The Records Life Cycle: an inadequate concept for technology-generated records

Abstract

The concept of a life cycle is at the core of most records management programmes. The activities of records management programmes are developed upon this concept, which has several phases that explain the stages or status of records – from creation through use and maintenance to ultimate disposal. However, it has been argued that the life cycle concept only fits successfully into paper-based records management. The concept is said to be inadequate when applied to electronic records, where records are unlikely to reach a definite inactive point but are instead migrated into new formats following developments in technology. Electronic records always need to be transacted, migrated and converted by hardware and software in order to be readable by their creators and users. A comparison of the way in which the life cycle concept has been modified over the years to accommodate the different characteristics of electronic records will demonstrate that the concept is inappropriate for technology-generated records.