Many organisations have special protocols for document handling in order to comply with governmen regulation, conform to industry standards, or adhere to their own internal rules of corporate governance. By Greg Milliken, President of M-Files, Inc

In these cases, documents are valued not just as a means to conduct the business of the present, but also as evidence of activities in the past.

Legally speaking, when documents contain any information regarding internal company processes, transactions, or decision-making, they reach the status of a “record.”

Record management (RM) is a formalised and comprehensive methodology for handling these important documents; a discipline that long predates digital systems. Whether for paper or digital files, records management applies a consistent set of rules to each stage of the life cycle of a record, from its origination (creation or receipt) to its eventual disposition (transfer or destruction).

Although records management and electronic document management are two separate concepts, technological automation plays a large role in achieving record management objectives, as electronic formats are now commonly accepted as legal evidence.

There are many reasons why solutions to RM mandates are increasingly in demand. Organisations that have maintained RM systems over a long period of time have likely updated their system in piecemeal fashion as necessary during its existence, and largely because of this, now lack comprehensive scope or compatibility with newer systems.

Companies that employ record management systems gain the benefits of digital document management plus additional capabilities that help them fulfill legal or regulatory compliance requirements.

DM benefits:
• No lost or misfiled documents
• Faster, more responsive search
• Less paper file storage and expense
• Consistent organisation of company documents

RM includes DM benefits as well as:
• Historic record archiving
• Audit trails for official use
• Records series or inventory IDs
• Full life-cycle record preservation
• Automatic responses to retention schedules
• Determination of chain of custody of record
sets

Choosing the Right DMS Approach for RecordsMetadata and workflow improvement solutions exist to handle all types of RM requirements. The challenge in RM system selection is to find a platform that is flexible enough to customise to an organisation’s specific compliance situation,
and contains all the capabilities demanded by defined RM parameters.

It is critical to conduct a thorough needs assessment, while also applying the governing RM rules to the particulars of the organisation, and devoting the resources needed to achieve the desired RM outcomes. To identify the ideal RM solution, inquire if the system has the ability to:
• Place controls on items based on the record life cycle
• Respond to custom search queries based on record property fields, retention dates, disposition rules, full text content, and record series ID
• Export query results into an abstract report, such as an Excel spreadsheet
• Allow audits of user and record histories

In some cases, solution developers employ experienced RM representatives that can work directly with the compliance officer of the governing organisation to better understand their specific records management procedures, and determine the nature and extent of configurations necessary to achieve their RM objectives. An experienced and knowledgeable RM representative can also assist in the set-up and deployment phases.

Today it is possible for systems to achieve the objectives of a corporate records manager with minimal interference with how employees already work. In this “transparent records management” environment, employees simply “check-in” or “check-out” the files they need, and never have to deal with record matters concerning series codes, retention dates, transfers, and so on. RM solutions that deliver this level of power, flexibility and ease-of-use can improve productivity while meeting critical RM mandates and requirements.

Greg Milliken is the president of M-Files Inc., the developer of M-Files professional document management software represented in Australia by solution provider Informatic http://www.infomatic.com.au/