Service Records and Registry

ADM 201 · Administration and Staff Services · Level 200 (Phase Two)

A Royal Army College course in keeping the records and documents on which a force depends.

Course length: approximately 10 hours of online self-study, studied asynchronously at the student's own pace, together with any in-person practical instruction and assessment the course requires.

Foreword

Administration is not the opposite of soldiering; it is what makes an army an army rather than a crowd. A force knows who belongs to it, what they have trained for, what they are owed, and what has been ordered only because someone keeps the records true. Strip those records away and the most disciplined force cannot say who is on strength, who is qualified to do what, or what was decided yesterday. The orderly room, quiet and unglamorous, is where that knowledge is kept.

This course is the foundation of that work. It teaches why administration matters and what the orderly room is; the service record that is the single trusted account of a member's service; the registry and the registered file that keep every document findable and accounted for; how long records are kept, how they are safely disposed of, and how the personal data of members and nationals is protected; how routine orders promulgate instructions and how a Part II order becomes the authority that updates a record; how the orderly room handles its daily business on forms through a dependable workflow and tracks every action to completion on a suspense system; how records are released and disclosed safely, including a member's right of access to their own record; how records live in a digital records management system; and the absolute standard of accuracy and honesty on which all of it rests. It is grounded in recognised military administration and Commonwealth orderly-room practice, and it works hand in hand with the service writing taught in PME 210.

Records are trusted work. Command acts on them, and a soldier's career, pay, and welfare ride on them being right. A careless or false entry does real harm. This course builds the member a force can trust to keep the truth of itself.

Who this course is for

This course is for members entering the Administration and Staff Services speciality, for orderly-room clerks and assistants, and for anyone who keeps records on the Army's behalf. It assumes RMT 140 · Personal Administration and Field Routine and benefits from PME 210 · Basic Staff Duties and Written Orders.

What this course covers

How this course fits the catalogue

ADM 201 is the foundation of the Administration and Staff Services speciality. It builds on RMT 140 · Personal Administration and Field Routine, partners PME 210 · Basic Staff Duties and Written Orders (service writing), and connects to CIS 220 · Identity, Access, and Records Security (protecting the data in those records), CIS 210 · Information Systems for Small Forces (the records management system, backup, and recoverability), LOG 201 · Stores, Equipment, and Accountability (the same accountability discipline applied to property), and LDR 420 · Command Responsibility and Ethical Leadership (integrity). It leads on to ADM 210 (Personnel Administration), ADM 220 (Course Records and Qualification Tracking), and ADM 310 (Orderly Room and Headquarters Administration).

A note on confidentiality and integrity

The records this course teaches hold the personal data of members and nationals. They are held only as needed, seen only by those who should, kept accurate, and disposed of safely. And they are kept honestly: command acts on them, and careers and entitlements depend on them. There is no careless or convenient entry; there is the true one.

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