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Create and Capture - Guidelines on better
recordkeeping
Section 1 - Introduction
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1.2
Requirements for record creation
and capture |
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| Whilst many requirements to create
and keep records arise from business processes, there are also a number
of laws, regulations, standards and codes of best practice which require
or necessitate the making and keeping of records. Some of these are
outlined below. |
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State Records Act 1998 |
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This Act states that ‘each public
office must make and keep full and accurate records of the activities
of the office’ (s12). That is, it is a legal requirement that all NSW public offices
create and capture records that facilitate and provide evidence of
their business activities. To help public offices to comply with this
requirement, State Records issued the
Standard
on Full and Accurate Records (April 2004). Principle
1 of the Standard on Full and Accurate Records
specifically requires that records be created to document and facilitate
the transaction of business in NSW public offices. The Standard’s
other principles explain what it means to make and keep full and accurate
records. |
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Treasurer’s Directions |
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A number of Treasurer’s Directions contain mandatory requirements
to make and keep records of business activity. For example, Direction
240.01 states that 'authorities should maintain full and accurate
records of expenditure from all accounts and funds under their control’.
Financial records should therefore be subject to the same sorts of
controls applied to records resulting from other areas of business
activity. Because organisational finances are regularly subject to
audits, all organisations should ensure that record creation and management
is a systematic and accountable component of all financial activity. |
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NSW Ombudsman’s Administrative
Good Conduct information sheet (1997) |
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This information sheet states that 'public officials should create
and maintain full and accurate records which document their activities
and decisions, plus the reasons for those decisions’. It also states
that public officials 'should ensure the capture of these records
into record keeping systems, such as file systems, routinely in the
course of their duties'. |
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Australian and
International Standard AS ISO 15489–2002, Records Management |
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Part 2: Guidelines of the Australian and International Standard
AS
ISO 15489–2002, Records Management establishes a general requirement for organisations
to make and capture full and accurate records of their business activity.
The Standard then explains what full and accurate means, outlines
strategies for ensuring creation and capture of records and discusses
cases in which records should be created or captured of specific types
of transactions. The Standard has been endorsed as a code of best
practice for the NSW public sector. |
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ISO 9000 Quality Management
Systems |
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The ISO 9000 Quality Management series of standards contain explicit
requirements to create and capture records. For example, ISO
9001 identifies a variety of records, such as reports, design specifications,
system calibrations, customer requirements, and training records that
need to be created and captured as a part of quality management processes.
Meeting these requirements is an important part of obtaining compliance
with the ISO 9000 series of standards. |
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Audit Office's On Board:
Guide to Better Practice for Public Sector Governing and Advisory
Boards (1998) |
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This publication states that Board meetings are effective if decisions,
discussions and dissent are recorded and minutes are accurate. |
Link to full citation
details
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