email records management
Business records are any documents that contain evidence of business decisions or actions, and that are created or received in the course of performing our role for our employing organisation.
Nowadays, a very large portion of business records are transmitted via email, either as part of email content, or as attachments. This session assumes that there is a business system or EDRMS that is capable of capturing emails and their attachments, and that you have a classification scheme which groups records into "containers" associated with the key business functions, and to which business rules around retention and disposal policies can be applied.
But even with that in place, the management of emails as records has a number of special considerations:
In this talk, Gaynor Deal will discuss a number of proven good practices and provide some guidelines for effective management of email as records.
Nowadays, a very large portion of business records are transmitted via email, either as part of email content, or as attachments. This session assumes that there is a business system or EDRMS that is capable of capturing emails and their attachments, and that you have a classification scheme which groups records into "containers" associated with the key business functions, and to which business rules around retention and disposal policies can be applied.
But even with that in place, the management of emails as records has a number of special considerations:
- Filing Responsibility: Emails are frequently copied to multiple recipients, the pertinent content to be recorded may evolve in discussion across a chain of emails, and recipients may be added or removed at different points in the chain. Who should be responsible for filing, and how do we ensure that the email chain is complete?
- Subject Lines: Subject lines can be problematic. A new matter may be introduced in an email chain with a non-relevant subject line, and the subject line may not be updated to the new topic. It is also extremely difficult to trawl through very long email chains all with the same generic subject line in order to find a relevant email.
- Attachments: How should attachments be captured? Sometimes the email is simply a means of sending an attachment, so it adds a step if the email first has to be opened before the attachment can be accessed. Sometimes, the email contains important context for understanding the attachment, so the two function as a single integrated record.
- User Awareness: There may be poor awareness of the importance of emails as records. Emails encourage less formal interactions, and sometimes formal business record content can be interspersed with less formal interactions. Users may cover a number of different matters in a single email. How should they be treated - as a single matter, or filed in all relevant containers?
In this talk, Gaynor Deal will discuss a number of proven good practices and provide some guidelines for effective management of email as records.
About the Speaker
Gaynor Deal has over forty years’ experience in Business Administration in the private and public sectors. As a founding partner of IRIS Consulting Group Pty Ltd (founded in 2003), Gaynor has conducted audits and reviews of information and records management in public and private sector organisations, developed strategic and operational plans, policies, and procedures, developed, and implemented activity-based classification schemes (thesauri) and retention and disposal schedules. Gaynor participated as an expert panelist on our November 2021 panel on auditing communication, information and knowledge management. |
Date/Time
Venue Type of Event Who should attend Fee |
Friday, 13 May, 3.30-5.00pm SGT.
This session was facilitated via Zoom. Attendance was free but prior registration was required. Case Discussion | Networking | Panel | Site Visit | Talk & Discussion | Workshop * Knowledge and information managers, records managers, managers responsible for email administration and document and records management systems. This event was free, but prior registration was required. |
event materials
Here are Gaynor's slides, with annotations - download here
Here is Handout 1, which shows how rules can be defined for auto filing of emails into set folders - download here
Here is Handout 2, which compares usefulness of Subject Lines between 2010 emails and 2022 emails - download here
Here is the edited version of the notes from the chat transcript during the meeting - download here
The video of the edited highlights of the session is given below.
Here is Handout 1, which shows how rules can be defined for auto filing of emails into set folders - download here
Here is Handout 2, which compares usefulness of Subject Lines between 2010 emails and 2022 emails - download here
Here is the edited version of the notes from the chat transcript during the meeting - download here
The video of the edited highlights of the session is given below.
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By continuing to use the ISKO Singapore website you are agreeing that ISKO Singapore may collect, use and disclose your personal data obtained by ISKO Singapore as a result of your use of the ISKO Singapore website. Please consult our data protection policy, including how you may access and correct your personal data or withdraw consent to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal data.