[LINK] Management of Electronic Records in the Australian Government

[Tom Worthington]

On 12 October 2006 the Australian National Audit Office released a 
report on "Recordkeeping including the Management of Electronic 
Records" at the Attorney-General's Department, the Australian 
Electoral Commission  and the Department of the Prime Minister and 
Cabinet. The report found problems, particularly with electronic 
records. I have written a brief summary and guide to the latest 
report and what might be done to improve electronic record keeping in 
agencies: <http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/egovernment/erecords.shtml>.

The problem seems to be that National Archives of Australia can only 
provide guidance to agencies; they cannot compel compliance. NAA has 
to assume agencies hire competent professionals to do look after 
record management systems. But as paper file systems have been 
replaced by computers, the standard or record keeping has tended to 
decline, with staff assuming the information is in the computer somewhere.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                http://www.tomw.net.au/
Director, ACS Communications Tech Board   http://www.acs.org.au/ctb/
Visiting Fellow, ANU      Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml