Selecting software for managing physical a electronic records: although most records are created electronically, physical records continue to proliferate and demand that organizations seek software solutions that meet the requirements for effectively managing records in both media.

• Author: Phillips, John T.

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During regulatory audits and litigation-related discovery activities, electronic records are a major focus of requests for information. Recordkeeping requirements, such as those prescribed in the revised United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 17, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, indicate records in all formats must be managed appropriately.

For these reasons, properly managing electronic mail, office documents on personal computers, website pages, and reports derived from software applications demands the attention of everyone in an organization.

However, despite the exploding creation and consumption of information in digital formats, physical records created on paper media still dominate many workplaces. Paper-resident correspondence, memoranda, reports, drawings, charts, presentations, invoices, and travel expense itemizations require organizations to properly manage current and historical physical files.

In addition, many small business and technology-deficient nations still employ paper as their primary means of information exchange because of the low infrastructure costs and minimal computer system requirements needed for a paper-based business model.

Paper-based systems are used not only because they are cost effective, but because paper works for most everyone. In many instances, organizations must interact with the public in a manner that allows anyone to participate in the information exchange, and paper is still the best medium for many of these environments. For example, visitors to a school or doctor's office usually sign in on a paper roster (record) because it would not be reasonable to expect individuals who don't have computer keyboard skills to log into a public terminal when they enter.

While personal computers are often employed for document creation, physical printouts may be used for reading and filing. Depending on the document management and information exchange culture of an organization, paper-based filing systems are still the preferred method of communication for some law firms, doctors' offices, tax consultants, engineering organizations, construction companies, and a variety of government agencies.

Organizations also often use paper records for long-term retention due to the expense of implementing full scale integrated electronic content management/electronic records management (ECM/ ERM) systems and the lack of universally accepted long-term solutions or standards for preserving electronic records.

Differentiating Software Features for Managing Paper vs. Electronic

The backlog of paper records retained due to long-term legal and regulatory mandates that needs to be managed is enormous. Considering the volume of records received today in paper format from business partners, customers, and the public at large, even very technology-enabled organizations must continue to plan for the retention of some physical records (p-records).

Shared Features

Software for managing physical and electronic records share some features. Metadata must be used to describe all information objects, and each object, regardless of format, will have an expected workflow for appropriate records processing. All records must be...