What metrics should I track to measure whether our electronic records management program is working?

A program “working” means records are reliably captured, kept as long as required, found when needed, and disposed of properly. Good metrics tie back to those outcomes rather than to activity for its own sake. Track a small, balanced set and review them on a regular cadence so you can spot trends instead of one-time snapshots.

Capture and coverage

Start with whether records are actually getting into the system.

• Percentage of in-scope systems and repositories under records management control.
• Share of records assigned a retention category at or near the point of creation, versus those left unclassified.
• Volume of content sitting in unmanaged locations (personal drives, inboxes, shared folders) as a proxy for leakage.

Retention and disposition

A healthy program both keeps and removes records on schedule.

• Disposition currency: how much eligible content has been reviewed and dispositioned versus how much is overdue.
• Accuracy of retention assignments, sampled through periodic audits.
• Backlog of records past their retention period still being stored, a common source of cost and risk.

Findability and use

Records have value only if people can retrieve them.

• Search success rate and average time to locate a requested record.
• Turnaround on legal holds, audits, FOIA, or Privacy Act requests where applicable.
• Completeness of metadata, which directly drives retrieval and defensibility.

Compliance, risk, and adoption

• Audit findings and the rate at which they are closed.
• Number of holds applied and released correctly, with no inadvertent destruction of records under hold.
• User adoption: training completion, and whether staff follow declared procedures (measured through spot checks rather than self-reporting).

Putting it together

No single number proves success. Pair quantitative measures with periodic qualitative reviews against your policies and an applicable standard such as ISO 15489. Set baselines, define targets, and trend each metric over time so improvement, or drift, is visible to leadership.

For related guidance on managing digital records, see the electronic records topic hub.