What is Records Management?
by Matthew Mangels, Senior Consultant

Overview

Records Management is the practice associated with relating documents associated with individual business transactions in an effort to fulfill the legal obligations of a given organization. While Document Management Practices involve storing and organizing data so users may make better user of it, Records Management policies are concerned with managing the life of the data from its legal inception through its legal destruction.

What is and is not a 'record' is different depending on industry sector, governing regulations, and sometimes the completeness of the document. Guided by such standards as US Department of Defense 5015.2, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, Records Managers set policies within organizations that determine which data should be deemed a record, how long should it be readily available, how long must it be kept in storage, and when it is finally acceptable to destroy the record.

(to be continued...)