Shadrack Katuu

Enterprise content management (ECM) implementation in South Africa

Purpose – This article aims to assess how enterprise content management (ECM) has been implemented in South Africa.Design/methodology/approach – The article is a five‐part analysis of the concept of ECM. The first part outlines a perspective to ECM based on predecessor and related terms such as EDMS and ERMS. The second part reviews literature generated in South Africa on electronic records and document management over the last decade as well as a discussion on value added resellers in the country. The third part provides the results of the survey of ten South African institutions. This section includes an outline on the research methodology used as well as analysis of the data and a brief discussion of the research implications. The fourth part provides concluding remarks and the fifth part is a list of references.Findings – A literature review conducted by the author reveals that there have been few published sources on institutional experiences related to implementing electronic document and records ma...

Archives and Records Management Education and Training: what can Africa learn from Europe and North America?

While education and training of archives and records professionals within Sub Saharan Africa has a history of about five decades, elsewhere professional development has a history lasting several centuries. In Europe, archivists have been in existence since the 17th century while in North America, while the history is just about one century old, within that time a lot of innovation has been evident. This article provides a summary of developments in the two continents, drawing lessons that could be useful in reinvigorating discussion within the African continent.

Assessing the functionality of the enterprise content management maturity model

Purpose The implementation of enterprise content management (ECM) software applications has been a subject of extensive discussion. Although a number of ECM scholars have provided guidance on ECM implementation, there is a gap in how to assess benefits accruing from the implementation. One of the approaches of assessment is the use of maturity models. This paper aims to examine the utility of other ECM maturity model (ECM3) as an assessment tool. Design/methodology/approach The study was undertaken based on two related research questions, the first explored ECM3 assessment within a South African context and the second explored the utility of other maturity models for ECM implementation and lessons learnt to improve ECM3. Findings The results show that all the South African institutions assessed using ECM3 had a low level of maturity and there are a number of maturity models comparable to ECM3, and the global survey provides the closest parallel to the survey conducted in South Africa. Originality/value The study offers a unique discussion on the possible utility of ECM3 as a maturity model for assessing ECM implementation. This was done by comparing it with maturity models developed or used by records professionals and through assessing the results of two surveys, one conducted amongst South African institutions and another conducted by the Real Story Group.

Managing Electronic Records: an overview

Provides an overview of key issues in the digitization of records in paper format and the management of records in electronic form.

User studies and user education programmes in archival institutions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine user studies as well as user education within the context of public services offered by archival institutions. It highlighted some of the key aspects that constitute both concepts drawing from history in order to provide a better understanding in the context of current professional discussions. Design/methodology/approach – The review analysed peer-reviewed articles ranging from the late 1970s to the present time to illuminate debates in the archival professional underpinning the current understanding of user studies and user education. Findings – The paper outlined the different paths used in user studies to ensure data collection is exhaustive and provides a nuanced assessment of user needs. It also outlined the two related paradigms of structuring user education programmes, highlighted the points at which they differ and the rich discussions resulting from comparative analysis. Originality/value – The paper demonstrated that there is a rich corpus of professional literature on both user studies and user education, expounding on different aspects that would ensure both are designed and implemented effectively.

Healthcare systems: typologies, framework models, and South Africa’s health sector

Purpose A healthcare system in any country is rarely the product of one logical policy-making experience, but rather a manifestation of many years of historical development. The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics, components, and variables of South Africa’s healthcare system in the context of global patterns. It leverages a dynamic period in South Africa since 1994, and applies a comparative health systems analysis to explain where the country’s healthcare system is, and where it is potentially going. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews literature related to South Africa’s healthcare system, outlines its historical development, and discusses three fundamental challenges experienced in the country. This paper also reviews the literature on healthcare system typologies and identifies three framework models that have been used to categorise national healthcare systems since the 1970s. This paper then discusses the categorisation of South Africa’s healthcare system in these models, in comparison to Canada and the USA. Findings This paper finds that the framework models are useful tools for comparative analysis of healthcare systems. However, any use of such typologies should be done with the awareness that national healthcare systems are not isolated entities because they function within a larger context. They are not static, since they are constantly evolving with many nuances, even with very similar healthcare system categorisations. Originality/value This paper charts the trajectory of change in the South African healthcare system, and demonstrates that the change process must keep internal conditions in mind if the outcome is to be successful. Imitating policies of countries with well-functioning systems, without regard to local realities, may not work, as the government attempts to usher in changes within a short span of time.

Overview of the InterPARES Trust Project in Africa: Trusting Records in an Increasingly Networked Environment

ABSTRACT InterPARES Trust (IP Trust) research project’s goal is to generate the theoretical and methodological frameworks that address issues related to the management of digital records in networked environments. Team Africa forms part of the IP Trust project and is undertaking six case studies. This article provides an overview of the research activities within each of the case studies. Team Africa’s case studies began recently and, therefore, there are no final products of the research process. Nonetheless, ongoing dissemination activities include three conference presentations (in Croatia, Spain, and the United States) as well as eight peer-reviewed articles published. Team Africa’s case studies focus on actionable factors defined from the ground up rather than from purely theoretical constructs. One case study’s output addresses trustworthiness of records in South Africa’s public audit processes. Three case studies’ output will address the management of digital records in Botswana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. Another case study’s output addresses the legislative and regulatory provisions related to management of records in South Africa. The last case study’s output is geared to aligning the curriculum of professionals that manage records in Africa’s institutions of higher learning.