For the Record - May 2026
2026 Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise; July 2026 Records Managers Forum; Spotlight on Agency Services’ visits and tours; revised and new guidance and retention and disposal authorities.
ISSN 1321-6260 May 2026 - No 176
This issue:
- 2026 Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise
- Save the date: July Records Managers Forum
- Records Retention and Disposal Authorities
- Revised and new guidance
Museums of History NSW Agency Services Spotlight
2026 Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise
Thank you to all the public offices that have participated in this year’s Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise (RME).
We have now commenced the verification process and contacted the public offices selected for sampling.
Results of the RME will be published in the 2026 State of recordkeeping in NSW report on our website by the end of July. The report will provide the overall records management maturity score for the jurisdiction as well as summary level information about the results of each question. The report will also list the public offices that did not make a submission to the RME.
For public offices that participated in the RME, individual scorecards benchmarking performance against whole-of-government and similar public office types will be sent to chief executives and senior responsible officers (SRO) before the end of Q1 2026–27.
If your organisation has or expects to have a new chief executive or SRO, please let us know their contact details at govrec@staterecords.nsw.gov.au
Save the date: July Records Managers Forum
Our next Records Managers Forum will be held online at 10–11:30am on Tuesday, 28 July 2026.
During this forum, we will discuss the results of the 2026 Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise and general observations from the verification process.
A separate email will be sent to public office records management contacts closer to the date with registration information.
Records Retention and Disposal Authorities
The Board of the State Records Authority NSW recently approved:
- new disposal authority for Aboriginal Affairs NSW, The Officer of the Registrar for Aboriginal Land Rights 1983 and Aboriginal Languages Trust
- amended disposal authority for Service NSW
The new and revised disposal authorities are available on our Records retention and disposal authorities webpage.
Revised and new guidance
State Records NSW is reviewing guidance on the website, to ensure it is kept up to date and answers frequently asked questions.
We have recently created new guidance for:
- Electronic Document and Records Management Systems (EDRMS) - Learn the importance of using an EDRMS to promote good recordkeeping and meet compliance regulations in your organisation.
- Using productivity platforms as a records management system - Understand the risks and requirements that cloud-based productivity platforms such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace should address to be used as a records management system.
- Microsoft 365 as a records management system - Understand the risks, requirements and configurations that Microsoft 365 and its programs like SharePoint should address if managing records in-place or as a records management system.
We have updated our guidance on text and instant messages as business records to provide additional guidance on messaging apps that have 'disappearing' messages like Signal.
Museums of History NSW: Agency Services |
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Agency Services Spotlight: VisitsThinking about transferring records to the State Archives Collection but not sure where to begin? Concerned about the condition of your records or curious about what happens once they become part of the Collection? The Agency Services team can support you through the transfer process. We can visit your location to review records and provide advice or meet remotely if you’re based in a regional office. We also welcome records and information teams to visit the Western Sydney Records Centre (Kingswood) for a tour of the facility. To arrange a visit or tour, please contact Agency Services at transfer@mhnsw.au |