is a very important part of the organization because at times it is even mandatory for them to keep the records. However keeping these records diligently in different files and cabinets can sometimes be a tedious task. A lot of time and manpower can be wasted and at times this leads to lack of dedication among the people responsible for the work.

Importance of Record management for success:

One may argue that if the business is done well and with dedication then the business will be a success. However this alone is not enough. The records of the organization need to be kept well because this helps to create financial statements that will help the organization to calculate the profits for the year and also to check and compare the figures with the budgeted ones.

The other important reason for Record management is so that they can provide statements to the financial institutions or banks in the event that they need to take loans for the growth of the organization. The financial institutions need these statements because it is on this basis that they will be in a position to grant the amount of loan requested for.

The most important factor of Record management for success therefore, is the accuracy and reliability of the financial records that have been maintained. If by any chance there is any inaccuracy then there are chances that these documents can cause great harm to the image of the organization and thus affecting the financial position.

The other reason why records need to be maintained is for tax purposes and accurate records will help the organization to pay accurate taxes and also to pay them on time. Because if the records are not well maintained then the organization may end up with wrong tax calculations and that will lead to loss of money and effort.

Also finding the mistakes in the records is not a lay man’s job and therefore more money will have to be spent employing an accountant to get the mistakes corrected.

Advantages of computerized Record management:

There are many advantages of maintaining records with the help of the computer. This is because it easier and less time consuming. It is a necessity among organization whether small or big. They are available easily online and they promise to keep the records of the organization in a manner that they easily accessible and are also secure and up to date. Therefore today it has become a necessity among almost all organizations.

An organization has many documents that they need to maintain which includes receipts, bills, vouchers, agreements etc. All these documents can be entered in to the software and then these will be arranged and analyzed in a manner that they can be reproduced at any time and in any form. The financial statements that are required by stakeholders and the financial institutions offering the monetary help are different. All these types of different statements can be produced with the help of the software.

Installation of computerized Record management for success:

There are many sites online that offer software that helps organizations to keep and maintain records in a systematic manner. The versions that are available for free are suitable only for organizations that are small in size and have very few transactions in a particular time period.

Record management in the computerized form also helps to save a lot of paper and space. This is because all the documents are converted into the electronic format and are then saved in different folders in the computer instead of cabinets that occupy a lot of space.  This gives the organization an image of an eco-friendly organization and that will also add up to the good will of the firm.

The only thing that one needs to be careful about is the back-up of all the records and in order to be on the safer side it is better that there is a double back-up system. This is particularly important because at times there can be a crash in the system and that will lead to a complete collapse of the system. In order to avoid such difficult situation therefore a double back-up system is always recommended.

The other important thing that you also need to judge is the time period for which these records need to be maintained. Once the organization decides the time for which the records need to be kept then after that time limit the older records will automatically either be deleted or be transferred to the archives. This system in Record management also saves a lot of space in the computer and a lot of heartache during times of emergency requirements for preserved content.

Management of records is necessary for any organization. This is because if the records are not managed and recorded well then it will cause serious problems for the organization. For some organizations it is compulsory and mandatory for the records to be kept in a place where it is secure and can be retrieved when required.

Importance of Medical records management:

Today there are electronic methods of records management. Certain records need to be recorded and kept safely for future use and one such record is the Medical records. Medical records management is compulsory under the law because these records may be required to be produced in court when they are required to be produced. In order to start and maintain medical records the hospital or the medical institution needs to make sure that the method adopted is the best suited one for the nature of the organization.

Features of methods of the Medical records management:

      There are many factors that you need to consider before you adopt a method for electronically recording documents that form the records of the organization. Some of the factors that need to be considered are:

Challenges of implementing Medical records management:

There are many disadvantages which an organization could face when they implement a system of Medical records management. The first biggest issue is the cost of the software and the cost of setting it up in the organization. Apart from setting up the system the next task at hand is to enter all the data in to the system and so there is a lot of man power involved. The other important factor that needs to be considered is the compatibility of the other electronic records with the new software that will be installed for the Medical records management.

All these factors and cost put together will add up to the bill that he ultimate tax payer or the patient needs to pay. Therefore such implementations are possible only with the help of the Government and the aids and grants of the Government. Therefore if the Government will give the support then the costs will be borne by the Government and not the lay people.

We can safely conclude by saying that if the records of a hospital needs to be managed and kept in a proper manner then it is advisable to get the documents transferred to the electronic mode and then they will recorded and managed in an adequate manner with the help of Medical records management.