C.C.C. - Chapter 2

Hi Team,

How time flies when you're having fun.  It has been another busy week & am so looking forward to the long weekend.  

BTW many thanks to Rose for bringing in easter treats last week.  They were enjoyed by all

Source Grab one (or two) of these & a hot drink, sit down & read on

Chapter 2

This chapter can be very heavy reading, so I suggest that you tackle this chapter over a couple of days, with a cup of coffee/tea & a hot cross bun!  Amazing how a cup of coffee/tea makes everything all right :)

In this chapter we look at various legislation and guidelines that have an impact on Records Management.  The reason why we identify these standards, guidelines and legislation is so that you are aware of what support mechanisms you have.  If you haven't already I encourage you to download and read the State Records Act, 1997 as well as the Adequate Records Management Standard.  These tools, along with many others, will support you in the process for striving for recognition of best RM practice within your agency.  You may want to find out what your agency has developed as their action plan in response to the assessment survey that State Records conducted in 2009/2010.  Ask your Records Manager, if you weren’t involved in the process, to see what the agency’s responses were to State Records survey and the resulting action plan.

Alternatively you may wish to conduct a self audit to highlight what areas could be improved upon.  Share this information with others at your next team meeting to get other people involved.  And don't forget to highlight the outcomes to your supervisor!  It is important to remember that by conducting an audit is like "putting a peg in the sand".  At least you know where you are at and where you need to be.  Please don't be afraid to be honest with your answers even if you rate yourself below "best practice" - it gives you something to work towards!  Compare your current audit with responses from the 2009/2010 assessment survey.  What areas have been improved upon or what areas require further development?

Further Reading

I came across this interesting article and thought that it might be of interest to the team.  It challenges us within the RM industry on how information is being lost if not captured correctly.  Consider the blogs that might be posted on your intranet site.  Who is capturing this info . . . if anyone!

From the Sydney Morning Herald 20 April 2009.
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/internet-leading-to-cultural-black-hole-20090615-cacg.html
"Australia is in danger of losing its cultural heritage and much of its recent history if ephemeral material on the web isn't archived for future generations, the National Library of Australia has warned."

If you come across any other newsworthy articles please share them with our team.  Remember that you can refer to articles in your assignments to support your understanding of the subject.  It also demonstrates that you are researching information outside of your "comfort zone".  Make sure that you reference any outside resources that you use, including any conversations that you may have with other RM professionals!

Chapter 3 "Metadata"

Next week we will be looking at the Metadata chapter.  Hopefully you are identifying the metadata that you should be capturing.  SARKMS has been developed to help agencies with their approach to capturing metadata, which will be discussed in detail in chapter 3.

KWAAA & LGT

In order for you to complete the upcoming chapter reviews can you please advise me if you DO NOT have access to either the LGT (local government) or KWAAA (state government).  SRSA require your responses so that I can organise access to either of these tools for those that require it.

In the meantime if you have any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.  Enjoy the Easter break & stay safe on the roads for those that are travelling.

Ciao,
Melisa 

C.C.C - Chapter 1

Hi Team,

I hope that you were able to read through chapter one without any difficulties.  For some of you the information in Chapter 1 may be a refresh of what you already know, while for others it may be a whole new world.  As discussed in class, there are a lot of different acronyms that you might be introduced to within this subject.  My suggestion is to make your own dictionary & keep a note of them.  To start you off here are some:

• BCS – Business Classification Scheme
• EDRMS – Electronic Document Records Management System (eg TRIM or Objective)
• GDS – General Disposal Schedule (GDS15 used for State Government, GDS20 for Councils)
• RDS – Records Disposal Schedule (specific to the agency. Mainly implemented & used by State government)
• NAP – Normal Administrative Practice (more about this in upcoming Disposal subject)
• SARKMS – South Australian Recordkeeping Metadata Standard (more about this in Chapter 3)
• GLAM – Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums 
• GILF – Government Information Licensing Framework 

Please feel free to add to this list & share with our team.

Power Point Slide homework emailed last week

Today's lesson we started off with looking at the PowerPoint that I sent you last week.  Some of the discussions that were raised from the slides included:

Newspaper Vs File
Both of these contain information that may be relevant to certain stakeholders.  If there is an article regarding your agency or your line of business then that may be relevant information that needs to be captured as a record.  The rest of the newspaper that does not pertain to the aforementioned is information.  We are constantly bombarded with information and we need to be mindful that our records are derived from this information in a variety of formats from audio to micro-fiche to paper to electronic.

Puzzle Women
If you did a Google search, not too much info comes up.  However the puzzle women (and men) are a group of German individuals piecing together the shredded and torn documents that were left behind from the Stasi.  The Stasi ("secret" East Germany  State Security Service) collected and kept confidential files on approx 6 million East German Citizens.  Once the Berlin Wall came down (1989) the Stasi tried to destroy these files (electronic shredding, burning, hand torn), leaving behind approx 400 years of work to restore the files!  Sounds interesting?!  Then check out the book "Stasiland: Stories from behind the Berlin Wall", by Anna Funder

Records in Container
Seen something similar in your agency?  Surprisingly shipping containers in the car park are not an adequate, or responsible, area to store your records.  No doubt you can imagine the possible OHS&W issues by storing records in this way. Some of the issues raised were the degradation of records being stored with no climate control, no visible filing system, no order to the files and documents, they appear to be stacked a few deep as well as high making document locating almost impossible – dang! There goes the timeline for the FOI request!

Responsible for records
Unfortunately it is not one individual in the photo - it is everyone's responsibility.  Being a Recordkeeping professional means that you have to get others on board to see the value of creating, capturing and maintaining records within the agency.  Understand that this isn't always easy.  One thing that you might consider is photocopying the nine questions on page 17 and handing it out to your internal customers.  It helps them to identify what a record is and in the long run, hopefully help you!

Twin Towers
This slide highlights the need for a Disaster Plan.  Have you considered the records within your agency and how secure they are.  Some people were not aware if their area had a Disaster Management Plan.  So part of your homework this week is to investigate if you have one and where it is located!  Maybe the details need to be updated.  

We don't have to look too far from home (Queensland floods 2011) to see that a disaster can strike at any time, and the excuse of "it won't happen to us" is like putting your head in the sand!  

Al Capone
Ahh if only he had his receipts and records up to date!  Mr Capone was jailed for tax evasion as he didn't have the necessary documents to support his claims.

Chapter 1

For this chapter we covered the foundation of Records Management (RM). 

As students of this subject it is important for you to get RM awareness up and running with your internal customers.  Pay particular attention to the "Roles and Responsibilities" of everyone within your agency (pg 26-27).  Everyone has a role to play in recordkeeping, you just have to help them with their lines!

Fig 1 Simple reminder of "what is a record?"
Some examples of what could be handed out to your colleagues

It was suggested to create a little “aide memoir” or pocket sized aid card with the nine questions (p17) on it to assist staff to identify if what they are looking at is a record or something that is just for information.  Have a look at the great examples that some agencies have handed out to their staff.  Maybe something fo rthe next staff meeting perhaps :)

So, the points that we discovered about records…

They come in three primary formats

• Hard copy – paper, photographs, diaries, maps, letters, application forms, Minutes, timetables etc
• Electronic – images, data on USB sticks, internet, intranet, email, diaries, Google maps, blogs, application forms, Minutes etc
• Audio/Verbal – recordings of discussions, audiovisual footage recorded by the police at a crime scene etc.

There are four main types of record that you may encounter at your agency

• Active – open and being used
• Inactive – closed and even though the file can still be referred to,  nothing can be added to it
• Archived – these are permanent value records and ideally would be stored at State Records of South Australia
• Vital – these are the records that your agency must be able to access in order to continue business – they are the records that are crucial to continuing operations should a disaster occur.

We create and capture records for the following reasons

• Historical – to capture the history of important events in time
• Administrative – to capture the corporate knowledge of our agency or business, provides customers with a level of transparency into the administrative operations of our business should procedures or decisions be questioned, and 
• Legal – our records serve as evidence that can be used in a court of law.  They show how decisions were made and the events that lead up to that decision

Information becomes a record if it…

• Relates to my work
• Forms part of the organisation’s transaction/business
• Adds value to an existing record
• Shows how a transaction was dealt with
• Shows how a decision was reached
• Shows when and where an event happened
• Indicates who was involved and what advice was given
• Requires someone to action it
• Relates to a formal draft of a cabinet submission, an agreement or legal document
• Is the original document created by my agency as part of its  business transaction

Agencies take carriage of producing their own Records Management Programs. To be used in conjunction with relevant legislation and the Adequate Records Management Framework.  The agency RM Plan should cover these points.  (detailed in length starting p.23)

• Records Management Policies and Procedures
• Business Classification Scheme
• Thesaurus
• Disposal Schedule
• Disposal Program
• Training and Education
• Corporate Records Management System
• Disaster Preparedness

The Business Classification Scheme (BCS) is a hierarchy of terms that are derived from the functional analysis of our business (this is covered in length during the Certificate IV training so don’t feel freaked out by this).  

Just remember that the terms within the BCS are a hierarchy of terms. 

These terms determine how we title our records – the “Keyword AAA” (terms that are common to all state government departments/agencies) or the “Local Government Thesaurus (LGT - common to all of local government).  They also determine how we dispose of our records using a General Disposal Schedule (GDS) or a “Record Disposal Schedule” (RDS).  See the diagram below.

Fig 2 By conducting a functional analysis, you can then determine the agency's BCS 

We also covered the importance of maintaining out records to ensure that the integrity of the data is not lost over time – I used the old Commodore 64 cassette tapes as my example.  Who even has a cassette player at home these days that can play music, let alone one that reads computer data written in an outdated computer language?  It is imperative that electronic records are migrated and evolved to reflect advances in technology!!!  For those of you who aren’t familiar with a Commodore 64 check it out here . And no it isn’t a car that Holden made back it 1964!

Assignments

As discussed in class it is a requirement that the Chapter Review is to be completed and submitted as per the following:  

Please note the following dates into your diaries for the C.C.C. subject.

• Chapter 1 - DUE 26/03
• Chapter 2 - DUE 16/04
• Chapter 3 - DUE 9/04
• Chapter 4 - Not required
• Chapter 5 - DUE 7/05 - submit Q4 only
• Chapter 6 – DUE 14/05  Depending if you work for State Govt or Council please complete the following:
• State Government students; activities on pages 105 - 107 AND pgs 111-115 [activity 1 – 5] AND pg 121
• Council students; activities on pages 105 - 107 AND pgs 116 – 120 [activity 6 -10] AND pg 122

Remember to include any other resources or reference material that you may have used.  We will endeavour to have your assignments marked with feedback attached within 2-3 weeks of the due date.  

Ciao,
Melisa Z-G

Business Efficiency - Chapter 6

Hi Team,

Well all good things must come to an end!  And that includes the subject of Business Efficiency . . .Amazing but true!  We have come to the end of Business Efficiency and the two competencies of "Deliver and monitor a service to customers" and "Contribute to effective relationships". 

Chapter 6

Within this chapter we identified that it is important to monitor the customer service levels that we provide our customers.  How can we improve and increase efficiencies if we keep doing the same thing over & over & over again.  I remember reading a quote about "insanity" - Continuing to do the same thing over & over again & expecting a different result!

Ideally we would conduct research to improve our service levels by identifying the needs of our customers.  Consider the last time that you conducted research into what you do & how you do it.  Did you take on a "qualitative" or "quantative" approach.  Each type of research has it's benefits, depending on what you want to achieve and the time frame you have to meet those objectives.  Sometimes it can be a combination of the two!

One way of gathering information to help support your research, is conducting a survey or questionnaire.  From time to time State Records conducts surveys.  It helps us to plan for the future, and hence we need input from agencies across government, state & local.  Surveys are a great way of gathering the necessary information and involving others.  It gives your customers an opportunity to have their say and voice their opinions.

Once you have successfully gathered your "research" the final stages are to collate the information and then present your findings.  Sometimes your findings will have to be documented in an official report to senior management.  You may want to consider sharing your results with your feedback participants, that way they are involved and informed on any decisions and the outcomes from your research.

On a final note . . .

Would just like to say "thanks" for your input into this subject.  I am currently reading your submissions (assignments) and hope to have feedback to you soon.  In the meantime if there is any feedback that you would like to give me please email me or email Simon Froude (my manager if you wish to remain anonymous).  Tell me what you did like about the subject & the parts that you didn't like.  To further help improve my customer service I need to know!  I look forward to reading your comments.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine!  Don't forget new subject starts next week, so that mwnas that we will be in the class.  Course material will be sent out tomorrow (Friday 15th March).

Ciao,

Melisa

Business Efficiency - Chapter 5

Hi Team,

How time flies when you are having fun!  What an action packed week, hence my delay in posting to the blog.  Yesterday I attended the Northern Records Management Group for Local Government meeting.  What a great opportunity to network with RM professionals and share information!

Chapter 5

Fig 1 How can you achieve this?

If only we had a magic wand to make our workplaces happy places 100% of the time.  Unfortunately from time to time we may have faced difficult situations at work.  The thing that we need to consider is how we are contributing to the difficult issue, is it in a destructive or positive way?  Ideally you should be contributing in a positive way whether that be helping and assisting others to find information that they are looking for, having a listening ear when required or being productive and "doing" the work set up for us.  At the end of the day we need to monitor our personal contribution to the team and identify the impact that we have.  

Have you considered the amount of work that you do in a day and what result there is at the end?  Sometimes it can be difficult to identify what are our achievements.  You know that you have done something today/this week/month etc because the time has "flown".  Sound familiar?  You might want to consider using a "log sheet" for you to use so that you are able to identify your achievements throughout the day.  My suggestion is that if you would like to use it as a tool, collate them and use them as a reference, especially when it comes to your Performance Development Review/Appraisal.

What happens is that when our PDR comes around we tend to be scratching our heads as to what have our achievements been.  If these achievements have been big, like completing Cert III in Recordkeeping, usually these aren't easily forgotten.  Sometimes it are the little successes that we forget to celebrate!  Consider what you have achieved this week and give yourself  a pat on the back!  It could be something as simple as meeting a customer request in a timely manner, finding a "home" for the paperwork on your desk.  Be sure to make a list of your achievements for the year so far, it will assist you when it is time for your PDR.  If anyone else has some ideas on how they record their successes please feel free to share with the team, I am interested to hear what I am missing out on!

Fig 2 You are in charge of your own personal development!

Remember that you can be proactive in your development.  Don't wait for others to drive your development.  What I mean by this is that you can set your own goals for achievement, whether that be at home or at work.  We should all strive to achieve our best and that includes striving to achieve our goals.  What are your goals for 2013?  Some examples could be learning to cook Thai food, moving house to completing Cert III.  What do you want to achieve and how do you plan to achieve it?

As mentioned earlier difficult situations can arise & how you deal with it will either be a positive outcome or one which should be forgotten!  Check out your intranet as there maybe other valuable resources available to help you.  At the end of the day the choice is yours, you can either "fight" or "flight", if required seek assistance from a supervisor or team leader to help you through the difficult issue . . .which leads me to difficult customers!

Yes we have all been faced with the "customer from hell", however we need to determine that the difficult customer and a customer complaint are two different things.  A complaint can be resolved (generally), while a difficult customer is a behavioural/attitude of the customer.  This requires more effort when dealing with this type of customer.  Be sure to check out pages 81 - 82 on difficult customers and remember that it is OK to ask for help when dealing with these types of customers.  

Assignments

Thank you to students who submitted their assignments to me!  I look forward to reading them and providing feedback.

Enjoy the long weekend & don't forget to look out for course material being delivered to your email inbox next week!

Ciao,
Melisa 

New subject - Save the date!

Hi Team,




Just a reminder that our next subject, Creation, Capture & Control, will commence on Tuesday 19th March.  Course material & study guide will be emailed out to all students week begining March 11th.  As we begin a new subject i thought that it would be beneficial for all of us to catch up to discuss the requirements for the new subject. Details of the catch up are:

• Tuesday 19th March
• 1:00pm - 4:30pm
• State Records Training Room

If you are able to attend please ensure that you bring the course material with you.  I would also like to guage your interest in attending this class, so please advise in the comments below of your attendance.

I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday 19th March for Creation Capture & Control.

Ciao,
Melisa