1 - Underlying principles

Summary

This chapter describes general principles of records and information management – those that are relevant to all records in whatever format. An understanding of such principles is essential to the implementation of electronic records management systems. It summarizes each of the seven principles and examines each one in turn.

• Principle 1 It is difficult to imagine – especially for those of us who have been in work for thirty years or more – how we managed before the use of computers became a fact of everyday life. Records managers, of course, were not the first professionals to realize the huge potential of the technology but within the past ten years or so electronic ways of working have become so embedded in the profession that we cannot manage without them. At the same time we must recognize that the technology is principally available as a tool to enable us to undertake our work more effectively and efficiently. We should not allow it to rule us. The technological skills of information and communications technology (ICT) staff will be necessary but a records management system must be overseen and managed by the records manager. The boundaries of records and information management and information technology management have become blurred in recent years. More and more records managers have ICT knowledge and skills, and more and more ICT practitioners have records management knowledge and skills. Each profession needs to work in partnership to the benefit of both.

• Principle 2 In the past five to ten years there have been two major driving forces in building effective records and information management systems and procedures: in the public sector there has been Freedom of Information legislation (in the UK and many other countries); and in all sectors the development of electronic ways of working. However, this ignores the fact that there is one driver that has been around for much longer – the need for ever more efficient business practices. Records management is, and has always been, capable of making a major contribution to achieving this. At the same time, however, it has been largely neglected. To some extent this has been the fault of the profession itself; it has had a somewhat passive and pessimistic approach to its marketing.