Managing electronic records

Citation

McLeod, J. (2002), "Managing electronic records", Records Management Journal, Vol. 12 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/rmj.2002.28112caa.001

Managing electronic records

Managing electronic records

We first launched the idea of the international issue in 1995. The concept was to choose a particular topic or theme and invite contributions from people actively working in that area – experts – across the world. We chose the management of electronic records as the first topic since it was challenging records managers and researchers at that time. It is still challenging all of us involved in the records profession and so it seems timely to return to the same theme for this year's international issue.

It is worth reflecting on the amount of progress that has been made in electronic records management in the intervening seven years. For example, electronic records are no longer viewed as the "poor relation" or second best in courts of law, the thinking now is that they are the "originals" and that it is the paper records that are convenience copies. Digital signatures are accepted in many jurisdictions. International collaborative research has increased through, for example, the InterPares project. National archives around the world have major electronic records management initiatives on going and bearing fruit in the form of policies, guidelines and toolkits, for example the Public Records Office's (England and Wales) e-records management team and the National Archives of Australia's e-permanence programme. The number of off-the-shelf software products has increased and various specifications or functional requirements for electronic records management systems have been developed.

But we still face challenges and read about problems resulting from inadequate or inappropriate management of e-records. Preserving and assuring access to electronic records over time is one of those challenges and managing e-mail, to avoid embarrassing situations, is another. The collection of articles in this issue may not provide all of the solutions to the challenge of e-records management but does provide some of them and the contributors are all highly respected in the profession. I am delighted we are able to publish their ideas and advice and would like to thank them very much indeed for their contributions.

In the opinion piece, John McDonald, formerly of the National Archives of Canada, provides the context and a strategy for managing e-records, namely beginning with the business processes that create and use records. I recall reading an earlier article of John's in which he provided a vision of the electronic "office" of the future, where the standard office software applications had been replaced by business process/activity icons (McDonald, 1995). As an academic, had that vision become a reality now, I would not see MS Outlook or MS PowerPoint icons on my virtual desktop but would see, for example, icons for "creating a lecture" or "writing a consultancy report". John rightly believes this still should be the vision for the future but it has developed further and is more refined. His opinion piece provides a sound strategic framework for all of us to adopt in moving forward and meeting thee-records challenge.

Kathryn Swan, Adrian Cunningham and Anne Robertson, from the National Archives of Australia, review some of the main components of the e-permanence suite of guidance for e-record keeping. This impressive collection of documents is extensive and includes standards, frameworks and policies all developed, as the authors explain, in response to evidence of widespread poor record keeping in the Australian Government.

Cassandra Findlay, Senior Project Officer in the Government Recordkeeping Programme of the State Records Authority of New South Wales discusses Future Proof. This is the short name for a set of guidelines, developed by the State Records Authority, on preserving technology dependent records. The guidelines offer no fewer than ten strategies for ensuring the long-term accessibility of technology dependent records and are available via the Web. What is really interesting is that technology dependent records are not just e-records, as we often tend to think today, but also include formats such as audio or video which still depend on some piece of technology to be "read" or used.

Peter Benfell, Information Manager at the United Kingdom Debt Management Office, a government agency, shares their approach to the implementation of electronic records management. The approach takes an holistic view of record keeping and is pragmatic, working with the usual resource constraints we all have and the organisational structure and culture. He has many useful tips for others in a similar position.

Alan Shipman is a member of the BSI (British Standards Institute) Committees that worked on guidance for ensuring the legal admissibility of electronic records and on the first international standard on records management (ISO 15489). In his article he reviews some of the guidance available in the UK, from BSI, on different facets of electronic records management. These cover broad management frameworks, legal admissibility, e-commerce and data protection. If you are unaware of the guidance then Alan's review may tempt you to obtain the full publications themselves, for use within your own organisation's records management programmes.

We return to Canada for the final article from Niall Sinclair who, like John McDonald previously, works for the Government and, also like John, looks to the future. Niall shares some of the strategies the Canadian government is adopting to manage e-records within the broader context of government business and user requirements.

But Niall's article is not the final contribution in this issue – we are pleased to include reviews of two recent and related publications, viz. PD0025-1 and PD0025-2. Published by BSI they are designed to complement the publication of ISO 15489 in the UK (BS ISO 15489). They are written for different audiences – the first is aimed at senior managers and focuses on the value of records management and strategic issues; the second is aimed at records managers or those with responsibility for implementation.

We hope you enjoy this international issue on the very important theme of electronic records management and find ideas and strategies that you can adopt or adapt to suit the particular needs of your own organisation. The theme for the 2003 international issue is records management in the private sector. Do look at the details of the call for papers in this issue – we hope they encourage you to send a contribution.

Julie McLeod

ReferenceMcDonald, J. (1995), "Managing records in the modern office: taming the wild frontier", Archivaria, Vol. 39, pp. 70-9.