FIT5107 Managing business records - Semester 2, 2015

This unit relates to managing the creation, storage, recall and dissemination of business records within organisation-wide frameworks. Topics cover: socio-legal and business requirements for evidence; knowledge bases for representing functions and activities; managing access; designing and implementing recordkeeping policies, strategies and systems in accordance with industry and professional standards, including the International Standard for Records Management, and using recordkeeping business analysis tools (workflow, risk management, identification of vital records, functional analysis).

Mode of Delivery

• Caulfield (Day)
• Caulfield (Online)

Workload Requirements

Minimum total expected workload equals 12 hours per week comprising:

(a.) Contact hours for on-campus students:

• 2 hours of lectures
• One 2-hour tutorial

(b.) Study schedule for off-campus students:

• Off-campus students generally do not attend lecture and tutorial sessions, however should plan to spend equivalent time working through the relevant resources and participating in discussion groups each week.

(c.) Additional requirements (all students):

• A minimum of 8 hours independent study per week for completing tutorial and project work, private study and revision.

See also Unit timetable information

Chief Examiner

Campus Lecturer

Tutors

Your feedback to Us

Previous Student Evaluations of this Unit

Student feedback has led to better alignment of the class activities/discussion and practical exercises through four Assignment 1 assessment tasks, which also incorporate practical experience of EDRMS software and application of records management standards. Participation requirements for on and off campus students have also been substantively clarified and revised.

The overwhelming majority of students have agreed and strongly that this is a challenging but satisfying unit in which they learn new skills, and that meets the learning objectives.

Academic Overview

Learning Outcomes

• explain the business processes that recordkeeping activities support, and the evidential requirements for business activities in various organisational settings;
• explain at a strategic and operational level how systems are designed and implemented to meet business needs and evidential requirements;
• identify and discuss the suite of policies, standards and best practice guidelines that relate to quality records management;
• undertake various forms of business analysis in support of records management activities;
• design and implement electronic recordkeeping systems in large organisations in collaboration with other professional groups, or undertake these activities alone in a small organisation; and
• advise senior managers on organisation-wide records management policies, programs and systems.

Unit Schedule

*Unit Schedule details will be maintained and communicated to you via your learning system.

Teaching Approach

Assessment Summary

Practical exercises, class activities and discussion (or electronic equivalent): 50%; Formal supervised assessment: 50%

Assessment Requirements

Assessment Policy

Assessment Tasks

Participation

For Assignment 1:

• On-campus students are assessed on tutorial participation, and are expected to attend tutorials. 
• Off-campus students are assessed on their participation in online discussion forums.

Criteria for assessing participation will be detailed in each assignment specification and will be informed by peer evaluation.

• Assessment task 1

  Title:

  Assignment 1 - Records and Recordkeeping Management Exercises

  Description:

  This assignment consists of 4 practical exercises, aimed at developing your understanding of key concepts and your skills in records and recordkeeping management. Exercises will be carried out in small study groups in tutorials for on campus students and in online discussion forums for off campus students. This participation aims to

  • engage you with the literature in the discipline,
  • encourage you to share your ideas with other students as part of developing your understanding, and
  • demonstrate your ability to prepare material for discussion

  Individual 750-1000 word responses to each of the exercises will then be submitted, along with a peer evaluation form which rates the performance of yourself and other members of your study group.

  Weighting:

  4 x 12.5% = 50% (For each task 2.5% is related to participation in tutorial activities)

  Criteria for assessment:

  1. Understanding of the task and the related records and recordkeeping concepts
  2. Participation in associated tutorial activities 
  3. Quality of written submission, including clarity of structure and expression, and appropriate citing and referencing of sources.

  Due date:

  Assignment 1.1 due Sunday 23 August 2015; Assignment 1.2 due Sunday 13 September 2015; Assignment 1.3 due Friday 27 September 2015; Assignment 1.4 due Friday 25 October 2015; Assignment 2 due Week 15, Sunday 16 November 2015

  Remarks:

  LEARNING OUTCOMES:

  At the end of this assignment students will be able to:

  • explain the business processes that recordkeeping activities support, and the evidential requirements for business activities in various organisational settings;
  • explain at a strategic and operational level how systems are designed and implemented to meet business needs and evidential requirements;
  • identify and discuss the suite of policies, standards and best practice guidelines that relate to quality records management;
  • design and implement electronic recordkeeping systems in large organisations in collaboration with other professional groups, or undertake these activities alone in a small organisation; and
  • advise senior managers on organisation-wide records management policies, programs and systems.
  • design and implement electronic recordkeeping systems in large organisations in collaboration with other professional groups, or undertake these activities alone in a small organisation; and
  • advise senior managers on organisation-wide records management policies, programs and systems.

   

• Assessment task 2

  Title:

  Assignment 2 - Organisational Recordkeeping Requirements (Group Assignment)

  Description:

  In groups of up to four you will prepare a report and presentation on recordkeeping requirements for a chosen organisation.

  Weighting:

  50% (25% group mark, 25% individual mark)

  Criteria for assessment:

  1. Understanding of organisational analyses processes and their application to the case study organisation.
  2. Understanding and skill in applying recordkeeping concepts and practices to the assessment and specification of recordkeeping system requirements, implementation strategy and development of a business case for recordkeeping.
  3. Quality of the presentation and report including team work, research effort and effective use and referencing of a range of sources.

  The individual mark will relate to the quality and level of your individual contribution to the assignment (contribution to allocated responsibilities) in terms of the criteria specified above, and will involve each team member individually completing a Peer Review Form for the project team.

  Due date:

  Sunday 15 November 2015

  Remarks:

  LEARNING OUTCOMES:

  At the end of this assignment students will be able to:

  • identify and discuss the suite of policies, standards and best practice guidelines that relate to quality records management;
  • undertake various forms of business analysis in support of records management activities; and
  • design and implement electronic recordkeeping systems in large organisations in collaboration with other professional groups, or undertake these activities alone in a small organisation;

Learning resources

Feedback to you

• Informal feedback on progress in labs/tutes
• Graded assignments with comments

Extensions and penalties

Returning assignments

Referencing requirements

Students are required to cite their sources and provide reference lists using the APA (American Psychological Association) standard for referencing academic papers as required by the Faculty of IT.

Assignment submission

Online submission

Electronic Submission has been approved for this unit, please submit your work via the Learning System for this unit, which you can access via links in the my.monash portal.

Required Resources

The AS ISO 15489 Records Management Standard is a major reference for this unit and students can access this and other relevant standards through the Standards: on-line premium database available through the library, see http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/databases/1274655.html.

Recommended text(s)

Jay Kennedy and Cheryl Schauder. (1998). Records Management : A Guide to Corporate Recordkeeping. (2nd Edition) Addison Wesley Longman (ISBN: 0582911788).

Sue McKemmish, Michael Piggott, Barbara Reed and Frank Upward (editors). (2005). Archives: Recordkeeping in Society. () Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University (ISBN: 1876938846).

Other Information

Policies

Graduate Attributes Policy

Student Charter

Student services

Monash University Library

Disability Liaison Unit

Other

References:

Course notes, recordings of the lectures and other reference material will be provided on the unit's Moodle site, including links to digital and digitised material accessible through the Monash Library.