EBG/GKSP/02

Governance Knowledge Sharing Program

______

Evidence-Based Governance in the

Electronic Age

Building a Records Management

Capacity Framework for Public Sector

Human Resource Management and

Financial Management

Final Report

International Records Management Trust

February 2004

1

CONTENTS

Introduction / 3
Executive Summary / 4
Background and Rationale / 6
Development of Framework: Diagnostic Tool / 7
Development of Framework: Data Gathering Questions / 9
Development of Framework: CapacityBuildingMaterials Database / 11
Development of Software to Support the Framework / 12
Next Steps and Lessons Learned / 17
Appendix A /

Statement of Expenditure July 2003-January 2004

/ 19
Appendix B /

Graphical Representation of the Diagnostic Tool

/ 20
Appendix C / Sample Record Exported from the Data EntryMS-Access Form /

21

Appendix D / RMCAS Assessment and Questionnaire Tabs Screen Shots /

23

Appendix E / Summary of Data Entry Editorial Standards for the On-lineCapacityBuilding Materials Database /

26

Appendix F / Online Search of RM CapacityBuilding ResourcesScreen Shots /

27

Appendix G / RMCAS Project Plan Table of Contents /

28

Appendix H / RMCAS Functional Specification Table of Contents /

31

Appendix I / Sample Screen Shots of RMCAS Functions /

36

Appendix J / Sample RMCAS Help Screen Shots /

40

Appendix K / Diagram of the Client-Server and CD-ROM Architecture of the Records Management Capacity Assessment System (RMCAS) /

43

Appendix L / Instructions on Installing RMCAS /

44

1

Introduction

1In July 2003, the World Bank Governance Knowledge Sharing Program (GKSP) funded the International Records Management Trust (IRMT) to deliver the project Evidence-Based Governance: Building a Records Management Capacity Framework for Public Sector Human Resource Management and Financial Management.

2Previously, there has been no methodology for assessing and strengthening government records and information systems. This project involves building an innovative Records Management Capacity Framework to assess records and information systems that support key government functions, to diagnose strengths and weaknesses in relation to requirements at different levels of capacity and to provide pathways to practical and relevant improvements.

4The terms of reference for the project were to define the elements of the Records Management Capacity Framework and the relationships between them (Phase One) and to design and build software to link and deliver the Framework elements (Phase Two).

5The specific terms of reference for Phase One were to:

  • Develop the Framework’s diagnostic tool including benchmarks for records management requirements at increasing levels of capacity based directly on international standards, good practices, guidelines and research.
  • Identify stakeholder groups and define pathways to meet their records and information requirements.
  • Analyse and structure the capacity building material required to support the Capacity Framework.

6The terms of reference for Phase Two were to design and develop a freely-available software application to link and deliver the three components of the Framework.

7The two phases of the project were carried out concurrently so that development of the software could be completed within the timeframe allowed. A report of Phase One was submitted in November 2003. At that time, Phase Two activities had commenced and Phase One activities were still in progress. This Report updates the earlier report and covers the completion of both phases. It is intended to be a final account of all project activities up to January 2004.

8Originally, the project wasto commence in July 2003 and end in November 2003. Although the project began on time, funds were not disbursed until November and this delayed its completion. The project therefore was extended to January 2004 and the software developer’s necessary warranty period was similarly extended. During the duration of the project, the software application was designed and developed, core data was migrated to the application and test acceptance of the data and client-server architecture was completed.

Project Planning and Management

9The Task Manager for the project was Mike Stevens (AFT 12). The core team for the development of the Records Management Capacity Framework included:

  • Anne Thurston, IRMT, project director
  • Andrew Griffin, IRMT, project manager and quality controller
  • Sarah Demb, IRMT, information management specialist and project manager for development of the software application in Phase Two
  • Carol Eden, IRMT, project coordinator
  • Laura Millar, records and information consultant and capacity building specialist
  • Peter Van Garderen, information management and software application consultant
  • John McDonald, electronic records specialist.

10A statement of expenditure for the period July 2003 to January 2004 is at Appendix A.

Executive Summary

11The project complements work being undertaken by the Trust as part of the Evidence-Based Governance in the Electronic Age Project, which involves collaborating with a global network of institutions and organisations to support the modernisation of records management systems in parallel with measures to improve public sector management. Knowledge gathered through case studies video conferences and electronic discussions, provided the basis for developing banks of questions to measure the quality of records and information systems and identify weaknesses and risk areas. (paras 21 to 22)

12Two workshops were held in Botswana in March and August 2003 to field test the questions and to review core statements of good practice derived from the International Standard for Records Management (ISO 15489). The workshops also identified two other internationally recognised tools useful for the same purpose: the National Archives of Canada’s Information Management Capacity Check (IMCC) and the European Commission’s Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records(MoReq). The workshop also underlined the requirement that the Framework must be capable of being utilised in countries where resource constraints demand practical and realistic solutions. (paras 23 to 24)

13The questions and the good practice statements provided the basis for building the Framework, which will provide stakeholders with the means to evaluate their records and information needs, the ability to determine the existing capacity and a menu of training and technical options to build the capacity required. (paras 25 to 27)

14The tool is made of up cells representing the intersection of a stage of the records life cycle, the records management environment and a level of capacity on a scale of one to five. Higher levels of capacity are a function of an increasingly advanced ICT environment, increasingly integrated records and information management functionality and increasingly stringent governance requirements. At the lowest level of capacity, records management policies, systems and processes are virtually non-existent or informal, ad hoc or ineffective, and there is little or no use of IT. (paras 28 to 33)

15An interim Microsoft Access database was created as part of the project to organise the data gathered in constructing the Framework. Each good practice statement was linked to a source quotation in the appropriate standard, assigned to at least one records life cycle category and environment category and provisionally assigned a capacity level. The data was migrated to the client-server application to negate the need for duplicate data entry. (paras 34 to 36)

16While the original banks of questions enabled detailed data collection, they were cumbersome and time-consuming to use. The automated approach allowed the Trust to re-design the questions and use pre-defined answers in logical sequences that could be automated and scored. The software also allows for relevant policy and procedural documentation to be cited and verified. (paras 37 to 42)

17Detailed consideration was given to the level of detail about training resources to be included in the capacity building database. Selected materials were catalogued according to standardised bibliographic citations and entered into the interim Access database. Due to the large number of sources, key resources were identified from major agencies to gather a cross-section of materials. Gaps in training materials were also identified. (paras 43 to 48)

18In Phase One, functional specifications and technical requirements were prepared by an external consultant and agreed with the Trust. A London-based vendor, Softwire ( was selected on the basis of its specialisation in client-server applications, the quality of its proposal, its process and methodology and its corporate communication skills. SQL server and Microsoft applications were chosen for the software. This proprietary software precludes on-line download in low-bandwidth environments. (paras 49 to 61)

19The vendor and the Trust agreed the functional specifications and a project plan which outlined the different stages of software development and the required tasks and quality assurance steps to be taken at each stage. The deliverables were a user interface (UI) prototype, a full beta version for review and test purposes and the final release of version one of the software. (paras 61 to 65)

20In Phase Two, the software architecture was tested and evaluated with a sample set of data. Simultaneously, full data was prepared for migration to the client-server application. The software has been named the Records Management Capacity Assessment System (RMCAS).[1] RMCAS 1.0 was delivered in January 2004. The application will be made available free of charge for download via links on the Trust website as well on CD-ROM for countries with low-bandwidth capacity. RMCAS 1.0 will now be pilot tested. After the pilot test period and any subsequent upgrades and development, the Trust expects RMCAS 2.0 to be available for general release and application in the field. (paras 65 to 75)

Background and Rationale

21The project supports and builds on work being undertaken by the Trust as part of the Evidence-Based Governance in the Electronic Age programme. This programme involves collaborating with a global network of institutions and organisations to support the modernisation of records management systems in parallel with measures to improve public sector management. Ultimately, the aim is to mainstream records management as a cornerstone of good governance. More information on the programme can be found at

22As part of the wider programme, thirteen case studies were carried out in a range of countries to explore the requirements for managing personnel, financial and judicial records in a hybrid electronic/paper environment. In addition, a global discussion forum involved senior officials and records professionals in video conferences, e-discussions and a face-to-face conference. The knowledge gathered through the means provided the basis for developing assessment tools to measure the quality of records and information systems and identify weaknesses and risk areas. Banks of questions were prepared to gather data about records and information systems in the three key areas: financial management, human resource and payroll management, and legal and judicial reform.

23Under Development Grant Facility funding, the Trust worked closely with the Government of Botswana and a team of records professionals from Kenya and Canada to review the data-gathering questions and to develop core statements of good practice for records and information management. Two workshops were held in Botswana in March and August 2003 to field test the questions and to conduct an analysis of the recently issuedInternational Standard for Records Management (ISO 15489) in order to extract core statements of good practice against which responses to questions could be evaluated. The workshops also identified two other internationally recognised tools from which statements of good practice should be developed in order to achieve a more comprehensive coverage. These were the National Archives of Canada’s Information Management Capacity Check(IMCC) and the European Commission’s Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records (MoReq).

24The Botswana workshops represented milestones in establishing the conceptual basis of the Records Management Capacity Framework as a three-part tool consisting of a data gathering element, a diagnostic tool and a database of records and information management capacity building resources to address the problems identified. The Framework must be capable of being utilised in countries where resource constraints demand practical and realistic solutions. This in turn led to the conclusion that the Framework should be supported by software to provide a user interface and to make it an efficient and robust tool that can be used at different levels of detail and at different organisational levels.

25The GKSP-funded project enabled the Framework to be developed into a coherent whole that will enable countries to move away from ad hoc practice toward greater levels of control and capacity. The Framework will provide stakeholders with the means to evaluate their records and information needs, the ability to determine the existing capacity and a menu of training and technical options to build the capacity required to underpin improvements to records and information systems.

26The Framework, and the supporting software,makes it possible to feed data gathered from stakeholders electronically into the diagnostic tool to produce a high-level three-dimensional graphical representation (illustrated atAppendix B) summarising strengths and weaknesses in relation to international standards and highlighting areas where capacity building is required. Where the model diagnoses weaknesses, users can ‘point and click’ on the graphic to obtain information about capacity requirements and to identify and download appropriate capacity building material. The Framework will be available in an easily accessible format, free of charge through the Internet or in CD-ROM format.

27The Framework builds upon previous activities, notably the Management of Public Sector Records project that provided an extensive set of capacity building materials, including 18 self-study training modules. Some of this material now needs to be updated, and additional materials are required to take account of the rapidly evolving electronic working environment. Nevertheless, the existing material will provide the core of the database of capacity building material for the Framework.

Development of Framework: Diagnostic Tool

28As illustrated at Appendix B, the diagnostic tool is made up cells representing the intersection of:

  • a stage of the records life cycle (eg, records capture and registration)
  • a particular aspect of the records management environment (eg, laws, policies and procedures)
  • a level of capacity on a scale of one to five.

29Each cell of the tool is populated by a statement (or statements) of good practice against which data about records and information systems can be assessed. Statements of good practice are placed within a level of capacity from one to five. Higher levels of capacity are a function of an increasingly advanced ICT environment, increasingly integrated business and records/information management functions and increasingly stringent governance requirements. At the lowest level of capacity, records management policies, systems and processes are virtually non-existent or informal, ad hoc or ineffective, and there is little or no use of IT. At the highest level of capacity, an organisation should have in place a ‘knowledge management environment’ used effectively to support all business functions and governance objectives. Also, at the highest capacity level, advanced technology systems and networks should enable effective communication, collaboration and information sharing within the organisation and with other partners.

30The ISO 15489, issued in 2001, provides a baseline for records management requirements and a conceptual basis for the ‘records life cycle’ component of the Framework’s diagnostic tool. Earlier work included a line-by-line analysis of ISO 15489 to extract and cite provisional requirements for records management practice. These were developed into statements of good practice and mapped to the ‘life cycle’ and ‘management environment’ categories of the diagnostic tool.

31The GKSP-funded project enabled the National Archives of Canada’s IMCC to be analysed in detail so that statements of good practice could be extracted. The IMCC, published in 2002, is designed for the use of departments and agencies of the Federal Government of Canada to assess their information capacities. It provides a good fit with the ISO 15489 in that it focuses primarily on organisational, management and user requirements, rather than exclusively on the individual stages of the records life cycle. Furthermore, it defines good practice at five levels of capacity, thus matching the five capacity-level structure of the Records Management Capacity Framework.

32Good practice statements embedded in the IMCC were extracted and categorised according to the structure of the Framework’s diagnostic model. A similar exercise was conducted to extract statements of good practice from the European Commission’s MoReq so that the Framework more comprehensively covered the management of records and information in the electronic environment.

33The Framework also deals with the integration of records management with the business functions they support. Business systems must have records management functionality built in if they are to capture and preserve authentic and reliable evidence of transactions. For this reason, the Framework includes questions and statements of good practice about business functions, such as budget preparation and implementation, cash management and financial reporting (for financial management) and recruitment, promotion and transfer, payroll management and pension administration (for human resource management). The Trust has continued to work with Bank staff to ensure that the business function-based questions and statements are accurate and relevant. Further refinement will need to take place during the field testing phase of the Framework’s development.

34An ‘administration end’ Microsoft Access database was created as part of the project to hold the data relating to statements of good practice and the assessment questions with which there are linked. This enabled the data to be managed more efficiently. It also permitted simultaneous development of the software application. While the developers built the new Framework database architecture, core data continued to be entered in the Access database with a view to migrating the data at a later stage. The database also allowed reports in various formats to be generated, thereby simplifying editing and development of the Framework.

35Each good practice statement is linked to a source quotation in the appropriate standard. Each statement is assigned to at least one records life cycle category (capture and registration, classification, storage and preservation, etc) and to at least one element of the infrastructure in which records are managed (laws, policies and procedures, ICT infrastructure, training and resources, etc). Statements have been provisionally assigned to a capacity level from one to five, prior to field testing. An illustration of a statement and its assigned categories and capacity level is at Appendix C.