Digital Information and Records Management

• Information and Records in an Electronic World
• What is Information and what are Records?
• Legislative and Regulatory Compliance
• Who have Legislative Responsibilities?
• What are the Benefits of Effective Management?
• What are the Risks of Ineffective Management?
• Do we need a Strategy?
• What are the key elements of the Strategy?
• What Initiatives will be delivered?
• What Information will be made available?

Information and Records in an Electronic World

The way society communicates, creates and stores information has undergone momentous change since the introduction of PCs in 1982. Today, a significant amount of government information created, received, stored and sent is in electronic form, such as e-mail messages and their attachments, word processing or spreadsheet documents, web pages, databases and the like. Even formal documents - such as tax returns, licence and permit applications and other documents lodged with agencies - generally originate in electronic format. Much of this electronic information will only exist in digital form, which many people believe will be accessible 'forever'.

While electronic information is kept seemingly forever, national and international experience indicates digital information and records are disappearing at an alarming rate creating a 'digital dark age'. Digital information and records are at high risk of degrading or being irretrievably lost within seven (7) years from creation, due to constantly changing technology. Yet Government needs to be able to access information for much longer than this in order to review, evaluate and develop policy, to conduct day-to-day business, and to prepare for the future.

In addition, making information and records of government business accessible to its citizens is the major function of a democracy. Digital records are an essential source of evidence that documents the democratic rights and entitlements of citizens - for instance births, deaths and marriage records, court decisions and lands title records. A proportion of digital records also documents Government's achievements and therefore constitutes our future history and heritage.

What is Information and what are Records?

'Information' is codified knowledge, which is transferred and stored by means of documents, records, publications, databases, tools, images, plans, sound/video recordings etc. Information is an asset and a resource that State and Local Government agencies harness to meet their strategic, operational and legal needs.

'Records' are a special subset of 'information' deemed to have evidential, legal, administrative or historical value to an organisation and warranting special attention concerning retention, accessibility and retrieval.

'Official' records include information created, received, and maintained as evidence by an organisation or person (Agency), in conduct/transaction of its business. Official records are identified as such because of the activity they document, not their format. Consequently official records will exist in a variety of digital formats.

Related Information:

• Glossary of Records Management Terms

Legislative and Regulatory Compliance

There are a number of pieces of whole of government legislation and regulation that provide for the management, preservation of and/or access to digital records, including the:

• State Records Act, 1997
• Freedom of Information Act, 1991
• South Australian Government Information Privacy Principles (IPPs)
• Evidence Act, 1929
• Electronic Transactions Act, 2000.

The State Records Act, 1997 covers the requirements and responsibilities of State and Local Government in South Australia in the management of 'official' records.

To meet the requirements of the Act, the Adequate Records Management Standard establishes records management benchmarks for South Australian Government. The key components of the Standard are that records must be:

• made and captured
• disposed of systematically
• authentic and reliable
• governed and
• accessible and useable for as long as they are required.

Related Information:

• Legislation and Protocols
• You and the State Records Act
• Introduction to Freedom of Information
• Information Privacy Principles
• Adequate Records Management

Who have Legislative Responsibilities?

State Records of South Australia

State Records has a wide range of mandated responsibilities, including:

• being the 'principal repository for official records that are no longer required for current administrative purposes'
• preserving official records of enduring value regardless of format to ensure their security, integrity and authenticity
• making disposal determinations for official records
• providing public and agency access to official records in the custody of State Records
• providing information and records management advice and assistance to agencies
• issuing standards and promoting the observance of information and records management best practice by agencies.

Agency Responsibilities

Every South Australian State and Local Government Agency must:

• ensure that the official records in its custody are maintained in good order and condition
• 'dispose of official records systematically' when they are no are longer required in government and have no enduring value to South Australian citizens and
• transfer archival records into the custody of State Records.

Related Information:

• Strategies for Adequate Records Management
• Adequate Records Management

What are the Benefits of Effective Management?

In government, it is necessary to proactively manage digital information and records throughout the information spectrum by:

• managing information assets as a government (corporate) resource
• maintaining transparency and accountability and
• protecting government when faced with legal action.

While the benefits of effective digital information and records management are difficult to quantify precisely, there is emerging consensus, both within Australia and internationally, that organisations with good information and records management governance, processes and practices are more effective in:

• conducting business in an orderly, efficient and accountable manner so that its activities and decisions are transparent to stakeholders, particularly citizens and taxpayers
• improving efficiency and productivity
• leveraging information and making better decisions
• facilitating easier and more timely access to required information
• delivering services consistently and equitably
• meeting their obligations (legislative, regulatory, litigation and contractual)
• protecting the integrity and availability of business critical information thereby providing continuity of operations in an emergency or disaster
• preserving corporate history and memory
• reducing the use and dependency on paper leading to environmental savings.

What are the Risks of Ineffective Management?

The Commonwealth Auditor General's 2006 report on Recordkeeping including the Management of Electronic Records found poor digital record and information management practices in agencies are a significant risk and cost to Government.

The consequences of ineffectively managing digital information and records are well documented and can be financially quantified. These include:

• loss of productivity due to the inability to discover/retrieve and productively use business critical information on a daily or ad-hoc basis.
• loss of strategic opportunities due to the inability to recognise or leverage valuable information. For instance an organisation might inadvertently destroy technical engineering documents that are costly to recreate.
• increased costs of doing business due to inefficiencies related to disparate or inaccessible data. For instance the inability of an organisation to provide drawings, documents, wiring diagrams, plant dossiers etc.
• inability to comply with:
  • court orders - for instance the inability to produce a document that was later found elsewhere might be viewed as non-disclosure by the court
  • investigative authorities (Auditor General, Police) requests for access to information and
  • government inquiries - a number of South Australian agencies have spent significant time and money to discover documents for the South Australian Government Children in State Care Inquiry.

Do we need a Strategy?

Three (3) key drivers have been identified for establishing an electronic information management strategy for South Australian Government:

• achieving South Australia's Strategic Plan
• legislative and regulatory compliance, and
• establishing a Digital Archives for South Australia to effectively preserve and access government digital archival records.

State Records is mandated by the State Records Act, 1997 to ensure for South Australian Government that official records of enduring evidential or informational value are preserved for future reference in accordance with best practice and to facilitate citizen and government accessibility.

What are the key elements of the Strategy?

State Records intends to deliver an electronic information and records management strategy for State and Local Government in South Australia. The establishment of this strategy will ensure that digital information and records are:

• securely managed and maintained for current business needs and future requirements, and
• preserved and accessible as archival records of the State.

The aims of the strategy are:

• the establishment of a corporate governance framework for the management and preservation of digital information and records for government
• the delivery of a Best Practice Program that establishes a set of consultancy services to assist agencies implementing information and records management best practice
• the establishment of a Digital Archives for South Australian Government digital archival records, and
• the development and delivery of accredited training in the management and preservation of digital information and records.

What Initiatives will be delivered?

Four (4) initiatives will underpin the delivery of the strategy:

• A Corporate Governance Framework
• A Best Practice Program
• A Digital Archives for Government, and
• An Accredited Training Program.

Corporate Governance Framework

A corporate governance framework, established under the auspices of the State Records Act, 1997, will create a policy and standards regime for the secure and cost-effective management and preservation of digital information and records for the South Australian Government. This framework will complement the South Australian Government's Adequate Records Management Framework.

Best Practice Program

A Best Practice Program will be established by State Records based on The Victorian Electronic Records Strategy, outlined in the Public Record Office of Victoria's proven VERS Centre of Excellence Executive Briefing.

In accordance with the State Records Act, 1997, State Records' intends to advise and assist agency customers by providing the following consultancy services:

• policies and standards (implementation of the corporate governance framework)
• information and records management systems and associated services (integration with line of business applications, ensuring that these capture and maintain records over the long term)
• technical services that support agency and portfolio staff, and
• archival, retrieval and disposal services.

Establishment of a Digital Archives

To ensure that digital archival records are effectively preserved and managed within the Government's Archives, a Digital Archives facility will need to be established.

A Digital Archives is a long-term archival system (hardware and software) for the effective preservation and access to digital archival records. A Digital Archives will:

• support the preservation of digital archival records in accordance with archival principles and best practice ensuring the authenticity, chain of custody and integrity of the records
• support format capability and gives independence from specific hardware and software enabling digital archival records to be controlled, managed and delivered in an assured electronic format over the long term, and
• enable the consolidation of the physical and digital collections' metadata to provide customers with a single integrated collections catalogue.

In accordance with the State Records Act, 1997, the Digital Archives would be the principal repository for the South Australian Government's digital archival records.

Agencies would transfer their digital archival records to the Digital Archives in enduring preservation formats using an agreed National Transfer Standard/Protocol.

Accredited Training Program

As part of State Records' Education and Training Program, accredited training courses in the management and preservation of digital information and records will be developed and delivered to meet the needs of the South Australian Government.

What Information will be made available?

As the electronic information and records management strategy evolves, State Records will make the latest information available via this section of the State Records website.

This section of our website will be broadly structured as follows:

• Strategy
• Policies and Procedures
• Standards and Guidelines
• Information and RecordKeeping Advice
• Exposure drafts - secured
• Available Implementation Services
• Accredited Training Overviews
• Overview of Digital Archives and Services
• FAQs and Discussion Forum.

These subsections will be designed to complement and enhance the information that already exists on the State Records website covering the more general requirements of Records Management. The intent is that the existing records management information should be read in conjunction with the new information that will gradually be released to cover the more specific requirements of Digital Information and Records.

In this section: