Records management


    Getting Started

    For the International Council on Archives, records management is the “field of administrative management responsible for achieving efficiency and economy in the creation, maintenance, use and disposal of records.” The ISO 15489-1:2001 standard titled Information and documentation. Defines records management as the “field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including processes for capturing, and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records.”

    It is essential that transparency laws incorporate high standards in records management, requiring administrative bodies to ensure access to all administrative actions, the grounds for such actions, and all other information in their possession, regardless of its format, medium, date of creation, origin, classification, or processing status. It´s objectives are the following:

    ✔ “To facilitate the identification, management, classification, organization, preservation and disposal of the public information of parliaments, throughout its entire life cycle,” 99 from its creation to its final disposal, for the purposes of permanent preservation or disposal, according to the general principles of “provenance”100 and “original order” of records in archival organization.

    ✔ To support and document policy making and decision making at a managerial level.

    ✔ To ensure the safekeeping, conservation, preservation, and dissemination of the documentary heritage of the parliament.

    ✔ To facilitate access to parliamentary information, through the implementation of policies and good practices for records management and archives, in the terms established in the Law on Transparency and the Right of Access to Public Information or other provisions or policies of the country.

    ✔ To optimize the quality of services provided to the public by having public information held by parliament readily available.

    Getting Started

    For the International Council on Archives, records management is the “field of administrative management responsible for achieving efficiency and economy in the creation, maintenance, use and disposal of records.” The ISO 15489-1:2001 standard titled Information and documentation. Defines records management as the “field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including processes for capturing, and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records.”

    It is essential that transparency laws incorporate high standards in records management, requiring administrative bodies to ensure access to all administrative actions, the grounds for such actions, and all other information in their possession, regardless of its format, medium, date of creation, origin, classification, or processing status. It´s objectives are the following:

    ✔ “To facilitate the identification, management, classification, organization, preservation and disposal of the public information of parliaments, throughout its entire life cycle,” 99 from its creation to its final disposal, for the purposes of permanent preservation or disposal, according to the general principles of “provenance”100 and “original order” of records in archival organization.

    ✔ To support and document policy making and decision making at a managerial level.

    ✔ To ensure the safekeeping, conservation, preservation, and dissemination of the documentary heritage of the parliament.

    ✔ To facilitate access to parliamentary information, through the implementation of policies and good practices for records management and archives, in the terms established in the Law on Transparency and the Right of Access to Public Information or other provisions or policies of the country.

    ✔ To optimize the quality of services provided to the public by having public information held by parliament readily available.

    Attributes for records management

    According to ISO 15489, all records management systems should serve as support for documents and should have the following characteristics shown on the right.For further information on each of the elements, please consult the publication Legislative transparency toolkit (pp.68-69).

    Guidelines for records management in parliaments

    Establishment of a records and archive management policy

    The objective of this policy is the creation and management of authentic, reliable, and usable archive records to support the functions and activities of parliament for as long as necessary.

    Establishment of duties and responsibilities within parliament

    It is crucial to establish the duties and responsibilities of the different categories of staff involved in records management.

    Strategy, design, and implementation of a Records Management System (RMS)

    Records and archive management must function as a system that allows the systematic tracking of archival records, from their incorporation into the Records Management System until their final disposal, through the establishment of parliament procedures regulating their safekeeping, storage, access, use, transfer, or disposal.

    The following flowchart shows the stages of the Designing and Implementing Record/Keeping systems (DIRKS) methodology for the implementation of a Records Management System, according to ISO 15489:1.

    Records Management System (RMS)

    ISO 30302 provides a practical guide on how to implement a records management system (RMS) in line with ISO 30301. The guide includes the following activities (to be carried out and how to document them. These activities are shown in the chart on the left.

    For further information on each of the elements, please consult the publication Legislative transparency toolkit (p.71)

    Records management on parliaments

    The chart on the right shows some of the elements of document management. 

    For further information on each of the elements, please consult the publication Legislative transparency toolkit (p.71).

    Some practical examples can be found below. For a more exhaustive list, we invite you to consult the Legislative transparency toolkit (p.72).

    Some practical examples can be found below. For a more exhaustive list, we invite you to consult the Legislative transparency toolkit (pp.73-74).

    Some practical examples can be found below. For a more exhaustive list, we invite you to consult the Legislative transparency toolkit (p.74).

    Some practical examples can be found below. For a more exhaustive list, we invite you to consult the Legislative transparency toolkit (pp.74-75).

    Some practical examples can be found below. For a more exhaustive list, we invite you to consult the Legislative transparency toolkit (pp.75-77).

    Good Practices

    The following practices have been submitted by parliamentarians and related stakeholders, and describe techniques that can be applied to:

    Records Management

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