1.2 Store and Organize - RIM Manual

Authority

The Managing Government Information Policy (MGIP) requires ministries to:

1. Protect the integrity, authenticity, and reliability of government information by providing adequate digital and physical storage with appropriate retention, privacy, security, access, and environmental controls (1.2, 1.10, 1.11); 
2. Inventory the systems used to organize and store information in their custody and control (1.12);
3. Organize and classify information in accordance with information schedules (2.2); and
4. Prepare records for storage in a manner that ensures the records will remain accessible, and persistently link appropriate metadata with information (3.6, 3.7).

About Store and Organize

The information your ministry creates and receives is a government asset that requires proactive management in an appropriate recordkeeping system to support efficient access and retrieval and to preserve its authenticity, reliability, and integrity over time. This includes everything from documenting government decisions to managing statistical data, or creating and receiving correspondence.

By taking action in the early "Store and Organize" stage, you are also setting your team up for success at the later "Store and Preserve" stage. Haphazard creation of new versions and copies contributes significantly to misinformation, poor search experiences, and difficult RM and FOI processes. 

For more information, see RIM Manual Section 2.3 Store and Preserve and relevant Records Management guides.

Best Practices

1. Establish an appropriate recordkeeping system

Once information is created or received, protect the authenticity, integrity, and usability for as long as the information is needed by using appropriate recordkeeping systems, such as an enterprise document and records management system (i.e. Content Manager, the government’s EDRMS) with appropriate controls. 

2. Apply Information Schedules

Information schedules (i.e. ARCS, ORCS, and special schedules) govern the lifecycle of files and data sets relating to the entire range of government functions. They are designed to categorize and set timelines for data and records according to their functions and business values, and to ensure effective organization, retention, and disposition. They ensure that information is organized in a consistent and predictable manner.

Classifying information according to the classifications (commonly known as “secondaries”) that are provided in ARCS and ORCS ensures that information can be logically organized, efficiently accessed and retrieved, and disposed of according to predetermined timelines. 

Ensure that the metadata in line of business systems includes relevant information schedule and classification information. This will help ensure that the information in them can be managed and disposed of in accordance with established requirements. In many cases only one ARCS/ORCS classification is applicable to all the data in a system.

How should you manage unscheduled information? If there is no applicable information schedule ensure that, at minimum, information is organized according to functions and is maintained securely and confidentially. Ensure that your ministry records officer (or equivalent role) are aware that an information schedule is needed, as this information is vulnerable.

To learn more, see the Information Schedules page and the ARCS and ORCS User Guide.

3. Identify preferred storage locations

Store your information in safe and secure locations (as described above, in Authority). Store critical information in an appropriate recordkeeping system, ideally EDRMS Content Manager, which is the BC Government standard.

Routinely transfer information from collaboration tools and personal storage locations into the designated recordkeeping system locations. Collaboration tools and personal storage locations do not meet the requirements for an appropriate recordkeeping system and can be used only temporarily for non-transitory information. As soon as possible, move this information into EDRMS Content Manager, a structured Local Area Network (LAN), or another appropriate recordkeeping system.

Coordinate your filing structure across systems, so that related data and records share the same classifications and retention schedules regardless of where they are stored (e.g. in a line of business system, physical files, and/or in EDRMS Content Manager).

4. Avoid duplication

Clearly defining the office of primary responsibility or OPR (e.g. when two or more program areas collaborate on a project and resulting documentation) can reduce the storage of duplicate, or partial files, and will support the preservation of the most complete and authoritative instance of a record.

5. Inventory systems and information

Implement and routinely update an inventory of the digital and physical locations used by your organization to store information. Inventory the information stored within all systems and storage locations, including all applications, line-of-business systems, file banks, desk drawers, and all other digital or physical places where information is kept, including those which are accessible only to one or a few employees, and those that are maintained centrally rather than within your ministry (e.g. the Corporate Accounting System).

Manage government information saved in web content management systems and social media platforms. Your ministry is accountable for the security, accessibility, and maintenance of its information regardless of where it is stored.

6. Document

Ensure there is good documentation of the processes and procedures that your ministry establishes for the storage and organization of government information. This includes documenting designation of roles and responsibilities for appropriately maintaining recordkeeping systems and applying information schedule classifications.

7. Monitor

Conduct an annual review of how well storage locations are organized and maintained. Ensure recordkeeping controls your team has in place are adequate.