Assessing records management practices at Mukono District Local Government

Abstract

Records management practices seek to efficiently and systematically control the lifecycle of records that are routinely generated as a result of activities and transactions. Most organizations are continuously deploying integrated records management as a means of improving decision making as well as quality service delivery. The study reviewed literature on concepts of records, their types as well as the lifecycle of records. It further outlined the benefits and challenges of records management. The study purposely sampled six (6) administrative staff comprising senior records officer, assistant records officers, messenger among others. Flowing from qualitative nature of the research strategy, structured questionnaire and interview guide were used as the sole data collection instrument. The major findings of the study revealed that the administrative documents are stored both manual and electronic forms and this leads to quick decision making, saves office space and promotes good corporate governance. It further indicated that there were insufficient resources in terms of professionally trained records managers, training starved administrative staff and office space. Therefore, it was recommended that the management of Mukono district local government should embrace records management function to ensure its effectiveness and also professionally trained records managers should be deployed.