This chapter examines the practical and managerial issues surrounding the establishment and operation of a successful records management programme. It provides advice on the development and maintenance of effective records systems for organizations that already have the human and financial resources to support a records management programme, and guidance on establishing the necessary infrastructure for those at an earlier stage of implementation. It uses the framework recommended in the international standard on records management (ISO 15489-1:2001) and the accompanying technical report (ISO/TR 15489-2:2001).

Getting started

Establishing a records management policy

All organizations should have a formally agreed policy for the management of their records. The goal of the policy ‘should be the creation and management of authentic, reliable and useable records, capable of supporting business functions and activities for as long as they are required…. The policy should be adopted and endorsed at the highest decision-making level and promulgated throughout the organization’ (ISO 15489-1:2001, clause 6.2).

An example of a records management policy is given in Figure 8.2 (page 255). When records management is first under consideration, however, it will not be possible to prepare a fully detailed policy statement. The initial focus must be on obtaining a high-level policy decision that the organization will proceed to set up a programme of records management. When the need for a programme has been formally recognized, decisions are required to establish its broad parameters: in particular, whether it will embrace newly created as well as older records and whether it will cover the whole of the organization or only a part. Once these deci- sions have been made, the policy can be refined as work proceeds on developing the programme.

Reaching agreement on these initial policy decisions may not be easy. Some individuals at senior level may think that records ‘manage themselves’, or that decisions about records can safely be left to the initiative of local workgroups or individual staff members; others may not recognize a need for well-managed records or may consider it a low priority. Sometimes a crisis occurs – an organization suffers financial loss because records are unavailable for a legal dispute or for recovery from a disaster – and the case for records management becomes self-evident. In other circumstances some marketing may be required to convince every key senior manager of the need to manage records systematically.