Performance reports

Performance reporting in this annual report is based on the outcomes and outputs structure as set out in the Portfolio Budget Statements/Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements 2004–05.

The National Archives has one outcome:

A national archival collection, preserved and accessible for all Australians; the creation and management of Commonwealth records that support accountable government.

The outcome is the result or consequence of the actions taken by the Archives for the Australian community.

The structure of this report has been developed to improve readability and ensure a clear relationship between the planned achievements in the Portfolio Budget Statements/Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements and the actual results achieved by the Archives.

Each report against the output covers effectiveness and quality and quantity measures.

Output 1.1

Enable and promote best practice in the management of government records from the point of creation for as long as required to support the needs of government and the people.

Strategies

In order to enable best practice management of government records, the Archives:

provides standards, policies, guidelines and training about the creation, management and preservation of records; and
authorises arrangements for the disposal and custody of Commonwealth records.

To ensure the long-term preservation of records of national archival value, the Archives:

provides appropriate storage conditions;
continually assesses and monitors the physical condition of the records; and
undertakes both preventive preservation measures and conservation treatments for traditional and electronic formats.

Performance

Effectiveness

Measure

Improved management of government records

Indicator

The management of government records to best practice

Reorganisation for best practice

A change to the Archives’ internal structure this year sharpened its focus on best practice in managing government records.

The establishment of the Digital Government Branch reflects the priority the Archives gives to preserving digital government records; and recognises that advances in information technology and the concept of knowledge management have converged.
An Agency Service Centre was established as a first point of contact for Australian Government officers to seek advice on the Archives’ recordkeeping products.
A new Branch took on responsibility for the Archives’ preservation activities. The Preservation Branch’s activities include large repackaging projects, technical conservation work, preservation of audiovisual material and the creation of digital images of records in the collection. The collection was also revalued as at 1 July 2005 at $1 093 400 324.

The Archives continued its leading role in the Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative (ADRI), which comprises all national, state and territory public records institutions in Australia and New Zealand. ADRI was formed to foster a uniform approach to issues relating to the preservation of digital records. A strategic plan identifying required standards and guidelines and a specification for an ADRI website were the key outcomes for 2004–05.

Records management policies, guidelines and standards

Archives’ standards and policies continue to be used as benchmarks for whole-of-government assessment by the Australian Public Service Commission in its State of the Service reports and the Australian National Audit Office in its recordkeeping audits.

The following guidelines, specifications and standards were issued or approved in 2004–05.

Guidelines for Using Selected Generic Activities from Keyword AAA in Agency Business Classification Schemes (online) form Appendix 15 to DIRKS – A Strategic Approach to Managing Business Information. The guidelines assist agencies to classify and control records relating to their core functions.
The Functional Specifications for Electronic Records Management Systems Software and Functional Specifications for Recordkeeping Functionality in Business Information Systems Software provide a generic set of recordkeeping requirements for digital records and information management systems. Each functional specification document is accompanied by a companion set of guidelines.

These publications assist Australian Government agencies in the purchase, design or upgrade of records and information management software. The specifications may assist in auditing, assessing and reviewing an agency’s existing systems software.

In December 2004, the Archives convened an interdepartmental working party to develop a metadata standard for government email communications. The Government Chief Information Officers Committee approved the Metadata standard for email communication by agencies in June 2005. This standard is a subset of the Archives’ Recordkeeping Metadata Standard for Commonwealth Agencies.

Kate Stenner of the Archives’ Agency Service Centre providing recordkeeping advice.

Jessica Wignell inspects an item for preservation treatment.

Recordkeeping website

The Archives’ recordkeeping website is the main published source of the e-permanence suite of recordkeeping policies and standards. To assist agencies in the best practice of records management, the Archives maintained and updated content relating to digital recordkeeping throughout the year.

In 2004–05, the Archives’ recordkeeping website averaged 87 877 visits a month.

Agency compliance with metadata standards

Metadata is information about records that is essential for their management, control and retrieval. All formal paper registry systems in the Australian Government comply with the Archives’ Recordkeeping Metadata Standard for Commonwealth Agencies. Agencies are beginning to use the Archives’ metadata standard for benchmarking during the transition from paper to digital recordkeeping systems.

Most of the commercial records management software products used by agencies assert compliance with the metadata standard. The Archives has not audited this compliance.

Disposal of government records

The Archives uses a functions-based approach to appraising and authorising disposal of Commonwealth records. This approach analyses agency-specific functions and activities, establishes how long records for each function need to be kept and records decisions in disposal authorities.

In 2004–05 eight functions-based disposal authorities were issued. The Archives also introduced a more streamlined approach to enable Australian Government agencies to determine their recordkeeping needs, including records retention requirements.

Training and promotion

Building recordkeeping capability

In 2004–05 the Archives initiated a project to develop a learning and development framework for recordkeeping capabilities for Australian Public Service staff and Archives’ staff.

Recordkeeping training

The Archives’ recordkeeping training package Keep the Knowledge – Make a Record! was popular with Australian Government agencies. The Archives distributed 25 copies of the electronic package and almost 4 000 printed copies of the booklet and a ready-reference card.

The Archives’ storage repository at Mitchell, Canberra.

The Training for Commonwealth Recordkeepers course covers records creation, sentencing, transfer, lending and destruction procedures. An initial review of the recordkeeping content of the course was completed during 2004–05. This resulted in the inclusion of various recordkeeping products such as the Keep the Knowledge: Make a Record! package. Further redevelopment of the course is planned.

The Archives developed DIRKS (Designing and Implementing Recordkeeping Systems) training packages to support agencies in the use of the DIRKS methodology, detailed in DIRKS: A Strategic Approach to Managing Business Information.

Strong demand for DIRKS training continued in 2004–05. The Introduction to DIRKS training course and workshops were presented in Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. Information sessions about the DIRKS methodology were also presented to agencies in Hobart, Melbourne and Darwin.

Government communications

The Archives developed a communications strategy to increase awareness about its role as an expert advisor on government digital recordkeeping and to influence behavioural change in client agencies.

The Archives delivered strategic messages about roles and responsibilities at a range of seminars and conferences that explored digital issues. In addition to conference paper presentations, the Archives organised five education and information stands where visitors were made aware of advances in the digital recordkeeping environment. These were the International Congress on Archives (Vienna), Records Management Association Australasia (ACT), Institute of Public Administration Australia (ACT), Institute of Information Management (ACT) and Institute of Information Management (Vic).

Storage of collection

The proportion of records in the national archival collection stored in appropriate conditions increased from 88 per cent in 2003–04 to 89 per cent in 2004–05. The 1 per cent increase was the result of work undertaken during the year to re-house records in archival-quality folders and containers.

To be stored in appropriate conditions, records must be stored in archival-quality folders and boxes and located on shelving. The storage premises must have appropriate temperature and humidity controls and suitable fire and security protection. All records stored in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin and Brisbane are stored in airconditioned space.

In Canberra, Sydney and Hobart some records are stored in non-airconditioned space. The Archives considers that while the records in non-airconditioned space are in stable environments, it would be preferable for them to be stored in airconditioned repositories.

Existing storage in Canberra is very near capacity. The Archives is currently investigating ways of expanding and improving the overall storage environment. See Figure 3.

Figure 3 – Holdings by office at 30 June 2005

Table 2 – Format of records held by the Archives, in metres

Total holdings as at:	30 June 03	30 June 04	30 June 05
Paper files and documents	310 995	304 560	302 243
Bound volumes	18 349	18 005	18 089
Cartographic records	12 350	16 359	19 039
Audiovisual	13 075	13 174	13 988
Photographic	2 641	2 711	2 803
Audio	249	249	291
Microforms	5 751	817	824
Electronic records	110	126	126
Other format*	165	166	166
* Other format includes three-dimensional records, index cards and textiles.

Preservation

In February 2005, the Archives finalised the National Long-Term Collection Preservation Plan. The plan identifies key risks likely to affect the collection in the near future, and establishes strategies and priorities to eliminate these risks.

During the year preservation projects targeted a range of records, including:

literary copyright registrations and exhibits, and Tariff Board records held in Canberra;
naval correspondence and Army militia records held in Melbourne;
alien registrations and World War I intelligence records held in Brisbane;
large-format railway records held in Hobart;
records of the North Australia Crown Law Office held in Darwin; and
Post Office files and photographs held in Sydney.

The new fit-out of preservation work areas in the Archives’ Sydney and Melbourne offices improved the Preservation Branch’s capacity to undertake preservation tasks in accordance with current best practice and standards.

Digital preservation activities

The main focus of the Archives’ digital preservation project was the construction of a prototype secure digital vault and associated work laboratory for digital records processing.

The prototype secure digital vault and hardware infrastructure are the culmination of more than three years of research and development, which has ensured delivery of a specialised, innovative and highly functional facility.

Work also continued on refining the digital preservation software platform. The software platform consists of three main applications developed by Archives’ staff. Together these applications ensure that digital records maintain their integrity and authenticity while undergoing virus-checking, conversion and storage in a safe and secure repository.

The Archives has begun trial operations of the complete software and hardware infrastructure in preparation for digital records transfers from Australian Government agencies in the coming financial year.

Low-temperature vault for storing deteriorating film.

Geeta Jatania prepares to copy a magnetic soundtrack to a more stable polyester film.

Audiovisual preservation activities

Preservation work continued on early Commonwealth Film Unit/Film Australia productions, ABC productions, censorship, defence and Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electricity Authority film records.

The detailed restoration of the ABC series Seven Little Australians undertaken by the Archives in 2003–04 resulted in a DVD release of the series by ABC Enterprises. This was the first archival DVD release undertaken by the ABC.

The project to copy more than 2 000 hours of ABC radio program material from deteriorated audio tapes was completed this year. The Archives’ audio and video copying programs are now focused on records at imminent risk of loss due to deterioration, such as u-matic videos and micro-cassettes.

A specialised low-temperature film and photographic vault for storing deteriorating film components was completed at Chester Hill, NSW. By storing the film at low temperatures, the deterioration is slowed down, hence extending the life of the items. More than 30 000 motion picture films and 250 000 photographic negatives are now stored in the new vault.

Quality and quantity measures

Quality	Performance
Records management policies and guidelines, disposal authorisations and storage standards satisfy government stakeholders and the profession	Two independent assessments of Australian Government agency perceptions of the Archives indicated that target audiences hold the Archives’ recordkeeping advice in high regard.
Proportion of government agencies compliant with Archives’ metadata standards	All formal paper registry systems in the Australian Government comply with the Recordkeeping Metadata Standard for Commonwealth Agencies. Agencies are using the Archives’ metadata standard for benchmarking purposes during the transition from paper to digital recordkeeping systems.
90 per cent of the collection appropriately stored	The proportion of records in the national archival collection stored in appropriate conditions increased from 88 per cent in 2003–04 to 89 per cent in 2004–05.
Number of new and revised standards, policies and guidelines	One new guideline was developed and issued. Five new standards, policies and guidelines were developed. Five existing standards, policies and guidelines were revised. Five new Archives Advices were issued and seven were amended.
Number and proportion of total government functions with disposal coverage	Disposal authorities were issued for 34 per cent of all high-level functions performed by the Australian Government – an increase of 4 per cent since 30 June 2004.
Number of training courses and participants and promotional activities	A total of 22 training courses relating to recordkeeping were attended by 224 participants. Five education and information stands attracted 3 370 visitors.
1.4 million items receive preservation treatment in the year	In 2004–05, 1.1 million individual record items received preservation attention because they were damaged, degraded or identified to be at risk. In addition, preservation treatment processes for digital records were developed and tested in 2004–05 and will become operational in 2005–06.