State Archives and Records NSW is undertaking a review of the General retention and disposal authority for source records that have been migrated (approved 2008). This authority provides for the authorised disposal of records which have been used as the input or source records for successful business or recordkeeping system migration operations. The authority establishes a number of conditions that must be met for the destruction of the source records to proceed. This includes a requirement for the source records to be kept for a period of no less than six months after the success of the migration has been confirmed. Agencies have indicated that, for projects where the migration process has been relatively straightforward, the mandatory minimum six month retention requirement after confirmation that the migration has been successful is an unnecessary period of time.

As part of the review process we are therefore considering removing the six month minimum retention period as a specific condition for destruction of the source records. The authority will still require the source records to be retained for a sufficient length of time after the migration to enable confirmation that the migration has been successful. Public offices will be responsible for determining an appropriate retention period, on a case by case or project by project basis, based on an assessment of risks associated with the business purposes of the records, size and complexity of the migration process, etc. This is similar to the approach adopted in the General retention and disposal authority for original or source records that have been copied and is also consistent with the approach of other jurisdictions. Our current guidance and advice on effective migration and decommissioning systems will be revised in conjunction with the authority’s review to assist organisations to comply with the authority.

We would appreciate comments on the draft authority (available for download from this page) and/or any useful insights or experiences of public offices on the management of migration projects that could be used as examples to support the development of updated guidance.

Comments are due by Thursday 25 January.