Electronic Records Management Systems

An electronic records management system (ERMS), or records management application (RMA), is software used by an organization to manage its records. (DoD 5015.2-STD: Design Criteria Standard for Electronic Records Management Software Applications, 2nd ed.)

A record is a document which has been declared as a record, constituted of both content and metadata. A document is recorded information, stored on a physical medium, which can be interpreted in an application context and treated as a unit. (Requirements for Electronic Records Management Systems, 2nd ed.)

ISO 15489 defines the characteristics of records and records management processes, the latter ensuring that any given record possesses these characteristics for as long as it is preserved.

A record, being created, received and maintained not only for information, but also for purposes of evidence:

• must be compliant with the regulatory environment in which the organization conducts business.
• must posses context, content and structure.
• must be authentic, reliable, integral and useable.

Records management processes comprise: capture, registration, classification, search and retrieval, storage and handling, disposition, access control, location tracking and, where necessary, action tracking.

The records management processes defined by ISO 15489 should be executed by ERMS and drawn up according to ERMS specifications such as DoD5015.2-STD: Design Criteria Standard for Electronic Records Management Software Applications, 2nd ed., Requirements for Electronic Records Management Systems, 2nd ed., and the Model Requirements for Electronic Records Management Systems, the last-named being studied in the DISSCO project.