Governance: Information Management

Matters
By Emerson O. St. G. Bryan
……………………………………………………………………………………………..

• What are Records?

Records are recorded information regardless of medium or characteristics. Records can

be defined as "Information created, received and maintained as evidence and
information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the
transaction of business".
(ISO 15489‐1, 2001)

The old adage, “What I cannot see would not hurt me…” has never before, in the history
of the world, been further away from the truth than it is today, especially in government.
In this Information Age, the evidence of our activities, present or past, professional or
private, is now also recorded in electronic format. Even more significant is the pace at
which the various platforms and media for the storage of electronic records change. Are
the people managing these electronic records aware of the vulnerabilities associated
with these new technologies? Are policy makers (including permanent secretaries)
aware of their responsibility to oversee the recordkeeping process as the organization’s
‘responsible officer’?

These are challenges that Barbadian policy‐makers and information professionals across
the public service are grappling with. Whatever the nature of business, ministry or
department, it must be recognized as a vital underpinning, that the development of a

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strategy for managing recorded information across all platforms (both traditional paper‐
based and electronic) is paramount. That strategy must conform to the prevailing legal
mandates, as well as reflect management practices and technological options.

• Legal Aspects of Records Management: The Records Retention

Schedule

The Records Retention Schedule

A records retention schedule identifies the length of time a records series must be retained in
active and inactive storage before its final disposition to permanent storage, archival
preservation, or destruction.

When organizations sanction the destruction of records in the normal course of

business, the employment of a retention schedule should provide evidence to show that
the organization has an official policy for disposing of its records in compliance with any
legislation affecting the organization. This can help the organization avoid certain legal
problems associated with illegal and arbitrary disposal of records.

There are usually many outside regulations that oblige Records Managers to apply
consistent, structured management to their organization’s documents. These apply
equally to our electronic documents. A sampling may include:

o Government legislation which may require employers to destroy sensitive

information (such as personal employees/ data) after a specified time, or to keep
certain legal documents for a minimum period.

o Adhering to a consistent schedule of retention and destruction will strengthen

the defence of an organization’s records‐keeping, should it be required to do so

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 by any court action. Courts accept records as “evidence” if they are managed
according to corporately sanctioned policies and procedures.

o Records management helps us identify those documents that should have a

formal certification process applied for destruction. In some cases, the CEO/
Permanent Secretary/ an archivist’s consent may be required prior to destroying
any document.

o Legislation may require that vital documents (essential to the continuation of the
business in the event of a disaster) be properly identified, handled, and
monitored and properly protected.

o Access to Information/ Privacy legislation may oblige an organization to produce

accurate and reliable information at the right time. With sound records
management in place, it is less likely that the organization may find itself unable
to supply the requested information to the requester.

NB. A major legal objective and benefit of a retention scheduling programme is to serve
as evidence to indicate that the organization does, in fact, observe an official policy for
the disposal of its business information, and that this policy is implemented
systematically in the normal course of business.

A Legal Research Exercise

A sure way of minimizing or eliminating potential legal threats to one’s company/

organization would be the development of a legal research plan with the organization’s
legal representative/ counsel. This can be addressed by doing the following:‐

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1. Identify what general business activities may be subject to records‐keeping
statutes and regulations.

2. Identify what products or services that the organization may provide which could
be subject to legal records‐keeping requirements. (e.g.; in the banking sector/
utilities companies which keep customers’ personal data by law).

3. Examine which of the organization’s industries or business activities is currently

or potentially be regulated by the government, and may thus be or become
subject to records‐keeping laws and regulations. NB. This may be best
approached by identifying which agency (ies) of government oversees the
organization’s activities.

4. Research the organization’s litigation history and what this history suggests in
terms of developing future records retention policies that would better protect
that organization’s interests.

5. Examine what future roles the legal counsel may wish to have in the
development and operation of the organization’s records retention programme.

6. Consideration for the geographical areas that the organization conducts its
business.

Documenting the Legal Research

It is the recommended route to document the results of the legal research because the
organization’s attorneys should be provided with complete legal research
documentation to enable them to determine whether the law has been reasonably and

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appropriately applied. Also, it may be necessary to, at some time in the future, do a
follow‐up exercise, or to provide evidence to regulatory officials or in cases of litigation
that the organizations had done its best to comply fully with all the applicable legal
requirements. Some simple ways of doing this is to:‐

• post the proper statutory or regulatory citation of all legal requirements on all
records inventory worksheets;

• make copies of relevant laws and regulations and file them as supporting papers
along with the inventory worksheets or in a separate file; or

• post a summary of the legal requirements on the retention schedule themselves

or on a separate supporting documentation.

Mr. Bryan has been a Records and Information Management practitioner for over
twelve (12) years; currently he is the Information and Document Management
Specialist with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) in Barbados.
And has worked with several regional organizations including: the United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), the Caribbean Centre for
Development Administration (CARICAD), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Foreign Trade of Jamaica.

He is also an Associate Consultant/ Trainer at Lorson Resources Limited, “the

Records and Information Company of the Caribbean”, which is based in Trinidad and
Tobago, see: www.lorsonresources.com/seminar1.asp

Emerson O. St. G. Bryan Contact: emerson.bryan@gmail.com