Records Management - Compliance
When we talk about governance and compliance within a business, we really mean the rules and practices employed by that organisation to ensure accountability, fairness, compliance and transparency when dealing with their stakeholders, customers and the government.
Records Management and Document Management: understanding the difference
Records Management comes first
​
Records Management is the discipline concerned with governing information that an organisation is obliged to keep. Its role is to ensure records are created, maintained, protected, and disposed of in a way that supports accountability, compliance, and business continuity.
International best practice for Records Management is defined by ISO 15489, which sets out the principles for managing records across their entire lifecycle. According to ISO 15489, records must be reliable, authentic, complete, and usable. These principles apply regardless of whether records are paper-based, digital, or hybrid.
Records Management therefore exists to protect the organisation. It ensures the business can demonstrate what it did, when it did it, and why — even years after the event.
​
Why Records Management matters so much
"Records provide evidence of business activity. When records are missing, incomplete, or poorly managed, organisations expose themselves to operational disruption, legal risk, and regulatory penalties."
Governance frameworks, auditors, regulators, and courts all expect organisations to have control over their records. In the UK, for example, HMRC is explicit in stating that organisations must keep accurate records of business transactions for defined periods, and that penalties may apply when those obligations are not met.
Records Management ensures that:
-
Records can be located when required
-
Access is controlled and auditable
-
Retention obligations are met
-
Disposal is carried out securely and defensibly
This applies whether records are held on paper, in shared drives, or in enterprise systems.
​
What Records Management typically includes
A structured Records Management approach usually builds on Document Management capabilities, but adds further layers of control. These commonly include:
-
A formal records management policy aligned to ISO 15489
-
Clear definitions of what constitutes a record
-
Classification by record type and business context
-
Assigned ownership and accountability
-
Retention schedules linked to legislation and regulation
-
Audit trails and chain-of-custody controls
-
Secure, policy-driven disposal
These controls are designed to ensure consistency and defensibility, not convenience.​​
Where Document Management fits
Document Management addresses a different need.
Its focus is on how documents are used, shared, and worked on during everyday operations. The motivation for implementing Document Management is typically efficiency — helping staff find the right information quickly, collaborate without confusion, and avoid duplication or version conflict.
Document Management supports:
-
Centralised document storage
-
Search and indexing
-
Version control
-
Controlled access
-
Workflow and collaboration
It improves how work gets done, but it does not, on its own, ensure compliance.
​
Understanding the overlap
The relationship between the two disciplines often causes confusion.
All records are documents, but not all documents are records. Many documents are created to support daily tasks and are never formally declared as records. Records Management applies additional controls only when documents meet defined record criteria.
This distinction is also reflected in international standards. ISO 16175, for example, sets out principles for electronic document and records systems, reinforcing the need to distinguish between operational document handling and compliance-driven record control.
​
Content versus context
One final way to understand the difference is perspective.
Document Management is largely content-driven. It focuses on what a document contains and how it’s used to get work done.
Records Management is context-driven. It focuses on why the record exists, the business activity it evidences, how long it must be kept, and what must happen at the end of its life.
Records Managers are therefore often far more interested in classification, ownership, and lifecycle than in the document’s content.
​
Content versus context
One final way to understand the difference is perspective.
Document Management is largely content-driven. It focuses on what a document contains and how it’s used to get work done.
Records Management is context-driven. It focuses on why the record exists, the business activity it evidences, how long it must be kept, and what must happen at the end of its life.
Records Managers are therefore often far more interested in classification, ownership, and lifecycle than in the document’s content.