Appraising records retention and disposal requirements

Research and surveys

To ensure a complete and accurate RDA, your research and analysis should cover:

• The organisation’s business and operating context including:
  • the roles and responsibilities of your organisation
  • its unique functions and activities
  • the regulatory environment or framework within which it operates and
  • its relationships with other organisation’s and external stakeholders.
• The records, data and information resources created, maintained and relied on by the organisation and the associated retention and disposal requirements.
  • This may need to include research and analysis of both current and past recordkeeping practices and systems.
• Administrative changes over time.
  • Your organisation could be responsible for ‘legacy’ records documenting a function or activity that is no longer performed or has significantly changed but that are still required to be covered under an RDA. 

Ensure proper documentation is captured throughout the project to account for decisions made in the RDA process and to assist in future reviews of the authority

Surveying 

Records practices, holdings and systems

Surveying current recordkeeping practices and systems will help you to understand the range of records and information management systems created and maintained by your organisation requiring disposal authorisation. 

It is important to:

• survey your organisation’s various business systems and recordkeeping systems.
  • Not all records may be managed in a centralised records or document management system.
• talk to operational staff about the types of records they create, use, capture and maintain in their day-to-day operations.
  • Ask about their knowledge of how these practices may have changed over time.
• remember to only focus on functional records that are unique to your organisation and not already covered by existing general RDAs.
• identify records that are currently created as well as any legacy records. This may include:
  • active, semi-active and inactive records or information resources and systems
  • records held on any medium, and  
  • records held in any location (onsite, off-site, online, off-line, in regional offices or in centralised or distributed storage, including off site commercial storage facilities). 

If you have any difficulty identifying the extent or limits of the coverage provided by existing authorities, please contact State Records NSW for assistance.  

Transactional processes

Understanding the transactional processes that make up various business activities will assist the identification of records retention and disposal requirements.

Example: As part of its core business, an organisation is required to develop procedures that regulate the conduct of activities of a particular industry sector. 

To undertake this activity it:

• undertakes background research
• produces draft versions of the procedures
• circulates these draft versions for external consultation
• produces final versions of the procedures,
• submits the final versions to the Minister for approval and, once approved,
• issues, promotes and provides advice on the use of the procedures across the industry sector.

These various processes produce a number of different records:

• initial background reference and research material
• various draft versions of procedures circulated within the organisation for comment and associated feedback and comments
• a consultation draft that is circulated to industry participants and made available for public comment
• comments or submissions received from industry participants or the public on the draft procedures
• records analysing, reporting on and making recommendations for amendment of the draft procedures in response to comments received from industry and public consultation processes
• final versions of the procedures and their approval
• records documenting the issue and promotion of the procedures
• records of advice provided to industry participants or the general public about responsibility and requirements for implementing and complying with the procedures.

These records will not necessarily all have the same retention requirements after the approval and issue of the final version of the procedures.

Identify records retention requirements

Retention requirements are rules or conditions that affect the length of time records need to be kept and the final disposal of records. They provide the reasons for maintaining, transferring or destroying public records.

Records support business processes and decisions. Records are also kept ensuring organisations are accountable to government, courts of law, stakeholders, clients, the community and future generations.

A failure to meet records retention requirements may result in:

• inefficiency and inability to properly conduct or carry out the organisation’s functional responsibilities
• poor customer service, and/or
• negative perceptions of your organisation among its stakeholders (Minister, other government agencies, industry sectors and client base) or the general public because it is unable to account for its decisions or actions
• penalties or prosecution.

There are 3 main types of retention requirements:

1. regulatory requirements
2. business needs for information, and
3. community expectations.

1. Regulatory requirements 

These are imposed upon your organisation by laws, regulations, whole-of-government policies, directives, standards or similar instruments. Regulatory requirements will be most common for business activities or operations that are tightly controlled or monitored.

These types of requirements can sometimes be identified in: 

• documentary sources, such as legislation establishing the organisation
• in legislation or regulations administered by it or in legislation
• regulations that specifically regulates the conduct of particular activities or provision of services
• standards, codes of practice, manuals, handbooks, and guidelines, with which an organisation is required to comply. 

Operational staff who understand the organisation's regulatory environment can assist in identifying these. Information about regulatory requirements may also be documented in operating policies and procedures.

Example: This extract from the Workers Compensation Act 1987 provides an example of a regulatory retention requirement:

s.174 Records relating to wages, contracts to be kept and supplied

An employer shall keep correct records of: 

a) all wages paid to workers employed by the employer

b) the trade, occupation or calling of each such worker, and 

c) such other matters relating to those wages (or otherwise relevant to the calculation of premiums payable under policies of insurance) as may be prescribed by the regulations. 

An employer shall retain any such record in good order and condition for at least 5 years after the last entry was made in the record. 

2. Business needs 

Business needs are internal requirements that result from the activities and business processes of your organisation. They specify what information is necessary for the organisation to carry out its operational work and responsibilities. These types of requirements generally need to be identified in consultation with staff who understand your organisation's operations or a particular business process. 

Example: Staff from a public office compile monthly statistics about training courses and consolidated statistics of training courses delivered, number of attendees, etc., are also reported on in the annual report. The monthly statistics are relied upon to compile the figures for the annual report, therefore staff need to be able to refer to the monthly reports at least until the annual report has been compiled and potentially for some time after its submission to the Minister in case any queries arise concerning the figures.

Asking the following questions of business units or operational staff may assist in determining business needs for these records:

• Why are the records created?
• How long are the records active for (that is, when is a matter is considered finalised)? How long are the records needed for reference or ongoing use?
• Do any other business units also use the records? When and for what purposes?
• Who might also need to use or refer to the records in the future (for example, clients, accreditation bodies or other organisations)?

3. Community expectations 

Community expectations are external requirements that are expressed by specific client groups or other parties with an interest in your organisation's business. They indicate the concerns, demands or assumptions of stakeholders regarding the availability of information about an organisation's activities.

These types of requirements may be articulated in sources such as minutes or proceedings of consultative committee, advisory boards or councils, debates in parliament, reports or recommendations of formal Inquiries, media items, customer feedback forms and letters of complaint, Ministerials.

Community expectations can also be revealed through interviews with staff who work in a particular area of business activity or through consultation with stakeholders and community representatives.

Example: 'Students have an expectation that we will be able to re-issue a qualification or statement of attainment if required, so we implement procedures to ensure that sufficient information on student results is retained for their potential working life.'

Determining retention requirements for business processes

To determine the retention requirements that relate to business processes and the associated records, identify the steps that make up the business process and the purpose of the records created or received at the various stages of the business process. ie. why are these records created and what are they used for? 

It is important to remember that the retention periods you recommend in the authority identify the minimum amount of time that records will be kept for, after which the need for their ongoing retention should be assessed. 

A disposal authority does not require the destruction of records, it is a records management tool to ensure records retention practices meet organisational need for records and information. Records always should be retained for longer periods when a need is identified.

Undertake proper documentation throughout the project to account for decisions made in the RDA and to assist in future reviews of the authority. Justifications for records retention decisions are also required as part of the supporting documentation for submission of an authority. 

See Drafting the Authority for more information about justifications and providing these as part of the submission for approval. 

Develop disposal classes

Once you have determined retention requirements, you can group records under each function/activity into classes or categories of records of related transactional processes that have the same minimum retention period and disposal action.

Example: An organisation creates a number of different records as part of developing internal operating procedures to support its core business. The organisation determines that records relating to the drafting of the procedures have a shorter retention requirement than the final procedures themselves. Therefore, the records may be divided into 2 disposal classes:

• records relating to the development and review of procedures. This includes records of background research, records of consultation with business unit stakeholders regarding content of the procedures and draft versions of procedures developed and circulated for review and comment.
• the final versions of procedures that are approved and issued for use and related correspondence or advice accompanying the issue or implementation of the procedures regarding who the procedures apply to and responsibilities for their implementation.

Identify disposal triggers

Disposal triggers identify the event from which the minimum retention period for a class of records is calculated.  

The interpretation and implementation of disposal triggers should be guided by procedures and monitored to ensure retention and disposal requirements are being appropriately understood and applied and records are not at risk of being destroyed before their authorised disposal dates. 

Disposal triggers follow a basic formula:

• Retain minumum x years after x, then destroy.

Example: Retain minimum of 1 years after expiry or renewal of licence, then destroy.

Where possible, disposal triggers should reference a specific event such as:

• after finalisation of a specific process, e.g. finalisation of a decision making or appeal process, finalisation of a matter, or after final settlement or withdrawal of claim
• after date of birth of an applicant, employee, claimant
• after date of commencement of employment
• after expiry/fulfillment of all terms and conditions of a contract or agreement
• after expiry/suspension/cancellation of a licence/permit/authorisation
• after superseded, or
• after action completed.

Using a specific event as a trigger minimises the risk of confusion or misinterpretation  and makes it easier to calculate the date of disposal.

Some disposal triggers may have more than one trigger as there may be records that will need to be kept for a longer or shorter period depending on how the business process is finalised.

Example: Retain minimum of 7 years after expiry or termination of agreement or after action completed, whichever is later, then destroy

Where there isn't a specific known event that can be used as a trigger, 'after action completed' is often used.  As this will refer to the last time the record was used as part of the business process.

Low-risk records, such as contact lists or administrative arrangements like venue bookings, may not need to be kept to meet regulatory requirements or provide evidence of business processes. These records can use a disposal trigger that does not meet a minimum time period but rather be destroyed when no longer used.

Example: Retain until administrative or reference use ceases, then destroy. 

Identify records required as State archives

Retention and disposal authorities identify records required as State archives. State Records NSW' appraisal policy, Building the Archives, sets out broad objectives as to the type of records that are required as State archives. Use this policy to guide you in formulating recommendations as to which of your organisation's records should be retained as State archives.

In summary, the objectives outlined in the policy are:

If you feel that a group of records should be classed as State archives then nominate them as such in the authority and include appropriate justifications and background information to support your recommendation. Before nominating any class of records for retention as State archives, organisations should check the quality of the records and the information they contain. 

Be aware that State Records NSW may have a different view to your organisation as to which records should be required as State archives. State Records NSW assesses the value of records in the context of the whole of the NSW public sector and may not require a record from one organisation where we know that a more concise or significant record of the same activity is to be retained as a State archive by a related organisation.