RECORDS MANAGEMENT A BASIS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE

Have you ever imagined the role of records and governance? in my own view,Without records there can be no rule of law and no accountability.  Public servants must have information to carry out their work, and records represent a particular and crucial source of information.  In many countries around the world, record-keeping systems and in particular Records provide a reliable, legally verifiable source of evidence of decisions and actions. 

 Moreover, the public suffers when inadequate information systems affect the delivery of programmes.  All aspects of public service, including health, education, pensions, land and judicial rights, depend upon well-kept and well-managed records.

 Records management forms a basis f good governance summarily in the following ways;

Records management Demonstrate accountability, transparency and good governance in society. 

Records help to remove corrupt practices by providing evidence of  corrupt  activities which have been undertaken by organizational individuals. Good governance is characterized by predictable and enhanced policy making; it also embraces a bureaucracy which has professional ethics and acting to achieve public good, rule of law, transparent process and a strong civil society particularly in public affairs. 

  Good Governance Entitles

• Respect for human rights and rule of law,
• openness of plans and decisions of organization individual and organizational accountability
• Ethical conduct of individuals

 Enhance management decision making

 This is contained in organizations records such as policies, rules and procedures. This contributes to good and effective decision making processes

 Preserve the corporate memory of the organization

Organization needs to preserve accurate records in order  to understand the past and plan for the future , without proper records  the organization  is at mercy of impulse and prejudice and therefore this creates gaps in the history of an organization

Litigation support

Many organizations are using courts as a forum of addressing their concerns and also as avenues of recourse, organizations rely on records to provide evidence of their professional actions .

 Management of Human Resources and Performance of measurement

 The work of organizational employees is usually documented on records which can be used to write appraisal reports, performance   reports, and promotional reports and even for retrenchment purposes. Records assist in measuring performance of the organizations in terms of meeting the objectives.

Protection of Human and employee rights

Records are used to protect the employee rights  as per law requirements example pension records of personnel, property records, social security records .Unavailability of those records may lead to delays hence  an abuse of employees rights.

The ability of government to protect the rights of its citizens and to improve citizen government interaction is a critical issue in an increasingly electronic environment.  The rights and entitlements of citizens are based on records.  The ability of a government to continue to respect these rights and entitlements is based on the quality of the policies, standards and practices employed for the care of those records. 

Historical reference

 Records usually document the past of a country to provide information to bridge history gaps and also  interpreting historical  myths.

Policy formulations

Archives contribute towards formulation  of  professional standards, guidelines, procedures and manuals on proper use, maintenance and disposal of records. Archives ensure that the developed rule, guidelines and standards conform to national and international norms and standards. Archives also contribute towards professional ethics that make people in the society have moral ethical conduct. Any society needs laws and regulations to follow. For instance archives prohibits unauthorized removal or destruction or willful mutilation of public records by any member of the society as provided in section 8-12 of act is liable for conviction or a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months.

The business and Accountability domain

In this case   records underpin missions of a system in terms of decision  making process. This is where records are used to enhance the business legal, social and moral obligations of an organization.

Thus Records are vital to virtually every aspect of the governance process.  The effectiveness and efficiency of the public service across the range of government functions depends upon the availability of and access to information held in records.  Badly managed records adversely affect the broad scope of public service reforms. 

WHATS RECORDS MANAGEMENT?

Records Management (RM) is a field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records.

Records management is an evidence of organizations activities and daily operations .

Records management is often seen as an unnecessary or low priority administrative task that can be performed at the lowest levels within an organization. However, this perception is changing as these publicized events have demonstrated that records management is in fact the responsibility of all individuals within an organization.

Records management is the process by which an organization:

• Determines what kinds of information should be considered records.
• Determines how active documents that will become records should be handled while they are being used, and determines how they should be collected after they are declared to be records.
• Determines in what manner and for how long each record type should be retained to meet legal, business, or regulatory requirements.
• Researches and implements technological solutions and business processes to help ensure that the organization complies with its records management obligations in a cost-effective and non-intrusive way.
• Performs records-related tasks such as disposing of expired records or locating and protecting records that are related to external events such as lawsuits.

Records management is therefore a very important aspect in daily operation of any organization  or institution. which must be well ventured and exploited.