ISO standard 15489: 2001 defines Records Management (RM) as the field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use, and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records. Electronic Records Management (ERM) guarantees that your company has the records they need when they are needed. Records management is referred to a set of activities that are required for systematically controlling the distribution, use, creation, maintenance, and disposition of all recorded information that’s maintained as proof of business transactions and activities.
Records management is mainly concerned with the evidence of a company’s activities. Applying records management usually occurs according to the value of the records, not their physical formats. The essential records managements are capable of assigning specific identifiers to individual records, providing safeguards against all unauthorized changes that are being made to records, and creating an audit trail that is unbreakable. Having an ERM is important for any business because most businesses need to manage their records for decades. Digital technology these days tend to change often and degrade quickly, so it is beneficial to keep periodically refreshing and migrating all electronic records.
Records management is critical to the success of a company. Electronic Records Management (ERM) software simplifies the application of this strategy, helping to manage the life cycle of business records without interfering with your line of business. There are four important points for a company to consider, before switching to an ERM system. Developing an information governance strategy is the first on the list. This strategy will outline all of a company’s content, like how it is organized and who should be accessible to use it.
Another important point before switching to an ERM system is to validate the certified management systems. It is best to follow the Department of Defense (DoD) 5015.2. The Department of Defense is strict when it comes to the requirements for ensuring that all records are properly managed and organized. This standard has an outline of all the requirements for managed records that are all classified. An ERM system that meets such strict requirements for the organizing of file structures, provides the highest level of record integrity and compliance.
Always ensure that the electronic documents can be presented legally as an official record. It is recommended that the Electronic Records Management (ERM) software is compatible with a broad range of hardware components, in order to meet the state requirements. Usually, this requirement may differ depending on where you live. In California for example, this will only happen when the ERM software is a trusted system. A trusted system must utilize both media and hardware storage methodologies. Ensure that there is no way for electronically stored information to be altered, modified, or deleted. Also, write at least one copy of the electronic records or documents into electronic media.
Last, but not least is for a company to track the actions taken on the documents. An Electronic Records Management (ERM) system should track every single action on every document throughout the process of the life cycle. This would include all information that is added and deleted. These reports should always track each action, when and by whom performed the action. The reports can be run as needed or on a regular basis. The reports can be emailed to whoever the appropriate party is and the entire process can be automated.