A Duty to Document by FIPA

Instructor

Freedom of Information and Privacy Association

Overview

EXPLORING A DUTY TO DOCUMENT FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES

EXPECTATIONS FOR LEARNING
This certificate program has been developed by the Freedom of Information and Privacy Association to help organizations learn about their Duty to Document, the requirement to record business decisions, and help organizations understand how to ensure they are complying with the related laws and best practice. Both internal and external stakeholders - employees to external watchdog groups, from public citizens to regulatory authorities – can take value out of a duty to document. Transparency cultivates trust, and a duty to document is about transparency. 

Implementing a Duty to Document program is important for several reasons:

1. Best Business Practices: Good records and information management is the cornerstone of proper decision-making, program and service delivery, and the basis for smooth business operations.

2. Access and Transparency: Canadian laws, such as the Access to Information Act (ATIA), provide provisions on gaining access to public records, records that hinge on an organization's robust recordkeeping. Ensuring Duty to Document practices exist throughout an organization put access and transparency at the forefront.

3. Accountability: An ability to capture records from the activities of an organization allows for better protections against fines, legal penalties, and damage to a company's reputation. 

A Duty to Document, a documentary obligation to record actions, does not explicitly exist in Canadian legislation. However, across Canada, provinces and officials have called for more detailed, legislated Duty to Document laws. Transparency, accountability, and ensuring trust with the public is increasingly becoming more for the general public.

This course will help you to understand and refresh your understanding about the role records play in organizational operations and wider trust and access. It will also provide the core components, and guides to creating Duty to Document practices and procedures throughout your organization. Both For-profit organizations and non-profit organizations a Duty to Document is imperative and integral part of recording the 'what' and 'why' of decision making.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:  In this course you will learn how to

•  Understand what a Duty to Document is and why it is necessary and important for all organizations. 
•  Understand where a Duty to Document is belongs in relation to records management and information technology.
•  Articulate concepts, definitions and principles of a Duty to Document.
•  Understand the nature and relationship between records creation and access. 
•  Recognize and understand relevant legislation as it relates to Duty to Document. 
•  Address questions, concerns, and complaints related to recordkeeping as part of transparency and access.
•  Understand the persons, organizational needs, and requirements to establish a Duty to Document.
•  Establish sound record keeping policies and procedures to operationalize a Duty to Document. 
•  Create an assessment checklist.

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
•  Advising records management professionals from ARMA Vancouver Chapter 
•  Advising records management and education members of FIPAs board of directors (Mike Larsen, Matthew Hetu and Alexandra Wieland).  
This audio course was written by Elizabeth Day and produced by ProDio Audio Learning Inc.

All associated content, templates and handouts, is the property of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Association of British Columbia, Canada (FIPA-BC), and may not be copied, shared or reproduced in any way without written permission of FIPA-BC.   The use of handouts and templates is permitted solely for the purchaser of this course.

Website: https://fipa.bc.ca    Contact: fipa@fipa.bc.ca