Is Anybody Listening To Records Managers?

More Electronic Records Require More Records ManagementWith so many businesses in the Okanagan and around the world attempting to adopt electronic document and record management systems (EDRMS), the challenges to overcome are not only technical.  According to a recent survey of organizations big and small, the major perceived challenges seem to come from end users resistant to change.

IDM, Image & Data Manager, sums up the results of the survey for us here.  While electronic email management is on the rise, as are efforts to track copies of controlled documents, the standard operating procedure for other document types remains: print it and file it. 

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GARP - The Principle of Transparency

Clearly Understood Recordkeeping Creates Clearly Understood RecordsThe eighth and final Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principle deals with Transparency.  ARMA’s guidelines, found in the download section of our website, state:  “The processes and activities of an organization’s recordkeeping program shall be documented in an understandable manner and be available to all personnel and appropriate interested parties.”

All organizations must keep records, and the processes used to create and maintain those records should be clearly outlined and understandable, as well as available to legitimately interested parties. 

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GARP - The Principle of Availability

Access to the Right Information at the Right TimeThe fifth Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principle deals with Availability.  ARMA’s guidelines, found in our download section, state:  “An organization shall maintain records in a manner that ensures timely, efficient, and accurate retrieval of needed information.”

The records an organization keeps are only as good as they are available.  A misplaced, misfiled, or lost record is about as useful as never having the information in the first place. 

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Information Management and the Digital Data Explosion

Growth of Digital Data Storage is AcceleratingToday, we've come across a fascinating article about the unprecedented worldwide growth of digital data from Lachlan James with Yellowfin, an international reporting and data analytics firm.  Mr. James points to a USC study that documents the rise of global data storage:  in 1986, 14% of earth's data was stored on vinyl records; by 2000, 25% of all information was in digital form; at the close of 2007, 94% of all information storage was digital, totalling 276 exabytes (one exabyte is equal to 1 billion gigabytes.)  That's like a stack of CD-ROMs reaching from the floor to about 80,000 kms beyond the moon.

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Records + Flooding = Disaster

Records Are Quickly Damaged by Water & FloodingRain.  Floods.  Spills.  Leaky pipes.  No matter how it happens, when water attacks your files and records, it spells disaster.  Of course proper storage and prevention are the best ways to keep water away from your records, but when the worst does happen, what must be done?

For us here in the Okanagan, both the Province of BC and the Ministry of Forests provide guidelines for action in the event of flooding and water damage to records.  In most scenarios, the physical recovery of the damaged records should be handled by a professional restoration company, but the most important steps are begun before they arrive:

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