Contents

Main Things to Remember About Roles and Responsibilities for Recordkeeping in the UN

Introduction

Policy

Roles and responsibilities

Other Relevant Toolkit Sections

Documents Relating to this Section

Glossary

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Main Things to Remember about Roles and Responsibilities for Recordkeeping in the UN
  • Heads of Mission are responsible for ensuring there is a Records Management Officer, for supporting the records management remit and for overall management of records.
  • Records Management Officers and/or Records Officers are responsible for day-to-day records management issues in the mission: with ARMS support they implement and maintain the local records management system.
  • All UN staff are responsible for creating records, ensuring that they are properly captured and classified and that records are kept secure and neither destroyed prematurely nor kept too long.
Introduction

United Nations records comprise any data or information, regardless of its form or medium, maintained by the United Nations as evidence of a business transaction. The UN's records and archives may be in paper or digital format, or any other medium that is appropriate to support the work of the creating office or department. UN records encompass not only those created and used at the Headquarters Secretariat but also those records created and used by Secretariat units away from HQ and subsidiary organisations, including peacekeeping operations.

Policy

The Secretary-General's Bulletim on recordkeeping and the management of UN archives ST/SGB/2007/5 Recordkeeping and the management of the United Nations archivessets out UN policy and responsibilities with respect to records management. You can find more about what ARMS does, more policies and guidance, and how its staff can help you in the Toolkit section How ARMS Supports Recordkeeping in the UN and on the ARMS' internet pages or via the UN intranet.

ARMS Standard on Recordkeeping Metadata


Information Box

“United Nations offices are required to carry out their business in an accountable, transparent and efficient manner. Good recordkeeping is an essential requirement for efficient administration and accountability. It is the basis for establishing and maintaining documentary evidence of United Nations activities and helps UN offices to manage and preserve their corporate memory for short and long-term purposes.”

 

Roles and responsibilities

All UN staff have an important role to play in ensuring that adequate and reliable records are created and maintained for as long as they are required to support the UN's work, to provide evidence and a body of historical reference material. There are several functional groups of staff with core responsibility for record keeping as follows:

All UN staff  

Each UN staff member has responsibilities to ensure that they create records and save or file them with related records, and that they comply with the rules that pertain to the legal title to and inviolability of Secretariat records, which specify, inter alia :

  • All records, regardless of physical form, created or received by a member of the Secretariat in connection with or as a result of the official work of the United Nations are the property of the United Nations
  • Staff members separating from the Organization shall not remove any records from the United Nations premises; records are to be retained within their work unit for future business use, unless disposal is authorized in an approved retention schedule.   Staff is   entitled to have a reasonable number of unrestricted documents copied at his/her expense and to retain his/her private papers
  • Staff are prohibited from altering, destroying, misplacing or rendering useless any official document, record or file that is intended to be kept as a record of the Organization or in compliance with ARMS' procedures.
The ST/SGB on recordkeeping and the management of the United Nations archives and Guideline on Separating Personal Files from Business Records set out in detail the responsibilities of all UN staff.  

Management Responsibilities

Directors of Administration/Chief Administrative Officers have a responsibility to provide resources necessary to establish recordkeeping systems in missions compliant with United Nations requirements, and to:

 

  • Recruit qualified information management personnel (see Sample Vacancy Announcements for Records Management Officer (P3) , Supervisor, Mail, Pouch and Registry (FS5) and Registry Assistant (FS4))
  • Support the development of a compliant electronic records management system
  • Review and subsequently approve records management policy, procedures, and project plan, etc.
  • Co-ordinate between the information management, information technology, facilities, and other staff
  • Approve resources for staff training and development in all recordkeeping competencies
  • Approve resources for technology, space, supplies and services necessary to maintain the records management programme in secure and compliant conditions
  • Monitor and evaluate the records management programme
See the Guidebook on Delegation of Authority (Department of Management, 2005) for more information.

Responsibilities of Records Management Officers

The Records Management Officer (traditionally the Chief of Archives, Mail and Pouch Unit) is responsible for implementing a mission-wide records management programme, and for developing records management procedures and practices specific to team needs, and to liaise closely with ARMS to fulfil records management requirements.

The other responsibilities which fall on each unit and/or Records Liaison Officer are:

  • Establishing records management project objectives, scope and resource requirements
  • Developing records management practices, tools, and training in support of the mission's substantive mandate and programme of work based on best practice methodology (for more information on establishing these, see the Toolkit section Recordkeeping in the UN )
  • Designing and implementing strategies and systems to manage digital records
  • Overseeing transfer to ARMS' custody for secure storage and preservation those records no longer needed for current business (typically after three years) but which need to be retained for administrative, legal, or historical purposes
  • Establishing suitable conditions for the maintenance and preservation of records
  • Implementing UN best practice information security classification procedures to identify, classify, handle and manage confidential/sensitive records to prevent unauthorized access and to control authorized disclosure
  • Participating in UN disaster recovery and business continuity planning by developing strategies to develop procedures to identify and manage vital records.
Responsibilities of Records Management Assistants

Records Management Assistants (often support staff with other responsibilities) will have particular responsibilities for managing records and files in their office. They will be the point of contact for their office with the Records Management Officer.   Records Management Assistants will work with the Records Management Officer to:

  • Oversee receipt and transmission of records from the office
  • Develop a file plan for the office
  • Set up filing systems for paper and electronic records
  • Apply retention policy according to the Peacekeeping Operations Retention Schedule (PORS)
  • Transfer records to the mission records storage facility when inactive.
Communications and Information Technology Staff

The mission's CIT Section (CITS) needs to ensure that the information systems it makes available for records management purposes comply with ARMS' functional and technical requirements, taking into account that records created and managed in non-compliant systems must not replace paper originals . CITS will also assure that records created and maintained using mission ICT resources are managed securely and in keeping with business continuity requirements.

Other Relevant Toolkit Sections
  • Section 3 - How ARMS Supports Recordkeeping in the UN
  • Section 4 – Recordkeeping in the UN
  • Section 15 - Transferring Records to UN ARMS
Documents Relating to this Section
Glossary

Private papers: Those papers belonging to UN staff which have no connection with the official work of the United Nations but which have been kept in their office.

Recordkeeping: The administrative function of controlling all aspects of records creation, receipt, use, maintenance, evaluation, access, preservation and destruction. This Toolkit uses the phrase records management interchangeably with recordkeeping.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a Records Management Officer?

Records Management Officers are staff appointed by the office or mission whose role is to take primary responsibility for managing records to ARMS standards so that mission business needs are met. The Records Management Officer may have one or more Records Officers to assist him/her. They work closely with the ARMS team which can provide training and consultancy support. This mission/office records management role was in the past fulfilled by Records Liaison Officers and may still be carried out by the Mission 's Chief of Registry or Archives.

What are Private Papers?

Private papers are those papers belonging to UN staff which have no connection with official work of the United Nations but which have been kept in their office. For example the proceedings of a professional body, a résumé or a Christmas card list.