Management of active records at Nansana Municipal Council central registry

Abstract

This study focused on the management of Active records at Nansana Municipal council central registry and it is largely centered on active records management activities like records creation, storage, filing and maintenance. Nansana Municipal council is located in Wakiso district in the central region along Kampala-Hoima Road. The purpose of the study was to analyze the management of active records at Nansana municipal council with much emphasis on records creation, storage, filing and maintenance. The objectives of the study were to find out the forms of records created and maintained, filing systems, storage equipments, storage conditions and facilities, benefits in managing active records at Nansana municipal council central registry, challenges in managing active records and also to suggest possible solutions to these challenges. The methods of data collection included observation aided by an observation guide and interview aided by an interview guide. This study consisted of four respondents who were selected using a purposive sampling. A qualitative design was used. Administrative records, personal records, research records, confirmation letters, pension records, payroll records, receipts, appointment letters, financial records, monthly academic follow up reports among others were the major types of records created and received at Nansana municipal council central registry and they were mainly paper based records. The benefits of managing active records included safe guarding important information, better management decision making, effective retrieval and disposition of records among others. Numeric, alphabetic and subject filling were the most common used filling systems. Drawer cabinet devices, open shelves, boxes, hard covers and manila files, cup boards were used as records storage equipments. Lack enough storage space, inadequate registry staffs, inadequate storage equipments, insufficient funds, miss placement of files, Lack of clear guidelines for disposal, external factors, lack of functional records management policy, miss handling of records, un skilled personnel, miss-direction of mails by the clients are the major challenges in managing active records at Nansana Municipal council central registry. The researcher concluded that Nansana municipal council should adopt use of electronic records, provision of storage materials, enlargement of the registry, cleaning the registry on a daily basis, employing more registry staffs. These solutions were recommended by the researcher in relation to the problems identified regarding management of active records at Nansana Municipal council.