The service sector of the global economy is undoubtedly growing and increasingly highlighting the criticality of service quality to enhanced profitability in most service organisations. The demand for accountability from different stakeholders, including clients, has also made service quality a highly debated, researched and most powerful competitive trend shaping marketing and business strategy. Developing reliable measurement instruments of service quality and strategies for the improvement of service quality invariably become the most important responsibilities for managers in many organisations. In the absence of conceptual clarity on service quality, divergent views on the dimensionality of service quality and the lack of a psychometrically valid service quality measure in archival institutions, this study set out to develop and subsequently validate a measurement instrument to assess service quality in an archival institutional setting. The two research questions investigated in this study were: (1) what are the dimensions for measuring service quality in archival institutions, and (2) how can the dimensions of service quality in archival institutions be measured effectively. The methodology for this study involved a two-phased qualitative and quantitative analysis addressing these two research questions. The study followed the standard psychometric procedure for developing constructs. This research has resulted in the important findings and relevant conclusions for both academics and practitioners interested in service quality in the archival environment. The service quality measurement instrument formulated is called ARCHIVqual and has three dimensions, namely (1) security of information (with 4 items), (2) integrity of information (with 3 items) and (3) usability of information (with 2 items). Besides measuring service quality in the archival environment, ARCHIVqual will also serve as a tool for conducting periodic surveys thereby identifying specific problematic areas in archival institutions. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / DBL

The purpose of this study was to critically analyse the evidence-based revelations from the South African Office of the Auditor-General on the records management challenges being encountered in the local government sector. The aim of the study was the analysis of available evidence and the proposal of solutions for collaborative planning and implementation. The lack of strategic planning in ensuring the accessibility of authentic information sources required during auditing remains unchallenged by the South African public archivists and records managers. These audit reports are required to demonstrate governance, transparency and accountability. This information held in the records of local government is also required to satisfy service delivery and plan development ventures. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and United Nations formulated an ambitious agenda to eradicate world poverty by 2025. Eight millennium development goals were identified that would provide impoverished communities with better access to basic services and conditions spurring sustainable development. Governance-based criteria were identified as barometers to gauge transparency, accountability, respect for the rule of law and citizens’ rights. Consolidated audited reports from 2000 to 2013 were scrutinised to unravel the conundrums relating to governance, transparency and the management of public sector information sources. According to the 2013 report, only 5% of the local government sector managed to attain clean audits. Related evidence revealed in the unclean audit reports and media narratives related to service delivery and community protests. The approach used for the study was the qualitative methodology, regarded as an appropriate method for the archival discipline. This research method allowed for the incorporation of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary fields of interest. The case study method design enabled the focus of the study to be on local governments and six selected community development ventures in different areas of South Africa. The latter method enabled information collection from records officials and persons involved with socio-economic development projects. Sound interventions are needed to ensure evidence-based governance. This, in turn, would create favourable conditions for development endeavours in post-apartheid South Africa. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

Der Kurzvortrag legt den Fokus auf den prozessorientierten Musteraktenplan für Hochschulen und dessen Diskussion innerhalb der AG Campus Records Management der Fachgruppe 8 des VdA. / The short presentation focuses on the process-oriented model file plan for universities and its discussion within the Campus Records Management working group of the VdA.

This research investigated the potential benefits, risks and challenges, innovation properties and viability of cloud computing for records management on an Australian organisation within the mining software development sector. This research involved the use of a case study results analysis as well as a literature analysis. The literature analysis identified the ten potential benefits of cloud computing, as well as the ten risks and challenges associated with cloud computing. It further identified aspects, which needed to be addressed when adopting cloud computing in order to promote innovation within an organisation. The case study analysis was compared against a literature review of ten potential benefits of cloud computing, as well as the ten risks and challenges associated with cloud computing. This was done in order to determine cloud computing’s viability for records management for Company X (The company in the case study). Cloud computing was found to be viable for Company X. However, there were certain aspects, which need to be discussed and clarified with the cloud service provider beforehand in order to mitigate possible risks and compliance issues. It is also recommended that a cloud service provider who complies with international standards, such as ISO 15489, be selected. The viability of cloud computing for organisations similar to Company X (mining software development) followed a related path. These organisations need to ensure that the service provider is compliant with laws in their local jurisdiction, such as Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Australia, 2011:14-15), as well as laws where their data (in the cloud) may be hosted. The benefits, risks and challenges of records management and cloud computing are applicable to these similar organisations. However, mitigation of these risks needs to be discussed with a cloud service provider beforehand. From an innovation perspective, cloud computing is able to promote innovation within an organisation, if certain antecedents are dealt with. Furthermore, if cloud computing is successfully adopted then it should promote innovation within organisations. / Information Science / M. Inf.

Orientador: Marcia Cristina de Carvalho Pazin Vitoriano / Resumo: O plano de classificação é um instrumento de gestão primordial na administração pública por conferir a ela transparência em suas atividades administrativas, no processo de gestão de documentos, e por funcionar como um espelho da instituição. Especificamente no caso da Prefeitura Municipal de Marília, observa-se a falta de um estudo sobre as competências, funções, atividades e documentos produzidos e acumulados pela estrutura administrativa, como fundamento para a elaboração de um plano de classificação. Considerando-se a necessidade de fundamentos teórico-metodológicos para esta atividade, tem-se como problema desta pesquisa a seguinte questão: “Como a identificação arquivística pode auxiliar o processo de Classificação no âmbito dos arquivos municipais?”. Para responder a esta questão, a pesquisa teve como objetivo geral: desenvolver uma proposta metodológica para realização da identificação arquivística com vistas a subsidiar a elaboração de um Plano de Classificação para a Prefeitura Municipal de Marília. E como objetivos específicos: realizar uma análise sobre os estudos de classificação publicados no Brasil e identificar os principais autores do tema; elencar as necessidades metodológicas para a identificação do órgão produtor (por meio dos documentos constitutivos); definir uma metodologia para realizar a identificação dos tipos documentais produzidos pelos órgãos e; sugerir elementos para a proposta de etapas para elaboração do plano de classificação municipal. Como pr... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The classification scheme is a public administration tool for the conference, which takes place in an organized manner, in the process of records management, acting as a mirror of the institution. Specifically in the case of the City Hall of Marília, there is a lack of a study on the competencies, functions, activities and documents produced and accumulated by the administrative structure, as a basis for the elaboration of a classification. Considering the need of theoretical and methodological bases for this activity, the following question is addressed as a problem of this research: "How can archival identification help the classification process in the municipal archives?".To answer this question, the research had the general objective: to develop a methodological proposal for the accomplishment of archival identification with a view to the elaboration of a Classification Scheme for the Municipality of Marília. And as specific objectives: to carry out an analysis on the classification studies published in Brazil and to identify the main authors of the theme; listing the methodological needs for the identification of the producer organ (through the constituent documents); define a methodology to carry out the identification of the documentary types produced by the organs; to suggest elements for the proposal of steps to elaborate the municipal classification scheme. As methodological procedures, it was based on an exploratory study, contemplating a theoretical and a practic... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

O objetivo da tese é estudar um laboratório das ciências biomédicas, buscando observar a gênese documental, as tipologias/espécies documentais e as práticas de manutenção e uso dos registros ali identificadas. A metodologia utilizada foi a de aplicação de um questionário, por meio de entrevista, aos pesquisadores, técnicos e alunos do Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Nossa hipótese é de que os elementos conceituais e metodológicos concebidos pelo conhecimento arquivístico com respeito à gestão de documentos encontram-se impregnados dos pressupostos da pesquisa histórica, da concepção de memória social. E, mais do que isso, estão embebidos de uma racionalidade técnica alinhada às práticas empíricas de organização que se defrontam permanentemente com a realidade documental mais complexa e levam a disciplina a negar seus fundamentos, destituindo-a de um estatuto científico. O processo de institucionalização da arquivística no Brasil e sua relação com o estatuto científico que a disciplina busca adquirir encontram um ponto de inflexão neste estudo sobre os arquivos produzidos em laboratórios científicos. Nesta perspectiva, não há como dissociar a aplicação dos princípios teóricos, dos métodos e das práticas arquivísticas, historicamente construídos, das ações e estratégias dos seus principais atores sociais. Para a abordagem da organização da ciência, no ambiente de domínio dos cientistas o laboratório -, valemo-nos dos instrumentos conceituais da sociologia da ciência, em suas diferentes vertentes. / The aim of the thesis is to study a biomedical science laboratory to observe how documents are created, what types and formats of documents there are, and how the records are maintained and used. The methodology used was to fill out questionnaires in interviews held with the researchers, lab technicians and students from the Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics Laboratory at Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Our hypothesis is that the concepts and methodologies used by archival science for records management are impregnated with assumptions from historical research, from the conception of social memory, and that they are imbued with a technical rationale that is aligned with empirical organizational practices, which always come up against a more complex documental reality, leading the discipline to deny its foundations and stripping it of scientific status. The institutionalization of archival science in Brazil and how it relates to the scientific status coveted by the discipline find a point of inflexion in this study into the archives produced at scientific laboratories. From this perspective, it is impossible for theoretical principles, methods and archivist practices, all of which are historically engendered, to be separated from the actions and strategies of their leading social agents. In this investigation of the organization of science in the environment under the domain of scientists the laboratory , we make use of conceptual tools from different schools of thought within the sociology of science.

No contexto organizacional das universidades federais de ensino superior registra-se uma expansão das políticas públicas para educação superior e um significativo aumento de investimentos, cujos impactos encontram-se refletidos nas instâncias tecnológicas, científicas e culturais. A análise de como esse processo se insere na estrutura organizacional dessas instituições frente às novas demandas, especialmente no que diz respeito à gestão de documentos e as políticas arquivísticas, considerando ainda a cultura organizacional, em consonância com os aparatos legais, - a Lei nº 8.159/1991 (Lei de Arquivos), e Lei nº 12.527/2011 (Lei de Acesso à Informação) - é o principal componente dessa pesquisa. Nesse sentido, quatro Universidades Federais de Ensino Superior foram objetos desse estudo que tem como base três eixos temáticos: (1) cultura organizacional, (2) gestão de documentos e políticas arquivísticas e (3) implantação de sistemas de arquivos. Objetivando refletir sobre as políticas arquivísticas no âmbito de três universidades federais, compará-las com o contexto do Arquivo Central da UFRGS e entender a relação entre a cultura organizacional e tais políticas nos locais pesquisados, buscou-se compreender as experiências arquivísticas no âmbito da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, da Universidade Federal de Goiás e Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Para tal foi utilizado uma abordagem qualitativa e de estudos de caso, da observação in loco e de entrevistas semiestruturadas. Como parte dos procedimentos registra-se a análise dos documentos normativos das instituições, bem como dos órgãos cuja competência está relacionada à gestão de documentos no âmbito das universidades. Os resultados das análises desses contextos permitiram relacioná-los à cultura organizacional presente nesses ambientes, bem como analisar as práticas arquivísticas da Divisão de Documentação e do Arquivo Central da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Este é responsável hoje pela gestão documental do acervo, representado, em sua maioria, por processos administrativos, datados de 1934 a 2016. Os resultados denotam ainda uma intrínseca relação entre práticas arquivísticas e a cultura organizacional pertinente aos ambientes administrativos universitários, ao mesmo tempo em que dispôs de subsídios para a elaboração de um regulamento para o Arquivo Central, delimitando suas competências e visando fortalecê-lo como o gestor e o disseminador das políticas arquivísticas institucionais na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. / In the organizational context of higher education federal universities it registers an expansion of public policies for higher education and a significant increase of investments, which impacts are found reflected in technological, scientific and cultural instances. The analysis of how this process fits into the organizational structure of these institutions facing new demands, especially regarding records management and archival policies, also considering the organizational culture in consonance with the legal apparatus, - Law number 8,159 / 1991 (Archival Act) and Law number 12,527 / 2011 (Information Access Act) - is the main component of this research. In this way, four higher education federal universities were subject of this study which is based on three thematic axes: (1) organizational culture, (2) records management and archivistic policies and (3) archive system implantation. Aiming to understand the archivistic experiences within the scope of three federal universities, compare them with the context of UFRGS Central Archive (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul state) and understand the relation between the organizational culture and such policies in the researched places. It sought to understand the archivistic experiences in the scope of the Federal University of Santa Maria, the Federal University of Goiás and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro State. In order to do it has been use a qualitative approach and case studies, on-site observation and semi-structured interviews. As part of the procedures it registers the analysis of the normative documents of the institutions, as well as the agencies which competence is related to document management within the scope of the universities. The results from the analyses of these contexts allowed us to relate them to the organizational culture present in these environments, as well as analyzing the archivistic practices from the Documentation Division and the Central Archive of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul State. This is responsible today for records management of the holdings, represented mostly by administrative proceedings, dated from 1934 to 2016. The results show, still, an intrinsic relation between the archivistic practices and the organizational culture relevant to the universities administrative environments, meanwhile providing subsidies to elaborate an instruction manual for the Central Archive, delimiting its competences and hoping to strengthen as the manager and the disseminator of policies at institutional archivistic in the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

O objetivo da tese é estudar um laboratório das ciências biomédicas, buscando observar a gênese documental, as tipologias/espécies documentais e as práticas de manutenção e uso dos registros ali identificadas. A metodologia utilizada foi a de aplicação de um questionário, por meio de entrevista, aos pesquisadores, técnicos e alunos do Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Nossa hipótese é de que os elementos conceituais e metodológicos concebidos pelo conhecimento arquivístico com respeito à gestão de documentos encontram-se impregnados dos pressupostos da pesquisa histórica, da concepção de memória social. E, mais do que isso, estão embebidos de uma racionalidade técnica alinhada às práticas empíricas de organização que se defrontam permanentemente com a realidade documental mais complexa e levam a disciplina a negar seus fundamentos, destituindo-a de um estatuto científico. O processo de institucionalização da arquivística no Brasil e sua relação com o estatuto científico que a disciplina busca adquirir encontram um ponto de inflexão neste estudo sobre os arquivos produzidos em laboratórios científicos. Nesta perspectiva, não há como dissociar a aplicação dos princípios teóricos, dos métodos e das práticas arquivísticas, historicamente construídos, das ações e estratégias dos seus principais atores sociais. Para a abordagem da organização da ciência, no ambiente de domínio dos cientistas o laboratório -, valemo-nos dos instrumentos conceituais da sociologia da ciência, em suas diferentes vertentes. / The aim of the thesis is to study a biomedical science laboratory to observe how documents are created, what types and formats of documents there are, and how the records are maintained and used. The methodology used was to fill out questionnaires in interviews held with the researchers, lab technicians and students from the Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics Laboratory at Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Our hypothesis is that the concepts and methodologies used by archival science for records management are impregnated with assumptions from historical research, from the conception of social memory, and that they are imbued with a technical rationale that is aligned with empirical organizational practices, which always come up against a more complex documental reality, leading the discipline to deny its foundations and stripping it of scientific status. The institutionalization of archival science in Brazil and how it relates to the scientific status coveted by the discipline find a point of inflexion in this study into the archives produced at scientific laboratories. From this perspective, it is impossible for theoretical principles, methods and archivist practices, all of which are historically engendered, to be separated from the actions and strategies of their leading social agents. In this investigation of the organization of science in the environment under the domain of scientists the laboratory , we make use of conceptual tools from different schools of thought within the sociology of science.

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health highlighted in the 2005-2009/2010 Strategic Plan many challenges. One of the major challenges was an inadequate management information system at Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS). It was further stated that decision-making becomes risky in the absence of reliable and accurate information. EMRS provides an ambulance service to the citizens of KwaZulu-Natal. This research will focus on EMRS in eThekwini District. In order to provide the best possible service to the citizens there has to be effective information management. The questionnaire survey used in this research project attempted to reach a broad cross-section of the various groups of people (management, operations and administrative staff) who take part in information work, and hence develop a broad sense of their perceptions and beliefs about how information is managed and used at eThekwini EMRS. The answering of questions varied between the groups. This showed that managers, operational staff and administrative staff have different perceptions on information management. Some of the recommendations included: EMRS has to adopt information as a strategic resource; information must be used in addressing problem areas; staff must have access to information that EMRS gathers; and further research has to be conducted at EMRS to address the challenges the organisation faces. / Thesis (MPA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

Abstract not available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.