State Records NSW

Whilst all staff need to be aware of the need to create and capture records, it is particularly important to target managers throughout your organisation. Your CEO is, of course, responsible for complying with the requirements of the State Records Act, including ensuring your office makes and keeps full and accurate records of its activities. Other managers are generally responsible for ensuring that all staff in their area make and keep adequate records of their business. Targetting management can also help you to obtain greater organisation wide support for recordkeeping.

Another group of stakeholders to target is information technology (IT) and communications managers. IT managers need to be aware of requirements for creating and keeping records whenever electronic business systems are being developed and introduced or business processes are being redesigned and automated. Such requirements need to be included in system specifications and implemented in the final design of the systems.

back to top

• Responsibility to create and capture records of their business activity

• Types of business transactions which should be documented

• Criteria for deciding which transactions should be documented and those which do not need to be recorded

• Rules for recording transactions within high risk activities

• New and amended requirements to create records arising from legislation, regulations or government directives

• Which systems to use (be they paper or electronic) to record business transactions, and

• Criteria for deciding which records should be captured into official paper or electronic records systems.

This leaflet is available in two different versions:

For State Government agencies:
	Download a PDF copy of What have records got to do with me?:		125KB
	Email govrec@records.nsw.gov.au to order paper copies (maximum 100).
For Local Government councils:
	Download a PDF copy of What have records got to do with me?:		125KB
	Email govrec@records.nsw.gov.au to order paper copies (maximum 100).

Types of business transactions which should be documented
The leaflet Recordkeeping Reminders  identifies common types of transactions which should be documented in public offices and key records which should be captured in official records systems. It is designed for distribution to all staff within an organisation.

	Download a PDF copy of Recordkeeping Reminders:		30KB
	Email govrec@records.nsw.gov.au and order the hardcopy version (maximum 100).

Rules for recording transactions within high risk activities
In areas of your organisation where activities are subject to significant business or accountability risks, it may be necessary to require relevant staff to make full records of these areas of activity, in order to protect the organisation if a legal or other challenge occurs.

This is particularly true of the electronic business environment. It may therefore be necessary to specifically highlight responsibilities to create and capture electronic records in the electronic business environment to your staff. Highlighting the business relevance of record creation and capture, and the potential legal risks that could result if it is not undertaken, can be a useful means for ensuring greater levels of compliance with electronic recordkeeping policies and standards.

New and amended requirements to create records
All staff should be regularly kept informed of new or amended legal and accountability requirements to make and keep records. For example, staff should be informed about new legislation that impacts on how they deal with information, such as privacy legislation. Additionally, if business requirements change, such as after a risk assessment exercise, staff should be kept informed of new business processes and the recordkeeping requirements that result from these.

Criteria for capturing records into the corporate records system
It is useful to provide staff with guidance on the types of records that need to be captured into the official records systems. The following criteria, or something similar, could be included in records management procedures or user guidelines and presented in training sessions for general staff. 

Criteria for capturing records Generally speaking, records should be captured into the corporate records system when they: approve or authorise actions constitute formal communications between staff eg. memos relating to official business signify a policy change or development relate to significant projects or activities being carried out  contain advice or provide guidance constitute formal communications between staff and individuals outside the organisation, or have value in support of a project or activity being carried out by you or your section. Records do not need to be captured into the corporate records system when they: are facilitative or ephemeral, or are of a personal nature and do not relate to work matters.

Facilitative records are records of little value and of a routine instructional nature that are used to further some activity. Ephemeral records are records of little value that only need to be kept for a limited or short period of time. Most facilitative and ephemeral records have no continuing value to the organisation and, generally, are only needed for a few hours or a few days. 

Some examples of facilitative and/or ephemeral records are: duplicates, some drafts (other than those of significant works or publications), telephone messages, stationery, advertising 'flyers', brochures, catalogues and price lists.

More information on determining which records can be disposed of without capture into a recordkeeping system is contained in State Records' guidelines on Normal Administrative Practice, issued February 1999.

Which systems to use to capture records
In cases where there might be confusion, specific advice should be given about the appropriate system in which records are to be captured. For example, policies and procedures for dealing with correspondence should indicate whether correspondence relating to financial matters is to be captured into the general correspondence system or into the finance system.

back to top

Communicating requirements to make and keep records can be achieved through the following means:

• Policies on records management
• Other corporate policies 
• Records management procedures and guidelines
• Business procedures and manuals
• Training sessions and briefings
• Induction manuals and processes
• Newsletters
• Corporate intranet, and
• Position descriptions and job profiles.

Policies
Records management and other corporate policies can be used to set broad rules for creating and capturing records as evidence of your organisation's business activity.

See examples of records management policy statements on the creation and capture of records.

Procedures and guidelines
Procedures and guidelines on records management can be used to provide detailed instructions on what records to create and how to capture them into official records systems. Such procedures and guidelines should be issued or made available to all staff through distribution in hardcopy form (such as in a procedure manual), distribution electronically or publication on your organisation's intranet. When records systems or processes change, training or information sessions should be held to make staff aware of changing obligations or practices.

Procedures relating to other business activities can be used to identify what records need to be created of those activities and which systems the records should be captured into.

Training sessions and briefings
Ideally, all staff should be trained in records creation and capture requirements. This could be undertaken as a specific exercise or it could be included in staff training on other aspects of operations, such as using a new business system. Training sessions can be delivered face to face in small groups or can utilise new technologies and be delivered via CD ROM or on the intranet. In the latter cases, training can be made available to staff at many locations, and at their convenience.

Induction manuals and processes
All new staff inducted into your organisation should have record creation and capture requirements explained to them and be trained in the use of organisational records systems.

Newsletters and intranet
Internal newsletters can be used to explain requirements for making and keeping records in a less formal way. They can also be used to keep staff up-to-date on changes to requirements and to changes to processes and systems for records capture. You could also set up a section on your organisation's intranet relating to records creation and capture.

Position descriptions or job profiles
Position descriptions and other documents that set out roles and responsibilities can include record creation and capture responsibilities. When using position descriptions in this way, responsibilities should be made clear and explicit and should relate directly to the activities the person in the position is expected to perform.

back to top