Records Information Management (RIM)
Records management services (RM), also known as Records information management or RIM, is the professional practice or discipline of controlling and governing what is considered to be the most important records of an organization throughout the records life-cycle, which includes from the time such records are conceived through to their eventual disposal. This work includes identifying, classifying, prioritizing, storing, securing, archiving, preserving, retrieving, tracking and destroying of records.
The purpose of records management is part of an organization's broader activities that are associated with the discipline or field known as Governance, Risk, and Compliance (or "GRC") and is primarily concerned with the evidence of an organization's activities as well as the reduction or mitigation of risk that may be associated with such evidence.
Corporate Memory is information of value for re-use. In determining whether to retain records and for how long, the value of the record for re-use should be an important criteria. Many records are simply kept as evidence of a transaction. Others are kept to document what happened and, perhaps, why it happened.
A record is something that represents proof of existence and that can be used to recreate or prove state of existence, regardless of medium or characteristics. A record is either created or received by an organization in pursuance of or compliance with legal obligations, or in the transaction of business. Records can be either tangible objects, such as paper documents like birth certificates, driver's licenses, and physical medical x-rays, or digital information, such as electronicoffice documents, data in application databases, web site content, and electronic mail (email).
