Records management contains a lot of different processes. A complete system will involve the identification, organisation, storage, maintenance and disposal of records. And all of this should be done in the most efficient and systematic way possible.
This sounds complex but it is vital for every organisation.
Most businesses will create and collect a vast amount of digital and physical information, from personnel records to invoices.
If you don’t keep this data in a secure and ordered way, valuable time may be wasted finding a key document. Documents could also be kept for an unnecessary amount of time, which leads to more expensive storage costs. Finally, the law states that certain documents must be retained for future reference. Those who don’t follow this could be fined or prosecuted.
Getting your record management sorted should therefore be a top priority. To make sure yours meets the needs of your business and the law, take a look at our top 6 tips.
1. Create an information asset register
The first step to managing your records correctly is to know what records you have, where they are and how long you need to keep them for.
An information asset register therefore becomes your business’ bible when it comes to record management.
In the register, we recommend that you record:
- The types of documents your business has
- Whether they are stored electronically or physically
- Who the asset owners are
- What their retention periods are
- The security measures in place
Once established, regularly review and update the register.
2. Set out clear policies
When putting together your register, it is important to make sure your organisation has laid out rules and processes for maintaining records. This should cover a record’s entire lifecycle, from creation to destruction.
This should include a retention schedule. This schedule will outline how long each type of document should be kept and when it should be reviewed and destroyed. It’s important to create a process for the safe disposal or destruction of records.
Any policies should also contain the roles and responsibilities of your staff. These should be easy to read and understand, so that your staff know exactly what to do.
Finally, policies for access and security should be created. You can find out more about these in point 4 below.
3. Create an indexing system
It’s essential to create a comprehensive indexing system.
Using relevant reference codes for your business, you will be able to quickly identify a record, find out where it is kept, its version and retention history.
This index will be unique to your business’ requirements, but it must be easy to understand by anyone who has access to it. The index should be kept simple with consistent names used for everything.
4. Consider security and access
Some of your records will contain sensitive information or personal details. It’s important that consideration is given to how these records will be kept safe.
Physical records should be locked away, either in cabinets or stored offsite with a secure storage partner. If your information is very sensitive, you may also want to think about taking additional measures such as vault storage.
Electronic records need to be protected by up-to-date antivirus and malware software, as well as staff cyber security training. Passwords, encryption and firewalls may be necessary for certain types of record too.
Set out clear policies on who can access what. Give access rights only to those who need to use the information and regularly review them. If someone leaves the company, remove their access.
5. Have a back-up plan
Back-up plans are helpful in an emergency. For instance, a fire could destroy your physical records or your digital data could be maliciously altered or deleted. Having a strong business continuity and back-up plan in operation can therefore help you if your records are lost, damaged or inaccessible.
To create a plan, identify the records that are absolutely essential to the operation of your organisation.
You then need to create a back-up strategy which sets out how often these records need to be backed-up and where. Digital records, for instance, could be automatically backed-up to a cloud so that you can access them anywhere. Physical records can be stored off-site or scanned to create digital versions of them, which can then be uploaded to a cloud or server.
Make sure this strategy is regularly tested so you can be confident that all your key records are safely stored.
6. Use third-party storage
Storing large amounts of physical records can take up valuable space and make it more difficult to maintain security and access.
Keeping your records with a specialist company, such as Archive-Vault, could make records management simpler.
Not only can we free up space for you, but our document management expertise means we can securely store your documents and ensure that you remain data compliant. We also provide scanning services so that you can create digital copies of your physical records.
And, when documents come to the end of their lifecycle, we can securely destroy them too.
Talk to us about records management
To find out how we can help your organisation, get in touch with us by calling 01603 720722 or emailing info@archive-vault.co.uk.
