Compliance and Contractors Seminar

Records Management Network Meeting

Tuesday 11^th December 2001

Geelong Historic Records Centre

51 Little Malop Street, Geelong,

10:00 Compliance and Contractors Seminar

2:00 Welcome / Apologies

2:15 "VERS@DoI and Toolkit"

2:55 Afternoon Tea

3:10 "How to Manage Imaging"

3:50 Other Business / Close

RSVP by Wednesday 5^th December 2001

Welcome

Ross Gibbs opened the meeting at 2:15 PM and welcomed the members. The minutes of the previous meeting on 10 October 2001 were confirmed.

"VERS Online Toolkit"

Kathy Sinclair, VERS Project Manager PROV

Kathy Sinclair gave a demonstration of the VERS Online Toolkit, which is due to go live at the end of January 2002. PROV will provide training sessions for Agency staff on the use of the toolkit. The Toolkit has three main purposes:

• as an information portal, providing access and links to information on recordkeeping issues,
• as a step by step guide for achieving VERS compliance in Victorian public sector organisations, including information ranging from high-level overview through to technical specifications, and
• to provide information on the regulatory environment of the Victorian public sector, and how it impacts on recordkeeping.

Kathy talked about the VERS Step by Step guide. Victorian public sector organisations can achieve VERS compliance by using this implementation methodology, which is derived from the National Archives of Australia DIRKS methodology. Under the VERS implementation model, VERS compliance becomes a natural part of the recordkeeping processes within an organisation.

"VERS@DoI"

Howard Quenault, Knowledge Consultant Dept of Infrastructure

Howard Quenault gave a report on the current status of the VERS@DoI project. As the first ‘real-world’ VERS implementation, the DoI project has raised issues which other organisations should consider in any VERS project. An important part of the project is the identification of business processes, as that is where records are generated. It is also necessary to consider what tools (eg. desktop applications, databases) are used to create records. Records capture needs to happen in the electronic environment in order to capture those records that are ‘born electronic’.

Howard emphasised that VERS is a strategy rather than a system, and at DoI the VERS implementation is part of a continuing and long-term recordkeeping project. The job will not end with the VERS implementation, despite some organisational expectation that the project would end with the installation of a product. To ensure continued success, the overall recordkeeping program needs to remain valuable to the business. In the broader context, the VERS project needs to move beyond the DoI pilot to whole-of-Victorian-government applicability. Howard identified key requirements for this next stage, including the establishment of a best practice blueprint and the development of a VERS@PROV repository. Howard outlined the benefits to the state, which include support for government priorities such as development of e-business and improved regional communication.

Howard responded to numerous questions from the floor.

• There has been interest from outside the Victorian government, including some large private companies. Howard anticipates that outside interest will grow as the project progresses.
• Currently digital signatures on VEO’s are at an organisational rather than a personal level as the appropriate infrastructure is not yet in place within the Victorian Government.
• Live records will be loaded into the DoI system during February 2002, so it will be possible to look at the live system in March.
• Staff response at DoI has so far been very positive because it is a user-friendly system. Users only see the VERS interface and not the underlying products (ie. TRIM and Hummingbird).
• Many of the records to be captured are sourced from other systems within the organisation. For example, the Ministerial database is back-ended to the VERS repository.

A copy of Howard’s presentation is available on the RMN website: www.prov.vic.gov.au/events/rmn/rmn.htm

"How to manage imaging"

Paul Kenny, Chief Surveyor Goulburn Murray Water

Paul Kenny gave an overview of the imaging and document management system installed at Goulburn Murray Water. In response to a need for improved productivity within the organisation, Goulburn Murray Water sought to implement an electronic document management system which would manage all documents (incoming and internally generated). Paul talked about the reactions of the workforce to such significant changes, and emphasised the importance of managing cultural change in such an implementation. Ongoing training and communication are very important in the continuing success of the system.

Incoming documents are barcoded and scanned, and some preliminary indexing is done before the document is forwarded to the action officer. For large reports, the only pages scanned are the front, the index and the summary. Internally generated documents are ‘forced’ into the system when the user saves the document. Within the e-mail program the user chooses which messages to save into the system and when – this issue is covered in users’ training. A central part of the Goulburn Murray system is the concept of the knowledge worker. Workers are recognised as having expertise in particular areas, and are therefore responsible for providing information on each document captured into the system. To save documents into the system, the user enters index information into a profile screen and assigns the electronic document to a file in the Records Manager database. Documents can be on the paper file, the electronic file or both.

There was discussion throughout the presentation and questions from the floor at the end.

• The system has been operating for two years. Approximately 500 pages per day are scanned, and the system holds 700K of documents.
• The product Record Manager was chosen because it was the product that best met the needs of the organisation.
• The system can report on the status of a user’s ‘in-tray’, but as there is currently no workflow capability it is not possible to report on documents ‘lost’ between scanning and registration.

A copy of Paul’s presentation is available on the RMN website: www.prov.vic.gov.au/events/rmn/rmn.htm

Update from PROV staff on issues of concern to Agencies

Michael Pummell (Senior Archivist, Agency Services) advised that the new Local Government Disposal Schedule is due for release in late March. The working party is due to meet again in January.

David Brown (Manager, Regulation and Compliance) – tel. 9348 5621 or e-mail david.brown@dpc.vic.gov.au

• The Universities Disposal Schedule is due for release in early 2002. The development of this schedule is an example of a successful consultative arrangement.
• Testing is under way in the PROV Integrated Data Management System (IDMS) Project. There is no immediate effect on staff in Agencies, except for a new Records Description List.
• The final Compliance and Contractors Seminar had been held earlier in the day. The Seminars had been used to raise awareness in relation to the records of contractors and corporatised government bodies. The Seminars have been very successful due to the issues raised and the opportunity for interaction between Agency staff and the PROV. It is expected that the Victorian Government Solicitor will give further advice early 2002 on the legal status of these records.
• PROV Standards and Procedures for Agencies are currently being revised, and it is anticipated that this process will be completed in the first quarter of 2002. If Agency staff have particular issues that they wish to raise then please contact David (details above).
• The proposed Training Strategy and the Training and Activities Program for 2002 will be covered in the next issue of PROfile. The new training program will provide transportable and accessible modules, and will be available from early to mid 2002.

Next meeting

The proposed date for the next meeting is 20 February 2002 at VAb.

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