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Standards for A4 & A3 size document scanning plus the long-term management of born electronic data.



Dear Colleagues:

 

Over the past year or so, there have been various positions put forward in respect to the retention of short and long-term retention period documentation after scanning, and the management of electronic data as archives e.g. Forever type data.

 

The State Records, New South Wales “SRNSW”, the Public Records Office, Victorian “PROV”, the National Archives of Australia “NAA” and the State Records Office of Western Australia “SROWA” have guidelines or have made recommendations in respect to the management and retention of physical documentation after scanning.

 

The State Records, New South Wales Guideline “General Disposal Authority 4 “GDA4”: Records of Short Term Value that have been Imaged” is available on the SRNSW web site at http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/ and then for addition related information you may care to search the site.

 

The Public Records Office, Victoria Guideline “Scanning or Imaging of Records: Advice to Victorian Agencies” is available on the PROV web site at http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/gservice/rms/scanadvice.pdf and then for addition related information you may care to search the site.

 

The National Archives of Australia Guidelines “The Impact of the Evidence Act on Commonwealth Recordkeeping: Records in Evidence - documentand Managing Electronic Records - What is a Record?  plus other guidelines are available on the NAA web site by clicking on either of the highlighted documents and then for addition related information you may care to search the site.

 

The State Records Office of Western Australia have advised in their Newsletter “STATE of the RECORD” Volume 1 Number 1 Winter 2001 in an article on page 4, Evidence Act Amendments that WA Government Agencies should “err on the side of caution by preserving the original records once scanned. That is, the SRO recommends that agencies retain their temporary value records in original format for the full duration of their retention periods as specified in the approved retention and disposal schedule.”

 

The PROV in their Guideline “Scanning or Imaging of Records: Advice to Victorian Agencies” ask the question:

  1. Has the scanning system been designed to ensure that adequate copies of the paper originals are being made?
  2. Are the copies authorised as true and accurate renditions of the original by someone in the organisation in a position of authority?

 

The SRNSW in their guideline “General Disposal Authority 4 “GDA4”: Records of Short Term Value that have been Imaged” advise the following:

2.2 Conditions for the destruction of records

For agencies to be able to legally destroy records of short term value that have been imaged, they must ensure that the conditions for destruction described in this general disposal authority are met. These conditions are that:

  • all requirements for retaining originals have been assessed and fulfilled
  • copies are made which are authentic, complete and accessible, and
  • copies are kept for the authorised retention period.

The NAA in their guideline The Impact of the Evidence Act on Commonwealth Recordkeeping: Records in Evidence - documentadvise the following:

Reviewing recordkeeping practices

As government agencies make increasing use of newer technologies for recordkeeping and information management, such as electronic document management, digital imaging, electronic messaging, workflow management, electronic commerce and other electronic information systems, recordkeeping practices should be reviewed so that agencies continue to produce and capture records which are authentic, reliable, and accurate for legal, audit, and other purposes.

I personally have investigated this issues involved with the management of electronic data which is either, born electronic or resulted from the scanning of documents into an electronic format. I appreciate the reasoning behind the advice from a number of quarters on the matter in respect to the obsolescence of hardware and software used to store the data created and the inherent unreliability of magnetic and other media.

 

I am of the opinion that there are current technological answers with today’s technology to enable us to successfully capture incoming correspondence via scanning “with the appropriate procedures in place, e.g. ANSI/AIIM MS44-1988 Recommended Practice for Quality Control of Image Scanners” plus the capture of internally created data, which is born electronic, in a safe and secure manner.

 

Imaging or more precisely Film Based Imaging “FBI” is one of the current solutions to the issue.

 

A White Paper on the subject titled “Preserving Documents Forever” is available on the Internet at http://www.archiveimaging.co.uk/white_paper1.htm for your evaluation.

 

With the recent, 1996, process from Kodak Digital Science via their product the Document Archive Writer Model 4800 for the capture of documents from a .TIFF format and the transfer of the digital data to 16mm microfilm, which is a long-term retention process. This process has been used successfully nationally and internationally and is available as a bureau service here in Australia. In addition to accepting .TIFF images, Kodak, I understand, provide software for the conversion of a range of electronic file formats to .TIFF before writing to 16mm microfilm. Full information on the Document Archive Writer Model 4800 is available at the following site:

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/business/integratedimaging/daw.shtml .

 

There are a number of large State and National Government and Private Organisations setting Standards in regard to the scanning of documents for short and long-term management and I list two for your information:

  1. Mississippi Department of Archives & History available at http://www.mdah.state.ms.us/locgov/imaging.html .
  2. Treasury Board of Canada available at http://www.cio-dpi.gc.ca/its-nit/standards/tbits34/crit34_e.asp .

There are many others along a similar line to these two listed situations.

 

I trust that this information is of value for all who are contemplating, or are currently using a scanning environment to capture all incoming correspondence and also capturing born electronic data into their records management environment.

 

Regards, Laurie

 

Mr Daniel Lawrance [Laurie] Varendorff, ARMA

 

Consultant/Trainer/Tutor/Presenter: Records and information Management

Imaging and Micrographic Specialist with 25 years experience

 

The Varendorff Consultancy

 

ABN: 77 836 801 165

27 Ronneby Rd, Lesmurdie, Western Australia 6076 - AUSTRALIA

 

PHONE: +61 8 9291 6925 - MOBILE: +61 0417 094 147

EMAIL: Laurie.Varendorff@Bigpond.com