Records and information management FAQs – Deciding why, when and how to capture the content of links August 31, 2015 1 Comment
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 because the content has been modified or changed. This has implications for the long-term integrity of web-based scholarly records.
We have been thinking about links here at State Records too, although from a different angle: when do you need to make a record of the content that is being linked to?
We recently received an enquiry about the circumstances in which an organisation would need to capture the contents of links included in email messages. Of course, this question also applies to other record formats, including social media, web pages, documents – indeed any record that includes a link to another resource.
Is it sufficient to capture the record containing the links to a recordkeeping system, or do organisations also need to capture the content of the linked resource?
And the answer, as often seems to be the case these days, is ‘it depends’! Read the rest of this entry »
People and organisational culture – creating the environment for digital transformation August 21, 2015 No Comments
Last week we had our regular Digital Implementers’ Group meeting.
This time, the topic was focused around people and organisational culture. The group’s members what are the necessary cultural factors in organisations which have strong digital information and records management, and what are the cultural barriers.
Representing in the group were are wide range of government organisations, including departments, agencies, State-owned corporations and local government.
Supporting skills and capability development
Supporting the development of skills and capability was acknowledged as a core role by the group.
Several members talked about their processes to engage all new employees and have them understand the obligations and benefits of well managed digital information. Strategies included on-demand personal support, up-to-date internal publications, scheduled training session and e-learning modules. Read the rest of this entry »
Records Managers Forum presentations now available on Future Proof August 19, 2015 No Comments
The podcasts from last week’s Records Managers Forum are now available on Future Proof.
The Records Managers Forum highlight achievements and projects in NSW Government agencies. It promotes communication between NSW public sector records managers and provides an opportunity to exchange news and discuss issues of current concern.
Last week’s forum was hosted by State Records NSW’s Director, Geoff Hinchcliffe, and had two presentations from the sector.
In the first presentation, Mitya Antoncic, Nadine Louis and Dave Phillips from the Department of Premier and Cabinet talk about EDRM strategy as a vision (not just an executive commitment). They talk about the four year EDRM program and the major cultural shift that has occurred at the Department as a result of it; the underlying brand strategy (it’s more than just change management); and how they delivered an industry leading electronic approval workflow project.
In the second presentation, Dr Kate Harrington, Director Information, Strategic Policy at the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation will present on developments in the information and open data initiatives of the NSW Government ICT Strategy.
You can find the recordings here.
The new Standard on Records Management – what it means for digital business August 3, 2015 No Comments
State Records issued the new Standard on Records Management earlier this year. The new standard provides a streamlined framework designed to better support NSW Government digital business processes in complex environments.
Catherine Robinson recently spoke about the new standard at a records and information management conference. Here is some of what Catherine said: Read the rest of this entry »
Records and information management FAQs – Keeping metadata after destroying digital records July 21, 2015 No Comments
Many organisations across the NSW public sector have well established digital recordkeeping systems. As these systems have been in place for some years, they contain records that are able to be destroyed in accordance with approved retention and disposal authorities.
A number of organisations have recently contacted us to discuss the requirements for keeping metadata for records destroyed in such systems:
- What metadata needs to be kept?
- What level does this metadata need to be kept at? (i.e. file level, document level etc.)
- How long does this metadata need to be kept for?
As is often the case, the answers to these questions are likely to depend on the individual organisations’ business and the particular risks relevant to that business. In short, ‘it depends’! Read the rest of this entry »
Records management and the cloud – considerations for local government July 8, 2015 No Comments
This morning Catherine Robinson from State Records spoke at Akolade’s Cloud Services in Local Government conference in Sydney. This conference aimed to illustrate how local councils can successfully procure, implement and manage ‘as a service’ cloud platforms.
Catherine’s talk focussed on the considerations for records and information management when using cloud services. Catherine talked about:
- NSW Government requirements for cloud services
- requirements for the retention and disposal of records in NSW local government
- managing the risks associated with cloud arrangements.
Although Catherine’s talk was aimed at local government, it may also be of interest to the broader NSW public sector.
System decommissioning, migration, and manager responsibilities – summary of the June Digital Implementers group June 22, 2015 No Comments
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. Read the rest of this entry »
How does information and records management support privacy? May 28, 2015 No Comments
Recently, State Records staff attended a very informative session hosted by the NSW Privacy Commissioner, Dr Elizabeth Coombs. This “Privacy Matters” event was held to mark Privacy Awareness Week, which is an initiative supported by the Asia Pacific Privacy Awareness forum.
State Records had a stand at the forum in conjunction with staff from NSW Finance and Services. In preparation for the event, and in the spirit of privacy awareness week, we have been thinking about how information and records management can improve privacy management for public sector organisations.
As you all know, State Records NSW is responsible for the State Records Act 1998, which contains obligations for the management of records and information across the NSW public sector. Achieving appropriate protection and accountability when managing private information is an important objective underlying our guidance and standards. Read the rest of this entry »
News for Chief Executives – Future Proof issue 7 May 15, 2015 No Comments
Each year State Records distributes a newsletter to all Chief Executives in the NSW public sector.
This year’s newsletter highlights some of the major initiatives of the last year across State Records, including the new Standard on Records Management, the launch of business as usual operations for the Digital State Archive, and enhancements to the OpenGov and Data.NSW platforms.
The newsletter is intended to start conversations between chief executives, management, business, ICT and records and information staff about the strategic management of organisational business information.
The newsletter is available here on the State Records website. A downloadable PDF version of the newsletter is also available below:
Future Proof newsletter, 2015 (PDF, 65KB)
Photo: Steve Johnson (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Implementing digital disposal – summary of digital implementers workshop May 13, 2015 No Comments
Last week we had our regular digital implementers group meeting. This session’s topic was digital disposal. In advance of the meeting, we conducted a mini-survey of the group to get a sense of their progress and capacity was in this area. The results of this were interesting because, while it was a limited sample, there is a diverse group of organisations represented on the group. We previously conducted a broader survey on digital disposal a few years ago, so it was interesting to see how those responses measured up to today. As always, the group was very interactive, and we had two people presenting case studies.
