Training Course: Advanced Records Management Issues and Remediation

Advanced records management issues are the recurring failures in how organisations create, classify, keep, protect and dispose of records, together with the methods used to diagnose and remediate them. This ten-day course is for experienced records, information governance and compliance professionals, and its final deliverable is a records management improvement strategy with a sequenced remediation roadmap, presented to peers.

Introduction

Three standards anchor the course. ISO 15489-1:2016 sets out the concepts and principles for creating, capturing and managing records. ISO 30301:2019 specifies requirements for a management system for records, which makes it useful as an audit benchmark. ISO 22301:2019 specifies requirements for business continuity management systems. The level is advanced, and ten days allow each problem area, from governance and retention to digital preservation, to be diagnosed and remediated in depth. Teaching uses case studies, a records disaster simulation and exercises on sample file plans, schedules and registers.

Course Objectives

• Distinguish records from information and data and diagnose the root causes behind recordkeeping failures
• Compare records management with information governance and define accountability structures for records
• Apply functional classification, metadata rules and retention schedules that balance over-retention against premature destruction
• Select between an on-premises EDRMS and cloud repositories and justify preservation measures for long-term electronic records
• Interpret records risks, audit findings and continuity gaps using ISO 15489-1, ISO 30301 and ISO 22301
• Justify a sequenced remediation roadmap that turns diagnostic findings into corrective actions

Target Audience

• Records and archives managers responsible for organisation-wide recordkeeping, who must decide which failures to remediate first
• Information governance and compliance leads, who must judge whether policies, retention rules and disposal controls withstand legal scrutiny
• Document control and EDRMS administrators, who must choose how electronic records are captured, classified and preserved
• Risk, audit and business continuity specialists, who must assess how records loss or exposure would affect operations
• IT and digital transformation managers migrating content to new platforms, who must determine which records controls a migration keeps

Course Outline

Day 1: Diagnosing Records Management Problems

• Records vs Information vs Data: Distinguishing What Must Be Kept as Evidence
• Common Records System Failures: Lifecycle Gaps, Inefficiencies and Their Organisational Impact
• Root Causes of Weak Recordkeeping: Separating Visible Symptoms from Underlying Causes
• Records Maturity Assessment: Rating Current Practice Against a Staged Maturity Model
• Records Diagnostic Assessment: Scoring an Organisation's Recordkeeping Weaknesses and Priorities

Day 2: Policy, Governance and Accountability

• Records Management vs Information Governance: Operational Control Compared with Enterprise Oversight
• Policy and Procedure Gaps: Detecting Missing, Outdated or Unenforced Records Rules
• Role Ambiguity and Accountability Structures: Assigning Owners for Records Across Units
• Culture, Resistance and Leadership Alignment: Why Recordkeeping Change Stalls at Senior Level
• Governance Framework Design: Drafting Committees, Roles and Reporting Lines for Records

Day 3: Classification, Metadata and Filing

• Functional vs Organisational Classification: File Plans Built on Activities or Departments
• Duplication and Weak Classification: Diagnosing Overlapping Folders and Inconsistent Naming
• Metadata, Indexing and Labelling: Fixing Inconsistent Descriptions That Defeat Retrieval
• Physical Records Storage and Retrieval: Space, Tracking and Access Problems in Paper Collections
• Classification Redesign Exercise: Rebuilding a File Plan for a Sample Department

Day 4: Retention, Disposal and Legal Risk

• Over-Retention vs Premature Destruction: Opposite Risks of a Poor Retention Schedule
• Retention Schedule Weaknesses: Gaps, Vague Triggers and Outdated Retention Periods
• Legal Admissibility and Evidence Handling: Keeping Records Reliable for Litigation and Disputes
• Disposal Authorisation Controls: Approvals, Legal Holds and Records of Destruction
• Retention Failure Case Study: Legal Consequences of Poor Retention and Disposal Practice

Day 5: Electronic Records Challenges

• Shared Drives vs Formal Electronic Records Systems: Uncontrolled Storage Compared with Managed Repositories
• Digital Information Growth: Volume, Format Diversity and the Loss of Context
• Email and Messaging Records: Capturing Business Communications as Records
• Enterprise Integration and Automation Gaps: Records Lost Between Business Applications
• Electronic Records Improvement Planning: Prioritising Fixes for Drives, Email and Systems

Day 6: Technology, Digital Transformation and Preservation

• On-Premises EDRMS vs Cloud Repositories: Control, Cost and Governance Trade-Offs Compared
• EDRMS and Workflow Automation: Capture, Retention and Audit Trails Within Business Processes
• Artificial Intelligence and Analytics: Auto-Classification and Insight from Records Collections
• Digital Preservation: Keeping Electronic Records Readable Through Format and System Changes
• Digital Transformation Case Study: How One Organisation Moved Records to Managed Systems

Day 7: Compliance, Security and Records Risk

• Privacy vs Confidentiality vs Security Classification: Three Controls on Sensitive Records
• Regulatory Obligations and Audit Findings: Common Failures Revealed by External Inspections
• Information Security Vulnerabilities and Cyber Threats: Attack Paths That Expose Records
• Records Risk Assessment Methods: Rating Likelihood and Impact of Records Risks
• Records Risk Assessment Exercise: Building a Risk Register for a Sample Organisation

Day 8: Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

• Disaster Recovery vs ISO 22301 Business Continuity: Restoring Systems Compared with Sustaining Operations
• Records Loss Scenarios: Fire, Flood, Cyber Attack and Their Organisational Impact
• Vital Records, Backup and Redundancy: Identifying Essential Records and Protecting Copies
• Emergency Response and Crisis Management: Protecting Information Assets During an Incident
• Records Disaster Simulation: Responding to a Flooded Archive and a Server Outage

Day 9: Auditing and Performance Measurement

• Compliance Audits vs Performance Audits: Checking Conformity Compared with Measuring Value
• ISO 30301 Audit Criteria: Using Management System Requirements as Records Audit Benchmarks
• Performance Indicators and Maturity Models: Measuring Retrieval, Retention and Capture Rates
• Benchmarking and Return on Investment: Valuing Records Improvements Against Their Costs
• Records Audit Exercise: Monitoring, Evaluating and Reporting a Full Records Audit

Day 10: Remediation Roadmap and Implementation Practice

• Quick Wins vs Structural Remediation: Sequencing Corrective Actions by Effort and Impact
• Corrective Action Plans: Applying Diagnostic, Risk and Audit Findings to Set Priorities
• Change Management, Training and Stakeholder Engagement: Applying Governance Roles to Adoption
• Sustaining Improvement: Building Continuous Monitoring and Emerging Trends into the Roadmap
• Records Management Improvement Strategy: Finalising and Presenting the Remediation Roadmap

Skills You Will Gain

• Recordkeeping Diagnostics
• Information Governance Design
• Functional Classification
• Retention Scheduling
• EDRMS Requirements Definition
• Digital Preservation Planning
• Records Risk Assessment
• Records Audit

Why Attend This Course

• From treating each records complaint separately to diagnosing the root causes behind a pattern of failures
• From retention by habit to schedules and disposal controls that hold up when records are needed as evidence
• From uncontrolled drives and inboxes to managed electronic records with preservation and continuity built in
• From scattered fixes to a records management improvement strategy with a sequenced remediation roadmap

Conclusion

Records problems rarely sit in one place: weak governance, poor classification, loose retention and unmanaged digital content usually reinforce one another. The course clarifies three distinctions: records management versus information governance, over-retention versus premature destruction, and disaster recovery versus business continuity. It is the right choice for experienced records and governance professionals who need ten days to work through every problem area in depth and leave with a remediation roadmap their organisation can follow.

Course FAQs

What are advanced records management issues?

Advanced records management issues are systemic recordkeeping failures, such as unclear ownership, weak file plans, unreliable retention, uncontrolled electronic content and missing continuity arrangements, that need diagnosis across governance, technology and risk rather than one-off fixes.

What is the difference between over-retention and premature destruction in records management?

Over-retention keeps records past their required period, raising storage cost, privacy exposure and disclosure risk in disputes. Premature destruction disposes of records before obligations end, which can breach legal duties and leave an organisation without evidence.

Which standards does advanced records management issues training follow?

The course follows ISO 15489-1:2016 for records concepts and principles, uses ISO 30301:2019 as a management system benchmark for audits, and applies ISO 22301:2019 when examining records within business continuity.

Is advanced records management issues training right for an EDRMS administrator?

Yes. An EDRMS administrator configures how records are captured, classified and retained, and the sessions on functional classification, metadata, retention schedules, digital preservation and migration controls connect system settings to recordkeeping requirements.

What do delegates produce in advanced records management issues training?

Delegates produce a records management improvement strategy containing their diagnostic findings, a records risk register, audit results and a remediation roadmap that sequences corrective actions, owners and milestones, presented to peers on the final day.