Training Course
Records Management and Electronic Archiving in Accordance with ISO 15489
Course Duration: One Week (20 Training Hours)
Introduction
Every
organization, whether public or private, produces a vast volume of records
daily: administrative decisions, contracts, official correspondence, meeting
minutes, reports, invoices, and financial records. These records are not merely
files to be stored and forgotten; they are evidence of the organization's
activities, the basis of its decisions, and its first line of defense in
audits, disputes, and regulatory requirements. Nevertheless, many organizations
lack a clear system governing how these records are created, classified,
stored, retrieved, and disposed of, resulting in the loss of critical records,
their duplication across multiple locations without an authoritative reference
copy, or their indefinite retention at ever-increasing storage costs.
The
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published ISO 15489-1:2016
as the first international standard dedicated exclusively to records
management, defining the fundamental principles and concepts upon which any
effective system for creating, capturing, and managing records is built,
regardless of their form, structure, or the technological environment in use.
The standard defines a record as information created, received, and maintained
as evidence of a business activity or to fulfill an obligation.
The
recurring practical problem in the Arab region is that many organizations
transition to electronic archiving systems without first having resolved their
fundamental records management issues: there is no unified classification
scheme, no retention and disposition schedule specifying how long each type of
record is kept and when it is destroyed, and insufficient metadata for
subsequent retrieval. The result is that the organization transfers its
disorder from paper to the electronic system, turning the system into a random
digital repository instead of a governance tool. This course has been designed
to bridge precisely this gap, with practical deliverables that take
participants from understanding the standard's principles to the ability to
build a functioning records management system, whether their organization still
relies on paper, has already transitioned to electronic archiving, or operates
in a hybrid environment.
Target
Audience
•
Records management, archives, and central registry managers and
officers.
•
Digital transformation and electronic archiving project officers.
•
Quality, compliance, and internal audit officers.
•
IT officers responsible for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and
Electronic Document and Records Management Systems (EDRMS).
•
Office managers and executive secretaries in entities handling large
volumes of official correspondence and decisions.
•
Any officer leading or participating in a transition from paper-based to
electronic archiving who needs a systematic framework to ensure project
success.
Why the
Records Management and Electronic Archiving Course at The Only Solution for
Training and Consulting?
In
a subject that may appear purely administrative yet touches every function
within an organization, it is not enough for participants to memorize the
clauses of the standard. What organizations truly need is a team that returns
from the course able to build a records management system that works in
practice, not only on paper. The course has been designed on this basis:
1. Participants leave with working documents,
not notes
Each
day of the course concludes with a practical deliverable built by the
participants themselves: a file plan for the records of a department or sector
of their organization, a retention and disposition schedule, a metadata schema
for the archiving system, a functional requirements list for an electronic
archiving system, and a 90-day implementation plan. These are drafts that can
be customized and presented to management immediately upon return, saving
months of preparatory work.
2. Content built on actual organizational
realities
The
course addresses the situations organizations actually face: paper archives
accumulated over decades without classification, electronic systems purchased
and implemented without a prior file plan that have turned into random
repositories, official correspondence exchanged via email and phone without
being captured as formal records, and bilingual documents requiring special
handling in classification and metadata.
3. A design that bridges the standard and its
technical application
The
course is not merely a theoretical explanation of ISO 15489, nor a technical
course on a specific archiving system. It is built around the practical
question: How are the standard's principles translated into clear functional
requirements for any electronic archiving system the organization selects, and
how is it ensured that the digitization project does not reproduce paper-based
disorder in digital form? The content therefore covers complementary standards
such as ISO 16175 for the functional requirements for records in electronic
office environments, and ISO/TR 13028 for digitization guidelines.
4. Specialized trainers and up-to-date training
material
The
course is delivered by trainers specialized in records management, archiving,
and enterprise information systems, who combine a precise understanding of the
standard's requirements with practical experience in designing and implementing
electronic archiving projects within organizations, enabling them to answer
participants' practical questions. The training material has been prepared in
accordance with the current text of ISO 15489-1:2016 and the complementary
standards and technical reports, ensuring that what participants learn is based
on the latest international practices.
Course
Objectives
1.
Enable participants to understand the principles of records management
in accordance with ISO 15489 and to analyze the gap between the current state
of their organizations and the standard's requirements.
2.
Equip participants with the skills to build the essential records
management tools: the file plan, the retention and disposition schedule, and
the metadata schema.
3.
Prepare participants to lead an electronic archiving project or evaluate
an existing system, including defining functional requirements, digitization
standards, and access and permission controls.
Main
Training Modules
1st Day: Records Management Fundamentals and ISO 15489
Principles
•
What is the difference between a record and an ordinary document? And
the importance of this distinction for the organization.
•
Characteristics of a reliable record according to the standard:
authenticity, reliability, integrity, and useability.
•
Records management policy: responsibilities, roles, and regulatory and
legal requirements.
•
Practical exercise: Analyzing the current state of records management in
the participant's organization and identifying the main gaps.
2nd Day: Records Classification and the Retention and
Disposition Schedule
•
Analyzing the organization's activities to identify the types of records
that need to be captured and retained.
•
Building a file plan that reflects the organization's functional
structure, not only its administrative hierarchy.
•
Preparing a retention and disposition schedule: determining the
retention period for each type of record based on legal, operational, and
historical requirements.
•
Practical exercise: Building a file plan and retention schedule for a
department or sector of the participant's organization.
3rd Day: Metadata and Records Controls
•
Metadata: what it is, and why it is an essential component of any record
rather than an optional addition.
•
Designing the metadata schema: context, content, structure, and records
management over time.
•
Access and permission controls, audit trails, and legal hold.
•
Practical exercise: Designing a metadata schema for a specific record
type, identifying mandatory and optional fields.
4th Day: Electronic Archiving and Digitization
•
Functional requirements for Electronic Document and Records Management
Systems (EDRMS) in accordance with ISO 16175.
•
Digitization standards for paper records: resolution, formats, ensuring
the digital copy matches the original, and ISO/TR 13028 guidelines.
•
Integration between the archiving system and existing enterprise
systems: correspondence, human resources, and finance systems.
•
Practical application: Preparing a functional requirements list for an
electronic archiving system, or evaluating an existing system against the
standard's requirements.
5th Day: System Governance and the Implementation Plan
•
Linking records management to the compliance framework: ISO 9001, ISO 27001,
and personal data protection requirements.
•
Performance monitoring and internal auditing of the records management
system.
•
Change management: how to secure departmental cooperation and ensure
employee adherence to classification and retention practices.
•
Comprehensive practical exercise.
Course
Outcomes
•
A precise, practical understanding of the principles of records
management in accordance with ISO 15489 and the distinction between a record
and an ordinary document.
•
A file plan ready to be customized and applied to the participant's
organization.
•
A retention and disposition schedule specifying the retention period for
each type of record and when it is destroyed or transferred to permanent
archives.
•
A metadata schema designed for the electronic archiving system, or ready
for adoption when selecting a system.
•
A functional requirements list for an electronic archiving system, or an
evaluation of an existing system against the standard's requirements.
•
An organizational implementation plan with a clear timeline for
transitioning from the current state to an effective records management system.
Certificates
Each
participant who fulfills the attendance and participation requirements of the
course will receive two certificates:
1.
A certificate of attendance issued by The Only Solution for Training and
Consulting
2.
A certificate issued by Cambridge Training College Britain