Home / Non-Accredited / Administration & Office Support / Mastering Data and Records Management (2 days)
Quick Look Course Summary:Mastering Data and Records Management (2 days)
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Length: 2 day(s)
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Price (at your venue): 1 Person R 10,326 EX VAT 3 Person R 7,594 EX VAT 10 Person R 5,537 EX VAT
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Certification Type:Non-Accredited
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Locations & Venues: Off-site or in-house. We train in all major city centres throughout South Africa.
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Mastering Data and Records Management (2 days)
A records system in which every document can be found in minutes, is kept for the right period and is seen only by the people entitled to see it.
Records only become urgent when someone needs one – an auditor, a customer, a CCMA commissioner or a regulator – and it cannot be found, has been filed in the wrong place or was kept long after it should have been destroyed. This records management course gives administrative, HR, finance and operations staff a practical way to organise, store, retrieve, protect and dispose of the organisation's records, on paper and electronically.
Day one builds the records system: what is and is not a record, the records life cycle, surveying the records you hold, designing a file plan, running paper, electronic and hybrid systems, and setting retention, archiving and disposal rules. Day two deals with the information that needs the most care: confidential and personal information under POPIA, securing documents and controlling access, agreeing controls with colleagues, controlling office stationery and supplies, and fixing the everyday procedure problems that make records go missing.
Delegates map their own records, draft a file plan and an outline retention schedule, and leave with an action plan to improve their office's records within a month.
Why this course
For your organisation
- Faster retrieval when auditors, customers or regulators ask for records
- Stronger POPIA compliance for personal and confidential information
- Lower storage costs through proper retention and disposal
- Consistent filing and naming across paper files and shared drives
- Tighter control of stationery and office supplies
For your delegates
- A file plan and naming conventions you can apply straight away
- Clear rules on what to keep, for how long and how to dispose of it
- Confidence in handling confidential and personal information
- Practical tools for document tracking and version control
What delegates will be able to do
- Distinguish records from other documents and explain the records life cycle
- Survey the records an office holds and the business and legal reasons for keeping them
- Design a classification scheme and file plan for paper and electronic records
- Apply consistent naming, metadata and version control on shared drives
- Draft retention periods and manage archiving and secure disposal
- Classify confidential and personal information and secure it appropriately under POPIA
- Agree and communicate information controls with colleagues
- Control the ordering, distribution and stock levels of office stationery
- Identify problems in office procedures and propose practical improvements
Who should attend
Administrators, office managers, secretaries, records and registry clerks, HR, finance, legal and compliance staff, and anyone responsible for filing, shared drives or the safekeeping of organisational information. It suits both private-sector offices and public-sector registries.
Course outline
Day 1 – Building a records system
Understanding records
- What records management is and why it matters
- What is a record and what is not
- Records versus archives
- The records life cycle: creation, use, storage, retention and disposal
- The cost of poor records: lost time, audit findings and legal exposure
Knowing what you hold
- Conducting a records survey
- Finding out who creates and uses each type of record
- Organisational needs: routine and one-off processes
- Legal reasons to keep records, for example the BCEA, Companies Act and Tax Administration Act – general guidance, not legal advice
- Public bodies and the National Archives and Records Service Act
Classification and file plans
- Classifying records by function and activity
- Designing a file plan
- Setting priorities and reviewing the scheme with its users
- Naming conventions everyone can follow
Paper, electronic and hybrid systems
- Arranging, grouping and building paper files
- File registers, tracking cards and borrowing controls
- Folders, directories and permissions on shared drives and SharePoint
- Metadata and version control for electronic documents
- Hybrid systems: linking paper and electronic records, and their limits
- An introduction to electronic document and records management systems (EDMS)
Appraisal, retention and disposal
- Appraising the value of records: administrative, legal, financial and historical
- Building a retention schedule and documenting decisions
- Creating and managing archives
- Scanning and converting paper records
- Secure, auditable destruction
Day 2 – Protecting information and controlling the office
Confidential and personal information
- What makes information confidential: personal, HR, financial and commercial
- Sensitivity levels and labelling
- POPIA in daily office work: purpose, security safeguards and retention
- Security compromises and requests for information under POPIA and PAIA – general guidance
- Clean-desk and clear-screen habits
Securing documents
- Access control for paper and electronic records
- Locked storage, passwords and permissions
- Sending, sharing and transporting confidential documents
- Securing documents within agreed timeframes
- Protecting the interests of every stakeholder
Working with others on information controls
- Agreeing control measures with individuals and teams
- Communicating procedures so that people follow them
- Dealing with non-compliance
- Coordinating records work across departments
Stationery and office supplies control
- Ordering and distribution procedures
- Monitoring and maintaining stock levels
- Requisitions, approvals and issue records
- Preventing shrinkage
- Reporting stationery movements for a period
Improving office procedures
- Collecting and analysing information on how the office runs
- Common problems: lost files, duplicates and version confusion
- Finding the cause and agreeing a fix
- Your 30-day records improvement plan
- Evaluation and close
How it is delivered
Two days, 08:30-16:00. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to 20; exercises can use your own file plan, shared drive or registry. Workbook, file plan and retention schedule templates included. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
“Business Optimization Training Institute facilitated Microsoft Excel Training for our company. The course was efficiently scheduled and planned around our timetable. We were impressed by the quality of training.”
“BOTi has consistently and expertly delivered quality training services in respect of our Soft Skills requirements. We feel confident in recommending BOTI as a training services provider par excellence.”
“The course was efficiently scheduled and planned around our timetable. We were impressed by both the quality of training and the Facilitators.”
Frequently asked questions
Can you run this course at our offices?
Yes. Most groups are trained at the client's premises anywhere in South Africa; we can also host it at a BOTI venue or deliver it live online.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to groups of about 20. Training a whole admin or HR team together means everyone leaves with the same file plan and naming rules.
Is it accredited?
No – it is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
Does the course cover POPIA?
Yes, as it applies to records: collecting only what you need, keeping it secure, keeping it only as long as necessary, and handling requests and security compromises. It is practical guidance, not legal advice; your information officer should confirm your own policies.
Can it be tailored to our systems?
Yes. Tell us whether you use a paper registry, shared drives, SharePoint or a document management system, and the facilitator uses your set-up in the exercises.
Will we leave with a finished file plan?
You leave with a draft file plan for your own area and an outline retention schedule. Completing them for the whole organisation usually takes a few weeks; your action plan shows how.
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