Shadrack Katuu.
(Image: Collins Kweyu)April 16, 2008 – What do hummingbirds and records management have in common?
Hummingbirds quickly extract the rich nutrients they need while on the move. Similarly, the best records management systems are able to extract the necessary resources while the organisation continues its work.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation uses an electronic document and records management system called Hummingbird to manage the documents generated by the organisation daily.
Information Systems Manager Shadrack Katuu is part of a team responsible for managing Hummingbird.
Hummingbird was taken over by content management company Open Text in 2006, and the system is in the process of being rebranded as “eDocs”.
On the basis of his experience with systems like this, he presented a keynote address at an e-documents and records management conference held in Nairobi, Kenya on March 7 and 8. He also held an interactive half-day workshop on the theme “Strategies for Designing an e-Document Management Programme”.
The conference was organised by international business events and information company Marcus Evans, and was targeted at information managers, librarians, business and IT professionals and documentation specialists in East Africa. Participants were largely from Uganda and Kenya.
Efficient electronic document management is increasingly becoming a priority for government, financial and research institutions, universities and non-profit organisations.
Says Katuu: “Records management is critical in organisations for various reasons, including the practical fact that documented information has increased exponentially over time.
“For organisations to function effectively, it is critical to ensure that they manage their records in an efficient and effective manner. Additionally, there may be regulatory and compliance requirements. For example, all public sector institutions in South Africa are required to comply with, among other legislation, the National Archives Act.”
Katuu’s keynote address was aimed at organisations facing the daunting task of managing large collections of records, particularly electronically generated content.
“There’s growing pressure for organisational compliance with an ever-increasing number of laws and regulations related to recordkeeping,” he says.
Katuu says the conference was a success. “Most participants found the sessions enlightening and enjoyed networking.”
He is also part of a team responsible for the development of the “Mandela portal”, one of the biggest projects of the Memory Programme at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. This archive is being developed to provide access to all documents of an archival nature relating to Nelson Mandela and associated people and subjects, including personal diaries and photographs.
Providing remote access to archival collections through the Mandela portal is one of central objectives of the Centre of Memory and Dialogue.
“This will include not only the collection we have in our custody, but also collections in disparate places that we will link to. We already have the beginnings of this portal with two databases on our website, the Speeches section and the Mandela Materials section.”