Why Traditional Records Management Models Are Failing in the Digital Age

Creation And Capture Of Records Needs A Rethink

The Evolution of Records Management Theory

Since the 1980s, the creation and capture of records has undergone significant conceptual evolution, yet professional practice has not consistently kept pace with theoretical development. Foundational models such as the records lifecycle and the records continuum have offered foundational frameworks for understanding the management of information from creation to eventual disposal or preservation.

The Flawed Assumption in Traditional Models

These models, however, are heavily predicated on the assumption that staff actively create records in a deliberate and structured manner, in the first place, and consistently capture them into designated official systems. In practice, this assumption often proves flawed.

The Reality of Modern Organizational Behaviour

The reality of everyday organisational behaviour shows us that many records of evidential or business value are either not being created at all, for example, critical decisions made informally and never documented beyond a whiteboard or, when they are created, are not captured in a manner that supports long-term findability or reuse, (e.g. thermal image printouts).

The Challenge of Poor Implementation

Problems with inadequate naming conventions, minimal metadata, and/or poor contextualisation mean that even when records do enter formal systems, they remain difficult to retrieve and interpret. This disconnect between theory and practice highlights a fundamental challenge for the profession: without renewed emphasis on the conditions and behaviours underpinning record creation and capture, especially in increasingly decentralised and digital work environments, the value of even the most sophisticated theoretical models' risk being undermined by poor implementation on the ground.

The Disconnect Of Paper Theory And Digital Practice

The Transformation from Physical to Digital Records

In our workplaces we have witnessed the shift in practice, as the creation and capture of records has transformed from a paper-based paradigm, where records were a tangible physical artefact, to a complex, digital environment in which records are fluid, distributed, and often ephemeral.

The Deliberate Nature of Paper-Based Systems

In the paper world, recordkeeping was a more deliberate and observable act; documents were physically filed, formally registered, and controlled within structured systems. Digital practice, however, has blurred these boundaries, everyone with a PC became their own (usually untrained) de facto records manager.

The Embedded Nature of Digital Record Creation

The act of record creation is now embedded within everyday business processes and applications, emails, chat messages, collaborative documents, and transactional systems, making the distinction between a high value and low-value records less visible and more difficult to manage without deliberate intervention.

Exposing Traditional Limitations

This shift has necessitated a re-examination of traditional recordkeeping concepts and has exposed the limitations of relying on staff to consciously and consistently create and capture records into official systems.

The Evolution from Lifecycle to Continuum Models

Over the latter half of the twentieth century Philip Coolidge Brooks' original 1940s records lifecycle model[1] dominated records management practice and conceptualised recordkeeping as a linear sequence, from creation, active use, semi-active storage, to eventual archives or destruction.

Inadequacy of Linear Models in Digital Environments

While appropriate in the context of physical records, this model proves increasingly inadequate in digital environments, where records are continually reused, revised, repurposed, and remain active across multiple business contexts and systems.

The Records Continuum Solution

In response, the records continuum model has emerged as a more dynamic and integrated conceptual framework. Various records management thinkers and authors arrived at the continuum solution, but Frank Upward's model is generally considered to be the foundation of modern recordkeeping theory.

Understanding Multiple States of Records

The Continuum theory acknowledges that records can exist simultaneously in multiple states, being both current and archival, both business and evidential, depending on their use and interpretation across time and space. However, this model too assumes that records are being consciously created and managed from the outset.

The Persistent Challenge of Theory vs Reality

The disconnect between theory and organisational reality remains a persistent challenge. Both the lifecycle and continuum approaches are built on the foundational premise that records will be captured at or near the point of creation into a designated, controlled environment.

Why Staff Bypass Formal Systems

Staff frequently bypass formal systems due to perceived complexity, time pressures, or lack of awareness. Records are generated but left stranded on desktops, shared drives, or within transient communication tools. The practicalities of modern work environments, and reliance on decentralised digital collaboration, mean that records are often not consciously identified, let alone consistently managed.

Coming Next: Now that we understand why traditional models are failing, our next post will dive deep into the practical problems plaguing modern information management - from metadata chaos to the automation trap that promises efficiency but delivers fragmentation.

This is part of a five part-blog series by Stephen Clarke MRIM, CSRIM and David Robinson. This blog series is based on the article "Future Ready? Information Management Needs a Makeover," which was first in Volume 41 (May 2025) issue of iQ - The RIMPA Global Quarterly Magazine of the Records and Information Management Practitioners Alliance (RIMPA).