Question 1: Why Records Management? Ten Business Reasons
Every business or program must address well-defined objectives which will add value, either directly to the bottom line or toward the achievement of the organization's goals and objectives. Records management (RM) objectives usually fall into one of three categories:
Records management programs must manage organizational information so that it is timely, accurate, complete, cost-effective, accessible and useable. Better information, at the right time, makes better business.
Records management programs are not generally an organization's primary business, and even though RM programs don't usually generate income, the following are the most important reasons to set up a good records management program in your office anyway. (Adapted from Ten Business Reasons for Records Management in Information and Records Management: Document-based Information Systems, Robek, Brown, Stephens, 1995.)
Despite decades of using various non-paper storage media, the amount of paper in our offices continues to escalate. An effective records management program addresses both creation control (limits the generation of records or copies not required to operate the business) and records retention (a system for destroying useless records or retiring inactive records), thus stabilizing the growth of records in all formats.
Recordkeeping requires administrative dollars for filing equipment, space in offices, and staffing to maintain an organized filing system (or to search for lost records when there is no organized system).
It costs $22 less per linear foot of records to store inactive records in the Federal Records Center versus in the office. [Multiply that by 30% to 50% of the records in an office that doesn't have a records management program in place], and there is an opportunity to effect some cost savings in space and equipment, and an opportunity to utilize staff more productively - just by implementing a records management program.
Usually, in an office that doesn't have a records program, 30-50% of the files could be stored off-site. In DOI, we average 25 feet of paper per person. In a 30 person office that could mean a savings of $7,000 annually!
Time spent searching for missing or misfiled records is non-productive. A good records management program can help any organization upgrade its recordkeeping systems so that information retrieval is enhanced, with corresponding improvements in office efficiency and productivity. A well designed and operated filing system with an effective index can facilitate retrieval and deliver information to users as quickly as they need it.
A good records management program provides an organization with the capability to assimilate new technologies and take advantage of their many benefits. Investments in new computer systems don't solve filing problems unless current manual recordkeeping systems are analyzed (and occasionally, overhauled) before automation is applied.
In terms of recordkeeping requirements, the United States is the most heavily regulated country in the world. These laws can create major compliance problems for businesses and government agencies since they can be difficult to locate, interpret and apply. The only way an organization can be reasonably sure that it is in full compliance with laws and regulations is by operating a good records management program which takes responsibility for regulatory compliance, while working closely with the Office of General Counsel. Failure to comply with laws and regulations could result in severe fines, penalties or other legal consequences.
Business organizations implement records management programs in order to reduce the risks associated with litigation and potential penalties. This can be equally true in Government agencies. A consistently applied records management program can reduce the liabilities associated with document disposal by providing for their systematic, routine disposal in the normal course of business.
Every organization, public or private, needs a comprehensive program for protecting its vital records and information from catastrophe or disaster, because every organization is vulnerable to loss. Operated as part of the overall records management program, vital records programs preserve the integrity and confidentiality of the most important records and safeguard the vital information assets according to a "Plan" to protect the records.
In today's business environment, the manager that has the relevant data first often wins, either by making the decision ahead of the competition, or by making a better, more informed decision. A records management program can help ensure that managers and executives have the information they need when they need it.
By implementing an enterprise-wide file organization, including indexing and retrieval capability, managers can obtain and assemble pertinent information quickly for current decisions and future business planning purposes.
A business office with files askew, stacked on top of file cabinets and in boxes everywhere, creates a poor working environment. The perceptions of customers and the public, and "image" and "morale" of the staff, though hard to quantify in cost-benefit terms, may be among the best reasons to establish a good records management program.
Question 2: What is a Record?
Records include all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine readable
materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or
characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States
Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public
business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its
legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies,
decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or
because of the informational value in them. (Taken from 44 U.S.C. Chapter
33, Sec. 3301)
Several key terms, phrases, and concepts in the statutory definition of
records are defined as follows:
(Taken from the Code of Federal Regulations Part 1222, Subpart A, Sec.
1222.12)
Question 3: What are your responsibilities?
Every person who works for the Agency is responsible for Agency Records.
Some people just spend more time at it than others, because they are in
charge of a specific series of records (see Question 5).
If you create a document using a word processor, enter information into a
database, file a document in a folder, answer an inquiry from the public,
respond to a FOIA request, or do anything else that documents your
activities for the DOI, you are a records custodian. You are responsible for
ensuring the safety, timely availability, and proper retention and/or
transfer of information in your custody.
If you are in charge of managing a specific series of records, you are
responsible for organizing, maintaining and retiring those records.
Some of these responsibilites are laid out in 380 DM 1, Records Management Program and Responsibilities, as follows:
f. Agency managers are responsible for ensuring that their programs are
properly documented and that records created by their programs are
managed according to relevant regulations and policies.
g. Information system managers (program managers) are responsible for
overseeing the creation and use of electronic records in keeping with
federal regulations and Agency policy. This includes coordination with
the records officer to establish recordkeeping requirements including a
retention period and to implement authorized disposition instructions
for system information and documentation. Systems managers also
coordinate with records officers to develop specific information
resource management plans to meet future system information needs.
h. ADP or Information Technology Managers are responsible for managing
ADP resources, as well as notifying the systems managers and records
officers of technology changes that would affect access, retention, or
disposition of system records.
i. All Agency staff and agents of DOI shall:
Question 4: Which Records are important to your
program?
What does your program do that needs to be documented? What types of records
are created in your program? What are your mission critical records? What
records document your decisions or are part of the audit trail? Examples
might include permit files, project files, reports, publications, time
cards, personnel files, contact files, and so on.
Look at each type of record and decide why it is created and maintained.
Your program may be required to create and maintain records for a number of
valid reasons including program administration, management reporting,
statute, federal regulation, Agency policy or procedures.
Reference and personal convenience are valid reasons too. Frequently the
only justifications for maintaining files are personal ones such as "I need
the records for reference", "Joe wanted me to keep a copy," "somebody may
ask for it", and "I don't trust anyone else to keep it." You will find that
many of the series on the list for your office are working files, files
maintained simply for convenience, or reference materials.
Put those aside for now, and concentrate on the files that directly support
the agency mission or administration. These are your "corporate" records.
without which your program could not function. They are the ones you need to
control.
Identifying the list of corporate or mission critical records is the most
important and the most difficult step in the process. It takes a little
time, but the benefits are great and it will allow you to manage your
information assets much more effectively and efficiently.
Question 5: What is a Records Series?
A series is the basic unit for organizing and controlling your files. Series
are those file units or documents kept together because they relate to a
particular subject or function, result from the same activity, document a
specific type of transaction, take a particular physical form, or have some
other relationship arising out of their creation, receipt, maintenance, or
use.
The series concept is a flexible one, and programs should be careful to
create series by organizing their documents in ways that facilitate
management of the records throughout their life cycle.
Each record series should be located separately from all other records.
Each record series must be covered by a records disposition schedule (see
Question 6).
Question 6: What is a Record Disposition Schedule?
A Records Disposition Schedule (schedule) constitutes the DOI's official
policy for records and information retention and disposal. The schedule
provides mandatory instructions for what to do with records (and nonrecord
materials) no longer needed for current Agency business. Records retention
and disposal should occur at regular intervals in the normal course of
business of the Agency.
Other benefits of using the DOI Record Disposition Schedules are:
Based on careful analysis of the Agency's documentary materials, the
schedules provide instructions for the retention and disposition of each
record series or system and of nonrecord materials, and authorizes the
systematic removal of unneeded records from offices.
Records management responsibilities, as defined in statutes, regulations,
and Agency policy, can be distilled down to the following ten tasks. The
Agency, its Program Offices, Staff, and Agents must:
This is all we "have to do" in records management.
Everything else is either:
Definition of terms
Procedures for consistently carrying out those ten
steps
Sample best practices (don't reinvent the wheel).
The purpose of the 10 commandments exercise is to focus on what is really
important and to simplify the message. Records management is an important
management concept. It can be distilled down to a few basic ideas, but like
any other resources management, there is regular repetitive work that has
to be done, just as we need regular property inventories, regular employee
evaluations, and regular financial accounting.
Good records management can save:
Time Money Space
It isn't complicated -
Here are 10 easy things you can do to implement an effective records
management program:
Each Federal Agency is required by statute (36 CFR 1228) to maintain a
comprehensive records schedule. This comprehensive schedule is developed by
combining the General Records Schedules (containing disposal authority for
records common to several or all agencies), published by the National
Archives and Records Administration, with DOI-specific schedule items or
record series.
10 COMMANDMENTS OF RECORDS MANAGEMENT
10 EASY WAYS TO IMPROVE RECORDS MANAGEMENT
What Every Employee Needs To Know
DOI Records Management Program