Planning and Implementing Electronic Records Management: A Practical Guide

Elizabeth Shepherd (School of Library, Archive and Information Studies, University College London, UK)

Journal of Documentation

ISSN: 0022-0418

Article publication date: 16 January 2009

788

Keywords

Citation

Shepherd, E. (2009), "Planning and Implementing Electronic Records Management: A Practical Guide", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 65 No. 1, pp. 171-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410910926194

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Kelvin Smith, recently retired from the Records Management Department at The National Archives, produced two useful books in 2007 for practitioners of records management. The Ashgate book, Public Sector Records Management, takes the reader through the basic principles and practices of records management, in particular as they apply in the public sector, with some focus on training, development and management issues. The present book also covers the records lifecycle, and the key records management activities which support it, but the focus here is on the management of information and records in electronic formats. The author notes in the Introduction that the book is practical not academic in tone, and is aimed at managers of information who need practical advice. It is written in an accessible style, clearly set out, with useful examples, diagrams, models, tables, sets of questions and bullet‐pointed checklists breaking up the text. Good use is made of examples, especially those drawn from the excellent National Archives guidance materials published over the past decade or so, many of which were written by Smith in his former capacity.

The book is structured in four parts, which address the main project stages, Preparation, Design, and Implementation, with a short concluding part about the future of information management. The conclusion suggests that the separate records management profession is likely to be subsumed within a more general information management profession, although records‐based practical skills will continue to be valuable. Even if that proves to be the case, I think that records professionals who have both a theoretical understanding of the management of digital records (the why) and have practical knowledge and skills (the what and how) are likely to play a greater role in the future management of information, than those with a more limited skill set.

Part 1, Preparation, takes the reader briefly through basic records management principles and activities, some of which are dealt with in more detail later in the book. Chapters 1 and 2 include an overview of records management and its organizational context, with a short introduction to UK legislation, regulations and standards which affect records. Chapter 3 turns to the specific matter of digital records, and provides some guidelines for making a business case for electronic records management. The chapter also introduces the PRINCE 2 approach to project management, since Smith conceives of the implementation of ERM as a corporate project. A great many topics are dealt with very briefly in these three chapters, providing an introduction and overview of the subject, but the level of detail given would not be sufficient to act as a real basis for practical action. One of the significant weaknesses of the book is the lack of references to further reading on particular topics. I think that if such a generalised view of the subject is to be taken, the book should provide more direction to readers who want to follow up particular issues in greater depth, although this would give a more academic tone to the text than the author clearly wanted. If the book is intended as practical guidance for digital information practitioners, not only as a general introduction for their managers, then readers need to be given the opportunity to develop greater understanding than is possible from the text as it stands.

The chapters in Part 2, Design, do take some of the topics further. There are chapters devoted to the information survey, file plans, appraisal, preservation and access to records. Chapter 4 focuses on the issues which need to be considered in designing an electronic records management (ERM) system, and it makes a clear distinction between electronic records management systems and those designed to manage electronic documents (to support workflow but not records as such) or enterprise content management (which embrace a wide range of information content, including information held in records). The chapter provides a checklist of topics on which policies need to be developed in order to prepare an organization for ERM. Chapters 5 through to 9 deal with the core records management activities which apply to the management of records in any format, including digital ones. In many of these activities the principles, and to a great extent the methodologies presented, are the same for paper or digital records, thus acknowledging the reality that most organizations run hybrid records systems (discussed in chapter 10), accommodating records in any media. This inevitably raises the question, how far this account is really about electronic records and how far it is general records management guidance. Smith does, however, try to give a digital slant to the text especially in his choice of examples.

Part 3, Implementation, focuses largely on the management of the ERM project, with chapters on project management, procurement, change management and training. Presumably anyone responsible for an ERM project would have the relevant management skills needed, as well as the records management skills, but these chapters act as a valuable reminder of the need for a broad range of skills and knowledge when tackling such a project.

Planning and Implementing Electronic Records Management: A Practical Guide provides a useful general overview of the management of digital records, bringing together the issues of records management and general management needed in the digital environment. The book draws on the vast experience of Smith's career at The National Archives and captures some of his knowledge and expertise with government records in the UK and abroad. It is clearly written and easy to read and provides lots of useful examples. Practitioners who need to greater depth will have to look elsewhere, but as an introduction to the subject it is appealing.

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