How to Develop a Records Management System
Having a records-management system in place for your business provides numerous benefits. In one way or another, you can save space, time and money. Another benefit to streamlining your office is that it also enhances productivity. In addition to having a smoother running operation, you are aided in the legal department. Required papers to show jurisdictional compliance are mandatory in many cases. Plus, easy access to documented employee incidents can come in handy if one turns litigious down the road.
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Instructions
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Map out the areas of your office management that need improvement. Assess your specific needs before you can begin to meet them. Any old system won't necessarily do; your new system should be tailored to fit your needs.
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Categorize every record. You may rank them as you wish; whatever works best to ensure a smooth flow of operations. What you need now, what you need to store, what you need to discard and what you need to display are a few examples of how to organize your documents. If it is in your budget, move older, still needed and archived material off site.
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Train everyone how to work within your system. All employees need to know the proper procedures for records storing and records retrieval. If everyone is not on the same page, then you might as well not have a system in place, as the would-be organizational benefits will be rendered moot.
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Maintain the records-management system on a regular basis. Mere implementation without ensuring that it is working as intended can create more work for you and your staff down the road. Few and far between "spring cleanings" are essentially the same as reinstalling the system every time.
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Know when the statute of limitations has passed for records that you can discard. Having excess documents around negates the streamlining benefits of the system. The same can be said for electronic records.
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Document your record usage. Important records need to be used from time to time, but it's vital that they are signed or accounted for in some form. Don't just take someone's word for it, as people tend to forget and misplace things because of human error. If you have a written record of where a document is and what time it should be back in its place, it makes it easier to track down missing data.
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References
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