A paper presented to a TUNS/Revay seminar in 1990.
It has been modified only to suit a web presentation format.

Published here September, 2001.

Introduction | Claim Avoidance | Claim Identification | Sources of Dispute
Claim Notification | Reserving Rights | Record Keeping | Typical Set of Records
Focus on the Last Two Groups | Managing the Records | Useful Tips

Managing the Records

As well as managing the files, the records themselves also need managing. Some simple rules can help as follows:

  1. Determine what records are to be kept, and how. Establish logs of the records, so that they can be found, referred to and/or followed up as required. Well organized contractors establish standard reference lists and coding for all their contracts. This greatly facilitates managing, analyzing and comparing contracts.
  2. Once the records have been identified, ensure that they are in fact set up, maintained and used for managing the job.
  3. Review the record keeping system from time to time, because records have a habit of growing in unexpected ways - like half the correspondence showing up under Miscellaneous, and the other half under General. In addition, some records may become obsolete or redundant, and should be discontinued. Unnecessary record keeping can waste a lot of time and money.
  4. Records also take up space and equipment. Determine the useful life of the different components, and take a systematic approach to record disposal.
  5. Take steps to ensure accuracy, reliability and hence credibility. Unreliable records can be quite useless, as well as a waste of money, and possibly even detrimental.
Focus on the Last Two Groups  Focus on the Last Two Groups

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