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Introduction
In this article I shall describe the process of developing the international standard ISO 15489[1] and its associated Technical Report, and some of their contents and assess the Standard's significance for records management in the UK[2].
First, an explanation of the abbreviations and acronyms I shall use. ISO stands for International Standards Organisation, a body based in Geneva that oversees the issue of international Standards. The British Standards Institution (BSI) is the UK NMB (National Member Body of ISO). The ISO Technical Committee under whose auspices we worked is TC 46 and its Records Management Sub‐committee is SC 11, hence the reference to TC 46/SC 11. The BSI counterparts are IDT 2 at the Committee level (standing for Information Documentation Terminology) and Sub‐committee 17, hence IDT 2/17. Key stages in development of a Standard are production of a Committee Draft (CD), a Draft International Standard (DIS) and a Final Draft International Standard (FDIS). Finally, the sections making up a Standard are called clauses.
Development of ISO 15489
My involvement in ISO 15489 started in July 1997 when I attended a meeting at the BSI offices in Chiswick. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss future action on internationalising the pioneering Australian Standard AS 4390[3], Records Management. This Standard had been developed in Australia in the early 1990s in response to the quality Standard ISO 9000. ISO 9000 refers to the need for “quality records” to show the operation of a quality system but does not expand on what makes up a quality record. Australian records managers made the connection between ISO 9000 accreditation and good records management and set out to fill the gap, producing what Standards Australia has described as one of its best sellers.
AS 4390 had recently been through an ISO balloting process for issue as it stood but sufficient reservations had been expressed by NMBs for ISO to decide that a re‐think was necessary. So, a group of records professionals and Standards experts from the UK, Australia, USA, France and Sweden met and concluded that ISO should be asked to set up a new sub‐committee to develop AS 4390 into an ISO Standard. This was the start of what was to prove a fascinating if often frustrating project.
ISO...