Overview of Records Management

Records management is a specialized business discipline concerned with the analysis and control of records in any format. Paper records continue to make up large volumes of recorded information and add to the mix of media in most
organizations.

Major objectives are:

•Recordkeeping compliance including legal, fiscal and administrative obligations
•Timely access and retrieval of records
•Reduction of storage costs due to retention periods and disposition of documents no longer needed
Records: recorded information in any format made or received by an organization for business activities, legal or administrative.
Our benefits and solutions:

•Automated systems reduce time associated with complex document retrieval
•Compliance with legal requirements for recordkeeping reduces risks
•Ease of quick access and retrieval of documents increases productivity
•Effective systems contribute to profitability and efficiency
•Expedition of tasks which rely on timely availability reduce labour costs
•Identification of vital records and protection of records ensure recovery due to disaster
•Retention schedules help ensure what to keep and how long to keep
•Storage space is minimized due to the disposition of documents and helps reduce costs

Francine Renaud Records
Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Toll Free: 1-888-763-3988

Why and how you should manage your documents

You are on the phone with a client and you are asked to find a document. How long does it take you to find that document and other documents related to that topic or document, either electronic or paper copy? Do you have several revisions of this copy? Have you kept a copy of the last revision? Did you keep all of the revisions? Is it necessary to keep all of the drafts? Should you keep only the final approved copy and designate it as the official record kept and secured with access privileges?

Where are the documents needed for you to address a question from any outside partners, a client, a colleague, administration or the government?

Did it take you more that 15 seconds? The more time it takes, the more frustrated the situation can become and the consequences can even be serious.

What message are you sending out! Disorganization and mismanagement of documents can send the wrong impression about your business and attention may be given to the lack of good business practices.

Businesses, small and large, are responsible for their business activities and must protect their documents.
If you are organized and your documents, in any format, are easy to retrieve, the benefits are many. You avoid embarrassment, you look good in front of your clients, and your work day is less stressful. Clients value your sense of good business practices and you infuse confidence in your business relations.
If any government body is requesting any document, especially for e-discovery in case of litigation, you can feel confident about the retrieval of all documents and avoid possible fines and penalties.

How do you resolve this dilemma? A classification system will assist you and ensure that you are following a prescribed form of access and retrieval of documents. The arrangement of your documents can be organized to suit your industry and needs for access and retrieval. The retention schedules will be the blueprint to all of your documents and will be incorporated into the classification system.

There are studies in existence, which prove that companies still own paper documents. Some documents are considered legal in paper format only. Some businesses keep only paper documents while others prefer to scan or create documents electronically. If you have electronic records, you may even print off copies from those files. A manual system or a combination of a manual and automated system is available and can tie both the paper and electronic documents to a particular business topic or function. Therefore, all documents can be found with ease.

Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Toll Free: 1-888-763-3988

Start up of a new business documents

As you begin to embark in the start up of a new business, your documents are a valuable asset to your company. Not only do they document your business transactions and activities, they contain vital records which are crucial to the recovery of your business in case of any disaster. Other documents may have a legal, fiscal or historical value and must be kept for certain periods of time. Companies must be responsible for access to their documents and must be compliant with legal recordkeeping requirements , no matter the size of the company.

It is important to consider organizing your documents as quickly as possible if you are to access the records effectively, in a readable format and in a timely manner.

Paper records continue to thrive in most offices. Even though many companies work with electronic records, paper documents are a result of documents which originate in hard copy for various reasons or are printed from electronic records.

When starting up, many of us do not realize how quickly we accumulate records. A record is recorded information in any format. This can become a serious problem even within a year of the start up of your business.

Tracking and easy access to your documents will depend on the system you implement. It is important to identify the documents according to your business functions, select a classification system suited to your industry for filing purposes, either for paper based and/or electronic records, and store your documents, onsite or offsite. More to come on storage in the near future.

Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Toll Free: 1-888-763-3988