FUNCTIONS

• Taking a records inventory throughout the organization to identify records as to types, locations, volumes, and conditions in which the records are housed. From the inventory a variety of program initiatives emerge (e.g., identification of vital records, privacy and confidentiality issues, opportunities for application of appropriate technology)

• Using information from the records inventory and legal research tools, develop retention schedules for all the records series in the organization regardless of media or location. Among the issues to be addressed are: how long records must maintained in the creating office and then later in offsite storage, confidentiality, security, status as vital or archival records, medium in which the information is recorded (paper, film, tape, etc.), and how should they be disposed of - destruction or transfer to a permanent facility
• Vital records are those which contain data or information essential to the survival of an organization in the event of natural or man-made disaster. As many as 90% of businesses are unable to continue after two years when their vital records are destroyed. Some of these records will be unique, that is, there is but one copy being created. The vital records program, part of a larger business recovery plan, uses a variety of strategies to ensure access to vital records (Disaster Recovery Plan, InfoKeeper)
• The management of active files is an integral part of a comprehensive records management program. This function is particularly important since these records cause the greatest expenditures in space, staff, equipment, and supplies. The role of the active files function is to reduce costs but at the same time increase efficiency and effectiveness in the workplace. To achieve these objectives, records in each organizational unit are reviewed in areas such as the type of media used to store the information, physical location and access to the files, and classification systems best suited for the management of each particular type of files
• Inactive files management is a strategy to continually move files out of more expensive office space when they have become inactive (often defined as a reference rate of less then one search per file drawer per month). Removed files are typically placed in a high-density, low-cost records storage environment. Here labor, space, shelving, and supplies are much less expensive than in the office environment. Records retention programs, policies, procedures, and schedules drive the transfer of inactive records. Savings from the management of inactive files is compelling: for example, Sandy Santori, Minister, Management Services for the Canadian Province of British Columbia reported in a 2002 speech that “The three contracts to private storage (records) facilities totaled $2.3 million in the last fiscal year. For every dollar spent to store [700,000 boxes of] records in these off-site centers, it is estimated that the government [of British Columbia] saves four dollars.” Source Prism International Copyright 2004
• On average, three percent of the total body of an organization’s records qualify as archival records and thus have a life-of-company retention value. Archival records, sometimes called “corporate memory,” form a record of both the past and present, showing long-term growth, development, and accountability to stakeholders. They also record long-term functions and activities. Records with archival value normally fall into one or more of the following categories: historical, legal, fiscal, or informational
• Imaging technologies have become an important part of records management. Records should be analyzed to determine if microfilming or digital imaging is appropriate. Microforms remain an appropriate technology, particularly for records that need absolute file integrity or have a retention requirement for which long-term storage is mandated. Microfilm offers virtues such as low-cost, easy retrieval, use of vital records backup, and a medium widely used for preservation of important documents. Optical disk systems can be used to scan paper records and other useful capabilities; these include high-volume storage, fast retrieval, fast printing as needed along with the other virtues of digital systems, such has high-speed transmission to various locations. Some technologies enable simultaneous scanning and microfilming
• Forms management is important to records management. By far the largest volume of records in any organization are printed or electronic forms. Forms facilitate handling of current but variable data. They are helpful in recording or documenting discrete transactions. In working with a team to create a form, records managers can set up forms control systems that include (1) analysis of the process or procedure requiring the form’s use, (2) identification of where the form should be positioned in the specific business process, (3) creation of layout and then design of the form, (4) upload or install form (if digital) or have it printed and procured (if paper), and (5) then dissemination to the form’s users. This activity creates an opportunity for records managers to participate at the important creation stage of records in order to reduce long-term costs and enhance productivity