Managing Personnel Records - International Records Management ...

Consider the following case.
Activity 5
In a West African country in 1990 it was found that a large number of copies of
personnel documents were being generated and distributed unnecessarily. The Public
Service Commission appointed civil servants from the level of higher executive
officer upward. There were about 15,000 civil servants at this level, with roughly
1,000 new appointments and 3,000 promotions a year. Each appointment and each
promotion generated about 15 sheets of paper. Copies of appointment and promotion
letters were sent to
the office of head of civil service (where they should have been placed
on personal files but often were not)
the relevant ministry (to be placed on the file maintained for the
department concerned)
the department concerned (to be placed on individual personal files)
the account general (this copy was not used but bundled up and stored)
the auditor general (to enable payroll audit).
The public service commission itself retained three copies of the letter. One was put
on a personal file for each appointee, one on a file relating to the department
concerned and one on a running file.
The department concerned then made a copy of the appointment or promotion letter
and sent it, along with up to five copies of an establishment warrant (for established
posts) or a change of holders return (for non-established posts), to the relevant branch
of the controller and accountant general’s treasury for vetting. These copies were not
used for any purpose as payments had been centralised in the payroll section and the
treasury vetting process had been abandoned.
The establishment warrant or the change of holders return was vetted. One copy was
stored with the promotion or appointment letter; the others were returned to the
department. T he department then filed one copy and made another copy, which was
sent with a payroll input sheet to the payroll section of the controller and accountant
general’s department.
Based on this information, draw or describe the flow of information in this system.
Who receives what information first? Who receives information next? How is it
managed? How could this information flow be improved to become more efficient
and effective?
MANAGING PERSONNEL RECORDS
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