Reference no: EM132709326

Read through the case study below:

‘All Work On-Line'-Attorney-General's Department1

Key messages

• A vision to move to a digital environment, or as close as possible, through a strategy called ‘All Work On-Line'
• A Knowledge and Information Framework (KIF) that recognises recordkeeping as a critical component of managing and using AGD information and knowledge assets
• A digital NAP (Normal Administrative Practice) Policy, which provides for deletion of documents out of the EDMS
• A strong collaborative relationship with the Information and Communications Technologies Branch

• A comprehensive training and awareness program including an Understanding Your Public Service Accountabilities section devoted to the legislative and regulatory framework of records management and their obligations as public servants.

Agency Facts

The Attorney-General's Department (AGD) supports the Attorney-General and the Minister for Justice. Its mission is to provide a ‘just and secure society.' The Department mainly undertakes policy development and program and grants management work, through the administration of over 145 separate pieces of legislation. These range from family and human rights law to copyright legislation, extraditions of fugitives, money laundering legislation, dignitary protection, emergency response legislation and counter terrorism legislation.

The Department has over 1500 staff, primarily situated in Canberra, with areas in Sydney, such as APEC and the Office of Film and Literature Classification, and Emergency Management Australia in Mt Macedon in Victoria. There are AGD staff in Indigenous Coordination Centres in remote areas of Australia, administering indigenous justice grants to remote communities.

Given the nature of the work undertaken, and the level of grant management, there is a need for rigorous documentation of business activities for evidence and accountability.

The AGD recordkeeping environment

AGD has a decentralised recordkeeping environment, with all officers creating and registering their own files and capturing their own records. In 2003, AGD moved to a department-wide electronic records and document management system, known as EDMS. The system is used to manage information at document level; not as a file registry system.

AGD plans to upgrade in early 2008 to capitalise on new software features, particularly workflow and document assembly capability.

Culturally, there have been many challenges in managing the transition to the EDMS, which began in 2003. In 2007 it is accepted across the department and has high level support.

The Department's vision is to move to a digital environment, or as close as possible, through a strategy called ‘All Work On-Line'. This will not completely remove the existence of paper files, due to security considerations. Due to the increase in business functions in the department that deal with criminal and terrorist activities, there is an increased need to transmit and capture highly classified information. These records are held in secure
network systems, or printed to paper, with metadata about them captured into the corporate recordkeeping system.

Approach to recordkeeping

The Recordkeeping Policy focuses on the EDMS, as the corporate recordkeeping system. It stipulates corporate records should be captured into this system. Since the ANAO Audit this year, the policy has been modified to better accommodate other IT business systems, where some of the information held may constitute records.

These records can be maintained in these separate systems, once their recordkeeping requirements have been assessed and the identified risks addressed. This is a consultative process with the business area, the IT development team and the Information and Document Management Section.

The Information Services branch has developed the Knowledge and Information Framework (KIF). This places recordkeeping as a critical component of managing and using AGD information and knowledge assets. Components of the framework are strategies for:

• Knowledge Management
• Information Management
• Web
• E-Publishing
• Flexible Learning
• Intellectual Property Management
• IT Strategic Plan

AGD has drafted policies using guidance developed by NAA. AGD has a digital NAP Policy, which provides for deletion of documents out of the EDMS. AGD does not use its Business Classification Scheme as a file titling mechanism; it uses a records classification scheme, mapped to the Business Classification Scheme, for classification and sentencing.

The Department utilises AS and ISO records and information standards where appropriate, in particular AS/ISO 15489, and has representation in the wider records standards development process. This is through representation on the Australian Standards Committee for Records Management IT21 and participation in the International Standards Committee for Records & Archives ISO TC46 SC11 and an international standards working group for an ISO standard for long term preservation of digital records.

Full DIRKS coverage was achieved for the Department in 2002. However, a number of new functions have been added since that time and these are currently undergoing DIRKS assessment. AGD uses its current RDA and AFDA for sentencing.

Structure and Resources for records management

The branch structure co-locates areas managing the information created in the Department. This is the Information Services Branch, encompassing Information and Document Management, Library Services, Web Services and Knowledge Management. These areas work together closely and support clients collaboratively.

A team of nine full time staff manage the paper and electronic records created and captured in the Department and deliver training and advice. We also support a dedicated EDMS Help Desk. There is a strong collaborative relationship with the ICT branch, giving infrastructure and technical support to the EDMS.

Training and awareness

All AGD officers must undertake a comprehensive training session to be able to access and use the corporate recordkeeping system. The training delivery, development of training courses and materials are undertaken in-house.

All AGD officers must also attend a session entitled Understanding Your Public Service Accountabilities, which has a section devoted to the legislative and regulatory framework of records management and their obligations as public servants. This has been extremely useful in getting the recordkeeping responsibility message across the department.

Customised training sessions, in both electronic and paper records management, are developed as required and at each EDMS upgrade. The longer term objective is to systematically deliver these across all divisions of the Department at regular intervals.

Paper and Electronic records management and challenges

The EDMS manages a hybrid environment of electronic and paper. Managing email and records held on shared drives are challenges for the Department, with some shared drives already rendered read-only. This allows access to information contained in shared drive folders and reinforces the EDMS as the appropriate repository for corporate records.

The EDMS is a flat file structure and there is a mixed reaction to searching and locating information in EDMS, compared to navigating a folder structure. We have implemented a container with sub-containers to replicate this navigation structure in EDMS. This has been well received across the Department.

A separate network is being developed for a particular workgroup in the Department, with its own discrete EDMS. This gives rise to challenges in managing the corporate records captured into this system.

Many staff travel abroad and working remotely with the EDMS is an issue. This has been overcome to some extent through the use of Citrix and VPN broadband.

All Work on Line

This vision is to manage, as much as possible, all aspects of the Department's business activities digitally. From a records management perspective, initially the major impact of this vision will be scanning all appropriate paper documents into the EDMS. The objective of the scanning project is to facilitate greater efficiencies and flexibility, by enabling staff to access corporate records electronically.

The current ad hoc scanning practices and workflows across the Department are being examined along with the ability to automatically scan, on a large scale, into EDMS to develop a best practice, consistent approach to scanning across the Department. The project will identify the criteria for scanning of legacy records and active records in on and off-site holdings and determine the management of source records.

Overall this will reduce paper file management and create efficiencies in storage costs. It will also increase staff access to records from multiple locations, as well as the control, tracking and auditing of these assets. The move to a complete digital environment will incur a major cultural shift in the Department and require significant measures to be in place to manage this change.

An upgrade, in conjunction with scanning, will enable the Department to capitalise on electronic workflow and electronic document management to manage business processes online.

Approximately 50% of the records created by the Department are deemed RNA or Retain Permanently. The All Work On Line strategy raises long term digital preservation challenges in maintaining the records in a range of systems, either for transfer to the National Archives or to be retained permanently within the Department.

Answer the following as a written discussion:

• What is a DIRKS and how has the DIRKS methodology been applied by the Attorney-
General's Department.

• In your discussion, outline key provisions of standards relevant to recordkeeping and legislative and regulatory contexts as applicable to the Attorney-General's Department.

• How has the Department implemented systems of control, applied records continuum theories and mandated ownership of business processes. Undertake further research to outline recordkeeping policies, strategies, functions and structures applied by the department.

• Discuss what the applicable learning from the Attorney-General's Department records framework implementation is to a range of business organisations.

Attachment:- Recordkeeping System Case Study.rar