Disaster Recovery Needs Contingency Planning (Print Ready) Page 1 of 2 Disaster Recovery Needs Contingency Planning By: Andy Butler | Posted: Jan 13th, 2008 Disaster recovery will be an unsatisfactory exercise if it is organized after a disaster strikes. Only a lot of advance planning and preparation can ensure that the business resumes operations quickly after a major disaster. What is Disaster Recovery? The term "disaster recovery" is often used these days in an Information Technology context. When you speak of a disaster in a business context, it typically means loss of records, data, hardware and software to such an extent that normal business operations have become severely impaired or even impossible. Most business operations are so heavily dependent on Information Technology that without it, operations can grind to a halt. Disaster recovery is the process of getting business operations up an running after they have been stopped because of a major information systems failure. The disaster can be the results of a natural disaster or a human action that had disastrous consequences. How Do You Plan for Disaster Recovery? Identifying key business data and arranging for regular backup, is a key element of disaster recovery planning. Storing backed up data at a separate location makes it possible to recover the data when a natural disaster destroys the equipment at the primary location. However there could still be data on the damaged system(s) that was not backed up, and this needs to be quantified and a decision made whether or not to manually re-input the data or to attempt a recovery of as much pertinent data as possible from the affected system. The separate location for backup can be a secure third party Web resource. The location can also be a remote backup facility with storage area networks spread over different sites to ensure the data is doubly protected. You should regularly test that the backed up data is recoverable. Backup data can become irrecoverable for several reasons, including incorrect backup practices. The backup procedures should be subject to periodical audit. Minimizing the chances of data loss is another major element of disaster recovery planning. This is done through such precautions as: Ensuring the quality and continuity of power supply by using surge protectors and UPS/Backup generators Organizing quick fire detection and easy to use extinguisher facilities Using anti-virus and firewall software to prevent malicious intrusions by outside entities Making personnel aware of the serious consequences of data loss and training them in the precautions to be observed http://www.articlesbase.com/print/303417 11/1/2009 Disaster Recovery Needs Contingency Planning (Print Ready) Page 2 of 2 The final element in the disaster recovery plan deals with just that, DISASTER RECOVERY. This plan will list the actions to be taken if a disaster does strike. For example: Inform staff about the problem and assigning them specific business and data recovery-related tasks Inform customers about the likely impact of whatever happened and indicate when to expect resumption of operations Organize to restore data from backups, wherever they happen to be With the above kind of planning, you would be ready to recover quickly from even a major disaster. Conclusion In today's context, disaster recovery typically means recovering from an Information Technology related disaster, such as loss of data, records, hardware and software. Modern business is so heavily dependent on IT support that it can come to a stop if that support is lost. Disaster recovery has to be planned much in advance. Off-site backups, data loss prevention measures and specific action plans if a disaster does strike are important elements of a disaster recovery plan but also a ready agreed contract with a hard drive rebuilder and data recovery specialist is advised. About the Author: Andy Butler from ABC Data Recovery writes about Disaster-Recovery visit www.abc-datarecovery.co.uk for further information. Printed From: http://www.articlesbase.com/data-recovery-articles/disaster-recovery-needs-contingencyplanning-303417.html Back to the original article http://www.articlesbase.com/print/303417 11/1/2009 6 Ways Electronic Medical Records Could Make Your Life Safer and Easier - US News a... Page 1 of 3 Thursday, October 8, 2009 6 Ways Electronic Medical Records Could Make Your Life Safer and Easier Here's one: E-mail and Web access to doctors means fewer office visits needed By Nancy Shute Posted March 10, 2009 We'll all soon have electronic medical records, given the $19 billion tagged for a big rollout of the long-touted paperless systems in the economic stimulus plan. Healthcare experts say EMRs will make medicine safer, more efficient, and more cost effective, and three quarters of the public say they're all for it. But will the electronic records really be better than the chaotic paper-based system we've got now? Here's the latest, gleaned from research on health IT in the current edition of the policy journal Health Affairs and a meeting of EMR superstars in Washington, D.C. The bottom line: Electronic medical records are essential, but they're far from simple. "As a software guy, I'm really optimistic about what technology can do to improve healthcare around the world," said Peter Neupert, a Microsoft vice president. "And as a software guy, I think: Holy crap, this is really going to be hard to do." Here's what they can do now: People Who Read This Also Read 1. Skip trips to the doctor. It's a pain in the buns to have to trek to a primary-care doctor every time you need a question Electronic answered or a prescription reordered. Primary-care office Communication May visits in Kaiser Permanente's Hawaii region dropped 25 Be Boon to Doctors' percent from 2004 to 2007, after the healthcare organization Time started offering people the option of E-mailing doctors as part Examining Electronic of the 8.7 million-member organization's Web-based Medical Records electronic health record. No need to take time off work, and The Empire State no miles driven; this even helps fight global warming! But Building's Disgusting since most doctors outside of a group program like Kaiser Kowtow to China don't get paid for E-mail consults, this might be a tough sell. Is Teach for America Costing Experienced 2. Track Mom's medical chart even if you're in Albuquerque or Altoona. Online personal health records http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2009/03/10/6-ways-electronic-medical-records-co... 10/8/2009 6 Ways Electronic Medical Records Could Make Your Life Safer and Easier - US News a... Page 2 of 3 Teachers Their Jobs? How an Electronic Medical Record Can Help Keep Your Family Healthy like Microsoft's HealthVault and GoogleHealth make it much easier to share medical records among family members, which could be great for managing aging parents' healthcare. The downside: Very few doctors and hospitals are set up to let you download your records onto these third-party sites, so for now you might have to type it all in yourself. "A personal health record is really an electronic notebook," says Alfred Spector, a vice president at Google Inc. "It's under the patient's control." 3. Get lab test results without having to play phone tag with the doctor's office. Some clinics and labs, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and Quest Diagnostics, let customers download lab results the moment they're reported. Kaiser Permanente patients viewed 16,773,273 lab tests online in 2008. That's faster access, for sure, but many test results read like gibberish. Will insurers or labs help with interpretation, or will we still have to ask the doctor? 4. Never again drag X-rays to a specialist. X-rays and other diagnostics are going digital, and big IT companies such as Cisco are designing systems that would make it possible to store and retrieve a lifetime's worth of X-rays and MRIs. Doctors might start incorporating digital photos as part of a patient's record, like dermatologists already do to screen for skin cancers. 5. Find out if your prescriptions could have dangerous interactions, before you start taking them. This year, Medicare starts giving physicians a 2 percent bonus if they use an electronic prescription system, which automatically checks for correct dosage and potential drug interactions. That could finally give E-prescribing the boost it needs; most docs still write scrips by hand. Health plans that have switched to E-prescribing report that it's saved them millions of dollars by helping them shift patients to cheaper generic drugs. Safety advocates add that E-prescribing reduces dangerous errors by doctors and pharmacists. 6. Use your cellphone to tap into your health record from the mallor from Mali. Cloud computing is the next big thing on the Web: Your data live somewhere up in the ether, and you access them via phone or laptop. Web-based personal health records like Google's are in the vanguard, but more traditional health record providers like Kaiser will http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2009/03/10/6-ways-electronic-medical-records-co... 10/8/2009 6 Ways Electronic Medical Records Could Make Your Life Safer and Easier - US News a... Page 3 of 3 probably follow. The big plus: You or a doctor can access your health records anywhere in the world. The obvious big minus: Cloud computing may be less secure than your sock drawer. Last April, health insurer WellPoint disclosed that the health records of about 130,000 customers had become publicly available over the Internet. My colleague Bernadine Healy discusses the many privacy problems surrounding electronic medical records, and my fellow senior writer Michelle Andrews explains how EMRs can increase the risk of medical identity theft. Dave LaGesse reports on how half of people say they'd use a personal medical record from a third party like Microsoft or Google. Tags: privacy | technology | medical records Copyright 2009 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved. http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2009/03/10/6-ways-electronic-medical-records-co... 10/8/2009 Is the Paperless Office Possible? | Inc.com Page 1 of 11 Inc. 5000 List | subscribe forgot login? Or login using: close [x] or signup Login Startup Grow Lead Innovate People Money Video STARTUP Is the Paperless Office Possible? BY Jessica Stillman Research shows how hard it is for offices to entirely kick their paper habit, but many small businesses are coming close, becoming more efficient (and greener) in the process. 553 SHARES | Share this article http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-paperless-office-is-dead-long-live-the-paperless-office!.html 10/28/2013 Is the Paperless Office Possible? | Inc.com Page 2 of 11 The paperless office, like the omnipresence of telework (and those jetpacks we were promised), is one of those innovations that's been predicted for decades and yet seems to always recede into the future. As GreenBiz reports, paper use in America actually dramatically increased in the two decades after BusinessWeek first called for the paperless office back in 1975. The good news, according to the site's State of the Paper Industry 2011 report, is that we're at least using less paper since 2006. So maybe we're turning a corner. With the rise of cloud applications and devices that keep us constantly connected, a large swath of small businesses are coming closer to paperless status than every before. Those that curb their old, dead tree habits, do so for a number of reasons but realize a plenty of side benefits from the effort. The Virtual Team Not everyone who pushes to go paperless does it out of green inclinations. "We're from British Columbia, so we like to cut down trees," jokes Jim Secord, the CEO of Vancouver-based online accounting start-up Kashoo. Why did they push towards paperless then? "We're a virtual office. We have people spread all over, so it's absolutely critical to have a paperless system because there's not that centralized area where everyone can go and look at documents," Secord explains. To achieve their virtual system, the Kashoo team relies on Doxie scanners ("Brilliant for scanning receipts or contracts. It's not really industrial strength but it makes up for it in terms of straight convenience," raves Secord of the small, wireless devices), Google Drive and Evernote. The results haven't just been a dent in the local logging industry. "People aren't spending time trying to search for things. It's online and easily accessible, so, from an efficiency perspective, it's absolutely fantastic," Secord says, adding "from an invoicing perspective, we issue an invoice via email and they pay electronically, so there's no check being cut, coming back. You get paid a lot faster." The Green Brand For Anthony Construction, a small, Austin, Texas-based design and construction firm, a push towards less paper was partly a way to burnish the firm's green credentials. "Frankly saving space and time," were the most important considerations in the company's efforts to reduce paper use, project manager Kip Kypuros explains, but this "coincidentally works with the industry and national 'green' buzz." Accomplishing its paper-saving mission, for this company, was less about tech and more about attitude. "The tools have been available for years," Kypuros says. "It really is teaching everyone that it is not necessary to print or have http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-paperless-office-is-dead-long-live-the-paperless-office!.html 10/28/2013 Is the Paperless Office Possible? | Inc.com Page 3 of 11 paper." It's worth the effort, as less paper allows Kypuros to "work less, smarter and hopefully increase my dollar per hour value." The Social Entrepreneur When four students at the London School of Economics from an unlikely quartet of countriesKazakhstan, Italy, Tanzania, and Germanyteamed up for a social entrepreneurship project to produce audiovisual materials for NGOs, paperless processes proved essential. "We are 90% paperless. This wasn't the original intention but happened naturally since members of our organization are now located around the world. We united for the project whilst at Uni, but after the academic year was over, we all moved to our home countries or decided to travel," founder Yuliya Kogay explains. Being paperless allows the team to keep costs low and funnel more resources towards the organizations they serve. How do they ensure things run smoothly without paper (or a shared continent)? They started out with a patchwork solution composed of Evernote, Gmail, Skype and good old Word, but soon "realized that Gmail didn't allow us much structure. We moved most work to Podio, where we could track progress, keep things in order, and exchange PDFs," Kogay says. Could cutting your paper consumption be a sideways route to more efficient work? IMAGE: shutterstock images Last updated: Jan 16, 2013 JESSICA STILLMAN is a freelance writer based in London with interests in unconventional career paths, generational differences, and the future of work. She has blogged for CBS MoneyWatch, GigaOM, and Brazen Careerist. @EntryLevelRebel Share Like Tweet 150 290 PRINT THIS ARTICLEEMAIL THIS ARTICLE http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-paperless-office-is-dead-long-live-the-paperless-office!.html 10/28/2013 Recall Uses RFID to Make Records Auditing Possible Wednesday February 28th, 2007 By John Burnell Recall Corporation, which provides document lifecycle management services to more than 75,000 worldwide customers, has developed an RFID system for identifying cartons of records that the company says makes auditing stored records practical for the first time. "The problem in the industry now is that auditing is just too labor intensive and expensive," Jon Poole, Recall's North American quality and standards manager told RFID Update. "Industry wide, it's physically impossible to efficiently conduct audits. Plus, the procedures are error prone and extremely time consuming." Recall currently identifies cartons of records it stores for customers with a 10-digit alphanumeric bar code. Cartons are stacked three deep on shelves in its storage facilities. "A typical facility has one million documents in storage. To do an audit with bar coding, we would have to pull out each carton from the rack and scan it. It would take about five years to complete an audit. With our RFID system, we can do it in two weeks," Poole said. Following a successful trial, Recall installed the system at a facility in Boston and plans to deploy it in upwards of 30 U.S. cities plus locations in Australia and Europe. To deploy, Recall applies a large EPC Gen2 smart label to each records carton. The company produces the labels on demand with an RFID printer/encoder and encodes them only with the 10-digit number that its applications are based on. No customer information is encoded in the smart label. To audit record locations and identify cartons, an employee walks through the storage aisle with a handheld RFID reader. Recall plans to audit records twice a year. The information could help customers satisfy certain regulatory requirements for records management, including Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), and the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA). "Our pilot program demonstrated to us the potential for RFID technology to transform our industry, and the response from our blue-ribbon client roster has been overwhelming," Russell Skinner, Recall's vice president of global integration, said in the company's announcement. Recall announced a law firm, construction company, energy company, and financial institution have already contracted to have their future records inventories tagged with RFID. Recall worked with Texas-based RFID development and systems integration firm Venture Research to develop the system. Collaboration included testing different frequencies and tag types, building optimal readers, and modifying Recall's legacy software to accept RFID input. Poole said the system will give Recall a significant competitive advantage, so the company will not disclose technical details or the specific RFID equipment involved. Poole said the system was modified for use in Australia and Europe to meet the different wireless spectrum regulations there. "Developing the ability to read RFID labels on cartons stacked three deep, with a lot of metal and concrete, was very challenging," said Poole. "There is a lot of cardboard to read through. Getting a read on the third carton was a real challenge. That's why we went with a largeformat label." Poole said Recall and Venture are also exploring technologies and applications for identifying individual files, but for now Recall will concentrate on deploying the carton auditing system to major markets. Recall manages 250 information centers on five continents. The use of RFID for records management made news earlier this month when MedicAlert, a non-profit foundation with four million members, announced it would conduct a trial using RFID ID cards to give members kiosk access to their medical records (see RFID Cures Medical Records Access). But there has been relatively little recent news about records and document management applications. Industry forecasters and researchers are generally bullish on RFID adoption for asset tracking, but have not specifically identified documents and records management as high-growth areas, which may lend some credence to Recall's claim that its system is a true industry first. RFID Update http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/6683. 1. Use one of the articles posted in the Articles Folder or find an acceptable article on a topic related to records management. If you want to use your own article, you MUST have it approved by me before you create your summary. 2. Prepare a summary (in your own words) of the article. Make sure you include all major points covered in the article. 3. Use the grading rubric provided (article grading rubric) to make sure you complete the assignment correctly. 4. Print the article summary and a copy of the grading rubric and submit to me in class. If you found your own article (remember it must be approved before completing the summary), please include it also. Why are you being asked to write an article summary for a records management class? When you are working, you may be asked to research information about a particular subject -you supervisor may ask you to do a little research on new trends in records management or to find out what the buzz is about RFID technology. The goal is to SUMMARIZE the main points of the article IN YOUR OWN WORDS! Your summary should be quite a bit shorter than the original article. While reading the article, write out each main point -IN YOUR OWN WORDS. I suggest that you look away from the article while writing your notes so that you won t be tempted to just write down the words of the author. For example, if the article states The majority of US businesses may not have sufficient disaster recovery protection for their networks to deal with possible emergencies. Of 1,200 IT professional recently surveyed by TechRepublic, Lousiville, KY, 87% say their firms IT systems lack the redundancies and/or protection in case of emergencies. You might want to only write a bullet that captures the idea without copying the language - * 87% of IT professionals think their companies do not have adequate technology backup in case of emergency. If I came up to you and asked you to tell me what the article was about, you wouldn t read me the article, you would tell me the things you think are most relevant to the author s point in writing the article. Summarize the high points, with enough background info to help your reader understand what the article's about. Do NOT include your opinion in this article summary (for some article summaries you are asked to give your opinion, not this one)! Sometimes an author states something in a very profound way, where changing it into your own words will really weaken the impact of the statement - like John F. Kennedy s Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. or Marin Luther King s I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. If you use the authors words exactly you must use quotes around the words, but most articles do not contain the kind of profound wording that requires a quote, so quoting should be very minimal. Do NOT just string a bunch of quotes together. Print the Article Grading Rubric before you proof your written summary so that you know the areas on which I will be basing your grade. The rubric should be attached to the printed summary and submitted to me in person at the beginning of the class session it is due. Article_Example.doc Name BIS 114 Records Management Date A Disaster Waiting to Happen Article Review A recent survey by TechRepublic of Louisville, KY revealed that 87% of the 1,300 IT professionals surveyed do not feel that their U.S. business had the necessary IT backup systems in place to recover adequately in case of emergency. While the blackouts in California and other recent crises are making some businesses understand how important business data and IT applications are to their company, and causing some to reevaluate disaster recovery plans, fewer than 10% of the surveyed businesses had the recommended backup plans in place. Recommended disaster recovery plans include: a current, written disaster plan; a crisis IT team; physical space off site for equipment and essential personnel; duplicate data storage and Web servers at another geographic location; and a business-resumption plan. According to Tom Mochal, project management expert and author, the size of the company generally affects how it approaches disaster recovery. The larger the company, the more it focuses on quick recovery of business applications and resumption of business. Medium-size companies' primary concerns are network and file recovery, and then they worry about recovering their business applications. Smaller companies generally rely on packaged application software and therefore focus their efforts on server and disk backups, but Mochal questions whether they really plan for a disaster. A good disaster recovery plan is not put in place to prevent disaster, but to prepare a company to react to the disaster in such a way that its business can recover. Kelly, S. (2001, August). A Disaster Waiting to Happen. Communications News. Retrieved October 2, 2003 from http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0CMN/8_38/77398506/ print.jhtml Use either APA or MLA style guide to cite your article, and also attach your article! Why Records Management? by Priscilla Emery 30-May-2005 -Ed.'s Note: This article is excerpted from the Records Management Report, published by CMS Watch. To some, managing records represents one of the most boring and onerous business functions that anyone could possibly undertake within an organization. Of course, most people don't even understand what records management is -making it easy to malign an activity that is so misunderstood. Indeed records management crosses numerous disciplines. Did you know... That categorization and indexing are two elements that are critical to the success of a records management program? Sounds a little like knowledge management. That vital records preservation is one of the key steps in developing a disaster recovery plan? Sounds like infrastructure management. That by ignoring records management policies employees and their companies can potentially end up facing criminal penalties? Sounds like a legal profession. What led to Arthur Andersen's downfall? Shredding inappropriate shredding shredding of records that should have been retained according to the policies of both Andersen and Enron. Despite what people may say, what you don't know can hurt you and, in the case of records management, what you choose to ignore can cripple you and your organization. Recent dramatic headlines have made it quite apparent that records management (or the lack thereof) is an essential activity to ascertain and confirm the credibility of many business transactions and government activities. The proliferation of electronic documents (especially e-mails) and the potential litigation exposure that they cause are becoming the bane of legal advisors and records managers in many corporations and government agencies. Microsoft, Texaco and other Fortune 500 companies have taken hits from \"runaway\" e-mails introduced as evidence in high stakes cases. But, to records managers e-mail is just another record type in the scheme of things (not a trivial record type but a record type just the same). They know that in fact, \"smoking guns\" can come in many different guises, including: paper, electronic image files, video tape, voice recordings, etc. It's all potential evidence and therefore potential deposition fodder. Making sure that all the relevant information is accessible in a timely fashion, should an organization need to defend itself in a lawsuit, is also what records managers are responsible for. These days a records manager's job is anything but boring, and in many organizations there aren't enough of them to handle the increased compliance laws and regulations that have cropped up in recent months. Not surprisingly, then, many companies are looking at records management software as a way to get a better grip on the increased volume of all kinds of records. Although that approach can help, a basic understanding of what records management is and its concomitant practices are required before even looking at any software product. If you don't have a records management policy in place along with the appropriate retention and destruction rules for the records, the software will be useless. What is Records Management? There are many different definitions of records management but one that I like the best is, \"A professional discipline that is primarily concerned with the management of document-based information systems. The application of systematic and scientific controls to recorded information required in the operation of an organization's business. The systematic control of all organizational records during the various stages of their life cycle: from their creation or receipt, through their processing, distribution, maintenance and use, to their ultimate disposition. The purpose of records management is to promote economies and efficiencies in recordkeeping, to assure that useless records are systematically destroyed while valuable information is protected and maintained in a manner that facilitates its access and use.\" Some people have the mistaken impression that records management is about hoarding everything that comes across one's desk in the course of doing business. In some highly regulated industries it may seem that is the case. But in most cases it's not only making sure that what needs to be kept as a record is retained but also prescribing how long it should be kept, where it should be stored, who has access to it and when it should be destroyed (if ever). There is even an ISO standard for developing a records management program (ISO 15489). However, even though records retention practices are considered systematic and scientific, deciding what is a record and how long it should be retained is a combination of both prescribed practice and a certain amount of subjectivity depending on the actual documents in question. Just defining what is a record can get somewhat confusing to people. What is a Record? According to the Federal Records Act a record is, \"recorded information, regardless of medium or characteristics, made or received by an organization that is evidence of its operations and has value requiring its retention for a specific period of time.\" According to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records include, \"... all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the U. S. Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of the data in them.\" Got it? This can be confusing for non-governmental organizations that don't believe that these definitions necessarily apply to them so a more generic definition would be that records are recorded information, regardless of physical form, that are generated or received and used while conducting business, and preserved because of their informational value or as evidence of an organization's functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, mission, programs, projects, and activities. This is why there is no real cookie-cutter approach to defining a records retention program for every document out there every company has to look at its own business operations and examine what should be considered a record and then decide what retention rules to apply against them. Again, the government and other industry regulators may help in that decision by defining exactly what they expect to see if they have to do an audit or investigation, but audits and investigations aren't the only reasons to have a records management program. There are other ways to determine if an information item should be considered a record or not: Does the information document your daily business process? Does the information provide input to a mission-critical business decision? Does the information provide evidence as to whcy a business decision was made? Is the information required for legal, fiscal, audit, or tax purposes? "Vital Records" contain unique or irreplaceable information and require special protection, such as articles of incorporation, annual reports and shareholder records. These should be defined as an integral part of a disaster recovery plan or operation. RM Programs, RM Software Essential elements of a records management program include a records retention policy and a set of procedures where records are classified, retention periods are defined and destruction procedures are prescribed. Classification of records and then maintaining them with the appropriate metadata are necessary so that this information can be retrieved quickly when required. Record integrity depends on three attributes: content, context, and the structure of the original record. Authenticity is very important to determining if a piece of information is the \"true\" record of an event or business transaction, which is why the management of electronic records, most especially emails, web pages and instant messages, is so problematic. The ability to generate larger volumes of records in a shorter period of time has increased the productivity of many organizations but that productivity gain can be lost if essential records can't be found during the course of doing business or, in even more critical procedures such as when an audit takes place or a legal discovery of evidence is required. Finding lost records costs money in terms of lost productivity and in more the substantial costs of fines, court costs and lawsuit settlement costs. Hence the need for records management software that aid in the record repository management activities of many organizations. These products help users: manage retention schedules, store records in their appropriate classifications along with the prescribed metadata, search for records when required, destroy records according to prescribed schedules, put holds on records so they don't get destroyed while the company goes through an audit or investigation, and track the access of the record over its active and in-active life cycle. In many cases these systems track not only electronic documents but also other record objects such as paper, boxes and tapes... Amid all the focus on key records management features such as record declaration and standards certification, one key factor sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. Records management is a core activity within many different business processes within the organization itself. It is in and of itself not meant to be the core application. Just like filing is an adjunct activity to one's work, records management must fit into the core business process in order to be truly effective. Therefore, technological elegance shouldn't be the focus -- integration with core business processes is more important. Ability to support and integrate with key business applications and be imbedded as an activity within a workflow should become more important evaluation criteria in the long run... Downloaded from http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/127-RM-101 Why Records Management? by Priscilla Emery 30-May-2005 -Ed.'s Note: This article is excerpted from the Records Management Report, published by CMS Watch. To some, managing records represents one of the most boring and onerous business functions that anyone could possibly undertake within an organization. Of course, most people don't even understand what records management is -making it easy to malign an activity that is so misunderstood. Indeed records management crosses numerous disciplines. Did you know... That categorization and indexing are two elements that are critical to the success of a records management program? Sounds a little like knowledge management. That vital records preservation is one of the key steps in developing a disaster recovery plan? Sounds like infrastructure management. That by ignoring records management policies employees and their companies can potentially end up facing criminal penalties? Sounds like a legal profession. What led to Arthur Andersen's downfall? Shredding inappropriate shredding shredding of records that should have been retained according to the policies of both Andersen and Enron. Despite what people may say, what you don't know can hurt you and, in the case of records management, what you choose to ignore can cripple you and your organization. Recent dramatic headlines have made it quite apparent that records management (or the lack thereof) is an essential activity to ascertain and confirm the credibility of many business transactions and government activities. The proliferation of electronic documents (especially e-mails) and the potential litigation exposure that they cause are becoming the bane of legal advisors and records managers in many corporations and government agencies. Microsoft, Texaco and other Fortune 500 companies have taken hits from \"runaway\" e-mails introduced as evidence in high stakes cases. But, to records managers e-mail is just another record type in the scheme of things (not a trivial record type but a record type just the same). They know that in fact, \"smoking guns\" can come in many different guises, including: paper, electronic image files, video tape, voice recordings, etc. It's all potential evidence and therefore potential deposition fodder. Making sure that all the relevant information is accessible in a timely fashion, should an organization need to defend itself in a lawsuit, is also what records managers are responsible for. These days a records manager's job is anything but boring, and in many organizations there aren't enough of them to handle the increased compliance laws and regulations that have cropped up in recent months. Not surprisingly, then, many companies are looking at records management software as a way to get a better grip on the increased volume of all kinds of records. Although that approach can help, a basic understanding of what records management is and its concomitant practices are required before even looking at any software product. If you don't have a records management policy in place along with the appropriate retention and destruction rules for the records, the software will be useless. What is Records Management? There are many different definitions of records management but one that I like the best is, \"A professional discipline that is primarily concerned with the management of document-based information systems. The application of systematic and scientific controls to recorded information required in the operation of an organization's business. The systematic control of all organizational records during the various stages of their life cycle: from their creation or receipt, through their processing, distribution, maintenance and use, to their ultimate disposition. The purpose of records management is to promote economies and efficiencies in recordkeeping, to assure that useless records are systematically destroyed while valuable information is protected and maintained in a manner that facilitates its access and use.\" Some people have the mistaken impression that records management is about hoarding everything that comes across one's desk in the course of doing business. In some highly regulated industries it may seem that is the case. But in most cases it's not only making sure that what needs to be kept as a record is retained but also prescribing how long it should be kept, where it should be stored, who has access to it and when it should be destroyed (if ever). There is even an ISO standard for developing a records management program (ISO 15489). However, even though records retention practices are considered systematic and scientific, deciding what is a record and how long it should be retained is a combination of both prescribed practice and a certain amount of subjectivity depending on the actual documents in question. Just defining what is a record can get somewhat confusing to people. What is a Record? According to the Federal Records Act a record is, \"recorded information, regardless of medium or characteristics, made or received by an organization that is evidence of its operations and has value requiring its retention for a specific period of time.\" According to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records include, \"... all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the U. S. Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of the data in them.\" Got it? This can be confusing for non-governmental organizations that don't believe that these definitions necessarily apply to them so a more generic definition would be that records are recorded information, regardless of physical form, that are generated or received and used while conducting business, and preserved because of their informational value or as evidence of an organization's functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, mission, programs, projects, and activities. This is why there is no real cookie-cutter approach to defining a records retention program for every document out there every company has to look at its own business operations and examine what should be considered a record and then decide what retention rules to apply against them. Again, the government and other industry regulators may help in that decision by defining exactly what they expect to see if they have to do an audit or investigation, but audits and investigations aren't the only reasons to have a records management program. There are other ways to determine if an information item should be considered a record or not: Does the information document your daily business process? Does the information provide input to a mission-critical business decision? Does the information provide evidence as to whcy a business decision was made? Is the information required for legal, fiscal, audit, or tax purposes? "Vital Records" contain unique or irreplaceable information and require special protection, such as articles of incorporation, annual reports and shareholder records. These should be defined as an integral part of a disaster recovery plan or operation. RM Programs, RM Software Essential elements of a records management program include a records retention policy and a set of procedures where records are classified, retention periods are defined and destruction procedures are prescribed. Classification of records and then maintaining them with the appropriate metadata are necessary so that this information can be retrieved quickly when required. Record integrity depends on three attributes: content, context, and the structure of the original record. Authenticity is very important to determining if a piece of information is the \"true\" record of an event or business transaction, which is why the management of electronic records, most especially emails, web pages and instant messages, is so problematic. The ability to generate larger volumes of records in a shorter period of time has increased the productivity of many organizations but that productivity gain can be lost if essential records can't be found during the course of doing business or, in even more critical procedures such as when an audit takes place or a legal discovery of evidence is required. Finding lost records costs money in terms of lost productivity and in more the substantial costs of fines, court costs and lawsuit settlement costs. Hence the need for records management software that aid in the record repository management activities of many organizations. These products help users: manage retention schedules, store records in their appropriate classifications along with the prescribed metadata, search for records when required, destroy records according to prescribed schedules, put holds on records so they don't get destroyed while the company goes through an audit or investigation, and track the access of the record over its active and in-active life cycle. In many cases these systems track not only electronic documents but also other record objects such as paper, boxes and tapes... Amid all the focus on key records management features such as record declaration and standards certification, one key factor sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. Records management is a core activity within many different business processes within the organization itself. It is in and of itself not meant to be the core application. Just like filing is an adjunct activity to one's work, records management must fit into the core business process in order to be truly effective. Therefore, technological elegance shouldn't be the focus -- integration with core business processes is more important. Ability to support and integrate with key business applications and be imbedded as an activity within a workflow should become more important evaluation criteria in the long run... Downloaded from http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/127-RM-101 Why Records Management? by Priscilla Emery 30-May-2005 -Ed.'s Note: This article is excerpted from the Records Management Report, published by CMS Watch. To some, managing records represents one of the most boring and onerous business functions that anyone could possibly undertake within an organization. Of course, most people don't even understand what records management is -making it easy to malign an activity that is so misunderstood. Indeed records management crosses numerous disciplines. Did you know... That categorization and indexing are two elements that are critical to the success of a records management program? Sounds a little like knowledge management. That vital records preservation is one of the key steps in developing a disaster recovery plan? Sounds like infrastructure management. That by ignoring records management policies employees and their companies can potentially end up facing criminal penalties? Sounds like a legal profession. What led to Arthur Andersen's downfall? Shredding inappropriate shredding shredding of records that should have been retained according to the policies of both Andersen and Enron. Despite what people may say, what you don't know can hurt you and, in the case of records management, what you choose to ignore can cripple you and your organization. Recent dramatic headlines have made it quite apparent that records management (or the lack thereof) is an essential activity to ascertain and confirm the credibility of many business transactions and government activities. The proliferation of electronic documents (especially e-mails) and the potential litigation exposure that they cause are becoming the bane of legal advisors and records managers in many corporations and government agencies. Microsoft, Texaco and other Fortune 500 companies have taken hits from \"runaway\" e-mails introduced as evidence in high stakes cases. But, to records managers e-mail is just another record type in the scheme of things (not a trivial record type but a record type just the same). They know that in fact, \"smoking guns\" can come in many different guises, including: paper, electronic image files, video tape, voice recordings, etc. It's all potential evidence and therefore potential deposition fodder. Making sure that all the relevant information is accessible in a timely fashion, should an organization need to defend itself in a lawsuit, is also what records managers are responsible for. These days a records manager's job is anything but boring, and in many organizations there aren't enough of them to handle the increased compliance laws and regulations that have cropped up in recent months. Not surprisingly, then, many companies are looking at records management software as a way to get a better grip on the increased volume of all kinds of records. Although that approach can help, a basic understanding of what records management is and its concomitant practices are required before even looking at any software product. If you don't have a records management policy in place along with the appropriate retention and destruction rules for the records, the software will be useless. What is Records Management? There are many different definitions of records management but one that I like the best is, \"A professional discipline that is primarily concerned with the management of document-based information systems. The application of systematic and scientific controls to recorded information required in the operation of an organization's business. The systematic control of all organizational records during the various stages of their life cycle: from their creation or receipt, through their processing, distribution, maintenance and use, to their ultimate disposition. The purpose of records management is to promote economies and efficiencies in recordkeeping, to assure that useless records are systematically destroyed while valuable information is protected and maintained in a manner that facilitates its access and use.\" Some people have the mistaken impression that records management is about hoarding everything that comes across one's desk in the course of doing business. In some highly regulated industries it may seem that is the case. But in most cases it's not only making sure that what needs to be kept as a record is retained but also prescribing how long it should be kept, where it should be stored, who has access to it and when it should be destroyed (if ever). There is even an ISO standard for developing a records management program (ISO 15489). However, even though records retention practices are considered systematic and scientific, deciding what is a record and how long it should be retained is a combination of both prescribed practice and a certain amount of subjectivity depending on the actual documents in question. Just defining what is a record can get somewhat confusing to people. What is a Record? According to the Federal Records Act a record is, \"recorded information, regardless of medium or characteristics, made or received by an organization that is evidence of its operations and has value requiring its retention for a specific period of time.\" According to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records include, \"... all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the U. S. Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of the data in them.\" Got it? This can be confusing for non-governmental organizations that don't believe that these definitions necessarily apply to them so a more generic definition would be that records are recorded information, regardless of physical form, that are generated or received and used while conducting business, and preserved because of their informational value or as evidence of an organization's functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, mission, programs, projects, and activities. This is why there is no real cookie-cutter approach to defining a records retention program for every document out there every company has to look at its own business operations and examine what should be considered a record and then decide what retention rules to apply against them. Again, the government and other industry regulators may help in that decision by defining exactly what they expect to see if they have to do an audit or investigation, but audits and investigations aren't the only reasons to have a records management program. There are other ways to determine if an information item should be considered a record or not: Does the information document your daily business process? Does the information provide input to a mission-critical business decision? Does the information provide evidence as to whcy a business decision was made? Is the information required for legal, fiscal, audit, or tax purposes? "Vital Records" contain unique or irreplaceable information and require special protection, such as articles of incorporation, annual reports and shareholder records. These should be defined as an integral part of a disaster recovery plan or operation. RM Programs, RM Software Essential elements of a records management program include a records retention policy and a set of procedures where records are classified, retention periods are defined and destruction procedures are prescribed. Classification of records and then maintaining them with the appropriate metadata are necessary so that this information can be retrieved quickly when required. Record integrity depends on three attributes: content, context, and the structure of the original record. Authenticity is very important to determining if a piece of information is the \"true\" record of an event or business transaction, which is why the management of electronic records, most especially emails, web pages and instant messages, is so problematic. The ability to generate larger volumes of records in a shorter period of time has increased the productivity of many organizations but that productivity gain can be lost if essential records can't be found during the course of doing business or, in even more critical procedures such as when an audit takes place or a legal discovery of evidence is required. Finding lost records costs money in terms of lost productivity and in more the substantial costs of fines, court costs and lawsuit settlement costs. Hence the need for records management software that aid in the record repository management activities of many organizations. These products help users: manage retention schedules, store records in their appropriate classifications along with the prescribed metadata, search for records when required, destroy records according to prescribed schedules, put holds on records so they don't get destroyed while the company goes through an audit or investigation, and track the access of the record over its active and in-active life cycle. In many cases these systems track not only electronic documents but also other record objects such as paper, boxes and tapes... Amid all the focus on key records management features such as record declaration and standards certification, one key factor sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. Records management is a core activity within many different business processes within the organization itself. It is in and of itself not meant to be the core application. Just like filing is an adjunct activity to one's work, records management must fit into the core business process in order to be truly effective. Therefore, technological elegance shouldn't be the focus -- integration with core business processes is more important. Ability to support and integrate with key business applications and be imbedded as an activity within a workflow should become more important evaluation criteria in the long run... Downloaded from http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/127-RM-101