Record Management

Concept of Records Management

Records involve all formal written facts and information of future use. The records include all correspondences, registers, vouchers, files and written pieces of information concerned with business. The main function of the office is the creation, administration, retention, retrieval and disposal of records. The term record management consists of all the activities developed to control the life cycle of a record from its creation to its ultimate disposition.

Importance of Records Management

Record management is important in all the offices where written matters circulated. The records of past and present will be the basis of future performance The managers prepare plans and take important decisions in of records The following are the importance of record management:

1. Source of decision making
2. Helps to know about state of progress
3. Fulfil statutory obligation
4. Helps to settle disputes
5. Helps in planning and policymaking
6. Helps to evaluate perform
7. Helps to detect and rectify errors
8. Bring efficiency in performance
9. Source of control

Types of Records

The following are the basis of classification of records

A. On the basis of nature

1. Correspondence records
2. Financial records
3. Legal records –
4. Human resource records
5. Miscellaneous records

B. On the basis of retention

1. Very important records
2. Important records
3. Useful records
4. Unuseful records

Principles of Records Management

Record management needs to fulfill some specific principles to meet the the objectives of records in office performance. The following are the basic principles of record management:

1.  Justification
2. Classification
3. Economies in cost.
4. Verification
5. Prompt retrieval
6. Maintain records for a specific time

Retention and Disposal of Records

In office performance, many information and facts are created and many received from outside. Information may be classified as valuable records, useful records and unuseful records. It is essential to record valuable facts for future reference and to discard unuseful information. Therefore, the process of systematic preservation of active and valuable documents, transfer inactive records and destruction of outdated records is record retention. The system of record retention is essential to complete office performance efficiently.

Importance of Retention and Disposal of Records:

Record retention is important in all types of offices where formal documents are circulated. The following are some points of importance of record retention:

1. Future reference
2. Basis of decision making
3. Fulfill legal requirements
4. Evaluation of past performance
5. Creates space for new records
6. Brings smoothness
7. Serve as evidence