Records Management
The records management organization is responsible for the creation, maintenance and disposition of the records generated for the Department of Energy at the Paducah Site. We provide a system for providing control over records and a system for ensuring that records are retained until their mandatory retention periods have been met.
A record is any recorded information related to our contract with the Department of Energy, regardless of who created it, that documents a decision or an action. A records management program is essential to our work because it documents our own and our predecessor’s policies and decisions; furnishes successors with the information needed to understand current and past actions, aids in decision making; and protects the legal and financial rights of contractors and the Department of Energy. Yesterday’s records may seem of little importance until we are faced with an audit or discovery in support of litigation.
As records are received in the Document Management Center, key attributes of each record are entered into the records management application along with the PDF image. The document hardcopy is stored in either the DMC vault or in the Federal Records Center. Swift & Staley processes an average of 800 records (58,000 pages) per month. In addition to processing the newly created records, the records management staff schedules the new and legacy records by assigning a DOE records schedule to the records and prepares the record for shipment to the Federal Records Center.
Using records management principles produces cost savings, greater productivity and efficiency. This allows employees to spend less time looking for misplaced documents and have fewer files to maintain.