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Nqobile Tshili, [email protected]

AT a time when Government and more private sector institutions are embracing digital data storage platforms, archivists have encouraged adoption of hybrid records management to curb potential information losses when electronic systems are corrupted.

The world is increasingly embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which has seen more organisations conducting their business online, data records managers say creates security challenges for sustainable storage.

This emerged on the sidelines of the Association of Archives and Records Management Practitioners of Zimbabwe (AARMPZ) Conference, which began in Bulawayo yesterday, bringing together archivists and records managers from both the public and private sectors.

Running under the theme: “Repositioning the records and archival profession for the attainment of sustainable development goals,” the gathering aims at tackling issues that affect records management in modern-day society.

AARMPZ president, Mr Shepherd Pondiwa, said the transition to digital management of records presents challenges for a lot of organisations hence the need to create a platform to educate them on data management.

“We have transitioned to digital records archiving and this has not come without problems. One problem that is common is that when institutions adopt digital archiving, they quickly throw away their paper records but quite often those digital platforms collapse resulting in data loss.

“So, we are proposing the usage of the hybrid systems where organisations use digital and physical systems until such a time that you are secure because technology is always changing,” said Mr Pondiwa.

He said there was a need for organisations that were manually archiving data to start creating digitized managed data systems for better management of organizational information. Mr Pondiwa said organisations risk lawsuits due to mismanagement of data, adding that local authorities in Zimbabwe have on several occasions been fingered for failure to properly manage records, thereby, creating a loss of trust.

“Records need to be scanned and digitized but the paper records should be properly kept, especially in cases where important decisions are being made,” he said.

“Records are legal documents. The public loses confidence in you when you don’t have a record and the whole business goes into disarray. Records are the nerve centre of any organisation, they are the heart that pumps life, without your records you cannot be trusted.”

He said stressed the need to revise the legislation on management of records saying the existing one does not cater for technological advancement, which results in organizational employees moving around with corporate data, which compromises its security.

The official said the said the emergence of Artificial Intelligence also creates challenges in the archival of data and the conference is going to map some of the solutions to it.

“There is a need to revisit the Act and also do a lot of training for people who are handling records.

“As we get to the digital age there is a need to reconsider how we create and our records. You will realize that in most organisations records are created on computers or laptops but are never integrated into the main records management systems of organisations.

“Everyone who has a laptop and when they leave an organisation, they might just leave with data of an organisation hence where there is a need to control the standing instructions of controlling data through the National Archives of Zimbabwe,” said Mr Pondiwa.

His deputy, who is National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Records and Archives Management senior lecturer, Dr Obert Utete, said data management is a nerve centre of organisations yet it is hardly appreciated hence their conference is going to bring to spotlight the issue of proper records management.

“When we talk about records management it is an area that is in existence in most organisations but probably less appreciated. But for organisations to run properly they depend on records.

“Basically, why we are gathered here is to try and share knowledge from our organisations and give awareness to the country itself on the importance of records because we need records to make quick decisions,” said Dr Utete.

“We need to build knowledge, and corporate memory in an organisation so that those who might be in the creation of records are no longer there. Theirs is always a reference point. So, records are the hard bit of any organisation and that is why we are here to deliberate about best practices in managing records even going into the digital era.”

-@nqotshili