IMS5047 Managing business records - Semester 2 , 2007

Unit leader :

Sue McKemmish

Lecturer(s) :

Caulfield

  • Henry Linger

Tutors(s) :

Caulfield

  • Malini Jayaganesh

Introduction

Unit synopsis

This unit takes a recordkeeping process and business analysis perspective on the subject of business records management. It will deal with assessing and managing recordkeeping processes which support the storage, recall and dissemination of records and protect their evidential and informational qualities. System requirements for evidence will be taught along with knowledge bases for representing functions and activities and managing access according to organisational or societal rules. Topics covered in relation to the business analyses that support recordkeeping processes include workflow, corporate and social regulation of an organisation's activities, risk management, identification of vital records, and functional analysis. The methodology for the design and implementation of recordkeeping systems set out in the International Standard for Records Management will provide a framework for the presentation of material.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding
  • The business processes that recordkeeping activities support
  • The evidential requirements for evidence of business activities that exist in the work place
  • How systems are designed and implemented to meet business needs and evidential requirements
Attitudes, Values and Beliefs
  • Work as part of project teams
  • Participate in records management activities in large organisations or undertake them on their own in small ones
  • Be able to advise team members and function managers on records management systems for business purposes
Practical Skills
  • Participate in the design and implementation of electronic recordkeeping systems
  • Undertake various forms of business analysis in support of records management activities
Relationships, Communication and TeamWork
  • Participate with others in the designing, building and using of records management systems

Workload

The unit will be conducted as a 3 hour seminar comprising of formal lecture presentations, discussions and practical excercises.

Students will be expected to prepare in advance for the seminar using the lecture material, references  and notes provided on the unit website.

The unit will be recorded and available to OCL students through MULO. Seminar discussions will be supported by discussion groups on the MUSO unit website. All students will be encouraged to participate in these discussion groups which will be moderated by tutors and teaching assistants.

Unit relationships

Prerequisites

Before attempting this unit you must have satisfactorily completed 24 credit points of IMS 9000-level units, or equivalent; or 24 credit points of graduate level units in the Master of Information Management and Systems, Master of Information Management and Systems (Professional), Master of Information Technology or the Master of Business Systems, or equivalent; or an approved undergraduate degree in information systems (IS) or information management (IM) or equivalent. You should have foundation knowledge in information management and systems fundamentals.

Relationships

IMS5047 is a core unit in the Electronic Recordkeeping and Archiving, and Knowledge Management streams of the Master of Information Management and Systems, and Graduate Diploma in Information Management and Systems.

You may not study this unit and LAR3007, LAR4633, IMS3007.

 

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

Tutor(s) :

Mrs Malini Jayaganesh
PhD Student
Phone +61 3 990 55457

Teaching and learning method

The unit will be conducted as a 3 hour seminar comprising of formal lecture presentations, discussions and practical excercises.

  • Theunit will be recorded and available to OCL students through MULO.
  • Seminar discussions will be supported by discussion groups on the MUSOunit website. All students will be encouraged to participate in thesediscussion groups which will be moderated by tutors and teachingassistants.
  • Copies of lecture slides and tutorial material will be made available to all students through the unit website.
The lectures will provide students with the knowledge of fundamental theories andconcepts. The seminars will provide students with an opportunity to apply the concepts through case 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  
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 System Design  
8 Recordkeeping Policies  
9 Recordkeeping Strategies  
10 Recordkeeping Tools  
Mid semester break
11 System Specification and Procurement  
12 Evaluation of Software and System Implementation  
13 Review  

Unit Resources

Prescribed text(s) and readings

McKemmish, S., Piggott, M., Reed, B., & Upward, F. (2005). Archives: Recordkeeping in Society. Wagga Wagga: CIS. 

Kennedy, J. & Schauder, C. (1998). Records Management, A guide to Corporate Recordkeeping. (2nd edn). Melbourne: Longmans.

* Electronically delivered course notes will be provided during the course.

Text books are available from the Monash University Book Shops The Bookshop orders texts in specifically for this unit. You are advised to purchase your text book early.

Recommended text(s) and readings

Lists of recommended readings will be provided for each topic.

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 presentations
  • Weekly lecture note, tasks and exercises
  • Assignment specifications and assessment guides
  • Discussion forum available via the unit MUSO website
  • Lectures and seminars are recorded through MULO and are available from the University Library web site, http://www.lib.monash.edu.au

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

Students need to:
  • Achieve an overall mark of 50% in the unit
  • At least 40% of the mark allocated to each assessment item (assignments or formally supervised assessment item).

Where a student gains less than 40% in either the assignments or formally supervised assessed components, the final result for the unit will be no greaterthan 44 marks - N grade

Assignment tasks

  • Assignment Task
    Title :
    Assignment 1: Email/Tutorial Tasks
    Description :
    This will involve 5 separate activities spread over the semester
    Weighting :
    25%
    Criteria for assessment :
    Due date :
    Will be listed on the Task sheeets
  • Assignment Task
    Title :
    Assignment 2: Individual Assignment
    Description :
    Functional Analysis
    Weighting :
    25%
    Criteria for assessment :
    Due date :
    Week 6
  • Assignment Task
    Title :
    Assignment 3: Group Assignment (Formally Supervised Assessment Component)
    Description :

    Case Study: Report and presentation of organisational recordkeeping requirements

    Weighting :
    50% (25% for individual contribution, 25% for group )
    Criteria for assessment :
    Due date :
    Presentations - Week 12; Report - Week 14

Examinations

Assignment submission

Assignments, including cover sheets, will be submitted by electronic submission via the Unit Website.  The due date is the date by which the submission must be posted.

Assignment coversheets

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 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.
  • Youwill be asked to forward original medical certificates in cases ofillness, andmay be asked to provide other forms of documentation wherenecessary.
  • 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/

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.