Briefing Notes
Modules 1 - 4
1. Records Management Infrastructure
2. Records and accountability/anti-corruption
3. Records, payroll, and personnel control
4. Electronic governance and electronic records
Current Records Management, Poverty Reduction, and Corruption Control
A multi-site videoconference workshop with Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda
Tuesday, June 6, 2000
Records Management Reforms
Why?
Poor records and information management hinders efforts to build institutional capacity
in the public sector. Well-managed records, as documentary evidence, provide the
foundation for good governance and the rule of law. Records management also provides
a basis for poverty reduction. Governments cannot deliver services effectively to the poor
in the absence good records. Moreover, communities need information on policies and
programs if they are to influence service delivery and demand accountability. Accurate,
complete, and verifiable records, provide the basis for holding officials accountable; in
their absence, information can be manipulated, transparency becomes impossible, and
fraud flourishes.
What to Do?
Modern governments create such large quantities of records that it is easy to loose control
unless there is a well defined infrastructure and well managed systems. The lack of
investment in record-keeping systems over long periods of time has led to a serious
decline in the quality of records in many countries. A strategic, long-term approach is
essential to building and sustaining solutions.
Effective service delivery requires a modern comprehensive framework, including the
following components:
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establish a legislative framework to define responsibilities for managing records
create or strengthen the organisational framework for managing records from
the point of creation to destruction or preservation as archives
improve the physical infrastructure (renovate record offices in creating
ministries, departments and agencies, construct an intermediate records centre,
refurbish the national archives)
train records staff at all levels in the theory and practice of managing records.
Requirements for a successful records management programme include:
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a clear strategy for information management
a senior champion
a well-trained and well-motivated records management staff
agreed targets and time lines
clearly identified performance indicators
well established links to other reform initiatives which ultimately depend upon
reliable, accurate information.
So What?
Badly managed records affect the development of any nation. Administrators waste
valuable time searching for information, experience frustrations in carrying out their
work, and are forced to take decisions on an ad hoc basis. Citizens suffer from
inadequate services, and their rights are not protected. Innocent people may be detained
for years in remand, while hardened criminals may go free. Patients may die as a result
of incomplete or incorrect medical records. Land rights may be denied.
Other significant issues to consider include:
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the ways in which records management impedes effective public sector
management
the need to articulate records management issues as a core component of public
sector reform strategy
the means of developing a well motivated and well trained records management
profession
the requirement for a purpose built records centre to hold records which must be
retained legally but are not required for current administration.
Accountability Initiatives,
Anti-Corruption Strategies, and Records
Why?
Where accountability is weak, either by denial or lack of demand, power tends to be
abused for private gain. In countries throughout the world, public concern about the scale
of corruption has focused attention on the need for greater financial accountability aimed
at enhancing the use of limited resources toward the objective of poverty elimination.
Government accountability is communicated through information. The public needs
information in order to assess the performance of government, whether is through audit
reports to the legislature or the capacity of the news media to ascertain facts. Wellmanaged records provide legally verifiable evidence of policies, actions, transactions, and
entitlements, and are, therefore, the fundamental source of information for accountability.
Corruption may or may not involve fraud, but most fraud involves tampering with or
falsifying records, including:
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the use or presentation of false, incorrect or incomplete documents, which results in
the misappropriation funds
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non-disclosure of information in violation of a specific obligation
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the misuse of funds for purposes other than those for which they were originally
granted.
Records reflect the mis-classification, wrong description, and under-evaluation of goods
and services.
What to Do?
A records management system is a control system that reinforces other controls, thereby
reducing the opportunity to tamper with or remove records. When allied with internal
audit, records management provides a valuable deterrent to fraud.
Strong records management controls will not eliminate fraud, but they will tighten the
controls on fraud. Records management systems strengthen controls on access to
records, tighten physical security, track the movement and use of records, and enhance
the quality of information, all of which are crucial for holding public officials responsible
for their actions. Key actions to consider are:
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strengthen the role of the national archives/ records management service in setting
and monitoring policies and standards for records management across government,
including financial and procurement records
establish standards for record keeping systems and document formats
implement standard and systematic records management systems to control access
to records in both paper and electronic systems
improve the registration, tracking, and control documentation of records in order to
provide an audit trail and control inputs and outputs to financial management systems
introduce regular audits of records systems
encourage a culture for creating, maintaining, and using records, including obtaining
and retaining the commitment of legislators, senior public officials, and high ranking
civil servants
strengthen the link between records managers and auditors.
So What?
In an era of scarce resources and rising public expectations, records provide a vital
means of demonstrating accountability and ensuring that funds are used for the benefit of
the whole society. Where record systems are weak, perpetrators can easily collude with
insiders who are in a position to authorise transactions by deliberately destroying,
suppressing, and falsifying records.
Regular record system audits can serve to detect fraud and recover loss at an early stage,
thus reducing financial losses attributed to repetitive fraud. Even where the sums
recovered may be relatively small, an effective recovery mechanism can in itself act as a
powerful deterrent. Once fraud is detected, records can provide a trail for investigators
to track the root of corruption.
Other significant issues to consider include:
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difficulties experienced by auditors in auditing poorly managed records
the consequences of poorly kept records for the production of annual accounts
difficulties experience by public commissions of public enquiry or courts of law in
proving fraud in the absence of well-kept records
the implications of poorly kept records for the capacity of the public, through
public accounts committees, the ombudsman, the judiciary, or other bodies
reporting to the legislature, or through the media, to hold governments accountable.
Payroll and Personnel Controls and Personnel Records
Why?
Improved human resource and payroll management is central to current development
policy thinking. Yet, in many countries it is rare to find personnel files that are complete.
Payroll databases often include inaccurate or out-of-date information.
Although public sector reform programs typically anticipate a significant reduction in the
size of the public service, many governments are unable to find the basic information
needed to achieve this, including accurate information on staff numbers or details of their
grades and location. Moreover, as governments shift their focus from reforms directed at
reducing employment and restraining real wage growth, to reforms to improve the
incentive structure of the civil service and strengthen human resource policies, the need
to access accurate and complete personnel records becomes more pressing
Integrated computerised payroll and personnel systems provide a means of improving the
quality and availability of personnel and payroll information. However, for the
foreseeable future these systems must to be complemented by paper records. This
particularly important in rural areas where infrastructure and resource constraints can
make the sustainability of automated solutions problematic. Paper-based records are
required to provide:
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Audit evidence: personal files should contain the information needed to explain
and authorise changes to the payroll pertaining to an individual, including
supporting documentation
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Evidence of contract: personal files document the contractual relationship between
employer and employee and the employee’s career history in the organisation. The
information held in these records is used to make decisions about suitability for
promotion, transfer or, in some cases, disciplinary action. Most importantly the
records provide the authority for determining pension entitlements for the
employee and dependent family members.
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Protection of individual rights: personal files contain documents that may have an
effect on other rights, including promotion prospects, eligibility for training, right
to entitlements, including pensions, medical contributory schemes and insurance.
Moreover, personnel records provide the basis for all aspects of personnel management,
including:
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recruitment and selection
employment (promotion, transfers, disciplinary procedures, termination and
redundancy)
education and training
pay administration
health, safety, and welfare.
In order to serve the objects of the employer and the employee, personnel records must be
trustworthy in terms of their accuracy, completeness, and verifiability.
What to Do?
The procedures and controls required for establishing the integrity and authenticity of
electronically held personnel information are as important as the technology itself. These
include controls to ensure that the systems have been documented adequately, including
any subsequent modification. Paper records, besides being evidence and the vehicle for
transmitting authorisations, form the basis for assuring the integrity of computer-held
personnel and pay data.
Establishing sound personnel record systems involves the following actions:
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decongest registries of redundant personnel records
improve the content of personnel files
improve the tracking and retrieval of personal files
identify data sources for pay and personnel information
establish change control processes that trigger the updating and transfer of relevant
data
establish a culture of service delivery among records staff through training,
performance measurement, and incentives.
So What?
The consequences of not addressing the relationship between the paper and electronic
records are the waste of resources in creating an inaccurate electronic system, the
proliferation of ghost workers, difficulties in verifying and paying out pensions, problems
with implementing merit-based promotion, and the potential loss of entitlements.
Other significant issues to consider include:
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problems in tracking and retrieving personnel files
the types of information need to be captured in a personnel file
what information should be stored electronically and what information must be
stored on paper
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the impact of decentralisation on the management of personnel information,
particularly in relation to the exchange of information between central government
and rural areas.
Electronic Governance and Electronic Records
Why?
Advances in information and communication technologies provide the opportunity for
governments throughout the world to improve the delivery of information and services to
citizens and businesses, to streamline public sector functions, and to increase
participation in government. In some instances this is just a matter of providing
electronic access to existing information. In others, electronic services, such as land
searches or submission of tax returns, are being delivered on-line. Electronic government
has the potential to transcend constraints imposed by distance and increase the speed of
service delivery, but it also poses a number of challenges for accountability, the rule of
law and the maintenance of organisational memory.
There is a fundamental tension between information technology and the lawyer’s need for
reliable evidence. IT makes it possible to process, manipulate, reformat, and change
information easily; lawyers need evidence that does not change. In the United States
successive administrations have faced high profile law cases over the failure of the White
House to preserve and make available electronic mail messages (for example, the IranContra scandal during the Reagan administration and the ongoing Monica Lewinsky law
suit).
Governments face increasing public pressure to demonstrate that they are accountable to
the courts and the legislature and to root out corruption or malpractice. As more
citizen/state interactions occur in electronic form, it is vital to ensure that electronic
systems support evidentiary record keeping. Citizens will expect that their rights are as
well protected and documented in an electronic environment as in a paper-based one.
This can only be achieved if the records generated through electronic government are
carefully managed through systems providing constant intellectual and physical control.
The aim must be to preserve the combination of content, context, and structure which
give electronic meaning over time, to protect the fragile media from degradation, and to
ensure efficient access.
What to Do?
Electronic government must be supported by a strong information management
framework. The following issues should be addressed:
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establish legislative and regulatory requirements for managing electronic records
strengthen the role of the national archives in implementing an electronic records
management policy for the public service
develop clear linkages between all government records regardless of media or
format
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implement policies for creation, maintenance and retention of electronic records
build the human resource and environmental capacity to manage electronic
records.
Above all it is important to remember that while technology makes electronic
government possible, the focus should remain on the provision of service and protection
of rights. Thus, electronic government is not something that can be implemented and
managed by a group of information technology professionals alone. Records managers
have a key role to play alongside the planners and developers of electronic government
programs.
So What?
If records issues are not addressed as part of electronic government initiatives, the result
will be a significant loss of information which will hamper the ability of the government
to deliver services, destroy accountability, and threaten the security of citizen/state
transactions.
Other significant issues to consider include:
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privacy protection issues in relation to records held by government and to
electronic commerce
security of transactions
vulnerability of electronic records to technological obsolescence, viruses and other
risks
migration of records from one system to another as technology changes
legal admissibility of electronic media
resource constraints in protecting electronic records, particularly in rural areas.