ISO 15489 is the first global standard for records management and was published in 2001. It was adopted in more than 50 countries and translated to over 15 languages. After a three year period of review and consultation, a revised version of ISO 15489 Part 1 was issued in 2016.
ISO 15489 Records management establishes the core concepts and principles for the creation, capture and management of records. The Standard applies to records regardless of structure or form, in all types of business and technological environments, and over time.
It includes core concepts and principles for:
- records, records systems and metadata for records;
- policies, assigned responsibilities, monitoring and training supporting the effective management of records;
- recurrent analysis of business context and the identification of records requirements;
- records controls; and
- processes for creating, capturing and managing records.
This first Part of ISO 15489 sits at the heart of a number of International Standards and Technical Reports that provide further guidance and instruction on the concepts, techniques and practices for creating, capturing and managing records. This includes subsequent Part/s to ISO 15489 currently under development, which will provide implementation advice on managing records, to complement the existing suite of guidance.