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Electronic Records Management: a business necessity |
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Electronic Records Mis-Management Companies have, by ignorance or design, let the move to electronic records be poorly managed, with limited guidance on shared, private and corporate "drives," and with filing schemes being poorly prescribed. However it is now being realised that there is a need to develop a corporate strategy for classification, metadata, accessibility and long term archiving, and to enforce these practices and procedures. The records manager has an opportunity to take on this role. Electronic Records Management Systems Although the principles of records management are clear, few software packages - or even electronic document management system (EDMS) suppliers - provide comprehensive support for the management of electronic records. The marketplace for electronic records management systems (ERMS) is relatively immature and organisations struggle to implement electronic 'solutions' that adequately address the management of electronic records. And until recently there have only been limited guidelines or models for managing electronic records. The DLM Forum was created by the European Commission five years ago as a platform for collaboration between technology providers, public institutions and administrations to address these issues. The DLM provides a European centre to assist in developing and promoting practical electronic document and content solutions, in order to improve public administration workings and accessibility and preserve information. The DLM has published and sponsored a number of reports including "Guidelines on best practice for using electronic information", sponsored the production of MoReq - Model Requirements for ERMS - and organised three European Conferences. The third of these conferences is a collaboration with AIIM and takes place in May in Barcelona. The lack of best practice guidelines for electronic records management (ERM) has been identified as a concern by most member states. The UK government has been a leading proponent of ERMS best practice, with its 'Modernising Government' initiative requiring that all public sector organisations can only produce its records electronically from 2004. This supports the government's requirement for delivering all services electronically by the year 2005. The UK's Public Record Office (PRO) was invited to head a major initiative by the government to address this need and deliver a common statement of requirements for the management of government electronic records - and also at the same time identify and accredit suppliers that can meet these requirements. Other members states have progressed in setting policies and standards for ERMS for short and long term archives. Germany and Holland are well advanced, whereas others are still at the early stages of development in this area. Page 2 of 4 |
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