What is the Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise?

As noted in the Regulatory Framework, NSW State Archives and Records will re-commence annual monitoring of records management and recordkeeping in NSW public offices. The Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise will occur in the first half of each year.

In 2022, the Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise will occur between 1 – 29 April 2022.

Each public office will need to conduct an assessment using the Records Management Assessment Tool (RMAT) and provide a report to NSW State Archives and Records. This reporting will give NSW State Archives and Records an overview of the state of records management in NSW Government.

NSW State Archives and Records will contact all public offices about making a submission in the Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise. If your organisation has not been contacted, please contact the Recordkeeping Standards and Advice team for further information on govrec@records.nsw.gov.au

How do I make a submission?

NSW State Archives and Records has been developing a Monitoring Portal which will be available on our website later in 2022. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, our portal is not going to be ready for the lodgement of submissions during April.

We will be contacting all public offices on 1 April and advise of the URL for the online form which is to be used to lodge your submission.

We are working to ensure that the portal will be available to all public offices in July and each public office will be able to use the portal from that time to view reports on the Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise.

I don’t think my organisation can meet the deadline of 29 April, can we have an extension?

If you don’t think that you will be able to lodge a submission by Friday 29 April, please contact the Recordkeeping Standards and Advice team at govrec@records.nsw.gov.au.

What if my organisation can’t lodge a submission this year?

If you don’t think that you will be able to lodge a submission by close of business on 29 April, please contact the Recordkeeping Standards and Advice team at govrec@records.nsw.gov.au

What should I use to make my assessment?

You will need to download the Records Management Assessment Tool (RMAT) and complete an assessment using the RMAT. The results of your assessment will need to be included in your submission to NSW State Archives and Records.

If you have queries about the assessment process or the results, please feel free to contact us on govrec@records.nsw.gov.au

We are a very new government organisation and don’t have any records that are 30 years old. How do we answer Question 19 about access directions?

Even if you don’t have records that are 30 years old, we encourage each organisation to consider making access directions. More information about making access directions is available on our website.

When answering Question 19, select the maturity level which best describes your current state. If you do not have any access directions, you will need to select Level 1 for your response.

When and where will the results of the Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise be published?

We anticipate publishing the results of the annual Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise on our website and in our Annual Report in the first quarter of the 2022-2023 financial year. The reporting will be at an aggregate or summarised level (i.e. by type of public office or by Cluster). No public office will be identified in the aggregate reporting.

Each public office will also be able to access to reports in the new Monitoring Portal from July 2022. This will include reports of the public office’s performance, reports benchmarking the performance of the public office against other similar types of public office etc.

Are there any plans to use a public office’s submission for any other purpose?

No.

The data will only be used for the purposes of enabling NSW State Archives and Records to regulate recordkeeping, and to assist us in understanding where actions/guidance/advice need to be taken to improve recordkeeping across the jurisdiction of the Act. The individual public office data will not be shared.

As noted in the Regulatory Framework for the State Records Act 1998, NSW State Archives and Records needs to have a clear view of how well each public office is performing against the records management requirements established in the State Records Act and the standards issued under the Act. This reporting to NSW State Archives and Records enables us to understand if there is an issue affecting a number of public offices and using that information to look at what advice or guidance may be required to assist public offices.

Will any other organisations be able to see my submission?

No.

When your organisation makes its submission to NSW State Archives and Records in April, only your organisation and the staff of NSW State Archives and Records (who are bound by a code of conduct and confidentiality agreement) can see the submission. No other public offices will be able to view or use your organisation’s data.

During May-June your organisation’s submission will be loaded into the Monitoring Portal and you will be able to access the Monitoring Portal in July and view your organisation’s data and benchmark it against the aggregate data.

What happens if a public office does not meet the benchmark in all or some areas?

As this is the first Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise we have conducted in 9 years, NSW State Archives and Records is intending to use the submissions from public offices to establish a baseline for the jurisdiction of the State Records Act, and to establish an understanding of each public office's records management maturity. From next year, when we have two years of submissions, we will be comparing annual submissions and looking at whether levels of maturity have changed.

If we have concerns about a public office having issues or being at risk of failure, then we will be contacting the individual public office to discuss the issues.

Please note that NSW State Archives and Records want the Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise assessments and the RMAT to assist the public offices in improving their recordkeeping performance; it’s not just about reporting to NSW State Archives and Records on compliance with the State Records Act.

 

Published March 2022