RECORDS MANAGEMENT

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 718.

Records management is a relatively new discipline whose beginnings can be traced back to the early years of the twentieth century and which only firmly established itself in the post Second World War period. Records management is concerned with the generation, receipt, processing, storage, retrieval, distribution, usage and retirement of records. It encompasses a wide variety of activities and sub-disciplines each of which has arisen to cater for a specific need such as the management of mail, correspondence, reports, copies, forms and derivatives. Records management is multi-media embracing many types of media from paper to audio tape, video tape, magnetic disc, optical disk and microfilm.

While records management as a distinct discipline is a twentieth century phenomena, the generation and handling of records has of course been in existence since records themselves began to be created in Ancient times. Records are created in the transactional processes of Government as laws are made, budgets prepared, surveys conducted, statistics compiled and other governmental processes are carried out.

Records exist primarily because of the need to keep a record of transactions carried out. The process by which they are created, the manner of their creation, the way in which they are handled will differ from institution to institution, from country to country and from one geographical region to the next. The methods of handling records have also undergone changes over time from the days of the registry system in early Modern Europe when all items were entered in registers on being received to today's situation in which mail can be electronically controlled. It is difficult to describe records management on a worldwide basis because records management practices are closely tied to the peculiarities of Government and institutional processes which differ from country to country and from region to region.

No Government can function without records. If the records exist and they are not well managed it is equally difficult to achieve efficiency. The level of efficiency of the operations of the governmental machinery is closely tied to the effectiveness of the records management programme. Records management encompasses several main elements.