1. Classification of
information
The purpose of categorising records is to distinguish their
place and value in the
business and is based on the following aspects:
V The physical volume of the group of records being evaluated
A The degree of activity or reference to the record
L Legal requirements
U Use the document that provides all the evidence that needs
to be captured when there are a number of similar documents
E The economics of retention—retention costs may exceed the
penalty for
2. All records within a business can be categorised into three main areas:
transitional documents, business documents and knowledge documents.
Transactional documents are low-value, routine
documents used for everyday transactions, such
as general customer correspondence, financial
documents and billing records that are closely
related to core business function
Business documents are medium to high value
documents, such as policies and procedures,
agreements, contracts and human resource
records.
Knowledge documents are high-value documents
and are mostly the same as business documents.
They are managed intensively initially, and then
appraised and moved into either secondary or
archival storage environments
3. Classification schemes
The purpose of a classification scheme within a record-
management system is to:
help staff determine where to file records
assist in accessing and retrieving records
allow sorting of documents into a logical sequence
help keep track of document versions
meet statutory and other compliance requirements.
Classification schemes for both paper and electronic filing
should be easy to understand and follow, otherwise staff
will not use them correctly, which will result in lost files and
large amounts of time spent on searching for them.
4. Naming conventions
The title, or filename, allocated to a file
must reflect the content of the document
and should make any file easily
distinguishable from another. It should
also make sense to any person who sees
it, not just the person responsible for
saving the document. To make certain this
occurs, many organisations have specific
guidelines set down in their policies and
procedures manual.
5. Question
Explain the purpose of a classification
scheme
Compare the differences between
transitional documents, business
documents and knowledge documents
6. Maintaining the integrity of systems
Once a suitable system has been established, file-
management control measures are implemented
to protect all records. Areas contributing to
difficulties in maintaining the integrity of records
include:
failing to maintain compliance
disposing of records inappropriately
altering records
not meeting accountability requirements
breaches of privacy
natural disasters
deliberate or illegal destruction of records
inadequate record-keeping systems.
7. Digital signatures
Signed documents are critical to the
operation of a business, as they provide a
lasting record of decisions taken with
customers and suppliers, and demonstrate
compliance with various laws and
regulations. With the increase in global
transactions, businesses now expect
employees and clients to be able to sign
documents directly from their desktop or
mobile device from anywhere in the world.
8. Digital signatures
Because electronic records require the same
compliance requirements as paper records,
simply adding an electronic signature—an image
of the writer’s signature— is not acceptable, as it
does not guarantee that the document has not
been altered.
To overcome this, organisations are using digital
signatures that seal any electronic document and
guarantees it is tamperproof through the use of a
cryptographic algorithm that creates a
‘fingerprint’ on the document.
Look at fig 4.26 page 205 now
9. Version control
Version control is used to track any
changes that occur to a document and
keep a record of its distribution throughout
the document’s development and
subsequent revisions. This is to ensure
that everyone is using the latest copy of a
working document. For organisations with
an eDRMS, version control is a built-in
feature.
