Recent Projects of a Preservation Framework for Digital Preservation

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This study is an attempt to gain greater understanding of the preservation of primary data and records of social science research in digital formats. In order to achieve this aim, we review previous framework on digital preservation. The work draws from the perceptions and ideas of those involved in the management and preservation of these records namely the researchers, research administrators, records managers and IT officers at the public research institutions and related organizations. Phase one of the study involved the examination and analysis of international best practice models and developed a generic model based on the InterPARES Chain of Preservation (CoP) and the United Kingdom Data Archives (UKDA) models.



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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321162059_Recent_Projects_of_a_Preservation_Framework_for_Digital_Preservation

Smart partnership

Dear all...

Yesterday,  6th of October 2016 marked a historic moment for Faculty of Information Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Puncak Perdana Campus and D.G.KOM Sdn Bhd - a local software provider company specializing in electronic records management system (ERMS), where a memorandum of understanding was signed by both parties to officially launch mutual and win-win cooperation and collaboration in records management activities.

The collaboration and understanding includes cooperation in joint research and development in electronic records management system development, shared and exchanges of expertise, advocacy of records management professional and discipline in Malaysia as well as industrial placement for internship for graduates of records management program of Faculty of Information Management. Through the MOU, the industry (D.G.KOM Sdn Bhd) has agreed in sponsoring and installing ERMS software application known as DGFlo for the faculty, providing 100 user license for DGFlo software, 2 set of servers and Cloud computing capability for storage in the ERMS Smart Lab at Faculty of Information Management at UiTM.

Such initiative is a hallmark of smart partnership and truly a strategic undertakings between UiTM as the only university in Malaysia that solely provides a degree in records management to students with D.G.KOM Sdn Bhd. an ERMS software developer and provider.  

Why collaboration?

The global ICT trends that dynamically evolves from time to time and the limitation of budget, resources and experts in developing the highly customized ERMS software suitable and fulfilled the functional requirement of ERMS has paved the way for industry-institution collaboration and smart partnership in this case is between UiTM and D.G.KOM Sdn Bhd. Due to the fact that, industry is more dynamic in responding to market demands and full exposure of project implementation has created for such smart partnership and collaboration. UiTM (Faculty of Information Management) on the other hand is the only educational provider in the country for graduates and professionals in records management discipline has made the matching of industry-institution collaboration and reality.

This collaboration will open up for greater cooperation between two organization for the benefit of the nation and society which is in line with the government of Malaysia's aspirations towards electronic service delivery and the e-government flagship in the country. A shared and mutual understanding for research and development, shared expertise, shared efforts towards achieving full flagship of e-government initiative could be achieved.

It is a hope that this collaboration and smart partnership will be beneficial to both parties and dynamically heightened the records and electronic records management discipline in Malaysia.

Knowledge asset is record....

Dear blog readers

Previously, I posted a discussion on the need of KM (Knowledge Management) for records management...it received overwhelming comments and reads. Thanks for patiently reading my blog post...

I would like also to welcome positive comments from you people with regard to my postings. Please do so voluntarily.

Today, I am discussing on the other perspective of records...

Top management discusses and makes decision on specific issues relating to organizational works and problems. These decisions are taken and contain policies and critical information including the processes and justifications on why such and such decisions are made....

The justifications are reasons derived and made in response to specific problems occur within organizational settings. The purpose of these decisions made is to ensure organizational works and targets are achieved. Works can progress, projects and programs can run smoothly. 

To arrive to such decisions, there are processes undertaken. Information and reports are derived and verified, checking on the problems and issues are made which resulted in different results and feedback. These consequently create enormous amount of information which is meaningful and containing lesson learnt, best practices, past mistakes and could possibly created a repository of knowledge within organization.

The reports, feedback, justifications are all recorded and documented in such a way it can be referred back. These recordings require effective and efficient record keeping system. Once it is done, the records themselves are considered having value by itself that serve the purpose of the organization. These are all knowledge assets. Tapping these knowledge assets is critical for the success of KM implementation. 

Embarking KM without considering knowledge assets is useless. Recognizing  knowledge assets in organization are primary aspect in any KM initiatives. Employees could learn, unlearn and relearn of the decisions, impacts, feedback from previous initiatives as lesson learnt, best practices and past mistakes (that should not be repeated) while sharing it with others.

Ignoring efficient and effective records keeping system will lead to information disaster. Knowledge assets are difficult to recognize. Knowledge is then scattered everywhere. The rate of success for KM implementation is beyond achievable target. Actions and deliverable cannot be achieved without previous reference to information and knowledge. 

Hence, knowledge must be captured. The capturing process takes place in the form of recorded information and knowledge. It is then classified and categorized according to its specific subject and kept in the repository or knowledge portal in paper format or electronic format. This is called as explicit knowledge, a process by which knowledge is documented and recorded and conversion of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge so that it useful, shareable and preserve for longer period of time. To encourage sharing and use, the records (knowledge assets/explicit knowledge) must be readily available to all and easily accessible through online portal.  

The above discussion indicates that, KM needs records more than records need KM. 

Ponder over these;

1. How sharing could take place if the substance (knowledge and information) is not around?
2. How organization could capitalize on its strength if they do not possess what they have (knowledge and information in recorded information)
3. How organization could leverage on future and current knowledge if the past knowledge is not captured?

Knowledge management without records....

Dear all...

I was invigilating masters student in information management yesterday. Though I did not teach them, I am pretty much close to the subject they were taking.......years back, I happened to be involved in the development of one of the subject, Knowledge Management. Yesterday the final examination subject is on Epistemology of Information Management. I looked through the questionnaire and have the chance of browsing through the whole set of questions. One of the question asked about the identification of the knowledge assets in the knowledge management (KM) implementation. 

I was intrigued by the question in the question paper while invigilating the students, my mind kept working......

Here is some input that I want to share with my blog readers....  

Tapping the knowledge which comprises of skills, experiences, methods and approaches, lesson learnt, mistakes and others requires information professionals to look at two distinct categories of source of knowledge in the form of tacit and explicit knowledge. The so called tacit knowledge can only be useful when it is converted to explicit knowledge and later readily available, can be derived and referred to by others. It is where the explicit knowledge may contains past decision makings or actions taken or reported development of a project or initiatives made by a team, organization or a department through different phases of development.

Tacit knowledge can be very much meaningful when it is transformed or converted and put into proper documentation, and recorded in any possible form. Through textual documentation, the tacit knowledge can now be referred to, lesson learnt can be derived as well by users, people or other team members working on a particular project or program.

The converted tacit knowledge is now residing in organizational database or knowledge portal or maybe recorded and kept in a file. It exists everywhere, referred to anytime by anybody necessarily.

These are records or an organization or a corporate memory of an institution.

Ironically, without records, tacit knowledge will be gone. It is literally not documented and resided in the mind of the people. Though useful, it is not meaningful.

The development of knowledge management depended heavily on the practices of information management which in particular the management of records in an organization. Institution embarking on knowledge management initiatives must look at the vast potential of records management as the source of explicit knowledge of an organization - corporate memory.

What happen if tacit knowledge is not captured? Not converted into recorded information? Not documented properly and kept in a central repository? Initially, organization will lose its huge potential of years of experience and high cost of investment in training cost, staffs involvement in critical projects, success stories, lesson learnt and past mistakes which can be avoidable if project teams took a lesson learnt from it.

Effective records keeping or records management will help organization to leverage and capitalize on its own internal knowledge. Past actions would help decision/policy makers to make decision more effectively and efficiently. Mistakes and high risk of monetary or non monetary may be avoidable if project teams learn from the past actions derived from reports, previous project undertakings, decisions made.

Success stories could also be captured, shared and routed electronically when the stories are captured in whatever ways possible. New staffs or existing staffs could learn from the success stories which may inspire them to achieve organizational targets and objectives. Organization may also repeat the success or crafting better success or achieving higher objectives and targets. The lesson learnt from the failure or mistakes made in the course of initiating projects previously will secure organization from repeating the same mistake. This ensures higher success rates alternately reducing project losses financially.

Least to say, without records management which we can tap into knowledge assets, knowledge management would not working. KM success is highly dependable on the effective and efficient record keeping in organization. It is where the knowledge assets are derived from. Having proper documentation, recorded transactions, decisions makings, evidence of past actions and later classify it properly in a manner that it is easily retrievable and searchable using proper taxonomy will make knowledge assets more meaningful to organizations. (Please refer to SECI Model by Nonaka)

Selling your records...

Dear all.......

Do we sell our records?

Can we sell our records?

Is it allowable?

What are the implication if records are sold?


As a matter of fact, by law, we cannot sell our records but we can sell the records services, the lesson learnt and the story that is derived from the records once the records become archive  whilst it is already declassified.

Records is evidence of transaction, occurred in the course of business transactions in an organization (govt or private organization) and may contain valuable information which LATER is a history of a nation and country's development. Such connotes why records is not allowed to be sold.

How do we sell records?

We don't sell records at all. We can sell off records (papers for recycle) if they are considered "Disposed off permanently" and it requires thorough evaluation and verification prior to that. What we do commonly is selling the STORY derived from the records. The process is done by selling books and stories which authors refer to (archive)-records available at National Archive. This is done specifically to write the historical development of a country, organization, person and events by referring to primary sources of material - ARCHIVES (records). Without evidence and proof of an event, story could not be verified and information could not be told and written.

"As a matter of fact, we do not sell records, we sell the story out of them"

Proper Management of Transaction Records Vital For GST To Be Successful

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v8/ge/newsperspectives.php?id=1123156

BERNAMA - Proper Management Of Transaction Records Vital For GST To Be Successful, Says Expert

PERSPECTIVES ON CURRENT ISSUES › NEWS

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Proper Management Of Transaction Records Vital For GST To Be Successful, Says Expert

By Mohd Hisham Abdul Rafar

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) -- The enforcement of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on April 1 saw many Malaysians perusing receipts issued to them by the restaurants or shops they had patronised to either find out the exact quantum of the new consumption tax or if they had been taken for a ride.

Social media users have been busy sharing their opinions, information and receipts, as well as voicing out their grievances through Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Among the topics that drew heated discussions were transparency in the implementation of the GST, and monitoring and enforcement activities.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak himself went out "shopping" to get a first-hand account of what the situation was like on the first day of the implementation of the six per cent GST, which has replaced the Sales and Services Tax of up to 16 per cent.

Over the past few days, there had been much confusion among consumers and even retailers over the new tax but this was expected as there were bound to be teething problems. In fact, economic analysts estimate that it would take some six months or so for the people to familiarise themselves with the workings of the GST and regard it as part and parcel of their daily lives.

The GST is part of the government's fiscal policies to generate a more stable source of revenue and implement a more effective, efficient and transparent taxation system. With its implementation, Malaysia joins the ranks of 160 countries which have already implemented the GST, including seven ASEAN members - Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

NEED FOR EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT OF RECORDS

One thing was quite obvious on April 1 - most consumers chose to retain their receipts and invoices, instead of discarding them in the wastepaper basket as they would normally do.

Incidentally, this - keeping receipts and invoices - was exactly the point records management expert Alwi Mohd Yunus tried to drive home when he explained how important it was for the GST's implementation to be backed by an efficient and effective information and records management system.

The information and records pertain to all sale and purchase transactions carried out by businesses.

Since the GST's structure covers every level of a product or service's supply chain, from the procurement of raw materials to manufacturing, distribution, wholesale and retailing, it calls for proper management of records at each stage, he told Bernama.

"This will ensure that the GST is only being imposed on the rightful goods and services. By maintaining a systematic and transparent information and records management system which is accessible to the public, both businesses and consumers can cope with the implementation of the GST," said Alwi, who is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Records Management Studies at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Puncak Perdana Campus' Faculty of Information Management.

He said the availability of transaction records and information on GST-entailed goods and services would make it easier for the people to make references to prices and make informed choices when they went shopping.

"It should be as detailed as possible and the public should be allowed to have access to the information at all times through various channels like the Internet or through their android or iOS applications," he said.

ONLINE REPORTS

Alwi also called for a systematic online process for disgruntled consumers to post their complaints and the transaction records of retailers or traders who abused the GST.

"The process of registering such complaints should be made simple, quick and brief. Based on these records, the enforcement authorities should carry out their follow-up action quickly and effectively," he said.

On March 30, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry launched the MyKira GST application to check the impact of the GST on the prices of over 10,000 items.

There are three types of supplies listed under GST, namely standard-rated supplies of goods and services which are subject to the six percent rate; zero- rated supplies which are subject to a zero rate that is not liable to GST at the output or input stage; and exempt supplies which are non-taxable and not subject to GST at the output stage, that is, when supplied to the consumer. However, the GST paid on input by the businesses cannot be claimed as tax credit.

"Whatever the situation is, it's the role of any company's GST system to maintain up-to-date records of sale and purchase transactions of all goods and services. This will make it easier for the retailer, wholesaler or manufacturer to claim credit," Alwi said, emphasising the importance of keeping records of all invoices and receipts issued in respect of the GST.

REINING IN BLACK MARKETEERS

He was also confident that the GST would help check the activities of black marketeers.

"It appears that the GST may help to reduce black market activities because only traders who maintain up-to-date sale and purchase records are entitled to claim tax inputs and maybe even bank loans.

"If a GST-registered entity buys from the black market, it won't be able to claim any tax inputs, thus increasing its cost of doing business. In this context, it should be noted how important it is to maintain proper documentation and transaction records in this GST era - in other words, all businesses concerned will need to have an efficient and effective records management system," he said.

Besides manufacturers and retailers, consumers too should develop the habit of keeping records of all sale and purchase transactions, he said.

"This is to make it easier for those concerned to claim GST credits, as the government too has proof of the recorded transactions," he said, adding that the absence of transaction records would indicate wrongdoing at some stage or other which, eventually, may lead to public perception that the new consumption tax had failed in meeting its objective.

Alwi said industries, manufacturers, distributors and retailers should quickly make changes to their business systems to ensure that all GST-related records were maintained efficiently to show proof of transaction and payment of tax.

"At the same time, consumers should also change their attitudes and pay more attention to their goods and services transaction records. Receipts should come with complete information so that they can be produced as proof in the event of fraud pertaining to GST," he said.

DATABASE REQUIRED

In the context of the implementation and enforcement of the new tax, Alwi said it was vital for the authorities concerned to have a comprehensive database of the pre- and post-GST prices of goods and services.

The reason for having such a database was to prevent unreasonable price hikes, post the implementation of the GST, he said, pointing out that it would be difficult to make price comparisons and analyse the impact of the price increases in the absence of such data.

"The same applies if there are no records of pre-GST production costs and cost of sales of goods and services, as comparisons cannot be made with the post-GST prices. In such a case, the authorities cannot take action against errant manufacturers.

"In the end, consumers are the biggest losers. This will affect consumer sentiment and create the false perception that the GST causes higher inflation. Actually, the GST is a taxation system that prevents leakages and enhances government revenue which, in turn, will strengthen the nation's economy," he said.

Alwi said only by having an efficient and effective system of documenting transaction records could businesses and others concerned comply with the GST's policies and rules.

"This way, the authorities can carry out their enforcement work effectively and there will be no irregularities in respect of GST. Consumers will end up feeling protected and develop a more constructive perception of the GST. What's more, the nation's economy will get stronger and the resulting development and progress will benefit the people," he added.

-- BERNAMA

 S News Who's Who

Offsite storage is not necessarily an offsite RECORDS storage....

Dear all...

An offline storage for semi current records is quite a boom nowadays in Malaysia. Many international, multinational companies and few local companies offer such services. The name like Regalia, Recall, Crown Records Management, Dataworks Management, Prism, Allied Pickfords, Sure Reach and many others are common nowadays. Since records are created daily and there are volumes of records in store and lack of space in the creating agencies, make possible for possible alternative to keep records in an offline storage provided by private sectors. 

More so with lack of manpower, high initial investment to develop own storage complied with records management requirement and necessary acts in Malaysia, under capacity to employ human resources specialized in records though such resources are abundantly available now then before, such developing, providing and offering such services are very much challenging. There are huge market demand and great potentials which yet to be explored. 

I was recently invited and had the chance to help a local Malaysia-Bumiputera company to set up and provide such services. It is very interesting to note that, initial investment and cost to develop such offline storage and records services are expensive. Fulfillment of technical requirement is also complex and tedious though it is not impossible to take up such challenge. 

In the light of the above introductory statement, I might say that this post is based on the observation and experience faced during such encounter and I wish to share with the readers my views and observation in the process of consulting and assisting few local companies to develop such services. It is going to be brief and simple explanation.

Developing off site storage

Developing an off site storage is very much dependent on several contributing factors; management wills, capacity and capability;

• High initial cost of investment
• Complex fulfillment of technical requirement
• Specialized manpower in records management
• Space and building
• Complete and integrated standard operating procedure (SOP)
• Documentation and workflow
• Compliance and fulfillment of requirement by regulatory body (Arkib Negara Malaysia)

It is interesting to note that an off site storage is not necessarily a records management off site storage. An off site storage is just an off site storage. An organization may send their records to be stored by off site storage providers, with boxes and necessary documentation and they charge for their service at certain amount. That is all.

While a records off site storage is different from a common off site storage in terms of:

1. records keeping practices - which includes SOP, documentations, workflow, appraisal, disposal, retention schedule, security and access, retrieval, arrangement and description
2. Treatment to records - preservation, records care
3. Control of environment - technical implementation - boxes, files cover, space, storage administration and arrangement
4. Compliance to Official Secret Acts (1972) Act 88, National Archive Act 2003  and other related acts

It is very important to note that, many people are confused to the term and implementation of "off site storage" and its differences with "offsite records storage". Thinking that an off site storage is also/similar to off site records storage could bring many risks to organization for instance; violating the existing government act if such records belong to Government of Malaysia and its agencies in term of access and security (secrets). To contain such issues, Arkib Negara Malaysia-National Archive of Malaysia (the regulating body in Malaysia) has imposed a license for companies offering off site records storage. If providers don't fulfill the requirement, they are not allowed to offer off site records storage to public, government agencies and government related companies.

"WE CREATE, WE KEEP AND WE SERVE THE RECORDS"

to be continued.....dont forget to shed some feedbacks and comment in COMMENT BOX-thanks!

28 January 2015

7.45am