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Mile High Denver Chapter of ARMA
Copyright 2010
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Webmaster: M. Taggart

ARE YOU NEW TO OUR PROFESSION? Are you wondering what records and information management is all about? Information can be defined as “knowledge communicated by others or obtained by study and investigation.” Simply put, RIM is Records and Information Management.

Records are defined in various statutes and records/information management publications. 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 of the data in them (44 U.S.C. 3301).

So then what is records management? Records Management can be defined as “The planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training, promoting, and other managerial activities involved with respect to records creation, records maintenance and use, and records disposition in order to achieve adequate and proper documentation of the policies and transactions of the Federal Government and effective and economical management of agency operations” (Title 44, Chapter 29, Section 2901 United States Code & DoD Directive 5015.2).

Records provide evidence of business activities, i.e. evidence of actions and decisions, because they are the outgrowth of business activities. Records are a vital input to and product of the day-to-day business processes of private corporations, educational institutions, government agencies, etc. To fully understand “Records Management,” one needs to know:

• What is a record and what is not,
• What is a vital record,
• How to file and retrieve all records efficiently (whether in paper or electronic form),
• Who is responsible for a given series of records,
• What the legal implications are at business requirement, state, and federal levels
• Where to get advice on best practices,
• How and for how long to store records that are no longer in current use,
• When records can safely be destroyed

Good records management is based on the principles of regular review and controlled retention or destruction of information. The aim is that a record must be managed and maintained in such a way that it:

• Meets all internal business needs
• Defends the organization and its people against all external demands
• Is compliant with all regulatory and statutory requirements
• Is capable of providing the primary or secondary evidence of a transaction or business process which is admissible in a court of law
• Is kept and maintained/stored in the most economical way consistent with the above objectives
• Is disposed of in a way that is auditable, and meets all environmental and other requirements.

So why has Records Management become so important? It's primarily due to the fact that many organizations operate in a complex legal and regulatory world. The penalties for non-compliance are increasingly harsh, both personally for the individual employee, and for the organization. The job of a Records Manager has become more important than ever because Records Managers make the connections between parts of an organization. We know how the information fits together. And when the litigation hits the fan, we're the people who figure out what's needed to respond.

Records exist in many formats and are stored in multiple locations. It's not just about managing paper anymore. The explosion of electronic documents has significantly changed the way that we view records management. It's critical that Records Managers understand how to manage “content” because today, virtually every document is created in some type of electronic format and saved to a hard drive. Information is sent by postal mail, e-mail, and over the Internet. It's stored on local hard drives, shared server drivers, blackberries, CDs, removable USB storage drives, etc. Information is much harder to track and manage because of the new technologies that continue to be developed. It was so much easier when all we had to do is track and manage a “box” or “file cabinet” of paper records.

We as Records Managers have the knowledge and expertise to understand the processes and workflows involved in organizing, categorizing, and structuring information resources so that they can be stored, published, and reused in multiple ways. The Information Technology departments have the knowledge and expertise with the hardware and software. The partnership between the business side and IT is increasingly seen as an integral business relationship that must exist to ensure that a company's information resources are identified and managed accordingly so that only the important information is retained and is available quickly when needed.

ARMA gives us the educational and networking opportunities that allow us to keep up to date with the latest information in our industries and the laws and regulations that affect our companies.

Help optimize your organizational assets strategically, cost-effectively and efficiently. To find out more about ARMA and what a professional records and information manager can do for your company, contact us or join us at one of our meetings.