Meeting held 31^st May, 2000

Victorian Archives Conference Room

112 Macaulay Rd, North Melbourne

Minutes

Welcome/Apologies

Ross Gibbs, Chair, opened the meeting and welcomed the 69 members present.

Apologies from: Annette Katiforis, Alison McNulty, Shirley Morgan, Fiona Ross, Helen Scully, Ricky Tuck, Cate Vautier

Confirmation of Minutes (17/02/99)

Moved: Duncan Hartwig

Confirmed: Tracey Manallack

PROV News: Lucy Burrows, PROV.

Lucy advised members that nominations will be called upon for the prestigious Sir Rupert Hamer Records Management Awards 2000. This year there will be four award categories and details for nominations will be available soon. The awards presentation will take place in October, to coincide with Archives and Records management Week. The Australian Society of Archivists’ conference will be held in Melbourne for the first time since 1993. Entitled "Beyond the Screen: Capturing Corporate and Social Memory" , it takes place from 16 to 19 August.

PROV News: Ross Gibbs, Director PROV.

Ross advised members that changes have been made to PROV’s courier service. A FAQ sheet was made available to members present to provide information on the changes that have taken place. Ross opened discussion with members about the courier service, and suggestions made by members were noted. Suggestions related to the packaging of records, the issue of fragile documents, and the number of records issued per delivery.

Ross also informed members of recent developments with proposed Standards to be issued in the near future. Disposal Schedules for records of the Department of Infrastructure and Water Authorities will be presented to the Public Records Advisory Council (PRAC) in June for approval. Disposals Schedules for Titles and Central Plan Office records are currently awaiting responses from the agencies involved and are expected to be presented to PRAC later in the year.

Work Placement Records: Tracey Manallack, RMN Coordinator.

Following recent queries about the status of personnel records for work experience employees, Tracey broached the subject with members present. She advised that these records have the same status as personnel records for full time employees, and as such are required to be maintained for 35 years after the employee’s departure from the agency, in accordance with class 5.4.2 of the General Disposal Schedule for Common Administrative Records, Version 2000.

Legislation Updates: Ben Clemens, Multimedia Victoria

An essential part of modern records management is keeping abreast of current legislation which effects it. Ben provided an update on legislative developments relating to electronic transactions and information privacy. In October 1998, the Commonwealth Government sought State and Territory Agreement to develop uniform legislation through the Standing Committee of Attorneys General. The Standing Committee endorsed the uniform State and Territory Electronic Transactions Bill in March 2000. Identical Bills have been passed in Victoria and New South Wales, and other States/Territories are expected to follow suit. The legislation aims to remove legal obstacles in conducting electronic transactions by allowing the giving, recording or signing of documents electronically. In all cases it would be conditional that the document be readily accessible for subsequent reference. In some cases a reliable assurance of the integrity of the document and its contents will also be required.

Ben also spoke about the Victorian Information Privacy Bill. The Bill aims to establish a regime for the responsible collection and handling of personal information in the Victorian Public Service. It seeks to balance the public interest in the free flow of information with the public interest in protecting privacy of personal information in the public sector.

GST for Record Managers: Graham Dicker, Department of Treasury and Finance

Records managers and staff alike had barely enough time to breathe a sigh of relief after the exorcism of the Y2K bug, when they were faced with yet another major issue – the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on July 1. Graham spoke to members about the implications GST will have on records managers. Firstly, he pointed out that given the savings that will be available to Government from the abolition of wholesale sales tax, budgets for agencies will shrink accordingly and records managers may be forced to deal with smaller budgets. In light of this, managers need to identify embedded tax savings and be able to negotiate prices for post July 1. One area of expenditure where this will be difficult is for consultants and contractors fees. There are not many savings available here because the tax savings available apply only to goods, rather than the services supplied by a consultant. Graham suggests monitoring the marketplace for new prices with contracts if unsure about the right price.

Above all, budgeting with the GST is going to be a waiting game. Agencies will need to wait and see what happens with costings after July 1 in order to maintain realistic budgets. Meanwhile agencies should continue to negotiate hard with suppliers so that they can be able to prove that they attempted to identify embedded tax savings. Graham told members that he will make himself available for the next RMN meeting in August to advise of further developments.

VERS Standard for the Management of Electronic Records:

PROV launched the Standard for the Management of Electronic Records (PROS 99/007) in April 2000. The Standard incorporates the Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS). Justine, Howard and Ross discussed the Standard and its impact on Government agencies.

Justine gave members an outline of the key components of the Standard. It applies to all Victorian Government agencies, and applies to permanent records in PROV custody. The Standard introduces VERS, provides general information on managing electronic records over time, and provides general principals of long term preservation. Justine spoke about the three specifications accompanying the Standard which deal with system specifications, metadata, and technical information about formats, storage media, digital signatures and so on. Howard and Ross spoke to members about the implementation of the Standard, and the incorporation of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) in the Standard. Ultimately XML meets all the requirements of the Standard, including longevity, direct readability in ASCII, verifiability , has a flexible structure that supports multiple documents, and the ability to find and view original documents. Copies of the standard are available at the PROV website, and further information about the VERS project can be found at www.prov.vic.gov.au/vers/.

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Meeting Closed: 11: 45 am

Next Meeting: Wednesday, 23 August 2000

RMN webpage: www.prov.vic.gov.au (Services to Government section)

Any queries regarding the RMN can be directed to

Tracey Manallack: ( 93485 5613, fax 9348 5656, Tracey.Manallack@dpc.vic.gov.au

Duncan Hartwig: ( 93348 5646, fax 9348 5656, Duncan.Hartwig@dpc.vic.gov.au

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