Transcript Parliamentary briefing, 12 March 2008

Records Management in the Victorian Public
Sector
Audit objective
Audit had two objectives:
• The first objective was to review of the management of
records by public sector agencies
• The second objective was to a review of the role of the
Public Records Office Victoria, in assisting agencies
manage these records
Auditing in the Public Interest
1
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Scope
• Survey of 100 agencies – Agencies were asked to self
assess their records management activities against 7
principles of sound management
• Detailed review of 8 agencies
Auditing in the Public Interest
2
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Principles of sound management of records
Records
Management
Objectives &
Policy
Monitoring &
Reporting
Communications
Management
& Oversight
Framework for
Sound Records
Management
Strategic
Planning
& Resource
Allocation
Human
Resources
Operational
Policies,
Procedures
& Systems
Auditing in the Public Interest
3
Records Management in the Victorian Public
Sector
Objectives and policies
Survey - 70% of agencies indicated they had objectives
and policies
Detailed review
Most agencies had objectives and policies but the
policies:
• did not cover all agency records or all record formats
• did not make reference to relevant legislation such as
the Public Records Act
• were not kept up to date
• were of varying quality
Auditing in the Public Interest
4
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Management and oversight
Survey
89 % of agencies indicated that senior management
supported records management
Most agencies had assigned responsibility for the:
• Oversight of the records management function to a senior
executive officer
• Records management function to a senior officer.
Detailed review
Senior management need to do more to promote and
support records management in agencies
Auditing in the Public Interest
5
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Strategic planning
Survey
• 92% of agencies indicated that records managers had a good understanding of
the business
• 85% identified business and stakeholder needs
• 96% identified policy, legislation and other requirements impacting on records
management
• 82% indicated that they had assessed recordkeeping risks
• 79% indicated that they had adopted a strategic approach to records
management
50% of agencies indicated they had developed a records management
strategic plan
80% of agencies indicated their strategies included 12 elements of a sound
record keeping (objectives, action plans, resourcing, assigning responsibilities,
monitoring and reporting, performance measures)
Detailed review
Agencies have not adopted a strategic approach to managing their records
Auditing in the Public Interest
6
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Procedures and practices
We asked agencies whether they had procedures for the
following key recordkeeping functions:
• Capture of records
• Records classification scheme
• Metadata assigned to records
• Access to records
• Record storage and security
• Disposal of records
• Management of agency recordkeeping systems
• Records held by external parties
• Transfer of records to PROV
Auditing in the Public Interest
7
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Procedures and practices
Survey
88% of agencies indicated they had established procedures
70% of agencies indicated their procedures and practices
complied with PROV standards
85% of agencies indicated that staff complied with the
established procedures
Lowest coverage
• 58% of agencies had procedures for metadata
• 58% had procedures for the transfer of records to PROV
• 64 % had procedures for the disposal of records
Auditing in the Public Interest
8
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Procedures and practices
Detailed review
Procedures and practices were not developed for
critical areas such as:
• management of emails and web information
• assigning metadata to records
The quality of the procedures and practices were
variable
Agencies did not have current disposal authorities
or a regular program to transfer records to PROV
Auditing in the Public Interest
9
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Resourcing
Survey
Similar agencies had significantly different numbers of staff. The number
of records management staff employed by the 30 agencies with between
500 and 1500 staff:
• One agency had no staff
• Two agencies had one staff
• 10 agencies had 2-5 staff
• 17 agencies had 6+
Most agencies had not assessed their staff needs
33% of agencies considered that they had insufficient staff
Long waiting periods for access to some PROV training courses
69% of agencies indicated that it was difficult or very difficult to recruit
experienced and qualified staff
Auditing in the Public Interest
10
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Communications
Survey
Agencies communicate and promote records management
through:
• Training programs – 59%
• Notice boards, newsletters and presentations
– 29 %
• Intranet – 26%
Communications may not be effective, with 25% of agencies
indicated that staff were unaware of their responsibilities to
capture business emails and digital records
Auditing in the Public Interest
11
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Monitoring and reporting
Monitoring processes would normally involve:
• gathering information on the records management
function
• assessing compliance with agency policies and
procedures and PROV standards
• providing feedback on the delivery of agencies
strategies and achievement of the objectives
outlined in the records management strategic plan
Auditing in the Public Interest
12
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Monitoring and reporting
Survey
• Around 50% of agencies indicated that they reviewed staff
compliance with agency policies and procedures and PROV
standards
• 48% of agencies reviewed their progress in delivering
records management strategies
• Most agencies did not monitor the performance of their
records management function
• Reporting on records management to senior management
was limited
Auditing in the Public Interest
13
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Major risk areas – Management of
electronic records
Electronic records, particularly emails and web based
information is not well managed by agencies
Survey
50% of agencies indicated that their electronic systems were
not capable of capturing and storing records
50% of agencies indicated records were captured in
business systems with record keeping functionality or in
special recordkeeping systems such as TRIM
However, 84 per cent of these agencies indicated that they
print their electronic records and maintain the hard copies
Auditing in the Public Interest
14
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Victorian Electronic Records Strategy
(VERS)
The government’s plan is to deliver its VERS strategy within
government departments in 3 stages
Target date for stage one (Establish VERS compliant
electronic records management systems) is June 2008. This
target is unlikely to be met
Dates for stage 2 and 3 have not been established.
There is no program to make the vast majority of agencies
compliant
Survey
• 65% of agencies were aware of VERS
• Few had developed plans to be VERS compliant
Auditing in the Public Interest
15
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Other risk areas
Management of records held by contractors
Destruction of records
The absence of current retention and disposal authorities
(RDA’s) has meant agencies are either not disposing of
records or disposing of records without notifying PROV
Transfer of records to PROV
Permanent public records over 25 years old and no longer
required for administrative use by agencies are required to
be transferred to PROV for storage. In many agencies these
records have not been transferred
Auditing in the Public Interest
16
Records Management in the
Victorian Public Sector
Questions?
Auditing in the Public Interest
17