InContext April 2008
Physical records management
A chink in your RM strategy?
In the rush to transform documents and records into e-formats, the management and tracking of physical information can be overlooked; as the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) 25 million ‘missing records’ debacle highlighted, often with dire consequences. We review the key issues to consider when managing your physical data.
HMRC loss forces spotlight on physical data security
In a world of ever increasing pressure to realise efficiency gains at every level of Government and private industry, it is only natural that the electronic processing of data receives all the attention and the tracking of the, possibly less glamorous, physical data carriers tends to be neglected. This can lead to embarrassing data losses, especially when large quantities of electronic data is transmitted by physical means, such as on CD, data tape etc.
One such high-profile data loss occurred in November last year when HMRC mislaid two CDs in transit to the National Audit Office that contained the confidential details of 25 million UK recipients of child benefits. Everyone’s worst fears were subsequently realised when security company McAfee recently identified occurrences of phishing attacks using this data that offer victims the ‘opportunity’ to claim a tax refund from the UK Government.
Efficient tracking of physical data carriers
In the old days, organisations were geared up to deal with large quantities of physical data carriers and paper records. Mail rooms used to register correspondence, records managers used to create paper files, index and label them and ensured that their contents were maintained and properly tracked until the archivists could take them into their collections or they were destroyed.
With the push for electronic records management, many organisations focused records management at the individual’s desktop through the capture of documents in electronic form directly into an electronic records management system. Unfortunately, many of the vendor’s of these systems don’t understand (or don’t consider) the management and tracking of physical records nor do their products provide an easy way to track physical data.
Conversely, TOWER Software has its roots in the development and implementation of software for the tracking of physical data carriers. This discipline has remained one of our core competencies since the company was started 23 years ago and these same principles gave rise to TRIM Context, our Electronic Document and Records Management (EDRM) system, that was the first EDRM product to receive approval from The National Archives (TNA).
TRIM Context treats a physical data carrier in the same way as an electronic record: an individual can register any object using exactly the same interface as they use for electronic documents. TRIM Context provides the necessary fields to track the locations of the objects so that physical data carriers can be listed alongside electronic records.
Figure 1: Physical data carrier listed in electronic case file
Barcoding for custodial audit trails
A fully-functional barcode printing and tracking feature allows the objects to be labelled without the need for expensive specialised barcode printers. TRIM Context can print barcode labels on any Windows compliant printer onto standard peel-off label formats. This makes it feasible for authorised staff to label their own physical objects and allow them to be tracked through barcode scanning.
Figure 2: Peel-off barcode label for physical data carrier
With barcode scanning, creating a chain of custody for physical data carriers is extremely simple: when another individual takes ownership of an object they simply scan their own barcode plus the object’s barcode and the system is updated. There is no need to log into the system, search for the object and update its location field – the barcode does it all.
Tracking the object by custodian also provides an important audit trail and implies a sense of responsibility which cannot be achieved by automatically tracking the physical location of objects through RFID tags. RFID tags can show 'where’ but they do not show ‘who’. With barcode tracking in place, a complete audit trail of who had the object and at what time can be maintained and interrogated.
Figure 3: Audit trail to track movements of physical data carriers
Tracking of transmittals to and from external agencies
TRIM Context also provides the electronic equivalent of a mail register. This allows the tracking of any transmittal of physical data carriers to and from external sources. For each transmittal you can register the sender, the recipients as well as the means of transport and any registration numbers.
Figure 4: Transmittal details
Where an object gets transmitted several times, a full history of all transmittals is retained. For each transmittal the system stores names of sender and recipients, as well as their full address details, the means of transmittal and the direction of the transmittal. All of this data is fully searchable through TRIM Contexts powerful search engine, making it a simple task to find all objects sent or received from any particular sender, postcode, street etc.
Figure 5: Trail of transmittals to and from external agencies
Conclusion
Whilst it’s hard to say that the methods of tracking physical data carriers suggested in this article would have avoided HMRC’s embarrassment (as all systems are subject to human error), they will allow organisations to apply the same consistent best-practice record management processes to both electronic and physical objects. Certainly a step in the right direction.
For more information on TRIM Context and the management of physical data carriers in your organisation, please contact Jane Empson, email: Jane.Empson@towersoft.co.uk or tel: +44 (0)118 977 7514.
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