Designing an effective records management system a case study of the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) Uganda

Abstract

The study identified a need to recommend a system for managing of records at the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC).the system will help to manage information created manually and electronically and to integrate all informally centrally by using the system. This will go along with using different hardware and software components. The objectives of the study were to study the current systems at the economic policy research center that helped to identify the types of records, to analyze the information kept at the Economic Policy Research Center and finally to recommend a system to management of Economic Policy Research Center. The methods used to collect data were interviews, observation as well as questionnaires. The study was carried out through purposive sampling which constituted of 30 staff from the organization and respondents were mainly from the information dissemination department which is the head of information management at the center. Data was analyzed using descriptive and analytical methods. Pie charts and data flow diagrams were used for statistical and descriptive representation

The findings show that the center mainly used a hybrid records management system which involves both manual and electronic records management, every department is responsible for managing its own records expect the finance department which has a system for managing all finance at Economic Policy Research Center and also the koha integrated library system in the Uganda development information center at Economic Policy Research Center. The study concluded that in order to retrieve information and promote timely decision making a central system should be managed to integrate all records generated in all departments to avoid wastage of time to staff and that the staff should be trained in information communication technology capacity building and converting of all manual records to electronic processes and finally the conclusion gave the benefits of the system once implemented at the center.