Other rules
In New South Wales, the Public Sector Code of Conduct requires that, in the performance of their duties, public officials should
…maintain adequate documentation to support any decision made',
from New South Wales Public Sector Code of Conduct, Clause 1.6.2.
The Treasurer's Directions require that public authorities should
…maintain full and accurate records of expenditure from all accounts and funds under their control',
from New South Wales Treasurer's Directions, Clause 240.01.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption has issued guidelines requiring that
…funding recommendations and decisions should be fully documented and supported by explanatory notes'.
The Ombudsman issued guidelines on recordkeeping by public authorities and officials in Good Conduct and Administrative Practice: Guidelines for state and local government, section 4.2, NSW Ombudsman, August 2003. It is not difficult to find similar examples.
Every records manager knows that there is a whole range of legislation, formal directives and instruments, guidelines, industry standards and best practice and other sources which establish or define recordkeeping requirements affecting their organisation or parts of it. Many are peculiar to a particular organisation or industry. Those recordkeeping requirements with broad application across Government, such as the examples above, are part of the recordkeeping framework and need to be recognised as such.
Another form of 'rules' which, in practice, becomes part of the recordkeeping framework is the adoption by some governments of standard records management software products for use across their jurisdiction. The South Australian, New South Wales and Commonwealth Governments have all conducted exercises to select one or a small number of products from which agencies are required to purchase. In New South Wales, we see the adoption of a small number of products as standard as having a number of benefits. In particular, because the choice of records management software inevitably has an impact on practices, we expect the arrangement to contribute to a consistent level of best practice across Government. We also anticipate that reducing the number of products in use across Government will make records management staff more transferable between and within agencies.
