Implementation of Enterprise-Wide Systems to Manage Trustworthy Digital Records in Botswana’s Public Sector

This paper is part of InterPARES Trust (IP Trust) four projects which is a multi-disciplinary and multinational research project that explores issues concerning digital records entrusted to the Internet worldwide. As part of the e-government transition in the public sector, Botswana is grappling with a change from manual recordkeeping practices to digital ones, where records might be supported by ICTs or generated within ICTs themselves. Digital records generated within and managed by Enterprise Content Management systems (ECMs) optimized for recordkeeping may require intervention both to be identified as records and integrated in a networked environment where they can be managed for effective e-government services. The paper draws on a bibliography of over 50 published articles in order to examine the state of enterprise-wide systems and ECM applications in the Botswana public service; determine their relationship (if any) to existing archives and records management (ARM) practices; and to contextualize these enterprise-wide systems and ECM applications with acknowledged ARM challenges in Botswana and Africa. It is hoped that the paper will provide evidence and lay the future foundation for the integration of ARM practice in the Botswana e-government drive.