About Records Management
- Definitions
- A Management Overview
- Introduction
- Records and Information Resources Management
- Recordskeeping Requirements
- Life Cycle of Records
A Management Overview
- An effective records disposition program is essential to successful records management, which is an integral part of information resources management.
- A disposition program requires a strong directive.
- Managing the records disposition program includes training employees, publicizing the program, and cultivating professional relationships.
- Agency records officers should participate in the development of electronic and other recordkeeping systems to ensure proper planning for disposition.
- Agency records officers need to evaluate their records disposition programs periodically.
Introduction
An effective records disposition program is the key to successful records management, which, in turn, ensures that Government activities are documented properly, efficiently, and economically. Managing Federal records requires an understanding of their essential role in administering Government affairs and of the relationship of records management to other information resources management programs. It also entails knowledge of recordkeeping requirements. Managing the disposition program is based on a directive establishing the program and involves an understanding of the program's nature, of promotion methods, and of evaluation techniques.
Records and Information Resources Management
Managing recorded information is an important responsibility of every Federal agency. As the basic administrative tool by which the Government does its work, records are a basic component of each agency's information resources. Like other resources, they must be managed properly for the agency to function effectively and comply with Federal laws and regulations.
According to Federal law (44 U.S.C. 2901), records management means:
"...the managerial activities involved with respect to records creation, records maintenance and use, and records disposition in order to achieve adequate and proper documentation of the policies and transactions of the Federal Government and effective and economical management of agency operations."
Along with data processing and telecommunications, records management is an integral part of information resources management (IRM). IRM is concerned with the creation, maintenance and use, and disposition of information as well as with related resources, or assets, such as personnel, equipment, funds, and technology. In accordance with 44 U.S.C. 3504, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) works with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the General Services Administration (GSA) to promote the coordination of Federal information policy, including records management. (For more details on OMB's role in IRM, see OMB Circular No. A-130, Management of Federal Information Resources.)
In setting forth records management responsibilities, Federal law requires each agency head to make and preserve records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency and designed to furnish the information necessary to protect the legal and financial rights of the Government and of persons directly affected by the agency's activities (44 U.S.C. 3101)
The agency head must also "establish and maintain an active, continuing program for the economical and efficient management of the records of the agency" (44 U.S.C. 3102). This means establishing continuous and systematic control over the creation, maintenance and use, and disposition of agency records in accordance with statutory and regulatory requirements. It also involves cooperating with NARA and GSA to improve records management.
Recordkeeping Requirements
Central to the proper management of recorded information is the concept of recordkeeping requirements. These requirements are statements in laws, regulations, or agency directives providing general and specific guidance on particular records to be created and maintained by an agency. Since each agency is legally obligated to create and maintain adequate and proper documentation of its organization, functions, and activities, it needs to issue recordkeeping requirements for all activities at all levels and for all media and to distinguish records from nonrecord materials and personal papers.
Agency recordkeeping requirements apply to both the creation and maintenance of records. In accordance with NARA regulations (36 CFR 1222), these requirements should prescribe the systematic creation and maintenance of all agency records.
The Life Cycle of Records
According to the life cycle concept, records go through three basic stages:
- creation (or receipt),
- maintenance and use, and
- disposition.
All three stages of the records life cycle are interrelated. Thus an agency must coordinate its programs to manage records creation, maintenance and use, and disposition so that each program supports the others.
