Records Management: The Digital Dilemma

摘要

Enron, coca-cola, Union Bank of Switzerland, the Rose Law Firm ― what do these organizations have in common? All have been accused of destroying official documents and some have faced severe consequences. Yet paper documents are only the tip of the records management challenge. According to Robert F. Williams, president of records management consulting firm Cohasset Associates, Chicago, electronic records are much more difficult to manage than paper records. "The challenge really starts with the question, 'What is a record?'" Williams explains. An electronic record may contain information that comes together from more than one system in more than one place, plus it has metadata (information about creation and access) associated with it. "So we have a whole new set of paradigms."