Electronic Document and Records Management Systems EDRMS Dr

Electronic Document and Records Management Systems “EDRMS” ﺍﺩﺍﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻮﺛﺎﺋﻖ ﻭﺍﻟﺴﺠﻼﺕ ﺍﻹﻟﻜﺘﺮﻭﻧﻴﺔ Dr. Mohammed Shbier University of Palestine February 2018

Chapter 3 Policies of EDRMS Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS

3 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS 3. 1 What Constitutes a Record

4 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS What Constitutes a Record • Chapter 2, Fundamentals of EDRMS, gave the definition of a record as per the Oxford Dictionary of English. • However, we have to define what exactly a record when related to EDRMS is. • A record in an EDRM system is essentially: ▫ a file that gives an evidential account of either a whole thing/event or part of a thing/event that occurred in the past.

5 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS What Constitutes a Record. . • Because records contain accurate information that occurred in the past, records must not be altered or changed in any way at all. • A record can exist on any type of media. ▫ Most often records are scanned into the EDRM document repository as from historic paper records; ▫ Records can also originate from letters, e-mails, faxes, word-processed document files, any and all computer files, and even Morse code transmissions.

6 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS Morse code • Morse, an inventor of the telegraph. . Each Morse code symbol represents either a text character (letter or numeral) or a prosign and is represented by a unique sequence of dots and dashes. The dot duration is the basic unit of time measurement in code transmission.

7 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS 3. 2 When Do Documents Become Records?

8 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS When Do Documents Become Records? • When a document is under the control of the EDRM system, the document can be changed and modified by authorized users, ▫ whereas a record cannot be changed or modified at all. • A document becomes a record when that particular document is archived. ▫ A document can be archived at any time but once a document is archived then no further changes can be made to the document.

9 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS When Do Documents Become Records? . . • Examples (in the book): ▫ A collaborative report. ▫ A workflow of loan application. • Hence, to sum up, ▫ “once a document has been through all the workflow process stages and is subject to no more workflow process stages or any other changes, only then can the document be archived as a record”.

10 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS 3. 3 Retention Schedules

11 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS Retention Schedules • Retention schedules are concerned with the length of time an organization will retain records within the system’s document repository. • It can be 7 years. • Many factors, the most important being ▫ legislative issues, such as privacy laws and data protection laws, as well as freedom of information laws.

12 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS Retention Schedules. . • Archiving, security, and retention schedules are all tightly coupled and integrated together. ▫ An archived record is a record that has been filed within an EDRMS document repository, and ▫ The record may be archived with certain security access levels, depending on the record’s sensitivity. ▫ A particular record is now retained by the EDRMS. • Once this time has expired from the date the record has been first archived, then it can be completely deleted from the system or moved to an offline storage media.

13 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS 3. 4 Off-Line Storage Media

14 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS Off-Line Storage Media • The records could be completely destroyed (being completely removed from the system) or the records could be moved to off-line storage. • If records are moved to off-line storage, then they would be available for future reference, hence the records have still been retained. • Off-line storage media such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or tape. ▫ depending on the organization’s specific needs as set out in the records management policy statement.

15 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS 3. 5 Archiving

16 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS Archiving • The archiving of documents and records is tightly coupled to security and retention schedules. • With regards to the relationship between archiving and security, whenever a record is archived security settings will need to be applied to the record. • The records management policy statement will also need to define when a document becomes a record. ▫ A document becomes a record when that particular document is archived and is no longer subject to any changes.

17 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS 3. 6 Security

18 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS Security • Security is a built-in to the EDRMS solution, and not simply added on as an addition. • Security needs to be applied for specific groups of users and individual users at the document and records level of the system. • Security access permissions also need to be defined so that individual users or groups of users have different access rights to the same records. ▫ Security access permissions normally allow an authorized system administrator to configure access to both individual files (documents or records) and also folders and sections within the EDRM document repository.

19 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS 3. 7 Auditing

20 Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS Auditing • As mentioned previously in Chapter 2, Fundamentals of EDRMS, ▫ Auditing is an integral component of both EDM and ERM systems. • As well as providing an accurate audit trail, an EDRMS solution also needs to keep previous versions of documents within the document repository ▫ so that other users such as administrators are able to access and view the changes that have been made to documents over the course of time. • Legislation depends upon the country and organization in which the EDRMS has been implemented and, secondly, on the type of documents or records being stored.

Dr. Naji Shukri Alzaz, EDRMS