Records Management

What is records management?

Records management is a process of ensuring the proper creation ,maintenance , use and disposal of records to achieve efficient, transparent and accountable governance.

Some defines records management as the administration of records and documented information of records and documented information for the entirety of its lifecycle which include creation, maintenance, use, storage, retrieval and disposal.

Sound records management implies that records are managed in terms of an organizational records management program governed by an organizational records management policy.

The ISO 15489-1: 2001 standard (“ISO 15489-1:2001”) defines records management as “the field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, and including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records” .

The ISO 15489-1: 2001 defines records as “information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business”. While there are many purposes of and benefits to records management, as both these definitions highlight, a key feature of records is their ability to serve as evidence of an event. Proper records management can help preserve this feature of records.

It should be noted that the format and media of records is generally irrelevant for the purposes of records management from the perspective that records must be identified and managed, regardless of their form. The ISO considers management of both physical and electronic records.

Records management services, also known as records information management or RIM, is the professional practice or discipline of controlling and governing what are considered to be the most important records of an organization throughout the records...