Hseb Notes - Business Studies XI - Record Management

                                                                         Records Management:

Records can be defined as a written documents such as correspondence, reports, circulars, agreement, minutes, invoice, accounts, tapes, films, etc. which are created, stored and disposed off. Records are maintained for the future reference so they are valuable assets of every organization. Office has to pay careful attention towards identification and maintenance of records. Records can be classified on the following ways:

Classification on the basis of nature:

Under this basis records can be of following types:

• Correspondance records:

The letters received or sent by the office such as notice, circulars, enquries, etc. are called correspondence records.

• Personnel records:

The records related to the employes and workers such as employs history, salary sheets, performance records, etc. are called personnel records.

• Accounting records:

The records related to the financial activities such as vouchers, ledgers, profit and loss A/C, balance sheet, etc. are the accounting records.

• Legal records:

The records which are kept under the legal provision such as company act, value added tax act, income tax act, etc. are called legal records.

• Miscellaneous records:

Except above records, there are other types of records such as purchase records, sales records, production records, stock records, etc. are called miscellaneous records.

Classification based on value of records:

            All the records to be maintained by the organization are not equally valuable so the records can be classified on the basis of their values such as:

• Vital records:

The vital records are very important which cannot be replaced and destroyed. Vital records require best protection.

• Important records:

The records which are financially important and are retained for the long period of time are called important records. They also require best protection and can be replaced with considerable time and money such as financial statement, cash records, etc.

• Useful records:

The records which are useful for the smooth functioning of office and can be replaced but their loss will cause some delay and inconvenience such as bank statement, personnel records, orders, etc. are called useful records.

• Non-essential records:

The records which have no value to the organization are called non – essential records. For eg: the notice which is already used.

Meaning and concept of record management:

            Organizations maintain different types of records which are essential for the smooth functioning of organization. Records are to be preserved safely and they need to tbe disposed when they become unnecessary. So, the record management is the process of creating, storing, utilizing and disposition of records. Record management considers the importance of records and deals or handles accordingly. The major steps of record management process are as follows:

• Creation of records:

It is the first step in which the new records are developed and adopted which have significant importance in the future. It is also concerned with making entries of data efficiently.

• Utilization of records:

After creation, the records are used for the various purposes. They need to be provided in the different locations as per the requirement.

• Storage of records:

When the records are used they need to be kept or stored safely at a place where it is easily accessible to the users. Filing is the best way of storing records.

• Retrieval of records:

Generally, the records which are taken out from the files are again returned to the concerned file. But the records which are not returned from the reasonable time period should be traced which is called retrieval of records.

• Disposition of records:

Records also have their own life and they become useless. When records become unnecessary they need to be destroyed which is called disposition of records.

Importance of record management:

            Some importance of record management are as follows:

• Preparation of statement:

Record management helps management to prepare financial statement which shows the real position of organization.

• Making of comparison:

Record management also facilitates to make comparison between organization to organization, department to department, time to time and person to person, etc.

• Orderly account of progress:

Record management preserves the different records of different time period. It helps to evaluate the organizational progress.

• Dictation of errors and frauds:

Record management also help to dictate mistakes, errors and frauds. It helps to minimize the manipulation of figures and facilitates proper management.

• Legal requirements:

Record management is also essential to fulfill the requirements of various laws. Some records such as income, expenditure, P/L, etc. are legally required for various purposes. So, it is fulfill by record management.

• Others:

Except above, record management is also useful for other purposes such as to settle dispute, to serve as memory, to control and to increase efficiency.

Principles of record management:

            Some principles of record management are as follows:

• Principle of justification:

According to this principle, records should be maintained with certain purpose or objective. Records without objective should not be preserved.

• Principle of verification:

According to this principle, records should be kept based on a proof rather than hears say evidence or rumour.

• Principle of classification:

According to this principle, the total records should be classified based on their nature. It facilitates to supply the records as per the requirement.

• Principle of availability:

There is no meaning of keeping records unless they are available as per the requirement so according to these principle records should be available as per the requirement easily and quickly.

• Principle of reasonable cost:

According to this principle, record management should bear reasonable cost. It’s benefit should exceed its cost.

Record retention and disposal:

            Record management is the mechanism through which the records of organization are maintained and they are disposed when they become useless. Filing is the key element of record management.

            All the records have their own life and have their specific use. Some records have long term use and some have short tem use. So, it is an important decision of office manager to retain the useful records and to destroy or dispose unnecessary records. Out of the kept records, manager has to identify the useful records and useless records. Retention of records has some importance or objective as follows:

• To remove unnecessary records.
• To safeguard important records.
• To save time, efforts and space.
• To reduce cost of keeping records.
• To increase efficiency.
• To increase goodwill and reputation of office.