Search results

Information and communication technology rapidly developed over the past decade and provided the means to easily capture, store and distribute documents in vast quantities and at an ever‐increasing speed. To be able to make good use of this information instead of becoming swamped by it, scientific controls need to be applied. Records management provides these controls. This article explains how one software developer combines traditional records management practices with electronic document management features to create an electronic recordkeeping system.

This article aims to describe how people manage to integrate their use of paper and electronic documents in modern office work environments.

An observational interview type study of 14 participants from 11 offices in eight organizations was conducted. Recorded data were analysed using a thematic analysis method. This involved reading and annotation of interview transcripts, categorizing, linking and connecting, corroborating, and producing an account of the study.

The findings of the study can be categorized into four groups: the roles paper and electronic documents serve in today's offices, the ways in which these documents are managed, the problems associated with their management, and the types of fragmentation that exist in terms of their management and how these are dealt with.

The study has identified the need for better integrated management of paper and electronic documents in present-day offices. The findings of the study have then been used to propose a set of guidelines for the development of integrated paper and electronic document management systems.

Although similar studies of offices have been conducted in the past, almost all of these studies are prior to the widespread use of mobile and network-based shared technologies in office environments. Furthermore, previous studies have generally failed to identify and propose guidelines for integration of paper and electronic document management systems.

To share the experience of implementing an electronic records management system, pointing out the specific problems that can occur.

Drawing on actual experience, the paper goes through the process of implementing an electronic records management system from procurement to training. Any particular problems or things to look out for are pointed out along the way.

In spite of extensive training, most staff never got to grips with the system. This was partially due to three things: (1) staff found the system user unfriendly; (2) the way parts of the system were set up; and (3) having to create complicated business rules to direct staff where the system could not. No electronic records management system can do this beforehand, so that the system automates practice rather than trying to introduce it.

By showing potential problems and failed solutions to those problems, the paper should prevent help those undertaking future implementations from making the same mistakes.

This paper is for any records professional involved in or thinking about implementing an electronic records management system, and is intended to point out areas that are particularly likely to cause an implementation to fail so that these can be avoided.

It is the rage in the literature today for archivists and records managers to address the issue of recordkeeping in The New Millennium. It is an idea that must be worthy of its own acronym, TNM. It has a nice, seductive ring to it that gives one the sense of joining the ranks of the pundits and visionaries. This author has succumbed like all of the others. And I know I'll do it again — soon. I can't wait. At my age, when one begins to get the idea that it might be the last chance one will have to talk about a TNM, it is downright irresistible. One has to bleed it for all it is worth.

This paper aims to examine some of the issues associated with managing electronic records, identify some problems, and suggest some solutions, from the perspective of a professional records manager and archivist. Three main issues are considered that need to be addressed by managers of electronic records — management and organisational, technical and legal. The overarching theme of standards is woven into these three main areas of concern. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for attention to be paid, in the UK, to discussing and framing a professional approach to electronic records management.

Public sector organisations in the developing world contexts have hugely invested in procuring information management systems such as the electronic document and records management system (EDRMS). The procurement and implementation of these systems come at a huge cost to taxpayers. Unfortunately, most of these systems remain white elephants due to reluctance by the anticipated users to adopt and use them in their information management endeavours. This study aims to understand Action Officers’ perceptions of, adoption and/or usage of the document workflow management system (DWMS) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Botswana. The DWMS is one type of EDRMS.

The survey uses a questionnaire distributed in Gaborone, Botswana to gather data on the perceptions of anticipated users of the DWMS. The study used a modified form of UTAUT as a theoretical lens to explore user’s perception on the adoption and use of DWMS at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Botswana. The population of the study was 68. A total of 53 (86.89 per cent) out of 61 users of DWMS were purposively sampled and responded to the questionnaire. The rest took part in interviews.

Negative attitudes to computers, computer anxiety, the complexity of DWMS and its incompatibility to current working practices influences Action and Records Officers’ unwillingness to adopt and use the DWMS.

This study was limited to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI)’s Department of Corporate Services, so its findings cannot be statistically generalized to the MTI as a whole. Another limitation relates to the secretive nature of staff in some government departments which lead them to provide partial information related to the study. Finally, the additional technology adoption factors discovered from interviews (i.e. computer anxiety, incompatibility of DWMS to current work practices, negative attitudes to system use and complexity of the system) have not been empirically tested to ascertain their validity. This provides an opportunity for a future study to empirically test the said additional factors.

To mitigate the lower DWMS adoption and usage, robust change management and communication were identified as some of the critical factors that should be considered. The identified factors may be used in drafting a model to aid the implementation of DWMS in Botswana or in a contextually similar environment in the developing world.

This study provides empirical evidence from an original study.

This article examines the various definitions accorded to the two key terms in records management ‐ the records and records management. Variations in their definition have lead to confusion which affects the formulation of theory to underpin the discipline. This problem is to be discussed in two separate parts. Part 1 discusses the changing definition of the ‘record’ as it evolves from an archives perspective, through a management perspective to an information technology perspective. These changes have lead to changes in the status of records. This is discussed as records as objects vs records as electronic objects. However, this is not a new issue. It was recognised by Jenkinson as early as 1922. The debate on the definition of records concludes that any new definition needs to take account of the component parts of a record: the information, the medium and the function. Part 2 will discuss the various definitions of records management.

This article is the result of a brief survey, conducted across the Internet by researchers from the Archives and Records Management Programme at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth. The authors discuss the need for records management training and education world‐wide, and the emergence of records management as a subset of information management, with an acknowledged impact on the systematic and efficient management of organisations. They show how the focus of records management has shifted over the recent past from the archival management of unwanted documents, to the management of electronic systems, giving records managers an equal standing with other professionals in the field of information management. Using a comparison between Malaysia, where much of the training is provided by visiting consultants, and the United Kingdom, where records management training is provided by the universities, the authors conclude that the needs of qualified and well‐informed professionals in this distinct field is dependent upon the training and education provided by courses in universities world‐wide. Their survey, however, reveals that there is no standard approach to the training provided by these institutions: some are likely to reflect their archival origins, others represent various streams of the broad context of information studies.

The marriage between information and communication technology (ICT) and law has brought forward a significant change in the administration of justice. This paper aims to present the scenario of technology adoption in the court of law with special reference to Malaysia. It also aims to illustrate the intelligent use of technology to advance the pace of the administration of court reflected in w‐Shariah project in Shariah Court systems in Malaysia through various electronic applications, and finally propose an ICT adoption framework based on an information systems (IS) theory.

This research adopts a qualitative case study approach to explore the scenario of information technology (IT) adoption in the court of law in Malaysia through semi‐structured interviews, observation and document reviews. Data gathered provide an understanding of how technology is used in the court workflow as well as the whole life‐cycle management of records in Shariah Court. This case study covers the management of records in Shariah courts of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. It involves personal observations on the whole life‐cycle of court room technology management.

Five e‐Shariah modules were applied in 110 Shariah courts in Malaysia in 102 locations nationwide, using the electronic government network called EG*Net. E‐Shariah applications managed to standardize work environment in Shariah courts and link all the business processes on a single channel. Case clearance rate has risen significantly since then.

This research is limited to the electronic applications in Shariah Court system, the secondary legal system in Malaysia after the Civil Court system. It is suggested that the future research is done to the Civil Court system, to complement the current research; in order to have a complete IS perspective on the overall legal system in Malaysia.

This paper proposed a technology adoption framework for electronic court management, which can be used by the policy makers for the enhancement of justice system. This research provides a foundation for practical technology adoption in courts.

This paper demonstrates how ICT allow for better management of court management within institutionalization theory. It presents various kind of technology adoption in courts, including video conferencing with high‐tech video presenters and monitors, recreation of crime scene, electronic filing system, electronic case management and electronic court records management and systematic information storage and retrieval system. It discusses the three isomorphic pressures (coercive, normative and mimetic) that influence the technology adoption process. A research framework is presented which is expected to benefit the policy makers and judicial practitioners.

The greatest challenges with which digital systems present us are the creation and maintenance of reliable records and the preservation of their authenticity over time. It is vital for every organisation that its records be able to stand for the facts they are about i.e. that their content is trustworthy. To meet these challenges the international community of records professionals must develop appropriate strategies, procedures and standards. In this article the author explores the concepts and principles derived from archival diplomatics that should guide the management of electronic records and therefore these developments, as well as drawing conclusions about the nature of the research work required