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 […]

We have recently received a number of enquiries about managing records in specific systems used to support various business activities. These systems range from fleet management systems to child care management systems to fundraising support systems. These systems contain a mix of data input by users, data imported from other systems and scanned documents (e.g. […]

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.

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 […]

This week we had our regular digital implementers group. Our session topics are set based on the opportunities and challenges which are at the forefront for the group members. Establishing a robust mobile working environment is becoming important for a large number of organisations. The group members, as always, represented a large and diverse cross […]

This week we had our regular EDRMS implementers group meeting. As usual, a great group of people turned up from a wide range of organisations. Everyone is at various stages of implementing an EDRMS/ECM system, and many are responsible for a broader range of information management systems. A general theme in the group is a shift away from […]

I have previously blogged about the US National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) approach to cloud email. NARA has issued a paper which surveys the available strategies for improving records capture through automation. It highlights the advantages, the maturity, and the risks and drawbacks of these approaches. Continuing in the theme of drawing on good […]

Many agencies have consolidated Finance, HR and other systems to Enterprise Resource Planning systems such as SAP and Oracle, or are currently planning such a consolidation. State Records is often asked about the implications of this under the State Records Act. Here are the sorts of things we talk about. photo by: artist in doing […]

We have been having some fantastic meetings lately with business, project, ICT and information managers about how to best integrate and manage diverse forms of information in new business systems. Here are some of the things we have been recommending. photo by: opensourceway

In September 2013, the National Audit Office of the UK released a report, Managing the risks of legacy ICT to public service delivery. The report notes that ‘as budgets are reduced, departments with large legacy ICT estates have found it challenging to reduce costs and improve customer service through better use and sharing of information’. […]