Lucia
Thanks a ton. This is a helpful perspective. The risk compliance issue is a strong correlation. I would have a slight quibble with the banks having a robust records system.
Small retail banks bit larger banks with a trading arm are less robust. Lehman Brothers, a financial house but not strictly a bank, had a variety of records systems without robust interoperability. :)
Yet, the underlying issue remains. Is the concern with cost a reflection of a disorganised records management system. In that sense the risk assessment issue points to a resistance to having that risk imposed externally and in an incoherent way (who knows what the next foi request is going to ask) and thus is, indirectly at least, a resistance to accountability ie regulatory requirements beholden to the public and indirectly the regulator.
In other words, you have to satisfy the applicant not the regulator and to satisfy the regulator requires, all things equal, good customer service and the ability to provide the information. Thus, an organisation cannot use its normal institutional advantages to mollify or mitigate the regulator. For example, one may have been able to put pressure, organisationally speaking on the Audit Commission, but it is harder to do that with the irate citizen who is unpredictable.
Thanks again.
Lawrence
Lawrence W. Serewicz
Principal Information Management Officer
Room 4/140
Durham County Council
DH1 5UF
0191-372-8371
----- Original Message -----
From: Lucia Stefan [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012 07:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Fw: Records management the true cost of FOI? (Hybrid question straddles both disciplines so cross posting)
Hi Lawrence,
From my empirical experience gained from working with British and international organisations, the main driver for records management is compliance. FOI is just one piece of legislation from a framework, there are many other regulations that mandate good records management. I have noticed that good records management is proportional with regulation: more the industry or public bodies are regulated, the better the recordkeeping. In that respect, the best records management practices are to be found in banking, insurance and pharmaceutical industry and the worst in international public organisations under extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ).
This can be explained in terms of risks of non-compliance. If this risk is low or inexistent (as for the ETJ bodies), the organisations won't spend resources for records management, and as a result their records will be poorly managed (I've seen a couple of such basket cases). If the risk is high and non-compliance comes with a price, the organisation (company) will put all resources in place for good RM, to minimize the risks of non-compliance. The cost of FOI for public bodies is actually the risk and associated costs of non-compliance.
I hope that my response helps.
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