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 - document” and 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:
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:
The
NAA in their guideline “The Impact of the Evidence Act on Commonwealth Recordkeeping: Records in Evidence - document” advise
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:
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 |