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AlGhad Training Institute Quality Management System

Record Management Policy

Policy Reference:

O/A/001

Version:

1

Person Responsible:

Course Coordinator

1. Policy Statement

  • The purpose of this policy is to ensure that GTI’s attendance, assessment, and certification records, and any other records required for compliance with regulatory bodies, are accurately and securely maintained to support operational, legal, audit and academic needs until their disposal in accordance with the Record Disposal Process (RDP).
  • GTI aims to formalize arrangements for the security of documents and records required by the BQA, MoLSD, and any awarding or funding bodies. GTI will ensure the protection and integrity of documents (hard and soft copies), including attendance records, assessment documents and materials and learners’ assessment records, considering programme delivery modes.
  • GTI will establish access rights to records and detail backup, recovery, and record retention plans.

2. Application and Delegations

  • All staff and GTI managers must be aware of their responsibilities under this policy to keep records up-to-date and secure.
  • It is the responsibility of all GTI managers (General manager, Heads of Sections and coordinators) to make sure that guidelines and associated procedures stated in this policy are followed in the activities under their authority. Managers must ensure staff working for GTI have adequate support in their efforts to comply with the records management policy.
  • The General Manager is responsible for keeping staff records.
  • The Course Coordinator is responsible for keeping trainee records, with back-ups provided by trainers who are required to keep the original results as a safe-keeping strategy.
  • All new staff will be notified of this policy at their induction to GTI.

3. External Requirements

  • This policy and associated procedures help GTI meet the requirements of government quality assurance agencies, such as the Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA), and the Bahrain Directorate of Institutes Affairs, Bahrain Ministry of Labour and Social Development.
  • They provide assurance to industry partners and other stakeholders that GTI is a quality training provider, committed to continuous improvement of all its activities and operations.
  • Its explicit focus on record management and the accuracy and security of records helps GTI meet the requirements of funding bodies such as Tamkeen, as well as those of professional accreditation agencies, such as awarding bodies.

4. What is Expected

4.1 The following principles underpin GTI’s expectations regarding records and their management in this policy. Records must be:

  • Complete: they must contain the structural and contextual information necessary to adequately document a GTI activity
  • Authentic: it must be possible to prove that records are what they purport to be. For example, it must be possible to maintain reliable evidence of the author, creator, sender and recipient of a communication. For electronic records, this information will be captured and/or attributed in the recordkeeping metadata.
  • Reliable: they must be an accurate representation of the business activities and transactions carried out
  • Secure: they must be maintained in a manner that prevents unauthorised access, alteration, loss or damage
  • Accessible: they must be easily located, retrieved and presented without the loss of content, context or structure. Records must be available to appropriate audiences in accordance with Bahrain legislative requirements.

4.2 Based on these principles, GTI’s Minimum Threshold Requirements are to ensure that records management is compliant and appropriate, and that records are kept securely and accurately by following these records management guidelines:

4.2.1 GTI will create and maintain full and accurate records.

4.2.2 Records that are preserved permanently because of their enduring value are archived. There is limited storage in GTI’s building, so post-COVID there is now a practice of storing such permanent and semi-permanent archival material electronically. Examples are trainees’ certificates.

4.2.3 Disposal of records is a matter for the General Manager, who makes the final decision concerning the disposal of a record. This could be to destroy in a manner that assures confidentially of sensitive information, such as HR records, transfer to a dedicated archive facility for permanent preservation (electronic or hard copy) or to sell or donate.

4.2.4 The General Manager and course coordinators will ensure that all GTI records are of sufficient quality to support the purpose for which they are created whether legal, audit, operational or academic.

4.2.5 The following records are kept, maintained, and updated regularly.

  • Minutes of Meetings records.
  • Records of Trainee’s academic performance.
  • Ex-Trainees academic records.
  • Trainees’ attendance records.
  • Staff Professional Development Records.
  • Staff attendance records.
  • Staff salary records.

4.2.6 Security

  • Access is only by authorised persons.
  • Back ups are kept (2 versions-hard and soft copies pre-COVID-19; 2 cloud sources, post-COVID).

5. Procedures for record management

  • The following steps will be taken to implement effective records management.

Step

Responsible

Process

Notes

  • Identify records to be kept & delegations systematized

General Manager (GM)

Identifying the records that provide evidence of the GTI’s activities and transactions.

Keeping highly confidential HR data securely, through use of authorization limitations and password protection.

Delegation of record keeping for monitoring of trainees’ progress and recording of achievement occurs at two levels to ensure thorough checks and accurate progress and achievement reports.

Since Covid-19 most records are now in soft-copy format and kept on Google Drive

  • Setting up system trainee record system

Course coordinator

Identifying what trainee records are required to be captured by the academic record­keeping system (trainees, trainers, funders).

Arranging records in a meaningful sequence so that they can be easily located and retrieved when necessary.

Stakeholder needs to be considered, with levels of reporting to preserve confidentiality as required.

In addition to records of progress and achievement, trainee details are captured on admission through application forms stored electronically and summarised by course cohort in an xls stored in Google drive.

  • Populating and activating progress tracking system

Course coordinator

The record keeping system in Google Classroom is set up following the assessment requirements indicated for the award, and once trainees are accepted, a trainees’ performance record spreadsheet is also set up and activated.  

Unique passwords allocated for trainers and trainees provide limited access and delimited authorities (submit/read only/administer rights, for example).

  • Entering pre and post test results

Trainer

The trainer enters the results of both pre-tests and post-tests into the electronic mark-book associated with Google classroom. The pre-tests indicate progress and provide a formative assessment that is used by the trainer to identify areas of future focus in delivery. The post-test results are summative.

Google classroom

Certain programme specifications allow for resubmissions. 

  • Feedback to trainees

Course Co-ordinator/trainer

Alert trainees that the assessment result is available in the system.

Follow up on any missing results.

Provision for special circumstance s in Special needs and differentiated instruction policy T/P/002

  • Accuracy check

Trainees

Trainees can receive feedback on their results, providing opportunity for learning, but also to check accuracy of trainers’ marking.

Moderation and Academic appeals processes ensure integrity of the system.

  • Entering and checking accumulated records for eligibility for certification.

Course coordinator/trainer/QAT or awarding organisation (AO).

At the end of each module/unit, the course coordinator extracts the assessment results from trainer’s section in Google classroom.

The trainer checks accuracy and completeness of records with the course coordinator before submitting to QAT or AO.

The module/unit results accrue to provide data on programme completion requirements.

For locally developed courses, the awarding of certification data is to be checked by the trainer, course coordinator, and programme head, with final approval for certificate issuance resting with the QAT, where GTI is the awarding body.

For certificates authorised by awarding bodies, they do their own checking and approvals, based on recommendations made by the trainer, course coordinator and program head.

The trainer checks records with the course coordinator before submitting to the awarding organisation (AO). A second verification of eligibility is done by the AO.

Where GTI is the awarding body, certificates will only be awarded to trainees who have met the following criteria:

  1. All trainees must attend an induction session.
  2. Trainees must have a minimum attendance record of 70%
  3. All Learning Outcomes must be demonstrably achieved and authenticated.
  4. A minimum 60% pass must be achieved for all summative assessments.
  5. Completion of a reflective learning log (Personal Development Journal)
  6. Overall learner performance data must meet or exceed the competency levels specified or the standards expected in achievement-based programmes.

 

  • Issuance of certificates

Course coordinator on approval of either AO (international awards) or GTI’s QAT for locally developed courses.

All certificates can only be given to the person who earned them, and they must be signed for in a log recording certificate serial numbers. Certificates issued by GTI, even if on behalf of another AO, are scanned and saved both as a hard and soft (electronic) copy. The certificates are filled by cohort and programme, which makes the process of providing a replacement easy to trace if required. The same process is followed (signed for by trainee), with a note made in the log that a duplicate has been issued, the date of issuance and the responsible staff member.

  • Amendment of academic records

Initiator of request to amend records

Academic records can only be amended by following the procedure as outlined in the Assessment and Moderation Policy T/P/005.

Form F1/T/P/005

  • Secure storage & restricted access

GM

Storing records in an appropriate environment that allows access by authorised staff and prevents records from unauthorised access, alteration, loss, or damage

Only the GM, course coordinator and trainers can access data in Google classroom. Only GM and course coordinators have administration rights to Google drive records.

  • Monitoring

GM and course coordinators

Documenting and tracking the location and movement of records

Google drive records document access and any changes.

  • Maintaining Integrity

All staff

Using records with care and respect so as not to damage them or comprise their integrity

Electronic data may require steps to be taken to preserve formatting as technology evolves. Technical advice should be sought via the GM if there is any doubt.

  • Security

GM, Trainers, and course coordinators

Identifying and protecting records of a confidential or sensitive nature

Two levels of back up are kept and security is ensured by use of authorized password protection.

  • Archiving guidance

GM and course coordinators

Retaining records for as long as necessary for operational, legal, audit or cultural reasons.

Trainee records of learning are typically kept for three years after the programme completion date. Records of certification need to be kept indefinitely.

  • Disposal of records

GM and course coordinators

Ensuring records are disposed in a secure manner that preserves confidentiality of any sensitive information.

The records of certificate issuance are to be kept indefinitely. Other assessment records are typically kept for three years.

If there is any doubt about whether to dispose of records, the record holders should contact the General Manager for advice.

  • Training

GM and course coordinators

Training and supporting staff to fulfil their records management obligations.

Induction of new staff

6. Related Documents

7. Key Dates

First Approved:                    5 September 2022

This Version Approved:       26 December 2023

Next Review Date:               December 2024 or earlier if any changes to legislation or the external environment require it.

Version Effective Date     Description of Changes    
01 05/09/2022 First approval of the policy

Approved by the General Manager, effective immediately:

Signed by General Manager: Abbas Ali Date: 26/12/2023

 GTI’s current policies are available on the website. If you are using a hard copy of this policy, please check that it is the current version before proceeding.