ELECTRONIC BUSINESS RECORD MANAGEMENT

ELECTRONIC BUSINESS RECORD MANAGEMENT

Nurul Nabila bt Helmi Zamir

Faculty of Information Management, Universiti Teknologi Mara,

Selangor, Malaysia

ELECTRONIC BUSINESS RECORD MANAGEMENT

Abstract:  Research should be conducted to formulate the principles which will guide the development of international policy, national and organization, strategy and standards, criteria specific to each type of policy, strategy and standards, procedures and methods for their implementation. The most important thing is to ensure that policies, strategies and standards are consistent with each other, and this can only be done when they are based on the same concept and inspired by the same principles. Concepts, laws and models of various fields should be useful to foster the transfer from one field to another, to encourage the development of theory in the field of trade and emerging investigation, to eliminate duplication of effort theory in different fields, and to promote consistent scientific knowledge. However, in order to develop a body of knowledge of records management, concept, legal and diplomatic archives model must be brought to bear.

Keywords:      Records management, Information management, Electronic Record Management, Business Record.

1.0       INTRODUCTION

            According to Duranti (2010), an electronic record can be defined in a contextualize way by identifying and defining its necessary and sufficient components in such a manner that they can be recognized and captured by a digital information system. A diplomatic analysis of various types of electronic records shows that the necessary and sufficient components of an electronic record are the same as those of its traditional counterpart, although they may reveled themselves in different ways.

            Most record are not created in paper anymore as computer system has taken place in more efficient and modern way to preserve materials into regular work processes.  Information is being created in digital medium which commonly known as digital born and rated increasingly. It has been indicated that 97 percent of most information is now created and maintained electronically.

1.1       OBJECTIVE

·         To provide policies, standards, and guidelines for electronic records management in      business

·         To provide technical solutions to help managing all formats of electronic records in      business.

1.2       ELECTRONIC RECORD MANAGEMENT BUSINESS DRIVERS

There are several business drivers which indicate the need for solutions to manage electronic record are e-discovery, e-record vulnerability, increasing use of technology, government records access and management, loss of investment, efficiency, online storage costs and lastly archival professional guidelines.

2.0       DISCUSSION

2.1       PROBLEMS PRESENTED BY ELECTRONIC RECORDS

The majority of records are less reliable, can be returned or accessible than ever before, one of the ironies of modern information era . This is the reason why organizations and individuals create a record in a variety of media and formats. It is common for records associated with a single thing exist partly in paper files, partly in an e-mail box, and partly in a spreadsheet application or in a relational database. It was concluded that although the physical maintenance is an issue with the electronic record, it is not a major issue. The biggest challenge with which we present digital systems is the creation and maintenance of reliable records and the maintenance of its validity over time. It is important for any organization that can record up to facts that they are about, namely, that their content can be trusted.

It is equally important that, in time, those records can be proved to be what they designed to be, immune from any sort of damage and corruption, that is, that they are trustworthy as records. Records’ reliability depends on the degree of completeness of their form and on the degree of control exercised over their procedure of creation. Records’ authenticity depends on their mode, form and state of transmission as drafts, originals or copies, and on the manner of their preservation and custody. It is necessary that the international community of records professionals develop strategies, procedures and standards capable of meeting the challenge presented by the creation and maintenance of reliable records and the preservation of authentic records.

1.2              ENSURING RECORDS RELIABILITY

In light of what has been discussed above, in addition to the traditional body of rules governing the making, receiving, routing, annotating and setting aside of records, further requirements must be introduced for the specific control of electronic records, aimed to ensure their reliability such as:

                                i.           compiling records according to pre-defined standard formats and templates

                              ii.           authenticating records using pre-established methods, depending on record type and function

                            iii.           embedding in the electronic records system access privileges, by assigning to each person who has access to the electronic system, on the basis of clearly identified competencies, the authority to compile, classify, annotate, read, retrieve, transfer, or destroy only specific groups of records

                            iv.            embedding in the electronic records system “workflow rules” according to which the system will present only the person competent for each action with the related records and will solicit the making of the appropriate record at the proper time in the automatic development of the procedure

                              v.            Limiting access to the technology or to parts of it by means of magnetic cards, passwords, finger prints, etc.

                            vi.            Designing within the electronic system an audit trail, so that any access to the system and its consequences (e.g. a modification to the record, a deletion, an addition) can be documented as they occur.

2.3       ENSURING RECORDS AUTHENTICITY

One major difference between electronic and non-electronic records is that last saved authentic by keeping them in the form and delivery conditions in which they were made or received and set aside the same, while the former kept refreshingly authentic by continuous and periodic migration. In other words, as a refreshing generate a complete reproduction of both content and formal elements of the record; the resulting record can be considered a faithful copy of the original record.  Migrations instead, regenerate the content of the record, with changes in the configuration and format often have a ripple effect on other components of the record. Therefore, migration always involves some measure of loss. It is important to:

·         Identify for each type of electronically produced records by an organization components that ensure its authenticity from time to time

·         Assess whether those who are not visible to the user can be viewed and stabilized by connecting them relate to the intellectual form of the record

·         Determine whether, in cases where surgery is not possible, it would be possible and advisable to transfer the relevant records to digital form rather than as microfilm

·         Adopt and ratify within a documented procedure for online migration and uninterrupted physical custody.

            When the records required by the creator in the ordinary and normal course of business, the control procedure on the creation of records and maintenance established to ensure their trust and continued reliance inventor on the products of the process of refreshing and migration are by themselves sufficient to confirm them. However, when the records are no longer needed by the creator of the record for doing business, but must be kept for any variety of reasons, the migration process should be done by the party who has no interest in the records' contents or existence. Finally, an authentic copy of the record date should be declared so by the proper documentation process. Historically, archival description always has the function to confirm a record by making clear and maintain their home and each other. Today, that role is enhanced by the need for continuous information transformation which should be the subject of electronic records time after time after time. Apparently, in the long run, the only reliable confirmation which will remain valid across cultures and the management is really external to record its confirmation.

                       

3.0       SIGNIFICANTS

3.1              ELECTRONIC RECORD MANAGEMENT STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION

The first significance is the strategy and implementation on electronic record management that needed to be pursued in order to get great results that are effective and efficient.  Through this significant, it will improve business quality and development.

3.2              UNDERSTANDING AGENCY REQUIREMENTS

It is crucial to work with agencies to understand agency requirements and identify funding strategies for the implementation of Electronic Record Management solutions.  It is also to identify ERM priorities within their business and services.

3.3              ESTABLISH THE ADVISORY GROUP

The purpose of establishing advisory group is to recommend and regularly review policies, guidelines and best practices for the creation, maintenance, long term preservation of and access to electronic records created.

4.0       ELECTRONIC RECORD APPRAISAL

            At this point, it might seem that the concerns of records creators for the trustworthiness of their records have been addressed in the most thorough way. And it would be so if the issue of appraisal did not raise its ugly head. The simple fact is that, with electronic records, appraisal appears at the centre and front of the records creation and maintenance processes. According to Dollar (1978), there is little consensus at this time on what is the appropriate framework for appraisal decisions. The questions that loom largest are:

·         When should electronic records be appraised?

·         How many times should electronic records be appraised?

·         What should be appraised: records, functions or both?

·         Who should be responsible for appraisal?

·         At what level of record or function aggregation should appraisal take place?

            This problem is provoked by the fact that any questions may have multiple answers that are different, but equally valid, depending on the qualifications provided. In addition, one may wonder whether the criteria for evaluation should be questioned and the most cherished axioms, such as that prohibiting the election of the files or records, be reviewed. This issue presents itself as records generated today in the electronic system which is quite different from their traditional counterparts. For example, a university student registration records' generated for students enrolled in the faculty and courses and stored to maintain and provide proof of registration, which will be used for various purposes. Therefore, this evidence documents must contain all the data needed to uniquely identify the student, to associate him or her to a special program of research, to establish the date of registration, examination and completion of the program, and to detect any changes to the above. This data typically records entries in a list called, covers one academic year and consists of a total or rolls of microfilm. The entire list of universities that make up a uniform and continuous series of records was established based on form and function. Independent of any consideration relating to the law and the relevant records research, priority registration function for any university, all the series are usually preserved.

4.0              CONCLUSION

            Research work needs to be carried out to formulate the principles that will guide the development of international, national and organizational policies, strategies and standards, the specific criteria for each type of policy, strategy and standard, and the procedural methods for their implementation. The most important thing is to ensure that the policies, strategies and standards are consistent with one another, and this is only possible when they are based on the same concepts and inspired by the same principles. Concepts, laws and models from various fields must be studied in order to foster useful transfers from the one field to the other, to encourage the development of theory in emerging areas of endeavor and investigation, to eliminate the duplication of theoretical efforts in different fields, and to promote consistency of scientific knowledge.

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