I recently started working for a big state owned corporation, and they want us to create a centralized filing system from scratch ......So because we all don't know the corporation's whole departments/divisions and all functions/activities let alone the state or nature of their records, we decided to conduct a records survey (we chose to use interviews and observation checklists to gather information)
I just wanted to know, was it wise to only choose those two methods to gather information and HOW MANY staff members do we have to interview per department in such a big corporation?
Replies
THANK YOU SO MUCH Adelaide
Records Management is fairly new out here but the Government has seen the need for it and has obligated all the Ministries and State owned corporations to implement a records management system that will guide and manage all public records.
I am very passionate about Records Management, so I always try to stay updated on the latest and try to find out how others are succeeding and solving problems elsewhere, that is why I have joined this platform.
Adelaide, I was wondering if you have any supplementary documents or websites that you can refer me to, specifically on classification schemes that can guide us or to benchmark from , which can help us draw up a successful classification scheme.
This is my email address: r.raymond93@yahoo.com
Certainly no easy feat getting together a business classification scheme, but it will definitely help you in having a more stable way to organise information over time (as Anthea has already said, org structures change so often, making it difficult to manage information).
I think your two methods are a great idea. In terms of the interviews, ideally you probably don't want more than 5 or 6 people per session otherwise it can be difficult getting through the questions you've got in the allotted time. The sort of people you will want in these sessions are those that have potentially been with the organisation for a while and have a good understanding of what their business area do and how they operate.
Obviously being new to the organisation it might be difficult for you to identify these people, so getting some buy-in and recommendations from managers is really helpful.
Depending on the type of organisation, you might also find that you can identify functions and activities based on general records authority/retention and disposal authorities here in Australia. Happy to help point you in the right direction if you need.
So true about the flexibility, we already experiencing it
THANK YOU Anthea
I'd ask your counterparts in the other states what they have - they are probably quite happy to share and that would save you lots of time. You'd also end up with a good product.
Departments change so make sure you are flexible and can accommodate this.
I think interviews are excellent, but my experience is that the information regarded as important depends very much on the particular role and may not accurately reflect the real value of the information.