| Using the Internet to Support Business Process Improvements
Such as Records Management
Richard Torian November 11, 2010 I. Introduction. The idea for this article came after consulting with a small Ghanaian company (recent sales less than 1 million Ghanaian Cedi). During this consultation, I realized that the company was in need of better records management. I discussed this need for better records management with the company management, and the management agreed. I then concluded that company personnel needed some outside guidance in implementing better records management. Since I am in the business of searching the Internet to support businesses, I decided that I would turn to the Internet to try to develop records management guidance that might be useful to the Ghanaian company. My goal was to find on the Internet information that I could use to make good recommendations to the Ghanaian company on how to improve their records management. I was looking for a set of easy to perform and effective steps that would constitute a records management program resulting in better records management at the company. The steps (the program) would be for a very small company, needing only a basic, simple, easy to implement, but effective, program (steps) to achieve good management of the records that the company has. Generating viable steps that would be suitable for anymore complex a situation than for this small Ghanaian company would have been a more difficult task than what this article represents. I was able to find four websites that suggested to me basic, simple, easy to implement, but effective steps of a records management program. These four websites are: 1. A Wikipedia site that defines records management including steps in the practice of records management. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_management 2. A United States Internal Revenue Service site that provides why, what, and how long records should be kept (from a tax-legal perspective) and other factors related to business records and their management. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98575,00.html 3. An eHow site that very concisely and clearly provides features of a records management system. http://www.ehow.com/facts_6858051_document-records-management-system.html 4. A United Kingdom HM Revenue & Customs site that provides a quick guide to keeping records. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/startingup/keeprecs.htm From studying these four sites, I decided that I would recommend to the company the following five steps as a records management program that could (hopefully) lead to improvements in the company's records management: 1. Identify what records need to be kept and managed. 2. Identify how long these records need to be kept. 3. Conduct an inventory of which records are on hand. 4. Develop and implement a filing system for the records. 5. Put into writing the conclusions of steps 1 to 4, which then will serve as company policy for records management. However, I realized that recommending the above steps is not all that I could contribute. I could continue to research the Internet to find information on how to carry out the steps. The information at the websites then hopefully would help the company implement the steps and the program. I would give the company the links to the websites, where I found information, and this should help the company in implementing the steps. The following five sections (Section II to Section VI), one section for each step above, provide links to the websites I found that provide information that might help implement the steps. The sections also provide some suggestions about the steps II. Step 1 - Identify What Records Need to be Kept and Managed. 1. A US Internal Revenue Service site identifies records that should be kept to back up US tax returns. Other countries probably identify a very similar list of records to be kept for their tax returns. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98551,00.html 2. This Australian state government site suggests a list of records to be kept. This list includes more than what is needed only for tax returns. http://www.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au/run/financecashflow/recordkeeping/pages/kept.aspx 3. This PDF file has an article by a United States attorney that identifies employee records needed to be kept by US companies. Although perhaps a more extensive list of records than would apply to other countries than the United States, the article does list some records that should be kept by all companies, why, and how to keep them, e.g. under locked conditions. http://www.aterwynne.com/files/ERT%20-%20Documentation%20and%20Recordkeeping.pdf III. Step 2 - Identify How Long These Records Need to Be Kept. 1. This Wolters Kluwer Business Owner’s Tool Kit provides recommendations for how long records should be kept. Records on the list not also on lists in Section II above should be added to the list of records to be kept. http://www.toolkit.com/news/newsDetail.aspx?aa=1&nid=recordre 2. A similar list from the Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center categorizes the records by how long the records should be kept. Again, records on this list not also on lists in Section II above should be kept. http://www.hrsbdc.org/legal/business/ A small company, like the Ghanaian company I consulted with, likely does not have records in many of the categories on the lists at the websites linked to in sections II and III. However, as the business grows, such records may be used and then should be kept. The recommendations about what records to keep, and for how long, in Sections II and III, can be used to govern what and when documents can be destroyed. For a small company, without a storage problem, keeping needed records indefinitely (at least for several years) may be the easiest and safest approach. When documents are destroyed, caution is needed so that the destruction is sufficient protecting the company from accidental release of sensitive information, harmful to the company and/or others. IV. Step 3 – Conduct an Inventory of What Documents Are on Hand. This PDF file offers some suggestions on conducting a records inventory. A small company, such as the Ghanaian company I consulted with, will not need to make use of many of the suggestions, but some of the suggestions should be useful. http://www.businessrecords.com/files/paper%20version.pdf Common sense planning should be applied so that not more work than is necessary is used in conducting the inventory satisfactory. V. Step 4 – Develop and Implement a Filing System for the Records. 1. This eHow site provides a very simple overview on how to set up a company filing system. http://www.ehow.com/how_6377342_set-up-filing-system-corporation.html 2. This eHow site provides more detail on one aspect of a filing system, which is how to label and file folders. http://www.ehow.com/facts_5955283_alpha-numeric-filing-system_.html 3. This Texas State Library site provides details on implementing a labeling system for files. http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/slrm/recordspubs/fs.html I recommend that these three websites are reviewed and those suggestions at the sites that work best for the company are used. In this step, step 4, the following questions should be answered: 1. Where are records to be kept? 2. What filing and labeling system will be used for the files? The filing and labeling system selected should be one that is suitable for the function that the files relate to. For example, the accounting function might use a different labeling system than the personnel records function. 3. What containers, and other equipment and supplies, are needed for the filing and labeling system? Those needed should be acquired. 4. When will electronic records be used to keep the needed information (records) instead of using paper records? For example, a company using an accounting system, such as QuickBooks, might be able to keep necessary records in electronic format versus paper format. A PDF file article at this link, http://docushare.xerox.com/pdf/docushare_RM_whitepaper.pdf, provides an overview of electronic records and their management. 5. Who will be responsible for keeping records? A responsible person usually would be someone who works in the functional area that generates the records, e.g. someone in the accounting function would be responsible for managing accounting records. Step 4 should be ongoing. By this, I mean that once the questions in step 4 are answered and the answers implemented, improvements in the filing and labeling system should continue as needed. Continuous improvements should be applied to the management of the records, as continuous improvements should be applied to all company processes. VI. Step 5 – Put Into Writing the Conclusions as Company Policy. I recommend that the conclusions reached in Sections II to Sections V (steps 1 to 4) be summarized in writing and that a statement that these conclusions are company policy be added to the write-up. VII. Comments. This article, I believe, demonstrates how the Internet can be used to generate ideas and a plan to improve a business process, such as records management, in a very small company. Searching the Internet on terms related to the business process is likely to find much information related to the business process, including suggestions and recommendations on implementing the process. Competent analysis of the found information can lead to a plan for implementation that will improve the business process. And, this analysis can be primarily based on the information found on the Internet, demonstrating again how the Internet can be an important resource for businesses. This article is a good example of how an information professional can bring value to a client. As an information professional, I am available to work on similar projects. You can find information about me and contact and fee details at by clicking here. Please click here to send an email with comments on this article. Please click here to return to the Management Accounting Information Center website homepage. |