Welcome!
Records Management
July 21, 2014
Good Management of Records
Serve as evidence of relationship
between City and its citizens
 Document current service transactions
 Prove that statutes, regulations,
ordinances have been executed
 Document history of community
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What is a Record?
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All documents, tapes, or other
information STORED OR PRESERVED
in any medium belong to any city, which
is supported in whole or in part with
property tax revenue
Tangible object
 Digital
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What is Records Management?
The practice of maintaining records of an
organization throughout their lifecycle
(from the time they are created until they
are disposed of)
 Records Management Programs must
be capable of delivering precise
information to its users
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Why Set Up a Records Management Program?
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Control the Creation and Growth of Records
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Reduce Operating Costs
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Limits the generation of records or copies not required to
operate
Provides a means for destroying useless records
Filing equipment
Office space
Staffing
Improve Efficiency and Productivity
 Ensure Regulatory Compliance
Why Set Up a Records Management Program?
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Minimize Litigation Risks
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Safeguard Vital Information
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By providing for systematic routine disposal
Preserve integrity and confidentiality
Support Better Management DecisionMaking
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Ability to provide information when it is
needed
Why Set Up a Records Management Program?
Preserve Corporate Memory
 Foster Professionalism
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Perceptions of customers
 Morale of staff members
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Setting Up a Records Management System
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Plan and analyze information needs of office
Survey those who create and use documents
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Core Committee
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Devise and recommend policies
Physically inventory all records
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Appraise value (administrative/fiscal/historical)
Decide status (active/inactive)
Identify retention period (permanent/disposable)
Storage location
Identify need for Records Retention Schedule
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Based on legal requirements/organizational policies
Records Retention Schedule
Must be based on legal requirements
prescribed by the Iowa Code
 What documents are kept, where they
are kept, and by whom they are kept
 Specifically states how long a document
must be retained
 Inventories are core component
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Standard Naming Conventions
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Benefits:
All users able to retrieve document(s)
 Allow sorting in logical sequence
 Duplication is prevented
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Determine how users will be retrieving
information
Housing Records
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Retrieval Efficiency
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Space Reduction
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Maximum access to records
Allow for best use of available space
Cost Efficiency
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Vertical-drawer filing
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Most costly
Requires more floor space
More physical time and effort
No visual retrieval aids (color-coding)
Housing Records
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Cost Efficiency (cont’d.)
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Rotating Closed Lateral Filing Units
Offer good security
 Require large area
 Cost per linear filing inch is several times higher
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Open-Shelving Units
File capacity substantially higher
 Best for large filing systems
 Allows for color-coding
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Housing Records
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Weight/Floor Load Considerations
Paper records –heaviest materials in office
 Check before purchasing!
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Disposal of Records
Ensure compliance with policies
 Records Destruction Log
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Name of record
 Date it was destroyed
 Proves compliance with retention policies
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Indexing Records
Integral part that allows you to retrieve a
record in the most efficient manner
 Accurate file naming
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Consistent naming practices
 Customized subject categories
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Never index by date
Scanning
Not a quick-fix to records management
woes
 One step in the management of
documents
 Costly – labor and equipment
 Also requires maintenance
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Delete records when no longer useful
Files Management System
Demonstration of Files Management
System.
Thank you!!!
References
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Ten Business Reasons for Records
Management in Information and Records
Management: Document-based Information
Systems, Robek, Brown, Stephens
 http://Creative Commons.org/licenses
 Code of Iowa, Chapter 22
 Records Management Society, Information
Guidelines