Building the corporate memory in the e‐environment
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09565690310485261 |
| Published date | 01 August 2003 |
| Date | 01 August 2003 |
| Pages | 51-53 |
| Author | Paul Sutcliffe |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Introduction
In many organisations, the records
management function is seen as equating to
the role played on a broader scale by
organisations such as the Public Record
Office. It is a place to offload documents and
records once they are no longer of interest to
the people whose normal business role led to
the creation of those records. This perception
informs the general view of the records
manager: a special breed with a passionate
interest in ``dead'' information, inhabiting a
mysterious environment in dusty basements,
out of touch with the real world and the
commercial pressures which drive it.
Unsurprisingly therefore, records managers
are rarely consulted about plans for new
systems, and the lifecycle of the documents
and records that will be generated as a result.
As one senior manager in a large
multinational financial organisation said,
when it was pointed out that the new system
would generate a major archival headache in
about three years' time, ``If the system is
successful then in three years I will have been
promoted out of here. If it fails, then I will be
kicked out of here. Either way, it won't be my
problem''.
Initiatives such as Modernising
Government and Freedom of Information in
the UK public sector, and events such as
Enron in the private sector, have changed all
that; but ``not many people know it yet''.
There is still the view that ``public records''
are only those items destined for long-term
storage at the Public Record Office; that they
are somehow different from the records that
are needed to sustain normal business
operations. It has not yet generally been seen
that the role of the Public Record Office and
that of the corporate records manager have
fundamentally altered; that they are no longer
an afterthought but must play an active part
in the full document lifecycle. Fundamental
to this concept is the acceptance that the
record-keeping process begins when the
document is first created, and continues until
its eventual disposal.
To an extent this is brought about by the
nature of the records themselves. If an e-mail
is not captured as soon as it is generated, then
it may never be captured; or may be stored 20
times over. As soon as information is
published to the Web, then it becomes a
record, and a liability to the organisation
The author
Paul Sutcliffe is Director of Business Consulting at
InForm Consult Ltd, Lewes, UK. He can be contacted at
paul.sutcliffe@inform-consult.com or by telephone on
+44 (0) 1273 400084.
Keywords
Records management, Knowledge management
Abstract
Focuses on the records management function in
organisations. Describes how organisations should
organise their most vital asset, which is information and
how they should harness the skills and expertise of their
most vital resource, which is their people.
Electronic access
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51
Records Management Journal
Volume 13 .Number 2 .2003 .pp. 51-53
#MCB UP Limited .ISSN 0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/09565690310485261
Opinion piece
Building the corporate
memory in the
e-environment
Paul Sutcliffe
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