Many companies’ archives are stuffed with paperwork they no longer need. But by applying so key principles keeping tabs on what’s hot and what’s not can be achieved.
14 January 2010
Needlessly filling office buildings with inefficiently managed archived records is a common failing. But the solution is straightforward.
1 Retention policy
With no one understanding how long records need to be kept, it is likely your organisation may just "keep everything for ever". If so, as well as wasting valuable office space, you risk breaching compliance standards. A retention policy merely identifies all types of document in use by an organisation and the length of time they must be retained for. For example, financial documents should be kept for seven years, HR documents for 10 years after leaving date and so on. An organisation such as the Records Management Society can help you establish a retention schedule.
2 Study your records
All records have a lifecycle. As a rule, documents are active in the early part, but have little or no activity in the middle and latter parts. By studying activity rates in the lifecycle, informed decisions can be made about keeping active records in prime office space, while archiving others in cheaper, off-site storage.
3 RM software
If you have large volumes of records, or even small numbers that of a critical nature, you should invest in good records management (RM) software. Modern systems should be web-based and thus capable of operating in multiple locations, be able to track records by capturing movements with barcode or radio-frequency identification and, crucially, manage your new retention policy. These systems should be able to manage active records in the office as well as archived records in deep storage, and provide management reports on records coming up for review or destruction.
4 Hearts and minds
Staff who need to constantly refer to files try to keep them close to hand, often leading to "piling" rather than filing. The reason for this is the fear of being unable to retrieve them should they be needed – a fear that is frequently justified if poor and unreliable systems are in place. However, the problems caused by this bad practice can range from staff wasting vast amounts of time looking for files, to health and safety risks from blocked corridors and passageways. But by implementing a sound and reliable records management system, this fear will dissipate and hearts and minds will be won.
5 The 3Ds
Don’t dither over destruction. When a record comes to the end of its statutory retention period, unless it is of historic importance it should be securely destroyed, a destruction certificate produced and the waste recycled. Many organisations cannot or will not do this, because once a document has been destroyed it is gone for good. Often, a problem will arise because a record will have been archived and the person who sent it for archiving long since left the company. This is where effective records management software will come to the rescue – unlike your staff, it never sleeps and never leaves, so will always be there to keep tabs on the retention period left on a particular document .
6 Scan everything
Of course, with a competent Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) it is technically possible to digitise every paper document in the organisation. However, if this is extended to archived material, it becomes an extremely expensive option. At typical rates of 40p per box per month for long term storage, and £50 per thousand A4 images for scanning and 2500 sheets per average archive box, simple mathematics show that the box could be stored for 26 years for the cost of scanning it. If the Retention Period is seven years, and further reference is unlikely, this hardly makes scanning archived information a viable proposition.
7 Scan the active stuff
This is a much better solution, though predicated on good information about what is active, what is not and how long different records must be retained. This information can only be made available if you have a truly brilliant manual system or, more likely, good records management software, as described above. It means that informed decisions can be made and a "triage" approach to records is possible:
• New records are created electronically and filed straight into the EDMS.
• Early-lifecycle, active paper records are digitised, indexed and added to the EDMS, where they are linked to older paper records still in existence. This link is set up in the records management software.
• Remaining paper records are under the control of the RM software and scanned on demand. The originals are destroyed and the status recorded in the RM software, which sits above all other systems and monitors each part of the triaged system.
Ian Keers is managing director of record management specialists Cave Tab
THE KEY TO CONTROL
So many organisations struggle with managing records and suffer huge hidden and unnecessary costs as a result.
A good quality Records Management Software system is an essential tool for any organisation dealing with large volumes of critical records and should be seen as the absolute lynch pin of any scheme going forward.
It must have tracking and reporting capability and should be web-based so that multiple locations can be monitored in real-time. It should also be capable of managing images as well as related paper records, thus dealing with a transitional situation.
Finally, it should be offered on a locally installed or hosted basis to ensure equilibrium with your IT resources.
www.rms-gb.org.uk
website
website