ABSTRACT
The capability to manage corporate information well is
fundamental to any successful organisation. The need to create and maintain
recordkeeping standard identifies the key requirements for successful
information management for recordkeeping purposes. This standard sets out a
systematic approach to ensure organisational information can be managed
efficiently; that it can be found when needed; and it can be relied upon to
support informed decision making and effective service delivery. Adopting
standard across both central and local government will improve knowledge
sharing within and between organisations. Common outcomes can be achieved by
using shared approaches and processes. This study sought to find out the role
of records and archives management standards in enhancing the quality of
records
INTRODUCTION
A standard is a
published document, a form of scientific and technical literature that sets out
specifications and procedures designed to ensure that a material, product,
process, method or service is fit for its purpose and perform in the same way
it was intended.
Standards establish a
common language, which defines quality and establishes safety criteria. The
main role of standards is to enhance universability of materials, products,
processes and methods to enhance interoperability across different regions. A
standard will ensure for instance, that an electrical plug manufactured in
Kenya can fit in a socket manufactured in Japan.
A standard exists as de
facto or de jure. De facto standards are those that are a norm or requirement,
which has an informal but dominant status De jure standards are those that are
a legal requirement.
Records and archives
management standards are those that have been developed to control and guide
the records management function.
A number of standards
have been developed to guide the management of records to ensure
professionalism and uniformity across the world. The common national and
international archival standards that guide the profession are:
1.
Information and Documentation-Records Management (ISO 15489)
The ISO 15489 is an
international standard for records management developed by the International
Standard Organization (ISO). The standard was developed based on the Australian
AS 4390-1996 Records Management Standard.
This standard provides
guidance on managing records of originating organizations, public or private,
for internal and external clients. The standard also applies to the management
of records, in all formats or media, created or received by any public or
private organization in the conduct of all its activities or any individual
with a duty to create and maintain records.
Roles
of the Standard
i.
The standard provides guidance on
determination of responsibilities of organizations for records and records
policies, procedures, systems and processes.
ii.
It provides guidance on records
management in support of quality process framework to comply with ISO 9001 and
14001.
iii.
The standard provides guidance on the
design and implementation of a record system.
iv.
It does not include the management of
archival records within archival institutions
This
Standard has two parts
1
.Part1: This is marked as general, specifies the elements of
records management and defines the necessary results or outcomes to be achieved
2.
Part2: It provides guidelines that are supplementary to
part1;it provides a methodology of implementation of a records management
programme, the design and implementation of a records keeping systems(DIRKS)
model.
2 Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records (MoReq
Standard)
The European Commission,
commissioned the development of this model following an open completion in
1999. The model Requirement for the Management of Electronic Records (MoReq) is
therefore a regional standard within the European Union.
Roles
of the Standard
i.
It serves as a practical tool in helping
organizations meet their needs for the management of both computer-based and
paper-based records.
ii.
It assists records managers and
Archivists to manage electronic records with the desired levels of confidence
and integrity, by combining the advantages of electronic ways of working with
classical records management theory.
iii.
It also specifies and addresses
capabilities required for the management of electronic records by computer software.
The specifications avoid discussions of records management philosophy, archival
theory, decision taking. The specification mentions in several places that
certain functions must be limited to an administrator
General Roles of
Records management Standards.
Applying these standards assists public offices to:
create
trustworthy, useful and accountable records and information in evolving
business environments
·
ensure that meaningful, accurate,
reliable and useable records and information are available whenever required
for government business needs
·
sustain and secure the records and
information needed to support short and long term business outcomes
·
enable the reliable sharing of
relevant records and information
·
automate governance, sharing and
continuity processes
·
minimizes records and information
volumes, preventing unnecessary digital and physical storage and management
costs
·
Proactively protect and manage the
records and information that provide ongoing value to government business and
to the community for instance NSW.
Application
of Records Management Standards in Africa
Many of the African
countries do not have national records management standards. They however have
National Archival institutions, which serve as official advisors of their
respective government on management of records .These Archival institutions,
have been established mainly by acts of parliament, but the acts do not provide
specific guidance on records management
The only African
country that has made substantial steps in standardizing records management
practices is South Africa. The South African Country adopted the ISO 15489 as
its National Standard on records management (The SANS 15489 Records Management
Standard). Besides the ISO 15489 and the National Archives and Records Service
of South Africa Act 1996, as amended, South Africa has also additional
guidelines on records management and related functions outlined in records
management policy manual, managing electronic records in governmental bodies;
policy guidelines and performance criteria for records managers of governmental
bodies
Application
of Records Management Standards in Kenya
Whereas the activity of
records management standard has existed in Kenya since its inception as
non-formal and formal, official recognition of records management came into
being in 1965 with the enactment of the public archives act of the laws of Kenya
(Githaka1996) which was revised to be known the Kenya Public Archives and
Documentation Service Act (cap19) of the laws of the Kenya. This Act gives the
director of the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service (KNADS) the
power to examine any public records and advice on their care, preservation,
custody and control.
Since 1965 to date,
Kenya has not yet developed a national standard on records management. Even the
KNADS itself as the official advisor of the government on public records
management has not yet developed an internal standard on records management.
But Archivists in Kenya have always seen the need to support standard and
guidelines.
Records management have
largely relied on the efforts of KNADS and various guidelines issued from the
office of the president(OP) and the directorate of Personnel Management(DPM)
through various ministries and departments.
Among
the circulars have been:
i.
The office of the president circular
No.OP/48A/66 of Nov. 1985 on destruction of non-current government records.
ii.
The OP circular No.OP/39/2A of
14.04.1999 on cases of missing and lost files and documents in public Service.
iii.
The D.P.M circular No. DPM/1/20/112 on
the management and disposal of personnel records
There has however not
been any directive from the government recognizing the ISO 15489 (2001), which
is the international standard on records management that ordinarily Kenya being
a member ought to have adopted.
IN CONCLUSION
Students
with an interest in Archives and Records Management are urged to strengthen
their capabilities to effectively integrate Standards in records management in
order to be successful Archivists and Records Managers.
REFERENCES
2.
Best,
D. (2002). Effective Records
Management. A Management Guide to the Value of ISO15489-1. BSI.
3.
Stewart
and Melesco, N.M. (2000). Professional Records and Information Management, 2nd
Edition. Osborne: McGraw-Hill.
