The significance of efficient Records Management is now being realized by companies, small and big. Data and documents are crucial factors responsible for information workflow within an organization. The way they are curated decides the productivity of various departments that are interconnected via intricate processes and events. Records Management can significantly influence the overall organizational efficiency, workflow processes, security & integrity, litigation and compliance.

Since Records Management is such an important enterprise factor, its basic concept and fundamental practices must be included in the skillset of the employees. In fact, the same can be rightly applied to the senior leadership of any organization.

This is where Records Management Training comes in.

What is Records Management Training?

Records Management Training can be defined as a Program designed to impart learning in the employees and management of an organization. This learning pertains to essentials of Record Management practices, key underlying concepts, best practices and guidelines that the personnel must adhere to. Records Management training curriculum can be custom designed as per the enterprise needs or outsourced to a suitable authority to undertake the training operations.

Records Management training typically includes but is not limited to;

• Training departments and teams about the Retention Schedules
• File management, curation, retrieval and security
• When and how to destroy the records keeping in mind the laws and regulations
• Best practices for Email communication
• Best Practices for official communication outside the premises
• An instructional guide to managing vital records
• An instructional guide to Archival of records Prevention of Data/Information leak, espionage, and other malicious threats through Records Management Security

Why Do You Need Records Management Training?

Businesses might think that placing an on-site RMS or hiring an RM Services Vendor checks all the pointers in the execution list. However, record management operation cannot be considered as sealed until the teams and personnel have been trained about the same.

Following are the reasons as to why you need to incorporate Records Management Training in your enterprise;

• Ensuring Airtight RM Processes- Your organizational records and data are as safe as the weakest link in their flow. Records Management Training will ensure that your employees not just ‘mechanically’ stick to the process but also recognize the purpose behind doing so. This will result in strengthened RMS processes.
• Simplifying Workflow- Records serve the purpose of propelling the workflow within the departments. When enterprise personnel know what information they have, where it is preserved and for how long it will exist, the workload will be expedited naturally.
• Enhanced Enterprise Security- If your employees understand the constraints laid down by the company over access, distribution or collaboration relating to certain documents or data, they’ll be more empathetic towards the system. The personnel will feel morally obliged to abide by the RM rules because they’d understand the logic behind it. Ultimately, your teams will become the preservers of the enterprise information security.
• Scalability- Your RMS system can be easily scaled as you grow and expand. However, the workforce required to comply with it cannot be automatically ‘scaled’ without a certain amount of training. Records Management Training will enable you to scale your RM needs as the number of personnel grows.

Steps to Records Management Training

• Prepare a detailed guideline covering the points on which the personnel must be trained. Ideally, the Record Managers shall be asked to give the inputs wherever necessary.
• Your Learning & Development Department must be briefed about imparting the training in the simplest of manner without overloading the teams with too much information.
• Conduct the training as per the suitability of schedule. Make sure that Record Managers also contribute to the sessions with insights.
• If your schedule is really inflexible, then simply cover up the parts pertaining to Records Security and Records Archiving.

Coalescing RM training with personnel skill-development policies of an organization can enhance the overall effectiveness of Records Management System and security as far as the human-factor is considered. A skilled workforce will mitigate most of the risks associated with the manual & digital handling of the mission-critical information. Thus, such a training program will be your investment towards a future-secure enterprise.

Keep the above points in mind to leverage the RMS training!