Impact of Senior Management Support in the Success of electronic Document Management Systems

The study aimed to identify the commitment of the senior management to develop and support the electronic document management systems and the success of the electronic document management system. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher used the analytical descriptive method in which they tries to describe the phenomenon of the study subject, analyzing its data, the relationship between its components and the opinions that are raised around it. The complete census method was used because of the small size of the study sample and ease of access to the target group. The researchers distributed 108 questionnaires to the Study Population of this research which consist of 65 employees in the Gaza Strip and 43 employees in the West Bank. All the questionnaires were retrieved back. The research found the following results: There is weakness about the existence of a special system includes written plan and mechanisms for the management of documents. The work of the Commission focuses largely on documents and their follow-up between departments. The existence of some small computerized systems in some of the departments for document management in the Commission. There is indeed an archive officer. There exist departments competent to manage the archives of the Commission actually. The presence of more than one archive (retirees and participants for each department separately). The adoption of a system of encoding and indexing is unified by the Commission where it is agreed to coding and indexing each type of files. the international standards are not use in the Commission. The absence of procedures and mechanisms for the transfer of documents to the Palestinian National Archives. There is a security plan for documents in the event of disasters where there are fire alarms and the presence of fire extinguishers in the archive on all floors of the Commission. That there is a commitment by the senior management in the development and support of electronic document management system in all departments and specialties of the Commission, by providing both financial support and the legal boundaries of the electronic system The research led to a number of recommendations, the most important of which is to increase the interest and awareness of the need to apply policies, mechanisms and procedures to ensure the success of the electronic document management system by taking advantage of the experiences of other institutions and the private sector. The need to enhance attention to the existence of a central computer network linking the main office in Gaza with the rest of the branches in the West Bank in order to ensure the implementation of the electronic document management system and the ability to hold meetings via video screens Convergence and the ability to exchange copies of electronic data. The need to focus on the Palestinian National Archives and follow up the international standards by the International Council for Archives (ICA).