IMS3007 Managing business records - Semester 2 , 2007

Unit leader :

Sue McKemmish

Lecturer(s) :

Caulfield

  • Henry Linger

Tutors(s) :

Caulfield

  • Pamela Spink

Introduction

Unit synopsis

This unit deals with desk-top, work group and organisational processes and tactics for managing the recording of business activities in private or governmental sectors. Internet technologies for work-place routines and for communicating and recording information provide the technical environment for considering such issues as recordkeeping regimes, determining and applying recordkeeping metadata structures and the relationship between recordkeeping and business analysis techniques such as risk management, organisational analysis, work-flow analysis and functional requirements for evidence.

Learning outcomes

The aim of this unit is to provide core records management knowledge and skills relating to business process analysis

At the completion of this unit the students will:
have knowledge and understanding of:

  • the business processes that recordkeeping activities support
  • the evidential requirements for evidence of business activities that exist in the workplace
  • how systems are designed and implemented that meet business needs and evidential requirements.

have the skills to:

  • participate in the design and implementation of electronic recordkeeping systems
  • undertake various forms of business analysis in support of records management activities.

have developed attitudes which enable them to:

  • work as part of project teams
  • participate in records management activities in large organisations or undertake them on their own in small ones
  • advise team members and function managers on records management systems for business purposes.

Workload

For on campus students, workload commitments are:

  • two-hour lecture and
  • two-hour tutorial (or laboratory) (requiring advance preparation)
  • a minimum of 2-3 hours of personal study per one hour of contact time in order to satisfy the reading and assignment expectations.

Unit relationships

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this unit.

Relationships

 The unit is a third year elective unit that may be taken in any Bachelor of ITS or other programs where course rules permit

You may not study this unit and LAR3007 in your degree.

Continuous improvement

Monash is committed to ‘Excellence in education' and strives for the highest possible quality in teaching and learning. To monitor how successful we are in providing quality teaching and learning Monash regularly seeks feedback from students, employers and staff. Two of the formal ways that you are invited to provide feedback are through Unit Evaluations and through Monquest Teaching Evaluations.

One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is through Unit Evaluation Surveys. It is Monash policy for every unit offered to be evaluated each year. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the surveys as they are an important avenue for students to "have their say". The feedback is anonymous and provides the Faculty with evidence of aspects that students are satisfied and areas for improvement.

Student Evaluations

The Faculty of IT administers the Unit Evaluation surveys online through the my.monash portal, although for some smaller classes there may be alternative evaluations conducted in class.

If you wish to view how previous students rated this unit, please go to http://www.monash.edu.au/unit-evaluation-reports/

Over the past few years the Faculty of Information Technology has made a number of improvements to its courses as a result of unit evaluation feedback. Some of these include systematic analysis and planning of unit improvements, and consistent assignment return guidelines.

Monquest Teaching Evaluation surveys may be used by some of your academic staff this semester. They are administered by the Centre for Higher Education Quality (CHEQ) and may be completed in class with a facilitator or on-line through the my.monash portal. The data provided to lecturers is completely anonymous. Monquest surveys provide academic staff with evidence of the effectiveness of their teaching and identify areas for improvement. Individual Monquest reports are confidential, however, you can see the summary results of Monquest evaluations for 2006 at http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/cheq/evaluations/monquest/profiles/index.html

Unit staff - contact details

Unit leader

Professor Sue McKemmish
Professor
Phone +61 3 990 31060

Lecturer(s) :

Dr Henry Linger
Senior Lecturer
Phone +61 3 990 32260

Contact hours : By appointment

Tutor(s) :

Mrs Pamela Spink

Teaching and learning method

The unit will be conducted as one 2 hour lecture and one 1 hour tutorial per week.
  • Copies of lecture slides and tutorial exercises will be made available to all students through the unit website.
Lectures will provide students with the knowledge of fundamental theories and concepts. The tutorials will providestudents with an opportunity to discuss and apply the concepts throughcase studies and problem solving exercises

Communication, participation and feedback

Monash aims to provide a learning environment in which students receive a range of ongoing feedback throughout their studies. You will receive feedback on your work and progress in this unit. This may take the form of group feedback, individual feedback, peer feedback, self-comparison, verbal and written feedback, discussions (on line and in class) as well as more formal feedback related to assignment marks and grades. You are encouraged to draw on a variety of feedback to enhance your learning.

It is essential that you take action immediately if you realise that you have a problem that is affecting your study. Semesters are short, so we can help you best if you let us know as soon as problems arise. Regardless of whether the problem is related directly to your progress in the unit, if it is likely to interfere with your progress you should discuss it with your lecturer or a Community Service counsellor as soon as possible.

Unit Schedule

Week Topic Key dates
1 Introduction to Managing Business Records  
2 Business recordkeeping frameworks and Standards  
3 Organisational analysis  
4 Functional analysis  
5 Business activity and workflow analysis  
6 User needs and requirements  
7 Recordkeeping systems design  
8 Recordkeeping policies  
9 Recordkeeping strategies  
10 Recordkeeping tools  
Mid semester break
11 System specification and procurement  
12 Software evaluation and system implementation  
13 Review  

Unit Resources

Prescribed text(s) and readings

Text books are available from the Monash University Book Shops. Availability from other suppliers cannot be assured. The Bookshop orders texts in specifically for this unit. You are advised to purchase your text book early.

Kennedy, Jay & Schauder, Cheryl (1998) Records Management, A
guide to Corporate Recordkeeping, Longman's, Melbourne,
(2nd.ed.)

Sue McKemmish, Michael Piggott, Barbara Reed and Frank Upward (2005), Archives: Recordkeeping in Society, Wagga Wagga: CIS.  

Recommended text(s) and readings

Equipment and consumables required or provided

Students studying off-campus are required to have the minimum system configuration specified by the Faculty as a condition of accepting admission, and regular Internet access. On-campus students, and those studying at supported study locations may use the facilities available in the computing labs. Information about computer use for students is available from the ITS Student Resource Guide in the Monash University Handbook. You will need to allocate up to n hours per week for use of a computer, including time for newsgroups/discussion groups.

Study resources

Study resources we will provide for your study are:

  • Weekly lecture notes ;
  • Weekly tutorial or laboratory tasks and exercises;
  • Assignment specifications and assessment guides;
  • Discussion groups;

Library access

The Monash University Library site contains details about borrowing rights and catalogue searching. To learn more about the library and the various resources available, please go to http://www.lib.monash.edu.au.  Be sure to obtain a copy of the Library Guide, and if necessary, the instructions for remote access from the library website.

Monash University Studies Online (MUSO)

All unit and lecture materials are available through the MUSO (Monash University Studies Online) site. You can access this site by going to:

  1. a) https://muso.monash.edu.au or
  2. b) via the portal (http://my.monash.edu.au).

Click on the Study and enrolment tab, then the MUSO hyperlink.

In order for your MUSO unit(s) to function correctly, your computer needs to be correctly configured.

For example :

  • MUSO supported browser
  • Supported Java runtime environment

For more information, please visit

http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/downloadables-student.html

You can contact the MUSO Support by: Phone: (+61 3) 9903 1268

For further contact information including operational hours, please visit

http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/contact.html

Further information can be obtained from the MUSO support site:

http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/index.html

Assessment

Unit assessment policy

The unit is assessed with one assignments, tutorial assessment tasks and examination. To pass the unit you must:

  • achieve no less that 40% of the possible marks in the assignment and assessment tasks
  • achieve no less than 40% of the possible marks in the examination
  • achieve no less than 50% of possible marks in the unit overall
Where a student gains less than 40% in either the examination or formal assessed components, the final result for the unit will be no greater than 44 marks - N grade

Assignment tasks

  • Assignment Task
    Title :
    Assignment 1
    Description :
    Functional Analysis: Individual assignment
    Weighting :
    20%
    Criteria for assessment :
    Due date :
    Week 7
  • Assignment Task
    Title :
    Assessed Tutorial Task 1
    Description :
    Organisational Analysis
    Weighting :
    10%
    Criteria for assessment :
    Due date :
    Week 5
  • Assignment Task
    Title :
    Assessed Tutorial Task 2
    Description :
    Standards compliance audit
    Weighting :
    10%
    Criteria for assessment :
    Due date :
    Week 8
  • Assignment Task
    Title :
    Assessed Tutorial Task 3
    Description :
    Recordkeping requirements - software evaluation
    Weighting :
    10%
    Criteria for assessment :
    Due date :
    Week 10

Examinations

  • Examination
    Weighting :
    50%
    Length :
    2 hours
    Type ( open/closed book ) :
    Closed book

Assignment submission

Assignments will be submitted to tutor during the tuorial, or by email with prior arrangement from the tutor. All submissions must include the appropriate cover sheet correctly filled out and attached. The due date is the date by which the submission must be received/the date by which the the submission is to be posted.

Assignment coversheets

The coversheet template is available from the unit MUSO site

University and Faculty policy on assessment

Due dates and extensions

The due dates for the submission of assignments are given in the previous section. Please make every effort to submit work by the due dates. It is your responsibility to structure your study program around assignment deadlines, family, work and other commitments. Factors such as normal work pressures, vacations, etc. are seldom regarded as appropriate reasons for granting extensions. Students are advised to NOT assume that granting of an extension is a matter of course.

  • Extensions for assessment items (other than examinations) are due to serious short term circumstances eg. the flu.
  • Requests for extensions must be made to the unit lecturer on your campus at least two days before the due date. If this is not possible you will be asked to provide adeqaute reasons for late requests.
  • Students are required to complete an 'Application for extension of time for submission of an assessment task' form which is located at http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/student/forms/
  • The form explains clearly under what circumstances the application can be made.
  • You will be asked to forward original medical certificates in cases of illness, andmay be asked to provide other forms of documentation where necessary.
  • Special Consideration forms should be used when students are affected by longer term circumstances eg. serious illness. A different procedure applies in these circumstances.

Late assignment

Assignments received after the due date will be subject to a penalty of 10% of the total assignment mark per day, including weekends. Assignments received later than one week after the due date will not normally be accepted.

Return dates

Students can expect assignments to be returned within two weeks of the submission date or after receipt, whichever is later.

Assessment for the unit as a whole is in accordance with the provisions of the Monash University Education Policy at:

http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/assessment/

We will aim to have assignment results made available to you within two weeks after assignment receipt.

Plagiarism, cheating and collusion

Plagiarism and cheating are regarded as very serious offences. In cases where cheating  has been confirmed, students have been severely penalised, from losing all marks for an assignment, to facing disciplinary action at the Faculty level. While we would wish that all our students adhere to sound ethical conduct and honesty, I will ask you to acquaint yourself with Student Rights and Responsibilities (http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/about/committees-groups/facboard/policies/studrights.html) and the Faculty regulations that apply to students detected cheating as these will be applied in all detected cases.

In this University, cheating means seeking to obtain an unfair advantage in any examination or any other written or practical work to be submitted or completed by a student for assessment. It includes the use, or attempted use, of any means to gain an unfair advantage for any assessable work in the unit, where the means is contrary to the instructions for such work. 

When you submit an individual assessment item, such as a program, a report, an essay, assignment or other piece of work, under your name you are understood to be stating that this is your own work. If a submission is identical with, or similar to, someone else's work, an assumption of cheating may arise. If you are planning on working with another student, it is acceptable to undertake research together, and discuss problems, but it is not acceptable to jointly develop or share solutions unless this is specified by your lecturer. 

Intentionally providing students with your solutions to assignments is classified as "assisting to cheat" and students who do this may be subject to disciplinary action. You should take reasonable care that your solution is not accidentally or deliberately obtained by other students. For example, do not leave copies of your work in progress on the hard drives of shared computers, and do not show your work to other students. If you believe this may have happened, please be sure to contact your lecturer as soon as possible.

Cheating also includes taking into an examination any material contrary to the regulations, including any bilingual dictionary, whether or not with the intention of using it to obtain an advantage.

Plagiarism involves the false representation of another person's ideas, or findings, as your own by either copying material or paraphrasing without citing sources. It is both professional and ethical to reference clearly the ideas and information that you have used from another writer. If the source is not identified, then you have plagiarised work of the other author. Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty that is insulting to the reader and grossly unfair to your student colleagues.

Register of counselling about plagiarism

The university requires faculties to keep a simple and confidential register to record counselling to students about plagiarism (e.g. warnings). The register is accessible to Associate Deans Teaching (or nominees) and, where requested, students concerned have access to their own details in the register. The register is to serve as a record of counselling about the nature of plagiarism, not as a record of allegations; and no provision of appeals in relation to the register is necessary or applicable.

Non-discriminatory language

The Faculty of Information Technology is committed to the use of non-discriminatory language in all forms of communication. Discriminatory language is that which refers in abusive terms to gender, race, age, sexual orientation, citizenship or nationality, ethnic or language background, physical or mental ability, or political or religious views, or which stereotypes groups in an adverse manner. This is not meant to preclude or inhibit legitimate academic debate on any issue; however, the language used in such debate should be non-discriminatory and sensitive to these matters. It is important to avoid the use of discriminatory language in your communications and written work. The most common form of discriminatory language in academic work tends to be in the area of gender inclusiveness. You are, therefore, requested to check for this and to ensure your work and communications are non-discriminatory in all respects.

Students with disabilities

Students with disabilities that may disadvantage them in assessment should seek advice from one of the following before completing assessment tasks and examinations:

Deferred assessment and special consideration

Deferred assessment (not to be confused with an extension for submission of an assignment) may be granted in cases of extenuating personal circumstances such as serious personal illness or bereavement. Special consideration in the awarding of grades is also possible in some circumstances. Information and forms for Special Consideration and deferred assessment applications are available at http://www.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html. Contact the Faculty's Student Services staff at your campus for further information and advice.