DOCUMENTATION MANAGEMENT AND THE AUDIT TRAIL IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Abstract

Our world and the issue of its public administration are undergoing transformations in the form of complex digitization. The ensuing changes are also affecting processes within public administration organizations and include modernization of documentation management. The question remains as to how documentation management can be effectively set up for modern public administration. As such, the research objective of the present paper is the design of documentation management and the audit trail so as to ensure the effectiveness of public administration. From fulfilling this goal, we can hypothetically expect a significant simplification and streamlining of documentation management, which will provide, among other things, information sufficient for conducting auditing activities and ensuring the effectiveness of the public administration system – the audit trail. Analytical testing is used to meet this objective, where documentation processing intervals were measured on a selected sample of 284 documents in the field of public administration organizations. The sample included directives, work procedures, forms, and operating rules that constitute controlled documentation. The conclusions of this research have primarily yielded a schematic workflow of documentation management in public administration. The proposed documentation management workflow will specifically enable public administration to increase efficiency, consistently implement the audit trail, and increase computerization, which will contribute holistically to the development of public administration. Keywords: Administration, Audit, Documentation, Management, Trail