Challenges in managing Record Centre

Introduction.

Record can be defined as documents made or received in the course of a practical activity or as an evidence of that activity or transaction. Records may come in various formats and may include letters, memoranda, reports, computer database files, e-mail messages, video tapes, films, photographs, maps, drawings and any other thing on which information is recorded or stored. Records management is the systematic control of all records, either in media format or printed materials from their creation until it final disposition. Records management includes the development and application of standards to the creation, use, storage, retrieval, disposal and archival preservation of recorded information required to administer and to operate the organizations. It includes three stages of record lifecycle which are active, semi-active and inactive. Each stage has associated records management activities such as inventorying, classifying, scheduling, destroying, or transferring records to the archives.

Record Center is a building designed or adapted for the low cost storage, maintenance and communication of semi-current records pending their ultimate disposal. Semi-current record which is to be transferred must be appraised first. Each semi-current record kept in record center has administrative, fiscal and legal requirement or value. Record center are divided into three types, National Record Center, Departmental Record Center and Commercial Record Center. Record center consist of five major functions, received and administer all records in whatever format that are retired from current record system, provide a reference service based upon the records, dispose of all records held in accordance with disposal schedules and plans, as an information center for the creating agencies and to provide security measures for the records in the center.

Challenges in managing Record Center

There are several challenges in managing the Record Center such as:

1. Records Center available only for Microsoft Office documents.

The requirements for records management are not specific to a particular file format, and that many records aren’t created or kept as Microsoft Office file formats like .doc, .xls, .ppt, etc. The record center made a conscious effort in this release to ensure that their records management features work well for any type of file, including Office files, CAD, PDF, images. For example Document Information Panel, without the Office desktop applications, users will be required to fill in document metadata using the SharePoint browser-based experience, rather than in the context of the authoring application, Policy Statement, only office files opened in the office applications will prominently display to end-users the policy statement for those files and Client-side functionality of Labels and barcode policies, user can configure label and barcode policies for any type of item, and Office SharePoint Server will automatically generate labels & barcodes for those items.

2. Organizational and personnel problems.

The record center must ensure their staff should have adequate experience levels and combined of skills not only in its new information technology positions, but also in the computer science, information and content management, business systems analysis, large-scale procurement, communications and organization-change management, training and project management staffs because it relate to technical issues. The quality of files became poorer; they ran on for years and years; ephemeral and policy papers were mixed together. Record overload grew worse as registries in the public sector attempted to cope with excessive quantities of paper which could be destroyed or sent to centers designed for the storage of inactive records or to the National Archives. Exacerbating these difficulties were the wasted expenditure on storage of useless papers, the loss of valuable information and the frustration of professional and clerical staff who wished to operate at a high standard but found it impossible to do so. Correctly positioned and distributed within a redesigned organizational structure, those groups will be managed by the best of the best.

3. Technology

The system also faces major technological hurdles. Today some of the most important decision-support documents are in the form of multimedia computer slide presentations and spreadsheets, which have assumptions embedded within the electronic version that are not easily amenable for printing out. The problems related to saving such important types of records are typically not addressed, and so the records are lost.

Other relatively new technologies that are already producing enormous amounts of uncaptured records are e-mail, video conferences, Web sites, and call centers and other "customer-facing" audio systems, while Web log, instant messaging and geographic information system technologies are emerging as potentially large producers of records. Documents produced using such tools must be maintained in an integrated fashion retaining their mutual context. There are also new formats of record material including computer generated, motion picture and television films and a wide variety of other formats all requiring skills, procedures and storage environment in a part of the world where there are extreme variations in temperature and humidity. New formats are competing for space and attention with the traditional paper files.

4. Cost

The Office of Management and Budget called for the implementation of e-government, citizen-centric solutions and the massive enterprise resource planning systems used to integrate disorganized, duplicative, stovepipe financial and human resource systems. In the same time cost problem lead to another problem in managing the record center. The reason is without insufficient cost the record center cannot provide a good service and without a good planning on the budget the record center will unable to justify what are the important things that they need in manage record center in effective and efficient way. Management of cost include the cost of storage, maintenance, and other related developing plan of the record center. Without a proper management, the record center may not able to deal with all the record they will retrieve from the creating agency.

5. Lack of awareness

The standard approach would have been to contain the problems in government record systems through the National Archives. The National Archives could relieve the pressure on the registries and even offer advice on registry organization. Unfortunately, the National Archives itself had been plagued by difficulties. On the one hand the National Archives had been entrusted by law with the care and custody of public records. On the other it had not been given the necessary support in training and logistics to provide the required services. Even worse, there had not been a clearly defined institutional responsibility for the management of active records. Under the Archives Law the National Archives has no responsibility for the management of active records, except that the disposal procedures for records retirement cannot be applied without consideration of both active and inactive records. Under the Law, provision is made for the right of inspection. This provision became difficult to apply and enforce because the records disposition mechanism had broken down making it impossible to effect an orderly disposition plan. Statutory responsibility for active records, and therefore the management of registries, had never been seriously considered. Invariably, therefore, there was no agency to advice on filing methods, to recommend systems of paperwork management and to provide expertise in a range of records management activities.

External difficulties no doubt played a part in compounding the problems of government record systems. Primarily there was a lack of interest on the part of the political class. The fundamental reasons for this indifference was the typical lack of understanding of the authorities of the contribution that a properly functional archives and records service can make to nation building, in providing the mechanism for governmental efficiency, accountability, human rights, or in supporting national economic, social and intellectual development through the preservation of the documentation of the past so necessary to carrying-out the government's mission. Against this background, government record systems had been identified as part of the non-economic sector providing the easy way out for fiscal authorities to accord low priority in training and appropriations. Financial and legal commitments must be kept to protect government and the individual. Other documentation must be efficiently managed as evidence for the continuity of policies and programmes and the organizational and procedural patterns of administration.

6. Growing size of the archival collection.

The machinery of government embracing both bureaucratic and political institutions in a climate of democratic government is creating huge volumes of records for reasons of administrative necessity, efficiency and accountability. This problem makes the record center to provide more storage area. It’s including in term of cost. Otherwise, the causes of unmanaged problem are because the record center operation do not followed the right procedures and ignore the values of records. The task of scheduling, transferring, arranging and describing on a government-wide basis presents definite difficulties. The general situation in the judicial system, for example, is the large accumulation of inactive records and an increasing output of new active records which combine to create a serious storage problem in court registries.

7. Levels of Risk

In developing the records disaster recovery plan, record center should assess the varying intensity of each risk to which their records may be subject. Risks may range from minor flooding affecting perhaps only one or two offices in a facility to a major fire that may cause significant damage to the entire facility and its contents. Generally, water, fire, and smoke damage should receive particular attention as they are the likely agents that will damage records stored in an agency facility. If chemical agents are either stored in the building or are contained in its operating systems, the potential damage these might cause should also be addressed during the planning. For example, certain chemicals used in fire extinguishers adhere to records. Although use of these types of extinguishers may be effective in smothering the fire, they should not be used in areas where records are exposed. Record center staff participating in this planning should be those cited earlier in this guide under Contingency Planning and Risk Assessment.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we found that there are several challenges that faced by the record center. If there is any action or solution taken immediately, the record center will face lots of problem regarding in managing the semi current record and especially the storage. The record manager should concern on ways to prevent or avoid all the problems and become aware about the latest situation happen in the state.


REFERENCES

1. Utarms Archives and Record Management Service. (1999). Managing Records: Disposing of Records. Retrieved September 22, 2006, from the World Wide Web: http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utarms

2. Barry, R. (2003, June 9). Record challenges. Retrieved September 22, 2006, from the World Wide Web: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles

3. Microsoft Records Management Team Blog. (2006). Records Management Feature -- "Records Center" sites (Part I). Retrieved September 22, 2006, from the World Wide Web: http://blogs.msdn.com

4. NARA. (2006). About NARA's Northeast Region Records Center Program. Retrieved September 22, 2006, from the World Wide Web: http://www.archives.gov/northeast/boston/agencies

5. National Archives and Records Administration. (1996) Vital Records and Records Disaster Mitigation and Recovery. Retrieved September 22, 2006, from the World Wide Web: http://www.Vital Records and Records Disaster Mitigation and Recovery.htm

-By Mr. PaLi-