Guidelines for Managing Electronic Documents in Australian Government Agencies - Introduction

Copyright © Commonwealth of Australia 1995

  1. INTRODUCTION
    1. DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT AND CHANGING TECHNOLOGY
    2. STRATEGIC DIRECTION
      1. Fully electronic document management
      2. Parallel electronic and paper systems
      3. Continued reliance on paper
      4. Do nothing
    3. OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE OF THESE GUIDELINES

Introduction

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT and Changing Technology

Managing electronic documents is part of the much larger and more complex task of managing information, but it is a significant part of an agency's business operations Fully effective electronic document management requires consideration of an agency's total information environment. Modern technology has created a situation where documents are easily copied and transferred from one medium to another. No single medium now holds all the documents and records relating to an agency’s business activities. Due consideration needs to be given to all sources in order to identify authoritative versions of documents; all sources should be managed, in a manner appropriate to their environment, in order to preserve and provide access to business documents.

Paper is still the most widely used medium for the storage of information. However, there has been a decline in the effectiveness of records management practices in organisations over the last decade due to changes in work practices, devolution of records management responsibilities to regional units and individual sections, and a lack of trained and qualified records management staff. The decline in control over paper records has not been compensated by a corresponding increase in control over electronic records. Personal computer users often create, manage and destroy electronic documents independently of any formal management regime.

Government agencies, like other organisations, are in a period of transition from the use of paper documents to dependency on electronic documents. Unless corporate management practices, incorporating records management and archival requirements, are applied to these documents, they place themselves in a vulnerable position in terms of business and Government accountability.

STRATEGIC DIRECTION

Government agencies now produce most of their internal documents and records electronically. In many cases the records which relate to an agency’s primary ‘business’ will be under control in special-purpose systems, such as scientific, technical, or statistical databases, client record systems, library managements systems, etc. Administrative

documents such as correspondence, meeting papers, reports, etc. may well require more attention. From external sources Government agencies still receive a large volume of paper documents, as well as a growing volume of electronic documents, and they have large existing collections of paper files. In this situation certain basic questions arise.

The major possibilities arising from the first three decisions are summarised in Table not included

Fully electronic document management

This is the way of the future. Incoming paper correspondence will be converted to an electronic form. Documents will be stored electronically and managed electronically. Powerful software will not only preserve and protect documents throughout their life cycle, but will enable more effective and faster retrieval of particular documents than paper - based systems. Less paper handling will reduce administrative costs. It is, however, unlikely to be completely satisfactory until computers and screens are as light and portable as paper files. For example, to take a set of documents to a meeting would require all the documents to be loaded into the portable computer first.

Parallel electronic and paper systems

Many agencies will probably go through a long transition period when documents produced or received electronically will be stored and managed that way, while paper documents from external sources will be held on traditional files, managed by a conventional computer-based registry system, integrated with the electronic document management system.

Continued reliance on paper

This is the present strategy in many agencies. If correct procedures are followed, word- processed documents and important electronic mail messages are printed and placed on registry files. Documents are prepared electronically but stored and retrieved by traditional methods with their well-known strengths and weaknesses. In this strategy document management systems can be used for greater control and more efficient retrieval of information. It will probably not remain an option indefinitely - new technology, once it matures, tends to make older methods relatively expensive.

Do nothing

The ‘do-nothing’ option is rarely an option for long in a changing environment. However, there is concern on the part of information managers and archivists that electronic documents of value are not always being filed and preserved, and that the 1990s will prove to be a poorly documented decade. Failure to manage electronically or to store printed versions of documents will lead to chaos.

OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE OF THESE GUIDELINES

Electronic documents deal with a great variety of matters, from client details to personnel, administrative, reference or historical material of relevance to an organisation. These guidelines offer advice on managing electronic documents electronically, pursuing either the fully electronic or the parallel systems strategies. Their purpose is to provide guidance to senior management and information and records managers in the implementation of effective systems and procedures for the management of electronic documents. The procedures outlined in this document are a guide; they are not mandatory requirements or standards. Responsibility and accountability for the efficient and cost- effective procurement and application of information technology remain firmly in the hands of departmental management, in accordance with Government policy. The guidelines are divided into two parts, Business considerations and Implementation. Although they have been produced primarily for Commonwealth agency information and records managers, the basic principles can be applied in any organisation that maintains records in an electronic format.

These guidelines refer to documents and records. Documents’ are recorded communications, whatever the medium. Documents are intelligible without further processing except for presentation on screen or on the printed page. Not all documents, however, are records in the archival sense. Records are evidence of actions occurring in the course of an agency’s business. Other kinds of documents may be kept for their information value, and they may be very important, but they would not be subject to the same archival requirements as the agency’s records. On the other hand, many items in record-keeping systems cannot be described as documents because they would require computer processing to communicate any message.

To sum up, some documents are records, and some records are documents. These guidelines are concerned with documents in electronic form, and they make reference to the special requirements which apply to those documents which are also records.

Varying usage of terms such as ‘information systems’ and ‘data processing’ may also give rise to some confusion over the scope of these guidelines. Documents often contain information or data, but ‘document’ as defined above is not synonymous with ‘information’ or ‘data’. Although the Subcommittee’s name may suggest otherwise, these guidelines are not directly concerned with data or with information, or with records which are not documents.