Archiving your website

Once migration of content to nsw.gov.au is complete, agencies must follow relevant record keeping requirements when archiving content or decommissioning its website.

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Agency responsibilities 

Agencies, as content owners, are responsible for the storage and archiving of their own content for records management purposes. 

Agencies have their own specific retention and disposal authorities, listed on the State Records website. They must manage government records and information in line with:

  • the State Records Act 1998
  • general retention and disposal authorities
  • their organisation’s information management policy.

When content is ready to be decommissioned, agencies should refer to their records management advisors for guidance on: 

  • the types of digital information that should be retained  
  • how long the record needs to be retained for  
  • the best format for record keeping. 

Example approaches to web content retention and disposal

There may be specific requirements on retention and disposal for your agency, which take precedence over these examples.

Content typeRetention or disposal actionReference
General promotional or explanatory information about the organisation, its services and activities
 

Destroyed once the information is withdrawn, superseded or reference use ceases.

Not retained on the website or in the content management system as a State Record. 

Community Relations (2.14.2)
Media releases

The media release that has been issued (email or PDF) should be retained as a State Record in the agency’s records management system.

Not retained on the website or in the content management system as a State Record. 

Community Relations (2.15.1)
Advertising campaign landing pagesSave the campaign landing pages as a PDF and retained in the agency’s records management system for a minimum of 2 years after the campaign has ended, then destroy.Publication (17.11.1)
Translated contentSave a copy of the translated content in the agency’s records management system until superseded, updated or ceases to be of administrative or reference use, then destroy.Publication (17.15.7

Where an organisation has very high risk functions, full or partial ‘snapshots’ of their websites may be necessary for accountability purposes. The frequency of these should be determined by an analysis of business needs. The level of risk and public exposure, the extent to which external stakeholders are reliant on the accuracy of the information, and how often the information changes are factors for consideration. The disposal of any snapshots should be covered in the organisation’s functional retention and disposal authority.

Read more on the State Records website

When in doubt, agencies should keep an archive of their website content in a Web ARChive (.warc) format, in the agency’s records management system, such as TRIM or Objective.Agencies should be prepared to recover records of archived content, in case a member of the public makes an informal or formal information request.

The nsw.gov.au web archive

The State Library of NSW captures snapshots of NSW Government websites over time. 

For websites that are migrated as part of OneCX, the nsw.gov.au team will contact the State Library of NSW to capture a final snapshot of the website before it is shut down. 

State Records resources

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