Future Proof – Protecting our digital future

A colleague recently commented that email is the most unofficial official record generating system. Significant evidence of corporate decision making is contained in email messages, but the ease with which workers send and receive email, and the volume of email in the typical worker’s account, makes it difficult to identify records of enduring value. As […]

In light of recent media coverage of possible inappropriate deletion of Ministerial emails in Queensland, we would like to remind NSW public offices that email messages sent and received in the course of official business are State records under the State Records Act 1998 (the Act). This includes messages sent and received by Ministers in […]

In our previous blog posts “Thinking more about moving email to the cloud” and “Cloud email – what’s happening with the information?”, we explored the drivers and potential information management issues on moving to cloud email. Also, we alluded to developing a guideline on cloud email. We are pleased to announce the release of our new guideline […]

The Library of Congress recently posted some information on strategies being used to manage ‘link rot’ and ‘reference rot’. As described in the post, these terms refer to the problem of hyperlinked web addresses that fail to lead the reader to the desired content, either because the link is rotten (not working at all) or […]

Last week we had our regular Digital Implementers group meeting. As usual, a diverse group attended from across government. There was a lively discussion around the various implementation challenges the organisations are facing, as well as discussion of data migration and decommissioning challenges, and management accountabilities for information.

State Records is constantly talking to government organisations about a fascinating range of projects. These range broadly from questions about data migration to ongoing engagements about digital business transformation. Some of the issues we have covered recently include: Email in the cloud. We have talked to a number of organisations trying to determine how to appropriately manage email when a cloud transition […]

Recently I had a very interesting meeting with a New South Wales local council which has revamped its processes for capture, management and application of retention rules to document-based records. They are currently undertaking a multi-phase project to enhanced the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of their digital records management. This includes: understanding how technology could manage a fully digital […]

Email has become a ubiquitous business tool in the last 20 years. It has become the default tool for purposes too numerous to list: announcements, distributing documents, sales and customer service interactions, among other uses. Email’s versatility means it is used in all areas of an organisation’s business, which means that it may hold information […]

At State Records we have been thinking more about issues to consider when moving to the cloud. In this post we explore: why use of cloud-based email is growing in government information management issues arising from use of cloud-based email applications, and possible risk mitigation strategies that can be put in place to manage these […]

We are continuing with our exploration of effective email management here on Future Proof. Two excellent and thought-provoking publications have come out of North America in the last few weeks. The first is a Bulletin from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in the US that is calling for comment on NARA’s proposed ‘Capstone’ approach to […]