Future Proof – Protecting our digital future

Last week we had our first Digital Implementers‘ Group meeting for 2017. We gave a preview of our new workshop – Introduction to Information Risk Assessment, which set the tone of the meeting.

The Workshop

The workshop is designed to help participants understand the risk assessment process within the context of the Standard on records management.  The workshop provides a methodology to help organisations identify the risks, assess them and develop strategies to minimise their impact. This workshop builds on others assisting in skill development for recordkeeping and compliments the “Managing Recordkeeping Risks in Business Systems workshop.”

Training courses

The Digital Implementers recognised the value of courses offered by State Archives and Records NSW and they raised their concerns about the availability of training courses for records and information management.

While we are very keen to upskill recordkeeping professionals through training, unfortunately we do have to cancel courses and workshops if there are only a small number of participants registered. The minimum course numbers required for each course are listed on our website (see our terms and conditions for training courses).

Survey results

Prior to the meeting, we asked our Digital Implementers to fill in a survey to get ideas on possible topics for discussion.

The Digital Implementers are keen to see presentations regarding information management trends, innovative strategies/ideas, learnings on projects implemented, as well as presentations from State Archives NSW staff.

In terms of topics for round-table discussions, electronic document and records management systems (EDRMS) is still relevant but this time, the focus is on integrating EDRMS with business systems, the risks and issues around systems upgrades, and digital disposal.

Another topic for discussion was the issue of planning when the current EDRMS in use in the organisation is no longer supported.

For example, the recent sale of HP’s software division raised some issues regarding ongoing technical support. The Digital Implementers all agreed that risks have to be identified, analysed and assessed before decisions are made whether it is viable to upgrade HP TRIM or migrate to a new system.

The other recordkeeping issues discussed included:

• Office 365 and cloud technologies and how it is changing the records and information management landscape
• Social media and text messages and how to capture and manage these records
• Electronic signatures and electronic approvals, and whether wet signatures are still needed.

What’s next?

All in all this first meeting was incredibly valuable for all members. If you would like to be part of the Digital Implementers Group, please email govrec@records.nsw.gov.au.

This post was jointly written with Nicole Gammie, who recently completed a practicum placement with the Government Recordkeeping team at State Archives and Records NSW. Nicole is currently studying Masters in Information Studies with Charles Sturt University.

Image credit: John Atkinson, https://wronghands1.com (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)