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Government organisations have to manage a high influx of administrative records on a daily basis. Maintaining the sheer volume of incoming physical and digital records can pose a big challenge. The need of the hour for government organisations is to implement records management software that can successfully digitise and streamline records in a secure manner, writes Arpan Bansal, Global Head COE (Government), Newgen Software.

With regard to records management, mapping out a course of action requires a government organisation to evaluate its existing organisational structure, technological capabilities, process ownership, and overall governance. Here are seven factors every organisation to look for before identifying the right technology for your records management needs.

1. A platform-based approach

To keep up with dynamic business requirements, you must invest in a platform-based solution that is agile, future-ready, and has key capabilities, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-based content classification, metadata generation, mobile-based access, social content management, straight-through integration, and more.

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Furthermore, the records management solution must ensure:

● Complete tracking of records, from generation to disposition and archival, for all record types, such as born-digital, email, electronics, and physical.

● Scalability of the digitised system through a private cloud or government cloud

● Policy digitisation with a modelling-driven environment and improved efficiency through configurable systems

2. Adherence to security and compliance measures

Government organisations face a variety of challenges, ranging from maintaining information security and preventing privacy breaches to ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

Hence, your records management system should:

● Ensure the authenticity, confidentiality, and integrity of records with comprehensive security capabilities.

● Comply with global standards and system certifications, including DoD 5015.02, ISO 15489, ISO 16175, VERS, and NRAA Oman.

3. Advanced technologies for intelligent automation:

In order to automate the end-to-end records lifecycle, from creation to disposition, your chosen software must feature new-age technologies, such as AI, ML, and robotic process automation (RPA).

You must ensure that your records management solution can:

● Enable the rapid digitisation of physical content through scanning and intelligent information extraction

● Support process automation with RPA-based, automatic document classification capabilities to perform repetitive tasks with minimal human intervention.

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4. Seamless collaboration using productivity applications:

While evaluating a solution, you must factor in its ability to enhance employee efficiency and flexibly meet organisational expectations. This empowers your users with the right tools to engage across geographies, access and share documents rapidly, and maximise output.

Your choice of a records management system should:

● Optimise document and data flow across your organisation.

● Manage records with a range of systems and facilitate real-time collaboration using business productivity apps, such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office 365, MS Teams, SharePoint, Google Docs, and more.

5. Federation across multiple systems:

The ideal records management software should offer a unified view of information, while allowing users to access, edit, and manage documents through productivity-focused applications, such as Microsoft SharePoint.

Furthermore, it should feature:

● Federated search capabilities, to search connected repositories and content management systems, from a single interface

● A distributed, federated content repository, with secure, role-based access to enterprise-wide content

6. Integration with enterprise apps:

Your selected records management software must be able to eliminate informational silos by connecting and communicating with disparate systems.

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The software should enable:

● Integration with other business applications, tools, repositories, and cloud storage systems through APIs and web services, ready-made adaptors, integration standards, and custom APIs.

● Secure access to self-service sites, content, and confidential documents

● Support for microservices and containerization-based deployments

7. Smooth Migration from Legacy Systems:

You must ensure that your chosen records management solution can adapt to your organization’s growth, evolving business needs, and future requirements.

The solution should:

● Enable seamless migration and modernisation of legacy systems

● Provide interoperability for efficiently delivering civic services

● Offer a flexible and agile architecture, catering to future requirements

The Way Forward

By keeping these seven factors in mind, you can identify the right records management system for your organisational needs. It is imperative that you select software that is sustainable, scalable, and secure, while also maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements and standards.

As the governmental landscape continues to shift, organisations must be prepared for the unexpected. By implementing a solution based on a digital transformation platform, one can leverage new-age technologies to stay future-ready and provide uninterrupted citizen services.

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