It’s been a busy year for the New Zealand records community, including hosting the 2016 meeting of ISO TC 46 - Information and documentation, and participation in international and Australia/New Zealand standards work. Archives New Zealand released its Information and records management standard in July 2016. It’s also been a rock’n roll year for our “Shaky Isles”, with a very large earthquake in November 2016 (thankfully away from major population centres) and many medium to small shakes helping to remind us of the real meaning of resilience
New Zealand’s hosted the 2016 meeting of ISO TC 46
In May 2016, New Zealand hosted the meeting of ISO TC 46 in Wellington. It was a busy week, including formal welcomes, and social events. Much progress was made, and ISO 15489-1:2016 was formally launched. The phrase “You can’t beat Wellington on a good day” was well proven with a couple of lovely days, but we also threw in a storm and moderate earthquake to help everyone stay awake. The full local experience.
New Zealand’s International Review Group (IRG)
New Zealand’s International Review Group (Mirror Committee for TC 46/SC 11) is active in several Working Groups (WG) within SC11, and in Australia/New Zealand standards work initiatives through the Standards Australia Technical Committee IT-021.
In SC11, some Working Groups (WG) where New Zealand members are most active are:
WG 01 "Metadata" Functions
WG 10 "Implementation Guidelines for the Disposition of Records" Functions
WG 14 "Records requirements in Enterprise Architecture" Functions.
WG 15 "Appraisal for Managing Records" Functions
New Convenor for the IRG, and a focus on Local Government
Andrea McIntosh has taken over from Trish O’Kane as Convenor. Andrea is on the Board of the New Zealand “Association of Local Government Information Management” (ALGIM). This not only provides continuity into the future but also strengthens the relationship between the IRG and Local Government in New Zealand. SC11 delegates can personally welcome Andrea as New Zealand Head of Delegation, when she and Trish attend the meeting in Pretoria in May 2017.
IRG Communications:
The IRG has also set up a new LinkedIn Group - NZ International Review Group for Recordkeeping Standards at: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13515243. This group has been set up so that NZ records professionals can find out about, express interest in and respond to the standards work of the IRG.
Australia/New Zealand initiatives through Standards Australia Technical Committee IT-021
Work on “Controlled documents” has been published as handbook - SA/SNZ HB 168 Controlled documents, and we have contributed micrographics experience to some TC 171 standards .
The 14 November 2016 earthquake.
Some of you may have seen reports of a major earthquake in New Zealand on 14 November 2016. Although centred in rural area near Kaikoura (near the top of the South Island) it and its sequence of aftershocks certainly shook everyone up, including the capital, Wellington, which is the centre of government. It was also an exercise in resilience, with several organisations temporarily (and a few permanently) out of their buildings. All up business continued pretty much as usual with a few temporary disruptions. It’s been a busy year for earthquakes – about 23,000 recorded so far (most undetectable) but it certainly is a great motivator for contingency planning, and ensuring business continuity including the availability of essential records in an emergency.
Archives New Zealand (Archives NZ)
Archives NZ has a resources site http://www.records.archives.govt.nz/resources-and-guides/
It also has a Twitter account at https://twitter.com/NZrecordsTK that provides updates. Here are some quotes from this account:
“Archives NZ has published its Information and records management standard in 2016. The Information and records management standard, released in July 2016, is designed to assist organisations to meet their obligations under the New Zealand Public Records Act 2005. It establishes principles for efficient and systematic information and records management, and the minimum compliance requirements”
Recent activity:
Engagement:
“Top of the bill is our work with Executive Sponsors [Note: each Government agency identifies an Executive Sponsor to engage with Archives NZ.]. This directly involves the Chief Archivist, Director of Government Recordkeeping and operational staff. The Executive Sponsor’s leadership position is key to improving their organisations information and records management culture.
The Chief Archivist has started her engagement discussions with Executive Sponsors to outline expectations of organisations and Executive Sponsors. We have created a list of statements and questions [Note: These are Information and records management capability statements] based on the Information and records management standard to assist Executive Sponsors understanding of their organisations capability.”
Ingestion of born digital records
“Archives digital preservation staff have recently completed another ingest of born digital records into the Government Digital Archive. Ingests such as these are helping us to further develop and refine processes for digital transfer.
Information Asset Registers
“All organisations create information assets. Information assets include documents, emails, web content, business data, images, video and other content in both physical and digital form. These assets like any other asset of an organisation need to be appropriately managed so their maximum value can be utilised.
We recommend that organisations collect and document relevant details about their assets in an information asset register. The Department of Internal Affairs Government Enterprise Architecture team has developed a template and guidelines as a starting point for organisations to create their own register. This can be found on www.ICT.govt.nz.”