How can you ensure records are accessible to those who need them?

1 Identify your records

The first step to ensuring records accessibility is to identify what records you have, where they are, and who owns them. Records can be in different formats, such as paper, digital, audio, or video, and they can be stored in various locations, such as cabinets, servers, cloud, or external providers. You need to have a clear inventory of your records, their categories, and their metadata, such as date, author, title, and description. You also need to assign roles and responsibilities for creating, maintaining, and accessing records, and communicate them to your team and stakeholders.

2 Establish your policies

The second step to ensuring records accessibility is to establish your policies and procedures for managing records throughout their lifecycle. Policies and procedures should cover aspects such as retention, disposition, security, privacy, backup, recovery, and audit. They should also align with your organizational goals, legal requirements, and industry standards. You need to document your policies and procedures, train your staff on them, and monitor their compliance and performance.

3 Implement your systems

The third step to ensuring records accessibility is to implement your systems and tools for storing, organizing, and retrieving records. Systems and tools can be manual, such as filing cabinets and folders, or electronic, such as databases and software. They should enable you to store records securely, organize them logically, and retrieve them quickly and easily. You need to choose systems and tools that suit your needs, budget, and resources, and that integrate well with your existing infrastructure and workflows.

4 Optimize your processes

The fourth step to ensuring records accessibility is to optimize your processes and practices for creating, updating, and using records. Processes and practices should ensure that records are accurate, complete, consistent, and relevant, and that they reflect the current state of affairs. You need to review your processes and practices regularly, identify gaps and errors, and implement improvements and corrections. You also need to educate and empower your staff and stakeholders to create, update, and use records properly and responsibly.

5 Evaluate your outcomes

The fifth step to ensuring records accessibility is to evaluate your outcomes and impacts of your records management activities. Outcomes and impacts can be measured by indicators such as time, cost, quality, satisfaction, and compliance. You need to collect and analyze data on your indicators, compare them with your targets and benchmarks, and report on your results and achievements. You also need to solicit and incorporate feedback from your staff and stakeholders, and use it to inform your future actions and plans.

6 Adapt to your changes

The sixth and final step to ensuring records accessibility is to adapt to your changes and challenges in your internal and external environment. Changes and challenges can be caused by factors such as organizational growth, restructuring, innovation, regulation, competition, or crisis. You need to monitor and anticipate changes and challenges, assess their implications and risks, and adjust your records management strategies and tactics accordingly. You also need to communicate and collaborate with your staff and stakeholders, and seek their support and involvement.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?