CHAPTER ONE

1.      INTRODUCTION

bBACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

     The ever-increasing volume of records being created as well as the rapidly increasing costs of maintaining these records necessitate the utilization of efficient records management.  The smooth functioning of an organization is greatly dependent upon the efficient utilization of information.  For any business organization to survive, progress and to continue in existence, there must be records of the part issues, events, stories etc., which must be kept and also maintained.

          This is further buttressed by Oliverio and pasework (1977) that all records will be important to the contained successful operation of your firm.  The records become part of the memory of the organization.  Not only do the record provide the history of the transaction but also form the basis for future decision.  Records refer tot he informational documents utilized by an organization in carrying out its various functions.  It is generally used in the office to refer to documents, specific information and data which form the basis of an organization’s operations and transaction.  Types of records commonly utilized include forms, letters, memorandums, reports and manuals, minutes of meetings.  It is also used to refer to those documents from which a business organization derives its legitimacy, powers and substation like acts of parliament, memorandum of association, certificate of incorporation etc. records management is one of the fundamental functions of a record officer in an organization.  It is therefore the art and devices employed to capture and control and the records of an organization.

          Elendu O. Elndu (1985) described records management as a means of making use, controlling and the disposition of records so that the systems work efficiently and economically.  This means that the basic concept of records management involves the control of recorded information from the original creation to the ultimate disposition.  The records cycle beginning with the creation of records involves use, maintenance, preservation, protection and finally disposition.  In the same vein, records management programme refers to a system designed to control and administer the organization records.  Every business organization receives all sorts of records every working day, there is no doubt that if these records are not properly taken care of, the whole office space will be flooded with papers and this will eventually cause inconvenience for the workers.

          According to Denyer (1994) he said, it is  the foundation of a good filing system that when records become inactive they should either be destroyed or transferred to a reserved storage.  Records management is not concerned with the technique and facilities for data manipulation but it focuses its attention on the captured data and means and methods for its efficient capture and later exploitation.

          There are three principle functions of records management, these are clearly spelt out in the Encyclopedia of management (1973) as follows:-  adequate records management system programme deals with three aspects of organizations records handling, creation, maintenance and disposition.  As said earlier in this study, these principle functions are also the basic concept of records management covers all devices and means used to obtain data or information, keeping and safe – guarding it is an easily retrievable place and manner, produce it when required and protect it until it is no longer useful and therefore disposable.

          All business firm keep records.  this is true for small, solely owned business, such as Eme’s Retail Store, as well as for giant corporations, such as consolidated breweries Plc. Business keep records for three major purposes:

1.      To operate the business on a day-to-day basis for example, companies must make sure that customer’s orders are filled and that bills are sent promptly.

2.      To manage and control the business efficiently, mangers must know how much business the company is doing and how much it costs to do the business.

3.      To prepare reports for shareholders and government agencies.  For example, most companies file income tax returns more than ones a year.  Although the amount of records keeping varies with the size and type of business, all business must keep records of certain information, or data.  The collecting, classifying, summarizing, reporting and storing of the information is called data processing.

The people and machines used to process data are called data processing systems.  There are three basic ways to process data:

1.      Manual Data processing: - With this method all the work is done by hand, usually by a book – keeper.

2.      Machine Data processing: - With this method adding machine and calculators are used to process business records.

3.      Electronic Data Procession (EDP): - This method uses electronic computers to process data quickly.

Most data processing system today combine at least two of these methods.  None of these systems are totally automatic.  Since some of the work must always be done by hand (manually).

                   What is a computer: - A computer is an electronic tool capable of accepting data, interpreting data, performing ordered operation on data, and reporting on the outcome of these operation (Gary 1986).

   The data that a computer processes may be numbers, letters or                even sounds.

It is turned into electrical impulses so that the computer can sort it, change it, or do arithmetic with it.  For example, when we add two numbers, we are processing them in a specific way.  The computer cannot decide for itself what to do with the data on information given to the computer, it is a machine.