Content and scope of Step B

• Aim of Step B
• Summary of Step B
• Why should you do Step B?
• How is Step B scalable?
• Relationship to other steps

Aim of Step B

The aim of Step B is to analyse your business in order to gain a thorough understanding of the business activities and processes that are carried out. It also involves establishing a classification structure known as a business classification scheme. A business classification scheme is a hierarchy of functions, activities and transactions that can be used to support a variety of records management processes. [1]

Summary of Step B

In Step B you should analyse the documentary sources and interviews you have collected in order to identify:

• your organisation's goals and the strategies to achieve these goals
• the broad functions the organisation undertakes to support its goals and strategies
• the activities which contribute to the fulfilment of the organisation's functions, and
• the groups of recurring transactions or processes which make up each of these activities.

Two types of analysis may be used:

• hierarchical analysis, a 'top down' approach where you start with the goals and strategies and gradually look deeper into how these are achieved, and/or
• sequential analysis, a 'bottom up' approach where you start by examining work processes and the transactions resulting from them, then gradually relate it to more broader levels of classification.

The analysis can be represented in a number of ways. The hierarchical model, known as a 'business classification scheme' is the method preferred by State Records. This scheme can then be used to make a variety of decisions about the management of records.

Why should you do Step B?

Step B is a foundation step for many DIRKS projects. It helps you to:

• gain a greater understanding of your organisation both at a micro level and a macro level and the context in which records are being created (in this way it adds to Step A: Preliminary investigation)
• start identifying existing recordkeeping problems and issues, such as inadequate work processes
• establish a business framework for recordkeeping tools, such as thesauri and retention and disposal authorities which can also be used to populate metadata fields
• establish a business framework to map recordkeeping requirements to, which will assist with the production of creation and retention and disposal authorities, metadata strategies, the identification of vital records, gap analysis and system design or redesign.

How is Step B scalable?

Relate to the project scope

The scalability and relevance of Step B depends on the scope of your project and the outcomes you are looking for.

You may decide not to do Step B at all if you:

• do not need to conduct such a detailed examination of processes, transactions and records generated, and
• do not need to construct a business classification scheme based on functions and activities (used as a basis for recordkeeping tools or to map your recordkeeping requirement to).

See Doing your DIRKS project for how Step B specifically applies to particular projects.

Existing frameworks

Step B can be scaled down for particular projects if existing generic or organisational classification schemes, already exist and are suitable. You may have, for example, a general retention and disposal authority or keyword thesaurus in place. If this is the case, you can easily scale down your project to examine a specific function in isolation (perhaps due to identification of a recordkeeping crisis or a recognised problem).

Example: Scaling down
Your project may be to do DIRKS to ensure the creation and capture of the necessary records to meet your recordkeeping requirements for a key, high risk function. You may already have a functional thesaurus that covers the majority of your business and which can provide a suitable classification framework.
You can then choose to examine a particular function in detail using sequential analysis.Be careful however, if you are using a thesaurus as the basis for your assessment. Thesauri generally only cover records documented in files or file like structures. As a consequence they may exclude terminology for records not documented in files - for example those maintained within databases.

Example: The personnel management function
One council decided to undertake a DIRKS project where they needed to analyse the business conducted within their human resources function. Their aim was to improve their current practices and to identify their recordkeeping requirements and determine their levels of compliance.
They chose to use the function of PERSONNEL and related activities from the Keyword for Councils thesaurus as a basis for their business classification scheme. However, they still needed to analyse the way business was being conducted and the records produced (sequential analysis in Step B) and recordkeeping requirements (in Step C) to determine changes to their current practices.

When to look more broadly

If your organisation's core functions are not covered by a classification scheme of any kind, it is not advisable to try to analyse a core function or system in isolation. You should at least roughly map your core business functions and activities in a business classification scheme and consider issues which may affect them before trying to concentrate on one function or system.

The reason for this is that:

• you need a broad perspective of the boundaries of the function or system and how it relates to, and impacts on, other business activities being performed
• you may discover when taking a broader view that there are other areas of high risk that may warrant priority in subsequent stages of the design and implementation process. These areas may correlate to particular recordkeeping systems, business activities or business units.
• if you analyse one function or system in isolation, without a broader map, you may inadvertently cross boundaries of other functions and may miss risk identification. These omissions may force you to revise your analysis later.

Relationship to other steps

Step A

Step A: Preliminary investigation and Step B both involve data collection. If you are doing Step A and are familiar with the requirements of Step B before you start, you may start identifying functions and activities while completing Step A. If this is the case, record your findings and refer back to them when you start Step B.

Step C

Step B may also be carried out concurrently with parts of Step C: Identification of recordkeeping requirements, as many of the same sources are used. You will often find that you come across recordkeeping requirements when you are conducting research to identify functions, activities and transactions. All of these can be documented using the using the function source template.

Step D

It is also possible to gather information about the use, scale and operations of systems for Step D: Assessment of existing systems when you are undertaking Step B.

Steps E and F

If you are examining your processes, you may discover during the sequential analysis in Step B and assessment of how these are working in Step D: Assessment of existing systems that you need to redesign some processes. Redesign will occur in Step F: Design of a recordkeeping system.

You may also decide on other methods of representing the information from the business classification scheme for particular uses in Step E: Identification of strategies for recordkeeping and design these methods in Step F.

Footnotes

[1] Australian Standard AS ISO 15489-2002, Records Management, Part 2, 8.4b