Who is responsible for managing records inside an electronic records management system, IT or the records officer?

The short answer is that responsibility is shared. An electronic records management system (ERMS) sits at the intersection of two disciplines, and neither IT nor the records officer can manage records well alone. The cleanest way to think about it is to separate the records program (the rules) from the technology (the platform that enforces them).

What the records officer owns

The records officer (or records manager) owns the records program itself. This is the substance of recordkeeping, including:

• Defining what counts as a record and what is non-record material
• Establishing classification, file plans, and retention and disposition schedules
• Approving when records may be destroyed or transferred to archival custody
• Ensuring practices align with applicable laws, regulations, and policy
• Training staff and monitoring compliance

These are governance decisions. They do not change because the records live in software rather than a filing cabinet.

What IT owns

IT owns the platform that carries out those rules. This typically includes:

• Configuring the ERMS so retention schedules, holds, and access controls function as designed
• Maintaining security, backups, system availability, and integrity controls
• Managing storage, migrations, upgrades, and integrations with other systems
• Implementing audit logging so actions on records are traceable

IT makes the rules operational and reliable; it does not decide what the rules should be.

Where the two meet

The hard cases live in the overlap. Retention cannot be configured correctly unless the records officer has defined it, and a perfect schedule means nothing if the system never enforces it. Recognized guidance such as ISO 16175 frames this as functional requirements that records and IT staff implement together, while NARA’s guidance treats records management as an agency-wide responsibility led by records staff but supported across the organization.

A useful rule of thumb: the records officer is accountable for what happens to records and why; IT is accountable for how the system makes it happen. Senior leadership remains accountable overall, and individual staff are responsible for capturing their own records into the system.

For related guidance, see the electronic records topic hub.