5. > EVALUATING THE CURRENT RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

Evaluate Current Recordkeeping Practices Against Best Practice Standards

It is important that any system, be it paper or electronic, captures full, accurate, and reliable records. If the basic principles of good recordkeeping practice are not in place in your organisation, the introduction of an electronic records system will not solve this and in some instances may even exacerbate existing problems.

Refer to the Continuum Resource Kit, published by Archives New Zealand, to evaluate whether your current programme meets the requirements of an effective recordkeeping programme.

Continuum not only provides guidelines to assist in determining whether the organisation is keeping adequate records but can also serve as a useful benchmark when designing and selecting IT solutions.

Evaluate Records Management Policies, Systems and Procedures

Existing records management policies, systems and procedures should be examined and evaluated to determine if they can be adequately applied to electronic records.

Existing business classification schemes or file plans should be assessed to make sure that they are effective and used consistently, before they are applied to electronic records. A poor classification scheme will hinder the roll-out and adoption of a new IT solution. It is often necessary to invest in development of a new classification scheme at an early stage of the project.

The capture of electronic records, particularly e-mail, means that recordkeeping responsibilities are devolved to staff. It is, therefore, important that the records management policies clearly set out the expectations of all staff and provide clear guidelines for implementing the policies.

Once an IT solution has been selected, specific procedures relating to electronic recordkeeping can be added to the Records Management Policies. It is recommended that these policies be an essential element of training in the new IT solution.

Carry Out Stocktake of Current Holdings

It is useful to know exactly what your current record holdings are, as this will assist you when looking at issues such as retention, disposal, migration, imaging, and possibly closing existing paper files. It will also assist in determining the functional specification for any IT solution including expected capacity of the system.

An audit of paper records including the usual location, current location, and open and close date, ought to be carried out. It is also useful to gather information on where the electronic records are held (for example, the names of directories or databases, the number of records, the total number of records created and received each day, etc.) and where the records are stored (for example, on mainframes, servers, or PCs).

Evaluate the Skills of the Records Management Team

The basic principles of records management will remain unchanged with the introduction of an electronic records management scheme. However, there must be recognition that records staff will be managing records within a new context and a different set of skills and competencies may be needed. For example, staff will need to become aware of and comfortable with different technologies and understand how these technologies contribute to the recordkeeping process. Records staff should be upskilled in the area of managing electronic records prior to the implementation of any specific solution.

Identify Roles, Responsibilities, and Structure of Records Management Team

The introduction of an electronic system for recordkeeping may impact on the role of the records function within an organisation. For example, the organisation may shift from a decentralised to a centralised recordkeeping system (or vice versa), training demands might increase, and the records team will be required to work closely with the information technology team.

It may, therefore, be appropriate for an organisation to consider whether current resourcing and placement of the records team within its organisational structure is appropriate.