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A Report on Recordkeeping in the APS

The Commissioner

Lynelle Briggs
Lynelle Briggs is the Public Service Commissioner. She has held this position since November 2004.

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31 August 2007

Good morning

I am pleased to welcome you to the launch of the latest Management Advisory Committee Report, Note for file: A report on recordkeeping in the APS.

The location of this launch and the impressive display around us reinforces the importance of keeping our records of value. But recordkeeping is not just about preserving our history—it is also about ensuring we have the information, tools and system that allow us to operate effectively in the present, and into the future.

Importance of recordkeeping

At work and at home we are bombarded with information. Our modern environment is characterised by both complexity of information and the sheer volume of material that we need to process and manage.

How we manage this information has a direct impact on how well our organisations perform. Clearly, effective, efficient and practical recordkeeping practices are a key element in good governance and overall corporate health. Agencies with ineffective information management systems and poor knowledge transfer can be at risk of poor performance.

Given the incidents in some public sector agencies—and some private sector ones too—where poor recordkeeping has been a factor in high profile organisational failures, it is important for APS leaders to focus on establishing effective information management systems and identifying possible problem areas.

Effective recordkeeping is also important in supporting the ethical framework of the APS provided through the APS Values and the Code of Conduct. The Values, together with the Code, play an important role in defining key behaviours linked to performance. APS employees are required to:

be openly accountable
be apolitical and professional
be responsive to government
achieve results and manage performance
act with care and diligence, and
use Commonwealth resources in a proper manner.

How can we measure ourselves against these standards if we do not keep appropriate records?

I am confident that the APS as a whole is conscious of the importance of recordkeeping.

I was heartened by the findings from the 2005–06 State of the Service Report which showed that 90 per cent of APS agencies had taken some measures to improve recordkeeping in the last year and that 87 per cent of employees believed that their agency considered good recordkeeping to be very important. However, the Report also identified some challenges. Employees had mixed views about the success of their agency’s recordkeeping efforts. Many feel that, considering their work demands, they do not have enough time to meet their recordkeeping responsibilities. There was also limited evidence that agencies are dealing with the challenge of electronic recordkeeping effectively.

Last year, the Management Advisory Committee identified a need to focus on current recordkeeping arrangements and to provide practical advice to agencies to help them handle the increasing scale of information management. Note for File examines what recordkeeping is, and why it is important that we do it well. One of its most important messages is that in managing records we need to make some hard decisions—Is this record of value? Do we need to keep it? Where should we store it? How long should I keep it?

The report has a practical focus, emphasising that not all documents created in the APS are of high value or need to be managed corporately. Instead, it focuses on ‘important or useful’ records that are of real importance to our business and accountability requirements. To complement the report, there are eight case studies on the MAC website that provide practical examples of how agencies are tackling the challenges of good recordkeeping.

One of the reasons agencies have struggled with recordkeeping in recent times has been that the Designing and Implementing Record Keeping Systems process (DIRKS) to obtain a records authority has been very complex and resource intensive. To their credit, the Archives have acknowledged these issues and have developed an approach that will be much quicker and practical for agencies. We will hear more about the revised DIRKS and a range of new Archives products to assist agencies shortly. Together with the latest MAC report, these will be valuable tools for individual employees and for recordkeeping specialists alike, and I welcome their release today.

Appropriate recordkeeping is essential in the modern APS. At the whole of government level, we need to ensure that we have the best possible framework in place. Agency heads and corporate leaders need to ensure that practical systems are developed and implemented. The onus, however, is on every APS employee from the agency head down to the newest recruit to incorporate good recordkeeping practices in their day to day work.

To help you do this, the Commission has developed a new learning and development programme in support of the findings of this report. The programme is specifically targeted to executive level managers who have responsibility for implementing policies related to recordkeeping and who assign information management responsibilities.

The course content has been aligned to the findings of the MAC report and will ensure managers receive the most up to date information ensuring consistent and supported record keeping practices.

A copy of the flyer promoting this new programme is available this morning where you collect your copy of the MAC report.

I encourage all agencies to improve recordkeeping for the good of the agency and for the good of the APS.

Recognition and thanks

I want to offer my thanks to the project team, led by Jeremy O’Sullivan, who worked in the Commission to produce the report and to Geoff Leeper and the members of the Deputy Secretary Steering Committee who guided the project. I would also like to thank those MAC members who provided staff and advice for this project and contributed case studies—and the National Archives for hosting this launch.

Introductions to speakers

I now invite Dr Shergold to speak. Dr Shergold is the Chairman of the Management Advisory Committee and the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and has a longstanding interest in improving the efficiency, responsiveness and accountability of the APS.

Dr Shergold.

Mr Ross Gibbs has been the Director-General of the National Archives of Australia since 2003. Mr Gibbs was a member of the Deputy Secretary Steering Committee for this report and will discuss some of the new Archive products available to assist agencies with recordkeeping.

Mr Gibbs.

That concludes the formal part of the launch. I would like to thank both speakers for their contributions. The MAC report and the summary guide will be available on the MAC website this afternoon along with the case studies.

You are welcome to take a copy of the report and the summary guide as you leave. The MAC Secretariat will be sending copies of the report and summary guide to all agency heads and SES employees next week and will arrange for distribution of further copies of the summary guide in accordance with your orders.

Thank you for attending. I invite you to stay for light refreshments which are being served in the room behind us and to take the opportunity to view some of the products on display.

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