records information management (RIM)

Records information management (RIM) is a corporate area of endeavor involving the administration of all business records throughout their life cycle. 

In this context, a record is documentation of a business event. Among other possibilities, that documentation may exist in contracts, memos, paper and electronic files, marketing materials, reports, emails and instant message logs, website content, database records and information on removable storage devices.

The records lifecycle consists of discrete activities from the initial creation of a record until it is eventually archived or destroyed. According to the ISO 15489: 2001 standard, records management activities include "the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records."

Effective management of records through the lifecycle is essential for many corporate areas of concern including enterprise information management (EIM), business intelligence/ analytics (BI/BA), regulatory compliance and disaster recovery.

Records information management is also known as records management (RM) and records and information management (RIM).

See also: Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (the Principles), information governance, E-discovery, enterprise content management (ECM), enterprise document management (EDM), data management