I really don't believe there is an "industry standard" for benchmarking or measuring records management performance.  I think it really depends on the type of industry, organization, business etc. that you are in.  

What I used to do was to have a group of people file a document and I would time each one and get an average.  It was the same with opening a new file, closing a file, classifying a document etc.  I would also have them keep track on a daily basis the total number of the above and then make the necessary calculations.  

So in summary, have 3 different people (for example) perform a function like filing and get an average time.  As an example if it took 1 minute to file a document, there would be 60 documents filed in one hour.  You could then get an hourly salary rate for that person and the human cost would be calculated.  

With ATIP you could calculate how many requests have been responded to within the legislative guidelines, how many are outstanding or how many have denied etc.

There will be a difference between electronic and paper based actions, as well as between different people.  

I would be nervous about using someone else's calculations, as you could be over or under, which could be a disadvantage at budget time or when reporting on your services.

In summation, I never liked measuring my records program using those types of indicators.   would much rather do an IM Capacity Check, audit, or quality survey to see how well the program is doing, satisfaction with services etc. 

I totally understand the bean counters in finance like number crunching and I sympathize with you.  Doesn't it always seem like records departments are continually justifying and justifying some more about their value to an organization?  You don't see other areas on their knees trying to get funding for projects or maintaining staff levels ?

Just a few thoughts.
Cheers
John

John A. Gervais
Program Manager
Policy and Guidelines Section
Information Policy and Governance Division
Statistics and Information Management Directorate 
Corporate Strategies and Business Development Branch 
Canada Revenue Agency
320 Queen St., Place de Ville, Tower A, 6th Fl., 
Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1A 0L5 
Tel: 1-613-946-0245
Facsimile: 1-613-941-9649
E-mail: mailto:[log in to unmask]
 
 

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