Records Digitization

As governments and organisations shift to paperless and digital ecosystems, records digitization (the conversion of paper and other non-digital records to digital formats) is central to the success of these digital. Yet over the years, records digitization projects continue to be marred by several challenges include data loss, ineffective file formats, security and privacy concerns, ownership rights over digital information, incompatibility with business processes, lack of standardization, fragile storage capabilities, technological obsolescence, information explosion, legal and regulatory compliance, digital records preservation over time, amongst others.

With the shift to digital environment being inevitable, overcoming these challenges is key to efficient and effective records digitization to enable e-government operational resilience.

The International Standard ISO/TR 13028 is the primary standard that provides implementation guidelines for digitization of records. The standard provides robust principles and best practices that would ensure records digitization is executed professionally and in a sustainable manner. This standard has been adopted in Kenya as the Kenya Standard, KS ISO/TR 13028.

This training programme is therefore intentionally modelled along the ISO/TR 13028 to help participants infuse professional best practices into digitization projects. It is delivered as a practical hands-on training, covering the following scope:

• Building a business case for digitization – aligning the rational for digitization to an organization’s business objectives.
• Digitization project viability assessment – operational, fiscal, environmental and economic imperatives of records digitization.
• Preliminary fundamentals – records management policy, records management procedures, business process analysis, legal and regulatory requirements.
• Planning the records digitization project – effective digitization project team/taskforce, project documentation, digitization approaches, technical specifications, equipment and software.
• Managing the digitization process end-end – file formats, metadata design and application, file planning, quality controls, records risk management, management of the non-digital source records, security of records, harmonizing digital and non-digital files.
• Digital records management systems – Electronic document and records management systems, integration with business applications, short-term vs long-term storage.
• Change management – project taskforce setup, user sensitization, stakeholder management.
• Other related ISO standards – EDMS standards, information security standards, metadata standards.

Target audience: Records and archives officers, archivists, ICT officers, knowledge management officers, information officers, communication officers, documentalists,