Records Management: Challenges and Solutions

Most of us would agree that keeping track of records has never been simple. It was not easy when they were on paper, and it is far more complex now that records are almost entirely electronic. Thankfully the challenges that records managers face are being alleviated by modern technology. All that needs to be done is to recognize and understand your challenges so that you can bring in the best solution to your problems. So, let us look at some frequent challenges with modern-day records management and the possible solutions to them.

Challenges

Incomplete Data

Incomplete or scattered data makes a records management system moot, as retaining only a portion of all records nullifies its compliance and legal purpose. Data can be incomplete due to reasons such as errors in manual data entry procedures, incorrect data mapping, or flawed data crawling and journaling tactics. A common cause for such errors is that the data residing in different data repositories (also known as data silos) segregated by data type, such as emails, files, messages, and more. When records are separated by type it is difficult to systematically find and archive them. Since there is no synergy between these separate data sources, collecting and managing data also becomes complex.

Retention

Due to the sheer number of files, manually deleting or retaining documents is unfeasible. Organizations have to retain millions, if not billions, of records in their systems, no person or manual process could possibly remember each document’s predetermined lifecycle and defensibly go in and delete expired records in a timely fashion.

Defensibility

It becomes impossible to establish the chain of events on a file in the archive without an audit trail. It is difficult to tell who saw the data and for how long without the chain of events. Additionally, without an audit trail, determining what retention policies were used and whether they were changed is also tricky.

Solution

Incomplete Data

To ensure that your records are complete, you will need to scour all repositories across all data sources to find and archive documents that need to be retained. Though the collection method may vary from business to business, the goal remains the same: Gather records in one place or a single repository. This is also known as data archiving. By placing the information in a single repository, you prevent the data from being siloed.

Retention

To combat this problem, you will need a solution that can automatically figure out which files must be retained and when they can be later deleted. This requires the records management software to be able to differentiate between multiple different types of records, each of which have different retention periods, as dictated by industry regulations and laws. 

Defensibility

Every activity done on the data in the archive, including reviewer activities, searches, and policy creation and updates, is recorded in an audit trail. It acts as proof of who did what and when. A solution that rigorously maintains an audit trail is essential for compliance reasons and as proof of your actions.

Conclusion

Records management involves compliantly preserving an accurate record of your company’s activities for ongoing regulatory compliance and future use as legal evidence. It boosts productivity, improves traceability, and improves regulatory compliance efforts. However, this complex task of managing your records will only become more complicated in the future—especially as organizations transition to a cloud archiving solution. Hence, now is the time to invest in solutions that make records management effortless.