Welcome/Apologies

Ross Gibbs, Chair, opened the meeting and welcomed the 60 members present.

Apologies from: Peter White, Joe Davide, Graeme Tucker, Tim Newbegin, Julie Murray, Lexie O'Grady, Russell Thomas, Tony Johnson, Mick Fischer, Tom Curtain, Julie McCormack, Cate Elkner, Emma Toon and Phillipa Nelson.

Confirmation of Minutes (17/02/99)

Moved: Stuart Allen. Seconded: Carolyn Stephens.

RMN Housekeeping

Lucy Burrows, RMN Executive Officer, advised members that the membership list is updated and available on the website or in hard copy from Lucy. Ross Gibbs, Director PROV, informed members that membership figures have continued to increase with over 200 members currently registered with RMN.

Sir Rupert Hamer Award 1999

Darryl O'Callaghan, PROV, announced that a committee has been established to organise the 1999 Sir Rupert Hamer Records Management Awards, which will be presented in November. The committee will convene on a monthly basis as of May 1999. Darryl again encouraged members to nominate their organisation, and he will be making further announcements at the RMAA State Seminar later this month, and at future RMN meetings. He also advised that further updates can be found in upcoming editions of PROfile, Victorian Public Service Notices, as well as the PROV website (www.prov.vic.gov.au)

Patient Information Disposal Schedule

Carolyn gave a history of the schedule, which was developed in liaison with the PROV. The Schedule was recently approved by the Public Records Advisory Council (PRAC), and will be issued on the 19^th May and launched on 7^th June. The Schedule’s development included detailed research on legal obligations, current professional opinions, community obligations, and legal requirements. Carolyn provided details of the Schedule’s approval process, and the information campaign that will take place once the schedule is released.

Irene provided an account of the (RAPID) project. Information on this project can be found on the web at http:/hna.ffh.vic.gov.au.

Outsourcing Experience

To highlight the implications that outsourcing of Government functions has on records management, Mike Tinsley introduced the forum by asking the following questions – who owns the records relating to a particular function once it has been outsourced? When contracts are being renewed, does the current service provider have an advantage because they are already privy to records of the business operations? What happens to Government records once a function is outsourced to a number of different private organisations?

Rob Fearnside (Education) spoke about the functions of school audit and review, both of which are outsourced by the Department of Education. He explained that by adding clauses to service provider contracts which recognise that the Department are the custodians of any records that are created in relation to the outsourced function. Further clauses in contracts recognise that the Department claims ownership of all intellectual property utilised by service providers, and the confidentiality of the information relating to audit and review functions. Rob provided members present with sample clauses.

Hanan Garnali (CSC) and Tom Hotchin (MCC) contributed details of outsourcing strategies from their organisations’ perspective. Both speakers reinforced the importance of contract clauses for confidentiality and ownership of intellectual property. Hanan added that service providers are required to follow certain guidelines with regards to the transfer and retention of Departmental information, while Tom spoke of the importance of maintaining a consistency of records management procedures between Government departments and service providers. These experiences prompted discussion about client – service provider relationships, and the complications that might arise when service providers are in turn required to outsource Government functions.

The session highlighted the lack of resources as the primary difficulty for the lack of monitoring and follow up on the records management provisions in contracts. It was evident from our speakers that while a legal framework exists, records managers, already faced with diminishing resources, are not able to provide the time to review all contracts let by their agency

VERS (Victorian Electronic Records Strategy) Update

Justine reported that the VERS Report is now available at the PROV website in the "What’s New" section. Hard copies were made available to members present, and are available on request from PROV. $4.8M has been allocated to the next stage of the project that involves the implementation of VERS in the Department of Infrastructure. The preliminary planning stages of this project will take place over the next four to six weeks. Implementation will occur over a two-year period and Justine will be working closely with the Department of Infrastructure over this time. Tracey Manallack will now be the PROV contact for the VERS project. A PROV Standard for electronic records management is currently being drafted.

Justine also advised members that the VERS project has received a high amount of media attention recently: in The Age, The Australian, Image and Data Manager and ABC radio. Justine can be contacted on justine.heazlewood@dpc.vic.gov.au and Tracey can be contacted on tracey.manallack@dpc.vic.gov.au

DXF (Data Exchange Function)

George demonstrated the DXF application that has been used by DTF for the past two years. It is an Internet based application that allows DTF to access general ledgers online, and the exchange of financial data between itself and Victorian Government departments, statutory, and corporate bodies. DXF eliminates the use of hard copy documents, standardises information on a single medium. George also demonstrated security measures, user maintenance, access specifications, help functions, monitoring options. George can be contacted for a more thorough demonstration on 9651 2250 or george.agnew@dtf.vic.gov.au

CabNet System

Ursula provided an overview of the benefits of the CabNet system, and explained how the system eliminated the use of multitudes of paper within the office. She talked about the change of culture within the office and the fear of change that people displayed with the introduction of the system. Ursula informed members of the user friendliness, security and audit provisions of the system, as well as the cost savings associated with its introduction. Ursula can be contacted on 9651 5146 or ursula.tursky@dpc.vic.gov.au

Other Business

Suggestions for the next meeting included:

• Department of Human Services – Knowledge Management Systems
• EDMS Experiences
• Imaging Implementation

Any further suggestions of issues/speakers can be forwarded to Lucy or Duncan.

Meeting Closed: 12.05 pm

Next meeting: Wednesday, 11 August 1999