Changing the Paradigm: Record

and Information Management

for Public Service Excellence
Emerson O. St. G. Bryan
Principal Consultant & Information Management Specialist
Objective

i. To advocate increased senior level awareness of the importance of records and

information management, particularly from a policy perspective, across the
Jamaican public service, as well as the need to define and develop policies to
support evidenced based decision making and good governance.

ii. ii. Increased senior level understanding of how an effective records and
information management programme support the business needs of Government
of Jamaica and the services provided to citizens as a whole.
1. About Records and Managing Records
 Best Practice: ISO 15489 Records Management Standard

Records are both evidence of business activity and information assets.

They can be distinguished from other information assets by their role as
evidence in the transaction of business and by their reliance on metadata.
Metadata for records is used to indicate and preserve context and apply
appropriate rules for managing records.
Managing records encompasses the following:
a) a) creating and capturing records to meet requirements for evidence of
business activity;
b) b) taking appropriate action to protect their authenticity, reliability, integrity
and usability as their business context and requirements for their management
change over time.

ISO 15489-1:2016(en) Information and documentation — Records management

— Part 1: Concepts and principles

NB. Establishing convergent and synergistic support at a strategic level in

alignment with the objectives of ISO management system standards (MSSs), e.g.
ISO 9000 Quality management, ISO 31000 Risk management, ISO 27000
Information security management, ISO 19011 auditing management, etc.,
enabling evidence-based collaboration and linkage to Asset Owners and Asset
Registers for records.
Characteristics of a Record
The Record must ensure through time
that it maintains the following
characteristics:

 Authenticity (can be proven)

 Reliability (can be trusted)
 Integrity (complete and unaltered)
 Usability (to allow access and use)

See: ISO 15489-1 Part 7: 2

 Best Practice: ISO 30300 Management System for Records
All organizations, large or small, whether in business or government, create documentation as
part of their normal activities.
It is important for organizations to keep records of their decision making processes and maintain
a documented trail of actions taken. This is good practice which can aid efficiency, help to
manage risk and nurture repeat business. Also, when faced with litigation or investigations, it
allows organizations to retrieve information so they can ascertain which decisions and actions
were taken and why.
As the transition from paper to digital format becomes inevitable for most organizations, it is
more important than ever for them to implement a management system for records (MSR).
The ISO 30300 series constitutes a reference point for information management and for the
creation and control of documents, establishing requirements for:

i. policy and procedures;

ii. definitions of roles and responsibilities;
iii. design and implementation of the MSR;
iv. evaluation of performance and how to improve.

Supports ISO 15489, but mainly for senior management instead of

for records managers
 Best Practice: GARP and Information Governance
• Information Governance with the General
Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (GARP) [the
Principles]
• 8 Principles - ATIPCARD

1. Principle of Accountability
2. Principle of Transparency
3. Principle of Integrity
4. Principle of Protection
5. Principle of Compliance
6. Principle of Availability
7. Principle of Retention
8. Principle of Disposition

http://www.arma.org/r2/generally-accepted-br-recordkeeping-
principles
2. Records as Strategic Resources and
Assets
 Traditional Public Administration vs. New Public Management

Traditional public administration: principal-agent approach, where within the context of the
public service, the citizens, or the general public (principal) were dependent on public
bureaucrats (agents) to share information, instead of promoting ‘information silos’ by not
sharing information beyond their self interest, thereby creating a situation of ‘information
asymmetry’. (Jooste, 2008)
New Public Management (NPM): moves away from traditional public administration model, and
instead emphasizes managerial improvement and res-structuring on the one hand, and markets
and competition within the public service on the other (Lihoma, 2012).
• Advocated and widely promoted by multilateral partners such as the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to developing countries as part of development
programmes.
• The characteristics of NPM are to support managerial freedom, market driven competition,
business-like service delivery, value-for-money, results-based performance, client orientation,
and a pro-market culture (Haque, 2004).
 Evidenced-based policy development and NPM
The movement for evidence-based policy and practice and for the use of research
evidence in the work of the professions, started in medicine in the early 1990s.

The evidence-based policy and practice movement is closely related to increasing

demands for ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ that are characteristic of what has
come to be called ‘managerialism’ in the public sector or the ‘new public
management’ (Hammersley, 2001).

Evidence-based policy making was recognized as a central element of New

Labour’s plans for the modernization of government in the United Kingdom. For
example, a United Kingdom Cabinet White Paper states that:

“...policy decisions should be based on sound evidence. The raw ingredient of evidence
is information” (Cabinet Office (UK), 1999).

Executive leadership is absolutely necessary to create a system where our nation

manages and uses its information in the most efficient and useful way. MDAs must
be given the message that records management is important from the very top of
the organizational chart
New Information Reality
1997
• Print to paper policies
• We had information silos
• Filed in central ‘registries’
• Moved to storage and kept to meet
retention requirements
• PCs were used mainly as typewriters
2017
• Most records are created, received
and stored electronically in the cloud
• eMail is the largest mode of
transmission across all boundaries
• Heterogenous information formats
and platforms
• Territories less defined for
‘information management’
• Each individual makes his or her
decision about what to keep and what
to get rid of
 Information as Asset – Private Sector

Private Sector need to identify and in some cases comply with:

1. Statutes and case laws, and regulation governing the sector-specific and
general business environment;
2. Mandatory and Voluntary standards of practice;
3. Innovation, Trade Secrets and Marketing Strategies;
4. Client Information; and
5. Identifiable expectation of the community about what is acceptable
behavior for the specific sector or organization.

NB. The nature of the organization and its sector will determine which of these
regulatory elements are more applicable to that organization’s RM
requirements.
Information as Asset - Government
• Information as ‘Power’ to the citizenry
Access to information via publishing and sharing of government information
builds accountability and inclusiveness.

• State monitoring and use of Information

PAAC Sittings, border control systems.

• Big Data Analytics/MIS as an Administrative tool in Government

Used to monitor routine functions and processes to determine performance
and forecasting.
Joint-up government for service delivery: tax collection, business registration,
import/export, human resource management, fiscal management,
procurement etc.

• Integrity and Accountability ‘Sunshine’ Regimes

FOIA, Declaration of Assets, Data Sharing, Data Protection
3. Public Service Excellence
Global SDGs and National Development Plan
 Service Delivery in Government
Since the earlier decades (i.e. before 1990s), the World Bank promoted good
governance in developing countries by a mechanism of internal rules and
restraints, i.e. by reviewing a country’s internal accounting and audit systems,
budgeting mechanisms, and rules governing the civil service and judiciary (The
World Bank, 2000,
Government agencies operate in an environment where the expectations of
citizens, influenced by changing technology and experiences with the private
sector, are placing increased demands on the public sector to deliver more
services efficiently and effectively. Citizens expect seamless service delivery;
they expect to be able to conduct business in an online environment and to
have instant access to information and services no matter the time of day or
location.

This means: Electronic Government, Electronic Recordkeeping (capture,

conversion & migration) and Enterprise Content Management.
Maximum utilization of talent to service
stakeholders
 Government’s Agenda at Risk
Governments’ ability to achieve their operational and strategic goals and hold themselves accountable
for their decisions and actions depend upon how well they can create, use and preserve records.

• This ability is being placed at risk because of significant weaknesses in the way records are being managed:

• Civil service managers face the risk that major programme delivery initiatives may fail due to poor quality records.

• Civil servants are worried about how to cope with an overwhelming volume and variety of e-mails, documents,
records and files and how to know what is important and what is not.

• Technology specialists know that costly systems and applications often fail because the information and data in
records are unreliable.

• Citizens and users are concerned that records to which they have a right under Freedom of Information or similar
legislation is often unavailable, inaccessible, inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date; implementation of Freedom of
Information legislation is at considerable risk.

• Civil service managers and civil servants are unaware of the implications of poor records management on their
programmes and services; they have yet to recognise that their programmes, services and initiatives can be
undermined significantly because of the absence of adequate controls over records.
Dublin Core

– The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative

(DCMI) (Dublin, OH)
– Now ISO 15836

Creator Title Subject

Contributor Date Description
Publisher Type Format
Coverage Rights Relation
Source Language Identifier

http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/
Information Compliance- Legal Issues

• Anti-Money Laundering • Archives Acts

• Basel Accord • Copyright and Patent Acts
• Evidence Acts • Computer Misuse Acts
• Electronic Transactions/ Commerce Acts • Freedom of Information Acts
• Securities Acts
• Data Protection Acts
• Financial Institutions Acts
• Data Sharing Acts
• Banking and Insurance Acts
• Transportation and
• Income Tax Acts Immigration Laws
• Human Resources Legislation • Single ID system (NIDS)
• Labor • Sharing of Intelligence for
• Health and Safety Law Enforcement, Homeland
• Environmental laws Security against Terrorism
Training and Retention of RIM
Professionals
Change Management

Change management, in the context of managing public service

information assets, is all about how members of the public
service make the transition from the traditional approaches to
management, pre-Information Age, to new means of
administering in new and evolving knowledge environments.

The latter principle is one of the many ways in which change

management is different for the public sector.
4. Notable Model and Examples to Consider
for Public Service Recordkeeping
National RIM Initiatives
• Australian Government’s Information Interoperability Framework Sharing
information across boundaries, see:
https://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/Information_Interoperability_Frame
work.pdf

• The UK’s National Archives Information Management Guidelines, see:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/manage-
information/policy-process/

• Canadian Government’s Generic Valuation Tool on Information Management, see:

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/government-information-
resources/guidelines/generic-valuation-
tools/Documents/GVT_InformationManagement.pdf

• South African Government’s Records Management Policy Manual, see:

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.za/sites/default/files/RM%20Policy%20Manual_2.
pdf
 Ctrl+Click to link

As governments around the world make the transition from a paper-based to an electronic working
environment, there are a host of new issues to be addressed. In this film, Tanzanian Government officials
explore some of the issues involved in moving from a manual system for managing personnel information
to a computerised integrated human resource and payroll system. The challenge is to maintain control of
the records required to support rights, entitlements and obligations while maximising the benefits of
computerisation. This film was produced for the World Bank Information Solutions Group. Video created
2000.
END OF PRESENTATION
www.bryanconsultancies.com/en 29
 Information Management is our business!

Emerson O. St. G. Bryan

Principal Consultant & Information Management Specialist www.bryanconsultancies.com/en/
emerson@bryanconsultancies.com
p1. +1.246.267.7026
p2.+1.867.308.2735

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