Anyone undertaking a role that involves the management of a business’ documents and records — and, more holistically, data and information — is taking on more than might first be assumed.
Why? Because organisations need to handle their paperwork properly. If not, problems such as poor quality content, incorrect applications, loss of productivity, high costs of rework, and maybe even loss of reputation can occur. This is where document and records management fits into an organisational hierarchy, with the intent to reduce all these common pain points to improve the success of a business and its people.
Data and Information
Data are the facts and figures that are bound within different mediums (physical and digital) that hold key information about a company’s dealings and transactions. It can be classified as structured (i.e., spreadsheets and databases) or unstructured (emails, images, text documents). In its native format, data will live only as data and serve no meaning until it is somehow organised, categorised, analysed and evaluated by a recipient, which then evolves into the next most important thing to an organisation — information.
Document Management
Document management focuses on the content of a document, i.e., the data or information, and making it available to those who need it, either by distribution or simple search and find, at the time it is needed for the purpose of an activity or process. Its objective is to digitise a company’s paper files for storage, categorisation, tracking and sharing to make it easier for employees, stakeholders and collaborators to locate and access required documents for improved productivity.
Document Control
Document control is often tasked with managing other unstructured data that within a document management system, such as a Request for Information (RFI), that is needed for business processes, analysis and decision-making. Another significant difference here is that it manages formal submissions to external parties and therefore is usually applied to project environments.
Records Management
Records management conversely focuses on the context of a document, such as its creation, receipt, storage, maintenance, archive and eventual disposal. Most importantly, extraordinary significance is placed on the capturing and preserving of historical and compliance details of the records so they may be used as evidence of business activities, processes and transactions.
Whilst data and information are the building blocks of any business, document and records management are crucial to any resulting business prosperity.
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