What's the difference between file management, document management and records management?
Stephen Bounds — Thu, 03/06/2010 - 12:14
My boss asked me this question just the other day. I think most professionals in the space intuitively understand that they are different, but we don't often articulate why.
Here's my take:
- File management is about hierarchy and storage capacity
- can be a virtual hierarchy of electronic folders, or a physical containment structure such as warehouse / shelf / box / file
- doesn’t care about the contents of individual files, it is “black box” management based on file labels
- Document management is about providing effective controls on documents through their lifespan
- templating and metadata, including tracking of related documents
- version and revision control
- workflows (including sign off and publication)
- Records management is about tracking business decisions and actions
- not simply documenting the decisions and actions, but also all information required to contextualise and justify them
- needs strong controls for evidentiary purposes
- must be able to demonstrate the authenticity and integrity of records kept
- control rights of people to read or modify records
- track when actions to create or change records were taken and by whom
Comments
Tomer Keidar (not verified) — Sun, 06/06/2010 - 05:31
Hi Stephen,
In my organization, we too are living those differences.
One point: What about the difference between traditional records management and electronically born records management?
Do you have any regulation in this subject at your homeland?
Tomer
Stephen Bounds — Sun, 06/06/2010 - 09:03
Hi Tomer,
In Australia, the legislation doesn't really distinguish between electronic and physical records but there are interesting practice differences.
Our guiding government agency for recordkeeping (the NAA) provides fairly detailed recommendations on appropriate electronic record storage techniques and particularly on digital preservation but I think it's fair to say that government agency practice, as a rule, hasn't kept up.
In the legal arena, there have been some interesting developments with the Federal Court having a practice note outlining standard practices on electronic discovery (updated several times since the first practice note was released in 2000).
And in the state of Victoria a landmark piece of legislation was passed in 2006 formalising penalties in the case of deliberate document destruction, including the option for a judge to instruct a jury to presume liability.
The Victorian issue was not specifically targeting electronic records, but in practice this was where it had the greatest impact since the act of deleting an email from an inbox became (in theory) a punishable offence if the reason for that deletion was to shield the organisation from potential future litigation.
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