State Records Office of Western Australia

1
State Records Office of Western Australia

• .NET Proof of Concept Project
• Slideshow
• Prototype Online Disposal Authority/Recordkeeping
  Plan System
• Project operation December 2005 May 2006
• PLEASE NOTE
• the following slideshow provides real screenshots
  from the Proof of Concept System. The data
  displayed is however TEST DATA ONLY. This data
  DOES NOT necessarily reflect authorised retention
  and disposal decisions.

2
(No Transcript)
3
Access to the proof of concept system is via a
secure login process. The system is web-enabled
and in a production system, it is envisaged that
government agencies would access the system via
the archival institutions website.
4
(No Transcript)
5
For archive staff, the proof of concept systems
entry page provides a status of pending tasks
configured for each staff member (i.e. only the
tasks allocated to that staff member are
displayed. Each staff member has a unique login).
6
(No Transcript)
7
The proof of concept system provides the
functionality for archive staff to set up new
agencies, users (agency staff or consultants of
an agency), Disposal Authorities and
Recordkeeping Plans. There are relational links
between all of these entities (multiple users can
be assigned to an agency, multiple documents can
be assigned to an agency, etc).
8
(No Transcript)
9
The proof of concept system provides basic agency
registration functionality. The project team
decided that in a full production system, agency
information could actually be drawn from an
archival management system or a separate agency
database.
10
(No Transcript)
11
The proof of concept system allows archive staff
to establish a given document for an agency as
part of the Disposal Authority/Recordkeeping Plan
process.
12
(No Transcript)
13
The proof of concept system allows archive staff
to use the Notify agency to begin process icon.
This facility generates an email to the agency
user to notify them that they can commence
producing their Disposal Authority or
Recordkeeping Plan via the online system.
14
(No Transcript)
15
The proof of concept system allows agencies to
put together their Disposal Authority by building
up the tree structure (left-hand side) of the
document. For each record category, agency staff
would enter the record description, retention
period, disposal action, disposal trigger,
restricted access periods, etc (right hand side).
In the proof of concept system, the tree
structure was limited to the body of a disposal
authority but in a production version, it is
envisaged that this would also accommodate the
cover page, contents, introduction and index to
the Disposal Authority. Automated section
numbering, page numbering, etc. would also be
anticipated so that the system compiles the
entire document.
16
(No Transcript)
17
The proof of concept system attempted to
accommodate producing a Disposal Authority or
Recordkeeping Plan in an easy-to-use fashion
using drop-down boxes, radio buttons, etc.
18
(No Transcript)
19
The proof of concept system allows the tree
structure to be built up via an editing box. This
is very basic in the proof of concept system but
it is envisaged that in a production system this
functionality would be more sophisticated and
better accommodated with a right-click mouse
editing function, as well as drag and drop
functionality.
20
(No Transcript)
21
The proof of concept system tested some basic
right-click mouse functionality.
22
(No Transcript)
23
The colour icons against each record category
signify the work-flow status of each of these
items. As the document is progressed through its
various stages, the icons automatically change to
reflect their new status. These icons are also
used at a macro document level for status
reporting purposes.
24
(No Transcript)
25
Icon status codes.
26
(No Transcript)
27
The Item Comments field facilitates online
collaboration between archive staff and agency
staff in developing a given Disposal Authority or
Recordkeeping Plan. The purpose of this facility
is to allow both archive staff and agency staff
to comment or seek clarification on specific
matters in the document via the system. This
facility also provides a full history and audit
trail for such decision-making and the comments
data is transferred across subsequent drafts of a
given document. This online collaboration occurs
directly via the system rather than via a
separate email account (although email
notifications are established when the document,
as a whole, requires review).
28
(No Transcript)
29
Archive staff and agency staff can instantly
compare the current version of the document with
previous versions. The proof of concept system
clearly displays the changes that have been
between versions.
30
(No Transcript)
31
The proof of concept system allows archive staff
to link one document to another. In a production
system, it is envisaged that this would also
describe the relationship link (i.e. if a
Disposal Authority supersedes another, etc). The
proof of concept system also tested the workflow
for the bodies that authorize Disposal
Authorities and Recordkeeping Plans to do so via
the system.
32
(No Transcript)
33
At any stage during the development of the
document, agency staff or archive staff can
choose to export it or print it.
34
(No Transcript)
35
The proof of concept system compiles the
documents XML data into a pre-determined
structure which can then be exported in a variety
of different formats or printed. This facility
effectively compiles the data into the form of a
document which has the look and feel of a
traditional Disposal Authority or Recordkeeping
Plan.
36
(No Transcript)
37
The proof of concept system also accommodates
importing a Disposal Authority into the system.
This is to cater for situations where an agency
or consultant has used another software package
to draft their Disposal Authority. One of the
critical aims of the concept has been to ensure
that, at the end of the day, the system could
capture all Disposal Authorities across
government so that the archival institution could
manage these in their entirety as data.
38
(No Transcript)
39
The Disposal Authority Data Import Wizard.
40
(No Transcript)
41
Similar methodologies apply to producing a
Recordkeeping Plan as per a Disposal Authority.
The major difference is that the tree structure
(left-hand side) is pre-determined by the State
Records Office and is not editable by agency
staff. The purpose of this structure is reflect
State Records Commission Principles (under State
Records Commission Standard 2 Record keeping
Plans).
42
(No Transcript)
43
The proof of concept system explored different
approaches to completing a Recordkeeping Plan and
attempted to provide a uniform structure for how
information in a Recordkeeping Plan is completed
for the purposes of consistency and conformity.
44
(No Transcript)
45
The proof of concept system provides the
capability for agency staff to attach their own
Records Management Policy and Procedures manuals
(and such like) direct from their desktop or
network. The system therefore provides holistic
electronic management of all aspects of the
Recordkeeping Plan regime and does not require
separate systems to manage such documents. This
type of functionality could also be used in many
other ways, such as allowing archive staff to
upload appraisal reports direct to the system and
to link such reports to a given Disposal
Authority.
46
(No Transcript)
47
The ability for the system to analyze Disposal
Authority and Recordkeeping Plan data is central
to its purpose. The proof of concept system
tested several different types of reporting
methodologies. In a production system, a
significantly larger number of reports would be
anticipated, particularly for Recordkeeping
Plans. The aim of such reporting is to enable
quick analysis of whole-of-government trends and
deficiencies in recordkeeping, as well as
automated analysis on individual documents.
48
(No Transcript)
49
The Macro Disposal Authorities report provides
the facility to search record categories across
all finalized Disposal Authorities. This facility
would allow archive staff to run a quick
comparative analysis to check consistency in
retention periods and disposal actions for
similar categories of records. The proof of
concept system tested basic capabilities in this
regard but it is envisaged that in a production
system, the searching parameters of this facility
could be greatly expanded (i.e. to include
searching on terms in a record description, etc).
50
State Records Office of Western Australia

• The aim of the Proof of Concept Project was to
  test system concepts and methodologies.
• The Proof of Concept System is currently NOT at
  a stage where it can be used for full production
  purposes. Further resources - as well as
  stakeholder review - are required if that aim is
  to be realised.
• If you would like to provide any feedback or
  comments on the Proof of Concept System or
  Project, please email the Project Manager Damien
  Hassan at the State Records Office of Western
  Australia at
• damien.hassan_at_sro.wa.gov.au