Office Management and Electronic Archiving Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Office Managers, Executive Assistants and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-KRM-031

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience in office administration, executive support, document control, records work or operational coordination.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Office managers and records staff are often expected to keep executive support, correspondence, meetings, files and shared information under control while systems, teams and compliance requirements change around them. Poor filing structures, unclear ownership, uncontrolled document versions and inconsistent retention decisions create avoidable search time, disclosure risk and weak audit evidence. This course addresses the practical connection between effective office management and disciplined electronic records control.

Participants learn to organise administrative services, define responsibilities, map workflows and establish usable operating procedures. They apply ISO 15489 records principles, build functional classification schemes and file plans, capture records with consistent metadata, and manage access within an electronic document and records management system. The course also covers retention schedules, legal holds, defensible disposal, digitisation quality assurance, information security, privacy controls and records performance reporting.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with realistic cases involving executive offices, project teams, public-sector correspondence, regulated financial records and NGO programme files. Participants assess workflow failures, make records classification and disposal decisions, configure control concepts for an EDRMS, and develop an implementation sequence for their own setting. They leave with a practical Office and Electronic Records Improvement Plan, supported by reusable templates for service standards, file plans, metadata, retention and audit checks. The five-day instructor-led course is available in classrooms in more than 50 cities or live online, with 6.5 contact hours each day. Participants receive a certificate of completion.

The course is suited to experienced administrative professionals, office managers, records coordinators and operational leaders who need stronger control over both physical-to-digital information flows and day-to-day office services.

What you will be able to do

  • Design an office service catalogue with ownership, service standards and escalation criteria
  • Map administrative workflows using SIPOC and identify delays, rework and control gaps
  • Build a functional classification scheme and file plan using ISO 15489 principles
  • Specify metadata, naming conventions and capture rules for electronic records
  • Apply role-based access controls and version management within an EDRMS
  • Develop retention, legal hold and defensible disposal procedures for record classes
  • Evaluate digitisation quality using scanning specifications, sampling and acceptance criteria
  • Produce a prioritised office and electronic records improvement roadmap

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible filing, retention and disposal decisions
  • Reduce time spent locating current, authorised information
  • Strengthen credibility when advising managers on records risks
  • Create clearer procedures for executive support and office services
  • Lead practical EDRMS adoption and records improvement initiatives

For your organisation

  • Faster retrieval of reliable records for decisions, audits and service requests
  • Reduced risk from uncontrolled access, misfiling and premature destruction
  • Consistent retention and legal hold procedures across business functions
  • Lower administrative rework through defined workflows and ownership
  • Better evidence of compliance through metadata, audit trails and disposition logs

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define office service responsibilities, service standards and escalation controls.

  • Office manager mandate, authority boundaries and service-level expectations
  • RACI matrices assigning ownership for correspondence, records and administrative services
  • Stakeholder maps identifying decision-makers, information users and approval routes
  • Office service catalogues defining request channels, standards and response times
  • Escalation criteria for confidential, overdue and high-risk administrative matters
  • Daily control boards tracking priorities, dependencies, deadlines and handovers
  • Professional judgement when resolving competing executive and operational demands

Participants can map and standardise recurring administrative workflows and executive support controls.

  • Workflow mapping using SIPOC to expose delays, rework and unclear ownership
  • Executive diary protocols protecting focus time, commitments and preparation windows
  • Meeting lifecycle controls from agenda commissioning through actions and minutes
  • Standard operating procedures documenting recurring tasks, exceptions and approval thresholds
  • Kanban boards coordinating administrative workloads, blockers and daily priorities
  • Business correspondence standards for version control, tone and authorised sign-off

Participants can classify business records and establish a structured file plan.

  • ISO 15489 principles for authentic, reliable, usable records
  • Records lifecycle stages from creation and capture through disposition
  • Functional classification schemes separating business functions, activities and transactions
  • File plans combining taxonomy, naming rules and identifier conventions
  • Record versus non-record decisions using documented business value criteria
  • Ownership assignments for record creators, custodians, administrators and approvers

Participants can define capture and metadata rules that support accurate retrieval.

  • Capture rules for email, scanned correspondence, forms and messaging exports
  • ISO 23081 metadata elements supporting context, control and retrieval
  • Metadata inheritance across folders, cases, projects and record series
  • Controlled vocabularies reducing duplicate labels, ambiguity and failed searches
  • Naming conventions for dates, subjects, versions, sensitivity and identifiers
  • Quality checks detecting incomplete metadata, misclassification and duplicate records

Participants can specify practical controls for secure and usable electronic records repositories.

  • EDRMS architecture: repositories, folders, record series, roles and permissions
  • Role-based access controls aligned with job duties and sensitivity
  • Permission reviews identifying excessive access, dormant accounts and conflicting roles
  • Check-in and check-out procedures preventing uncontrolled document versions
  • Search design using Boolean operators, filters, facets and saved queries
  • User adoption tactics: quick guides, champions, feedback and usage metrics

Participants can apply retention and disposal controls with documented decision evidence.

  • Retention schedules linking record classes to approved retention periods
  • Disposition authorities documenting legal, regulatory, operational and historical requirements
  • Legal hold procedures suspending destruction for investigations, claims and audits
  • Defensible disposal workflows requiring review, approval, destruction and evidence
  • Transfer criteria for inactive records with archival or permanent value
  • Disposition logs recording authority, method, date, approver and exceptions

Participants can plan digitisation work and assess the quality of converted records.

  • Digitisation planning defining scope, source condition, volumes and priorities
  • Scanning specifications for resolution, colour depth, file formats and compression
  • Preparation controls removing staples, sequencing files and identifying missing pages
  • Optical character recognition validation against source documents and acceptance thresholds
  • Quality assurance sampling measuring legibility, completeness, indexing accuracy and consistency
  • Chain-of-custody registers protecting originals during scanning, transport and return

Participants can apply security, privacy and continuity controls to electronic archives.

  • Information classification labels distinguishing public, internal, confidential and restricted records
  • ISO 27001 control objectives applied to records repositories
  • Privacy-by-design checks for personal data capture, access and retention
  • Encryption, audit trails and monitoring for sensitive electronic archives
  • Business continuity procedures for repository outages, backups and restoration priorities
  • Incident response roles for misfiling, disclosure, loss and corruption

Participants can assess records controls and report corrective actions to management.

  • Retrieval performance measures: precision, recall, search time and failed searches
  • Records audits testing classification, metadata, access and retention compliance
  • Sampling plans selecting records by risk, volume, age and sensitivity
  • Root-cause analysis using five whys and fishbone diagrams
  • Corrective action registers assigning owners, due dates and verification evidence
  • Management reporting translating records metrics into service and risk decisions

Participants can produce a prioritised implementation plan for office and records improvements.

  • Current-state assessment of office workflows, records controls and technology gaps
  • Prioritisation matrix ranking improvements by risk, value, effort and urgency
  • Implementation roadmap sequencing policy, configuration, migration, training and review
  • Change impact analysis identifying affected roles, behaviours, systems and communications
  • SMART action plans specifying outcomes, owners, milestones, measures and resources
  • Thirty-day follow-up routine reviewing adoption, exceptions, risks and next actions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Office service catalogue template
  2. SIPOC administrative workflow map
  3. Functional file plan model
  4. Electronic records metadata schema
  5. Retention and legal hold checklist
  6. Office and Electronic Records Improvement Plan

Who should attend

  • Office Managers — responsible for administrative service quality, workflow control and executive support
  • Executive Assistants — managing high-volume correspondence, meetings, confidential files and follow-up actions
  • Records Managers — establishing classification, retention, access and disposal controls
  • Administrative Managers — standardising procedures, workload allocation and document handling across teams
  • Information Governance Officers — strengthening evidence, privacy and compliance controls for business records
  • Project and Programme Coordinators — controlling project documentation, approvals, versions and handovers

Skills and tools covered

Office service managementRecords classificationElectronic archivingRetention schedulingMetadata designRecords compliance auditing

Tools and standards

ISO 15489, ISO 23081, ISO 27001, SIPOC

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses concise instructor briefings, facilitated discussion and practical case work based on office correspondence, shared repositories, project files and regulated records. Participants map workflows, classify records, define metadata, assess access scenarios and make retention decisions using documented criteria. Small-group exercises test digitisation quality, legal hold responses and records audit findings. A final application-planning session converts course methods into prioritised actions, owners, milestones and measures for each participant's workplace.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in office administration, executive support, document control, records work or operational coordination. They should be familiar with common office documents, shared drives, email, spreadsheets and basic organisational approval processes. Experience of an electronic document and records management system is useful but not required. The course does not require prior knowledge of ISO standards, archival theory, information security frameworks, legal practice, database administration or system configuration. Participants will gain most value by bringing examples of recurring office workflows or records problems from their own work.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have practical experience in office administration, records work, executive support or operational coordination. Prior study of records standards, legal requirements or EDRMS technology is not required.

Bring examples of recurring office processes, filing difficulties, shared-drive structures or records issues that can be discussed without disclosing confidential information. A laptop is useful for live online delivery and optional for classroom delivery.

It is designed for office managers, executive assistants, records coordinators, administrative managers and information governance staff. It also suits project coordinators responsible for controlled project files and approvals.

The course joins office operations with electronic records control rather than treating them as separate subjects. It covers executive support workflows and service standards alongside metadata, retention, access, digitisation and disposal.

Participants can use the templates to assess current filing and workflow controls, assign responsibilities and address the highest-risk gaps. The implementation roadmap helps them sequence policy, technology, training and review actions.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The course progresses from office governance and workflow control through records classification, electronic archiving, retention, security, audit and implementation planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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