General Disposal Schedule No 20, 4th edition, is now available applies to all records, irrespective of format or media, created or received by any Local Government Authority in South Australia.General Disposal Schedule No 20 Edition 4 Released
State Records has reviewed and updated both GDS 21 and the digitisation of official records and management of source documents guideline, applicable to both state and local government agencies.Revised GDS 21 and Digitisation Guideline
State Records has released a Records Management assessment survey that must be completed by all state and local government agencies.Online Records Management Assessment Survey
State Records has reviewed and updated its information sheet on Microsoft SharePoint and EDRMS.Microsoft SharePoint and EDRMS
A range of research advice sheets have been produced by State Records to assist customers with their research and with accessing records in our archival collection.Researching and Accessing Archival Records
Principles and associated obligations agencies, bound by the State Records Act, 1997, must consider to ensure that the records of agencies are adequately managed throughout the contracting process.Contracting and Official Records Guideline
The following Guidelines have been created by State Records of South Australia to assist government agencies in meeting their responsibilities for Adequate Records Management within the State Records Act, 1997.
This Guideline provides an overview of selected South Australian legislation and highlights recordkeeping implications. The Guideline provides a starting point for Agencies wishing to examine legislation that is relevant to the functions and activities of their agency.
This Guideline provides a generic plan for Agencies implementing an adequate records management program. Agency records management practices need to progressively achieve the identified outcomes.
Agency assessment of their records management systems, tools, practices and resources is an important aspect of achieving 'adequate' records management
State Records has developed the following Guideline to assist agencies assess the status of their strategic and operational records management programs. Agencies need to demonstrate that they are making incremental improvements with the intention of achieving adequate records management by 2010.
Guideline to assist agencies in making a realistic determination of existing levels of records management effectiveness with regard to skill levels, policies and procedures, systems and processes, and strategic focus. Adequate Records Management Improvement Matrix (365 KB PDF File)
The Adequate Records Management Improvement Matrix and Evidence Toolkit has recently been reviewed and now includes an eleventh Outcome, Resourcing. State Records has developed the Records Management Resourcing Benchmarks and Classification Equity Guideline to assist agencies meet the adequacy requirements for this Outcome. This Guideline will assist agencies to determine the following:
the roles needed to deliver all required recordkeeping outputs
the necessary qualifications for each role
the appropriate remuneration for each role.
Guideline providing agencies and authorities with guidance in the appointment of suitably skilled, and numbers of, resources to mitigate common recordkeeping risks across South Australian Government. RM Resourcing Benchmarks and Classification Equity (143 KB PDF File) Guideline to assist agencies in making a realistic determination of existing levels of records management effectiveness with regard to skill levels, policies and procedures, systems and processes, and strategic focus. Adequate Records Management Improvement Matrix (365 KB PDF File)
EDRMS Procurement and Pre-Implementation Guideline
State Records has produced this Guideline to assist all agencies and authorities to adequately prepare for the implementation of a new Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS).
State Records has identified a number of tasks agencies and authorities will need to undertake in order to select the most appropriate EDRMS to meet their specific business requirements and to successfully implement their solution in the workplace. The completion of these tasks is expected to identify and, in some instances, address fundamental project management risks that otherwise could jeopardise the viability, stability and/or quality of an agency's EDRMS implementation. The complexity and size of these documents will be dependant on the scope and level of risk associated with an agency's EDRMS project.
The Guideline also includes the following elements:
a defined process
a matrix to assist in the selection of a fit for purpose solution
a checklist of pre-implementation development and post implementation phases
a pre-procurement certificate that requires Chief Executive sign-off.
State Records has appointed an EDRMS Project Coordinator to liaise with agency representatives and to provide advice on the EDRMS procurement process.
The purpose of this Guideline is to provide policy, guidelines, and technical considerations for the management of e-mail as official records. This document applies to all State and Local Government Agencies within South Australia, as defined by the State Records Act, 1997.
This Guideline has been developed by State Records to support the Management and Storage of Temporary Value Records with an Approved Service Provider (ASP) Standard and provides practical information regarding the management and storage of temporary value records with an ASP. Details of this guideline and the standard can be found at the link below.
Elections or decisions of the South Australian Government can result in 'administrative changes' to South Australian agencies. An 'administrative change' refers to a change in the responsibilities for the administration of government functions. These changes can occur as a result of:
an agency losing a function to another agency
an agency gaining a function from another agency
the undertaking of a new function of Government
the abolition of a function of Government.
This Guideline focuses on the management of official records during the above examples of administrative change.
This Guideline is for agencies making public access determinations for official records about to be transferred to State Records, or already in our custody. The Guideline was amended in May 2007 and advises when records should be open, when they should be closed and what period of restriction should be applied.
Section 26 of the State Records Act, 1997 empowers an agency to make access determinations in consultation with State Records. Those determinations may do one of three things:
declare a record to be immediately open to public access, or
declare it to be open after a certain period, or
declare it to be indefinitely closed.
For State Records to administer public access under section 26 of the Act, agencies need to make public access determinations, irrespective of an individual's right of access to the records under the Freedom of Information Act, 1991.
Where agencies do not advise State Records of a restriction or make a public access determination for official records, public access to such records will be open.
Determinations that agencies may have made prior to May 2007, in accordance with the previous version of this guideline, only need to be reviewed if the agency considers that it would be prudent to do so.
This Guideline outlines the policy of State Records for the appraisal of official records and the fundamental objectives used to identify records of ongoing value.
Appraisal is the process of evaluating the business activities of an agency to determine which records need to be created and captured and how long the records need to be kept, to meet business needs, the requirements of organisational accountability and community expectations. This includes determining which records should be kept as part of our community's collective memory and cultural heritage.
The basis of the functional appraisal approach is the exploration of the functions and activities of an organisation. Based on the functional analysis, the appraiser recommends retention periods for official records generated as evidence of the agency's functions and activities.
The outcome of appraisal is that an agency and State Records are both able to identify records that fall into one of four categories:
records of permanent value
records of temporary value, to be retained for long periods of time
records of temporary value, to be retained for short periods of time
records of temporary value that can be immediately destroyed.
Once appraisal is completed disposal schedules can be developed.
Guideline to outline the appraisal policy for official records in South Australia and the fundamental appraisal objectives used to identify records of ongoing value to the State. Appraisal of Official Records (139 KB PDF File)
This Guideline considers the disposal of records in relation to Native Title and Separation of Families issues. Records which shed light on these two issues should not be disposed of, even if they are contained within a series or records that otherwise have only temporary value. Native Title and the Separation of Families must be considered in relation to the disposal of any official record.
This Guideline is to be used as a guide for identifying records that may be relevant to Native Title claims. It is by no means an exhaustive list but is illustrative of classes and types of records that may be relevant.
Actual relevance is a matter to be determined by officers of the Crown Solicitor's Office.
This Guideline provides Agency staff with advice and a step-by-step guide and checklist, which list the actions to be taken when re-sentencing records.
This Guideline has been developed to support the Contracting and Official Records Standard. The Guideline outlines nine principles and associated obligations agencies, bound by the State Records Act, 1997, must consider to ensure that the records of agencies are adequately managed throughout the contracting process.
The Guideline is aimed at procurement staff, contract managers, records managers, Freedom of Information administrators, legal practitioners, senior management and other stakeholders involved in the contracting process.
Many agencies in South Australia are currently digitising official records by using scanning or imaging technologies. Typically the records created and captured by imaging are managed within an Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) or a line of business system.
This guideline deals with the digitisation of paper source documents and the subsequent management and disposal of these and their digitised counterparts. It does not currently relate to other forms of conversion or migration of official records 'born' electronically.
It aims to minimise the risks to government, state and local, in terms of records of either temporary or permanent value being lost or destroyed without limiting the application of digitisation technologies for efficient office administration or other purposes.
The guideline and the complementary General Disposal Schedule No 21 (GDS 21) do not authorise the destruction of any source documents that have been deemed to be of permanent value in accordance with an approved and current disposal schedule.
A thesaurus is an alphabetical listing of terms derived from a classification scheme and arranged in a hierarchical manner that shows relationships between the terms. It prescribes what terms can and cannot be used when classifying records.
A thesaurus helps to ensure that an Agency uses a uniform set of terms to classify records. This cuts down confusion when searching for records and saves time and money.
This Guideline has been developed to assist Agencies in complying with Outcome 5 of the Adequate Records Management Meeting the Standard - 'Records can be found'.
This guideline has been developed by State Records to provide Agency staff with an outline of the steps and issues inherent in developing a functional thesaurus.
Guideline to provide State and Local government agency staff with an outline of the steps and issues inherent in developing a functional thesaurus. Developing a Thesaurus (185 KB PDF File)
The Records Management Adequacy Audit is a management control designed to examine and evaluate the degree to which outcomes detailed in Adequate Records Management: Meeting the Standard 2002 (Adequacy Standard) are being met across South Australian Government agencies and authorities.
The purpose of the auditing program is to establish records management audit standards in government in South Australia and to provide a guide for its conduct across agencies and authorities. Specifically, it will determine the degree to which agencies and authorities comply with the ten outcomes comprising Adequate Records Management.
State Records has developed this Guideline for the Audit Program. It is comprised of four parts:
Audit Policy - which prescribes State Records requirements
The Audit Plan - which describes the expected scope and conduct
Work Instructions - which assist the conduct of the processes involved in auditing
State Records has issued this Guideline in accordance with section 7(g) of the State Records Act, 1997. Disaster planning is an important component of an adequate records management program. Planning for disasters is a benchmark for Outcome 7 in Adequate Records Management: Meeting the Standard (2002) and is also identified as part of a high quality recordkeeping system in the national Australian Standard AS ISO 15489 - 2002: Records Management.
The purpose of the Guideline is to assist South Australian Government agencies in developing and maintaining a Disaster Plan for records and recordkeeping systems. Agencies are encouraged to use this Guideline in conjunction with the Records Management Disaster Planning Toolkit.