Electronic Data and Records Management Systems for

Introduction

A municipality, such as the one responsible for the management of the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan area, performs a number of functions such as the passing of by-laws, imposing rates and other taxes, imposing fines, and stimulating local tourism among many other responsibilities. These deliverables generate an enormous amount of data that has to be managed by the municipality.

Various pieces of South African legislation such as the National Archives of South Africa Act (Act No. 43 of 1996) and The Promotion of Access to Information Act (Act No. 2 of 2000) govern the management and treatment of data by municipalities. Public interest in data that is held by government bodies means that a system that acts as a safe repository for data is required.

An electronic data and records management system (EDRMS) is a software application that manages all types of records in all formats, paper-based and electronic, during their entire life cycle (Unknown-A 2009). An EDRMS is able to manage both structured (e.g. Access or SQL database) as well as unstructured (e.g. emails, Word documents) data and information.

In this paper, the benefits of an EDRMS will be discussed with reference to its key functions.

Functions of an EDRM system

An EDRMS supports four key functions as shown in the diagram below (Unknown-B 2009):

Input

An EDRM system can be designed to allow users to capture data in its various formats. Depending on the EDRM system selected, users can input electronic and analogue data into the system.

An EDRM system is also able to link with existing programs that are used by the organisation. This function is particularly useful for the Johannesburg municipality as a combination of legacy systems and newer software programs are used by different departments. Programs such as Microsoft Office software packages can be linked to the EDRM system.

Management

An EDRM system facilitates the management of data by allowing the custodians of...