e. bryan - governance - information management

8/9/2019 E. Bryan - Governance - Information Management

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What are Records?Records are recorded information regardless of medium or characteristics. Records can

be defined as "Information created, received and maintained as evidence and

information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the

transaction of business".

(ISO 154891, 2001)

The old adage, What I cannot see would not hurt me has never before, in the history

of the world, been further away from the truth than it is today, especially in government.

In this Information Age, the evidence of our activities, present or past, professional or

private, is now also recorded in electronic format. Even more significant is the pace at

which the various platforms and media for the storage of electronic records change. Are

the people managing these electronic records aware of the vulnerabilities associated

with these new technologies? Are policy makers (including permanent secretaries)

aware of their responsibility to oversee the recordkeeping process as the organizations

responsible officer?

These are challenges that Barbadian policymakers and information professionals across

the public service are grappling with. Whatever the nature of business, ministry or

department, it must be recognized as a vital underpinning, that the development of a


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strategy for managing recorded information across all platforms (both traditional paper

based and electronic) is paramount. That strategy must conform to the prevailing legal

mandates, as well as reflect management practices and technological options.

Legal Aspects of Records Management: The Records RetentionSchedule

The Records Retention Schedule

A records retention schedule identifies the length of time a records series must be retained in

active and inactive storage before its final disposition to permanent storage, archival

preservation, or destruction.

When organizations sanction the destruction of records in the normal course of

business, the employment of a retention schedule should provide evidence to show that

the organization has an official policy for disposing of its records in compliance with any

legislation affecting the organization. This can help the organization avoid certain legal

problems associated with illegal and arbitrary disposal of records.

There are usually many outside regulations that oblige Records Managers to apply

consistent, structured management to their organizations documents. These apply

equally to our electronic documents. A sampling may include:

o Government legislation which may require employers to destroy sensitiveinformation (such as personal employees/ data) after a specified time, or to keep

certain legal documents for a minimum period.

o Adhering to a consistent schedule of retention and destruction will strengthenthe defence of an organizations recordskeeping, should it be required to do so


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by any court action. Courts accept records as evidence if they are managed

according to corporately sanctioned policies and procedures.

o Records management helps us identify those documents that should have aformal certification process applied for destruction. In some cases, the CEO/

Permanent Secretary/ an archivists consent may be required prior to destroying

any document.

o Legislation may require that vital documents (essential to the continuation of thebusiness in the event of a disaster) be properly identified, handled, and

monitored and properly protected.

o Access to Information/ Privacy legislation may oblige an organization to produceaccurate and reliable information at the right time. With sound records

management in place, it is less likely that the organization may find itself unable

to supply the requested information to the requester.

NB. A major legal objective and benefit of a retention scheduling programme is to serve

as evidence to indicate that the organization does, in fact, observe an official policy for

the disposal of its business information, and that this policy is implemented

systematically in the normal course of business.

A Legal Research Exercise

A sure way of minimizing or eliminating potential legal threats to ones company/

organization would be the development of a legal research plan with the organizations

legal representative/ counsel. This can be addressed by doing the following:


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1. Identify what general business activities may be subject to recordskeepingstatutes and regulations.

2. Identify what products or services that the organization may provide which couldbe subject to legal recordskeeping requirements. (e.g.; in the banking sector/

utilities companies which keep customers personal data by law).

3. Examine which of the organizations industries or business activities is currentlyor potentially be regulated by the government, and may thus be or become

subject to recordskeeping laws and regulations. NB. This may be best

approached by identifying which agency (ies) of government oversees the

organizations activities.

4. Research the organizations litigation history and what this history suggests interms of developing future records retention policies that would better protect

that organizations interests.

5.

Examine what future roles the legal counsel may wish to have in thedevelopment and operation of the organizations records retention programme.

6. Consideration for the geographical areas that the organization conducts itsbusiness.

Documenting the Legal Research

It is the recommended route to document the results of the legal research because the

organizations attorneys should be provided with complete legal research

documentation to enable them to determine whether the law has been reasonably and


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appropriately applied. Also, it may be necessary to, at some time in the future, do a

followup exercise, or to provide evidence to regulatory officials or in cases of litigation

that the organizations had done its best to comply fully with all the applicable legal

requirements. Some simple ways of doing this is to:

post the proper statutory or regulatory citation of all legal requirements on allrecords inventory worksheets;

make copies of relevant laws and regulations and file them as supporting papersalong with the inventory worksheets or in a separate file; or

post a summary of the legal requirements on the retention schedule themselvesor on a separate supporting documentation.

Emerson O. St. G. Bryan

Mr. Bryan has been a Records and Information Management practitioner for overtwelve (12) years; currently he is the Information and Document ManagementSpecialist with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) in Barbados.And has worked with several regional organizations including: the United NationsDepartment of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), the Caribbean Centre forDevelopment Administration (CARICAD), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs andForeign Trade of Jamaica.

He is also an Associate Consultant/ Trainer at Lorson Resources Limited, theRecords and Information Company of the Caribbean, which is based in Trinidad andTobago, see: www.lorsonresources.com/seminar1.asp

Contact: [email protected]

e. bryan - governance - information management

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