Page 15 - Professorial Lecture - Prof Nengomasha

Records Creators - Commonly referred to as action officers who put policy into
practice and create electronic records during their day-to-day business activities.
SIP - The electronic record with its documentation and metadata, necessary for
digital preservation and access.

Ingest – The transfer to archival storage - the ingest function checks the
completeness of metadata and ties the metadata to the records, creating the
Archival Information Package (AIP).

Archival Storage – Storage, maintenance including application of digital
preservation strategies and retrieval from the AIP in response to access requests
are handled by the archival storage function.
Data Management – This function handles the maintenance and administration
of databases containing AIP descriptive information. Search queries are also
executed by this function and the results returned to the Access function as
Dissemination Information Package DIS).

Access – This function facilitates searching and retrieval of records. It presents
the DIS to the users.
Administration – The administration sees to the day-to-day operations of the
archives, producing policies, procedures and standards. It carries out audits of
all other functions to ensure compliance with these standards.

One of the major developments in records management driven by digital
transformation has been the adoption of electronic document and records
management systems by organisations to support electronic work processes
documents and the capturing and management of records of evidence of
those processes. The introduction of the electronic document and records
management system (EDRMS) in the public service of Namibia is a sign of the
efforts by the Namibian government to move with the digital age. Commenting
on the EDRMS the Project Manager, Sarah Negumbo (2010, p. 2) explained that
“It will ensure that the institution’s records are handled efficiently, consistently
and in accordance with the Archives Act 12 of 1992 and its codified instructions.
However, it requires that staff members at all levels are trained in its usage and
provided that the institution develops or maintains its records and information
management culture.” The research findings discussed above refer to a poor
culture of managing records begging the question, “Was the EDRMS built on a weak
foundation of poor records keeping?” The International Records Management
Trust (n. d.) advises that records management should be strengthened before

Transformation of Records & Archives Management in the Public Service of Namibia 15