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What To Do First – Digitizing Records

Every organization has a records management system. Most have a mixture of paper and electronic, active and archival, personally held and centrally stored. Many even include an ad hoc use of SharePoint by the IT department. When you’re finally are given approval to ‘get rid of the paper’ there’s a tendency to jump in and start digitizing. STOP! Here’s what to do first.

By Guy Robertson

Guy Robertson is a senior planner at TMC and an instructor at the Justice Institute of BC and Langara College. He has written five books and numerous articles on corporate security and disaster planning, and offered workshops and lectures at conferences across North America and in the UK.

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At the top of your list is the conversion of your old records management system to a new technology such as SharePoint, which promises enhanced efficiency. Or to meet industry standards, you will digitize your paper documents for better security of your corporate information.

Big plans make life more interesting and exciting. They can lead to promotion, more responsibility, and higher salaries. But sometimes big plans lead to grief, and you must consider their outcomes realistically.

Assess Yourself

Before you jump in, assess your situation. Are your records in good order? Are they ready to be converted to a new medium, to be indexed for fast access and stored electronically for stronger security and disaster backup. Consider the following questions before you begin any conversion project:

  1. Have you designed your metadata architecture? You and your staff want to be able to find your documents through a variety of search methods.
  2. Where are your records? Take into account all potential storage locations. Aside from your file room, you might find document boxes piled high in basements, unused offices, attics, hallways, and parking areas. You might also have records stored in commercial off-site storage warehouses. Be sure you know where all of your records are stored so that you can make accurate estimates of the amount of paper you need to convert and keep your project within budget.
  3. How long should you keep records and which should be saved? You need a records retention schedule that tells you how long you should retain your records. Your accounting department might receive retention advice from various sources including the CRA, but your retention schedule should cover all of your records—not just accounting documents. You do not want to waste money converting records that have no use.
  4. What measures do you have to deal with security problems and disasters that involve your records? Are these measures up-to-date, and can you adapt them to protect the records that you convert to a new medium? How will you test your adapted measures, and who will update them to meet new organizational circumstances?

Avoid Magical Thinking

The answers to these questions will help you to avoid magical thinking — unreasonable expectations about any new technology that you adopt to manage your records.

With these answers, you can build a sound project plan that will make it much easier to complete the project successfully.

This article was published in the February 2019 edition of The TMC Advisor
- ISSN 2369-663X Volume:6 Issue:1

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