Why the “Definitions” of Your Business Information Matters:
In the many years we’ve spent helping businesses digitize and upload critical records into PreservationVault, we’ve noticed a lack of use of proper terminology in how our customers refer to their business data. This is not a bad thing – as we are teachers as much as we are “online repository programmers.”
The semantics, however, of what you call your business information matters. It matters not only when you’re establishing a hierarchy of priority in organizing this information, but also for regulatory and compliance purposes.
What’s The Difference Between a Document and a Record?
A document is a “living” piece of information that is not yet finalized, while a record is a permanent immutable piece of information. The former is “fluid” and needs to be easily accessible to everyone working on it. The latter is a piece of information or history that can provide critical information for your business, particularly for regulatory compliance purposes. A document describes how things should be done. A record describes how things were done.
So, “your plan to do it” vs. “your proof that you did it.” Let’s break it down further:
Documents: Roadmaps that Warrant Revisions and Versions
A document is a piece of content that provides or affords something: instructions, guidelines, procedures, specifications, policies, warnings, advisories. A list of leads is a document. A template for a purchase order – also a document. Protocol on the relaxed dress code in the summer… you guessed it, a document.
Documents, by any organization’s or industry’s changing nature, warrant critique, revision, and versioning. (As an aside, our PreservationVault is equipped with robust, collaborative audit trails so you can keep track of such versioning.)
There are no required retention schedule for documents beyond their business needs.
Records: Permanent, Immutable Proof
A organizations “records” serve as proof that processes and procedures were carried out as planned. This information is “frozen in time” and should not be edited (perhaps “tampered” or “doctored” is a better-suited term.
Expense reports, signed contracts or leases, notations of customer complaints, and meeting minutes are all examples of records. If your organization “builds” or “develops” something: technical specs, QA reports, and declarations of conformity are records. The “fun photo of the staff at the company Christmas party” … that is a record.
Some records begin as documents and become “records” when their intended utility is achieved. An organization’s Human Resource policy is a document. When an employee “signs on the line” that they’ve read and comprehend it, it becomes a record.
Unlike a business document, records are bound to schedules – often very strict schedules – of how long they are to be retained, and the manner in which they should be destroyed. As such, “Managing company records” and “managing company documents” are two completely different endeavors.
What’s a File?
While we’re seeing computers enter their fourth decade as a critical piece of equipment in the contemporary office, we’re still noticing some benign but inaccurate misuse of what a “file” is. (Again, understandable, as “file” is a word that can serve a multitude of purposes)
In the context of providing an infastructural framework for your data, file is a named collection of information that is recorded on some kind of storage device. A file can be a document or a record or it can be a program, or other types of data.
Adopting the Correct Terminology Gives Your Business Data a “Framework”
Contemporary businesses produce a massive amount of content daily. Identifying what classification this content falls under is the first step in identifying the organizational hierarchy of this information. What purpose will this information serve? Will it change, and by whom? How long do we need to keep it? Commit to using the accurate terminology, and the answers arrive a bit quicker!
What Can A Free Records Assessment with InfoPreserve do for Your Organization?
In the normal course of business, everyone wastes too much time searching for information. Whether your documents and records are jammed into various drawers and cabinets, or scattered across shared network drives and personal computers, we’ll help identify your biggest bottlenecks and increase efficiency, identifying how you can quickly and easily find what you need when you need it. Get your free records assessment – Contact us today.