Raising awareness of recordkeeping responsibilities
Learn how to raise awareness of recordkeeping responsibilities within your organisation and understand the importance of the ongoing promotion of recordkeeping responsibilities.
Public sector organisations in NSW have records management obligations under the State Records Act 1998. To achieve these obligations, organisations rely on employees fulfilling their recordkeeping responsibilities to create and maintain full and accurate records of the work they are involved with and the decisions they make, including the reasons for those decisions.
Raising awareness of individual recordkeeping responsibilities within the organisation is an ongoing process to ensure that recordkeeping is being done correctly and consistently. A combination of the following key actions will help raise awareness of, and compliance with, recordkeeping responsibilities in your organisation.
Foster a recordkeeping culture
The most effective way to raise awareness of recordkeeping responsibilities and encourage good recordkeeping practices within your organisation is to foster a recordkeeping and compliance culture, where good recordkeeping practices are seen to be an integral and valued part of business operations, rather than just a compulsory activity done to meet compliance requirements.
This needs to be endorsed and supported by the senior executive, who should be actively seen to be leading by example and setting the expectations around recordkeeping practices within the organisation. Understand more about the recordkeeping roles of executives at Recordkeeping for chief executives and Recordkeeping for senior responsible officers.
Develop clear recordkeeping policies, procedures, business rules, and practices
Recordkeeping policies, procedures, business rules, and practices need to be clear, consistent and easy to understand. They should be endorsed at the senior executive level and made easily available and accessible to all staff. Further information about creating a records and information management policy is available from State Records NSW.
Recordkeeping responsibilities should be clearly detailed and assigned in recordkeeping policies and procedures as well as being incorporated into role descriptions, codes of conduct, service agreements and contracts, and individual performance plans.
Provide thorough and ongoing recordkeeping training
Education on the importance and value of good recordkeeping, including examples of the problems that poor recordkeeping practices can cause, should be intentional, thorough and ongoing.
Training should detail the recordkeeping responsibilities and obligations of public office employees as well as covering practical details of how to create, archive, and protect records and where to store them. Training should be delivered by trainers with a sound understanding of good recordkeeping practices.
Recordkeeping training needs to extend beyond staff inductions to also be part of specific awareness programs and ongoing corporate training.
State Records NSW offers online training and resources that provide an introduction to good recordkeeping, suitable for all employees.
Use effective systems to support recordkeeping activities
Systems that have records and information management as a considered component of the system, or embedded into the design of the system, enable employees to easily create and capture records, as well as having appropriate functionality to ensure the safe management and storage of records. Recordkeeping activities that are user-friendly and integrated into workplace systems are less onerous to use and more likely to be utilised by staff.
Collaboration and clear communication between the Records Management and ICT teams is essential to ensure that business systems are functional, secure, and compliant with the organisations recordkeeping and retention requirements. Records Management teams are responsible for identifying, understanding and communicating the business information needs of the organisation. ICT have responsibility for designing, implementing and maintaining the systems used to create, store and dispose of records in accordance with these business information needs.
State Records NSW offers a checklist for assessing business systems for recordkeeping and advice on the information management considerations when developing systems.
Ensure continuous monitoring and improvement
Regular monitoring of recordkeeping processes, including internal process and system audits, should be undertaken to ensure that records are being created and properly managed. This helps to prevent irregularities, identify problems and ensure appropriate corrective action is taken early.
Ongoing monitoring also helps to embed good recordkeeping practices, measure progress of the organisation’s records management strategy and initiatives, and identify ways to improve efficiencies in recordkeeping activities.
Public offices can use the Records Management Assessment Tool (RMAT) for monitoring business units and organisation-wide records management. Public offices are required to submit their RMAT self-assessments for the mandatory biennial Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise conducted by State Records NSW to assess records management and recordkeeping maturity and compliance.