EFFECT OF GOOD RECORD MANAGEMENT
A record contains information that is made, produced, executed, or received in connection with
transactional office activities, and supports an organization in conducting its business. Records
are hard evidence of an agency’s unique policies, procedures, and decisions, and often hold
significant administrative, historical, and legal value and therefore good record keeping culture
can lead to the following.
Easier compliance
With record compliance growing increasingly stricter, it’s crucial for organizations to have a
solid record management system in place to ensure they abide by all necessary regulations.
These laws and regulations can include things like HIPAA, FACTA, and/or the HITECH Act —
all of which merit a well-structured approach to records management. And easier, more seamless
compliance is incredibly helpful to your agency as a whole, considering enforcement for
noncompliance can be quite severe (ranging from legal actions to other expensive penalties).
To make sure you follow through with regulatory compliance, you’ll likely need the help of
records management technology, in addition to a trusted policy for records retention.
Better workflows
The truth is, most agencies don’t analyze the time spent on storing or searching for records, so
it’s difficult to know how much time is wasted in the process. But when documents are stored
onsite in overflowing file cabinets, there’s no doubt a lot of time is lost while trying to recover
relevant information. Worse yet, after records have been retrieved, they’ll eventually need to be
refiled, which takes up additional hours that could be better used elsewhere within the office.
Thanks to a unified, comprehensive records management system, your most noteworthy data and
details can be conveniently accessed whenever you need them. In turn, this promotes better
workflows, and boosts your organization’s ability to handle business in a timely fashion and
ensure service delivery to constituents.
Cost savings
Consider the volume of reports and emails your business produces on a daily basis; out of all of
that information, there may be only a small percentage that is actually useful (or that needs to be
, kept on file). Moreover, handling records — especially the paper variety — demands
considerable time and money due to locating adequate storage space and printing or filing all
your physical forms. Fortunately, with proper records management, your agency can gain control
over the growth of its records and be sure it retains the most relevant or pertinent data.
Digital records management offers notable cost savings by reducing your storage fees and
improving the efficiency of your team (i.e. less time spent searching for lost or misplaced files).
Effective retrieval
Simply put, information is only useful when it can be retrieved; if you’re unable to access your
files when (or how often) you need, there’s almost no point in storing them at all. But with
effective retrieval and accessible systems, your agency can make informed decisions in a snap.
Records management software not only makes document retrieval more streamlined, but it
disposes of unwanted data so that your most important items can be utilized unencumbered.
Plus, with a cloud-based records management system, data can be shared and updated remotely
rather than solely on-premises. This level of retrieval capability allows managers or department
leads to have all the information they need right at their fingertips, and enables them to achieve
smarter, more deliberate outcomes time and time again.
Minimize risks
By implementing records management, your agency can readily reduce the risks of litigation
and/or potential penalties. That’s because a thorough and thoughtful records management
strategy can minimize the liabilities associated with document disposal (meaning it dramatically
reduces the risk of fines or other disciplinary actions). In fact, well-executed records
management mitigates these risks in much the same way that legal counsel or an insurance
policy might — by protecting against unwanted or unforeseen future events.
While most compliance risk comes from documents that are destroyed prematurely, there is
equal (or greater) risk in storing documents for too long; records can and should be destroyed
after a certain number of years, depending on the file type. If a file is retained beyond when it
was supposed to be destroyed, it can still be used against an organization in legal proceedings.
A record contains information that is made, produced, executed, or received in connection with
transactional office activities, and supports an organization in conducting its business. Records
are hard evidence of an agency’s unique policies, procedures, and decisions, and often hold
significant administrative, historical, and legal value and therefore good record keeping culture
can lead to the following.
Easier compliance
With record compliance growing increasingly stricter, it’s crucial for organizations to have a
solid record management system in place to ensure they abide by all necessary regulations.
These laws and regulations can include things like HIPAA, FACTA, and/or the HITECH Act —
all of which merit a well-structured approach to records management. And easier, more seamless
compliance is incredibly helpful to your agency as a whole, considering enforcement for
noncompliance can be quite severe (ranging from legal actions to other expensive penalties).
To make sure you follow through with regulatory compliance, you’ll likely need the help of
records management technology, in addition to a trusted policy for records retention.
Better workflows
The truth is, most agencies don’t analyze the time spent on storing or searching for records, so
it’s difficult to know how much time is wasted in the process. But when documents are stored
onsite in overflowing file cabinets, there’s no doubt a lot of time is lost while trying to recover
relevant information. Worse yet, after records have been retrieved, they’ll eventually need to be
refiled, which takes up additional hours that could be better used elsewhere within the office.
Thanks to a unified, comprehensive records management system, your most noteworthy data and
details can be conveniently accessed whenever you need them. In turn, this promotes better
workflows, and boosts your organization’s ability to handle business in a timely fashion and
ensure service delivery to constituents.
Cost savings
Consider the volume of reports and emails your business produces on a daily basis; out of all of
that information, there may be only a small percentage that is actually useful (or that needs to be
, kept on file). Moreover, handling records — especially the paper variety — demands
considerable time and money due to locating adequate storage space and printing or filing all
your physical forms. Fortunately, with proper records management, your agency can gain control
over the growth of its records and be sure it retains the most relevant or pertinent data.
Digital records management offers notable cost savings by reducing your storage fees and
improving the efficiency of your team (i.e. less time spent searching for lost or misplaced files).
Effective retrieval
Simply put, information is only useful when it can be retrieved; if you’re unable to access your
files when (or how often) you need, there’s almost no point in storing them at all. But with
effective retrieval and accessible systems, your agency can make informed decisions in a snap.
Records management software not only makes document retrieval more streamlined, but it
disposes of unwanted data so that your most important items can be utilized unencumbered.
Plus, with a cloud-based records management system, data can be shared and updated remotely
rather than solely on-premises. This level of retrieval capability allows managers or department
leads to have all the information they need right at their fingertips, and enables them to achieve
smarter, more deliberate outcomes time and time again.
Minimize risks
By implementing records management, your agency can readily reduce the risks of litigation
and/or potential penalties. That’s because a thorough and thoughtful records management
strategy can minimize the liabilities associated with document disposal (meaning it dramatically
reduces the risk of fines or other disciplinary actions). In fact, well-executed records
management mitigates these risks in much the same way that legal counsel or an insurance
policy might — by protecting against unwanted or unforeseen future events.
While most compliance risk comes from documents that are destroyed prematurely, there is
equal (or greater) risk in storing documents for too long; records can and should be destroyed
after a certain number of years, depending on the file type. If a file is retained beyond when it
was supposed to be destroyed, it can still be used against an organization in legal proceedings.
