Bridging the Gap: Integrating Records and Information Technology Management Programs
by Evelyn McDonald, HW&W, Inc.

 

 

Organizations that want to survive legal and regulatory compliance requirements must not only have robust records management programs, those programs must integrate business management, legal departments, records management, and information technology management.  These four groups need to cooperate and collaborate on records management policies and procedures.

 

The challenge in effecting this collaboration is that these four groups speak different languages and have different concepts of requirements.  A common understanding has developed between selected pairs of these groups.  Business managers and legal advisors have a longer history of working together and that history has resulted in better communications.  Business managers and information technology managers have had a long history, though a much more turbulent relationship.  Business managers and records managers also have a history of cooperation.

 

One pairing that has not received as much attention is between records managers and information technology (IT) managers.  Their dialogue is complicated by the medium of the computer itself.  For many years, records managers have been paper-based in their thinking.  Even when computers were used to replace paper, many organizations still used the computer systems to generate paper for recordkeeping purposes.  Thus the records manager has to understand the differences that an electronic system implies.  The IT manager has to understand the paper-based solutions that are being used.

 Continued ...

 

 

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