Records Management
Records Management Overview
Welcome to the Records Management infoKit. This infoKit is aimed at people new to the subject who may have to take on responsibility for Records Management or implementing Data Protection or Freedom of Information legislation within their institution.
Our institutions hold a wide variety of records in many different formats. Good management of those records is essential to the effective working of the organisation and in ensuring we can meet our legal obligations.
However in practice we find that many institutions manage this important resource in an ad hoc manner.
Many data owners view the information as' theirs' to be closely guarded and are reluctant to allow its use in the rest of the organisation.
Others have a more cavalier attitude to the preservation of important information.
In many cases nobody has a clear picture of what information the organisation holds and where it is stored. Finding the information when you need it can prove difficult to say the least.
Good Records Management means little more than taking a structured approach to defining what information you need, how it should be stored, who should be able to access it and how long you need to keep it.
Recent legislation, particularly relating to Freedom of Information and Data Protection has brought the need for Records Management strongly to the attention of senior managers as the penalties for non-compliance are severe.
If you are new to the field you may find the burdens of both the legislation and institutional inertia hard to bear. Don't worry.
Help is at hand. This infoKit takes you through the process of setting up a records management framework and demonstrating the benefits of the approach to your colleagues (however reluctant they may at first be).
