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This paper aims to present findings from a recent study examining current records management as fit for digital government in Australia.

This paper draws on findings from the first phase of research for a postdoctoral degree. This research was collected through an online quantitative survey of government records management professionals in Australia. The survey’s purpose was to understand whether the profession has kept pace with advances in, and expectations of, digital government. Building on the findings of the survey, this paper explores the concepts of methodology and methods and applies them to current digital records management in the Australian Government. Methodology for Australian Government digital records management is contained in the 2015 Digital Continuity 2020 policy. However, measuring method proved more difficult. The researcher supplemented data published by the National Archives of Australia and the Department of Finance with data from her own research to measure the validity of methods by examining suitability of current requirements.

Australian Government records management professionals overwhelmingly feel requirements, organisational culture and behaviour form a barrier to implementing successful records management programs. This paper finds that the Australian Government is buying ten times more digital storage per year than the sum of all of the digital Australian Government records known. This suggests perhaps not all records are recognised. While there will always be more storage than records, the ratio should not be so inflated. Further problems are found with requirements for records management being seen as mostly paper-based and too resource intensive to be of use. This research, combined with a contemporary literature review, shows that there is an imbalance with the current methodology and methods and asks the question: Has a methodology (Digital Continuity 2020) been created without suitable and known methods being in place?

The method for collecting survey data was based on self-reporting, which can lead to limitations in that the population sample may exaggerate their response or demonstrate bias. However, responses to the survey were common enough to eliminate bias. The study is based on the Australian Government; however, findings may translate to other governments. This paper presents findings from the first phase of research of a postdoctoral degree. Not all findings are presented, only those relevant to the topic.

As the Australian Government moves to become a true digital government, records management is still required to ensure accountability of government actions and decisions. However, while the government transitions to digital, and information stores continue to grow, the question of whether records management has kept up with the rapid pace of digital information flow and expansion does not need to be asked. Instead, the time has come to ask, “What can we do to keep up?”

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of one of the 16 research teams of the third phase of the InterPARES (International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems) project, that is, TEAM Canada. As with all other national teams, TEAM Canada aimed at building solutions for continuing accessibility of digital records in a variety of organizations.

All research teams, including TEAM Canada, utilized action research as their methodological framework.

The most significant finding of TEAM Canada is its discovery of the serious situation with the foundation of continuing accessibility of digital records, that is, the insufficiency of, or even the lack of, digital records management in organizations participating in the project.

The study described in the paper is unique for a number of reasons. First, it was guided by a theoretical framework featuring digital diplomatics, which concentrates the development of the InterPARES project of its 12‐year investigation. Second, it observed the principle of open inquiry, which encouraged researchers to identify research design and methods according to suitability, not to any particular epistemological perspective. Third, a comparatively large number of organizations were studied.

The purpose of this paper is to present empirical research findings regarding the contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), such as computers, to creating and managing digital records in the Ugandan Public Service (UPS). It seeks to review the ICT developments in Uganda and to discuss the extent to which UPS agencies have adopted digital record‐keeping systems, how the management of digital records is incorporated with ICT strategies, and to identify challenges faced.

A review of the literature on ICT developments in Uganda and empirical studies dealing with management of digital records in the UPS is presented. The review of empirical research findings is based on 23 Government of Uganda (GoU) ministries. Applying both quantitative and qualitative approaches, a survey research design was adopted. Multiple methods of data analysis including coding, tabulation and use of descriptive statements were also used to ascertain the quality of the findings.

The study revealed that there are attempts to improve ICT capabilities and infrastructure in Uganda but a critical gap exists in the approach since the management of public sector records is not being addressed as part of this initiative. There is no evidence of establishing an ICT infrastructure that will provide the solution to digital records management (DRM) problems. Other weaknesses relate to gaps and poor linkages in the overall Records and Information Technology Department (RITD) itself, as it fails to address the requirement for DRM.

This research looks only at the Uganda Public Service.

The paper provides useful information and data to records and archives management scholars, educators/consultants/researchers and students undertaking studies in management of records, including management of digital records within and outside Uganda.

This subject has never been tackled in this way before for Uganda, and the findings are timely for the ongoing e‐governance initiatives.

This study aims to assess the status of the digital records preservation practices in the South African public sector at the national department level. It set out to establish to what extent digital preservation policies have been implemented in South Africa’s public sector, to determine the related skills and competency of public sector staff, and to make any necessary recommendations of the basis of the results.

A content review of Southern Africa literature dealing with the preservation of digital records, its importance and related factors over the past 20 years was conducted.

The current state of preservation of South African digital records suggests serious consequences of existing knowledge and training gaps. Addressing those gaps may provide the knowledge needed to support new ways of working. Records management professionals in the South African public sector at the national department level are currently ill-equipped to adequately preserve digital records. This complicates the application of tools offered by the information and communication technologies that have resulted in increased creation of digital records.

The study was limited to only the public sector of South Africa.

The study makes practical implications concerning the policy framework for improving the state of digital preservation in South Africa so as to ensure long-term preservation of digital records. For instance, government departments are recommended to formulate and implement in-house policy frameworks, guidelines and plans that address digital preservation of records.

Sufficient funding and resource allocation ought to be provided to advance electronic records management programmes. In addition, the formulation of proper strategies needed to preserve digital records should incorporate technological tools and media software in the existing operations for the creation, capturing, appraising and preserving of digital records.

This study offers informed recommendations to address the challenges of preserving digital records in South Africa so that future losses may be avoided and allow readers to see changes over the 20-year period.

The availability of models for any aspect of a task to be undertaken is always valuable. Unfortunately, although present literature provides us with models for many other aspects of digital records management, and with models for costing many related activities such as the creation of digital surrogates of paper records, it does not provide us with costing models for digital records management. Instead, we find a small number of data points from isolated endeavours with insufficient contextual information to enable us to assess what they truly represent. Whilst this article does not provide this absent model, it does provide factors that it is believed must form part of any model eventually developed through research or experience. In doing so, it becomes apparent that many of the factors are common to the management of traditional records (as one would hope and expect), where the literature provides us with much more solid information. Hence, perhaps the problem is not so severe as it might appear.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a framework for management of digital records on the cloud in South Africa.

This qualitative case study used semi-structured interviews and document analysis to collect data from regulatory documents, records practitioners and chief information officers in the national government departments in South Africa.

This study reveals that despite the advent of cloud computing, government is still struggling with manual paper-based records challenges, as they have not developed a government-owned cloud in which to manage and dispose records.

Technological advancements have brought about dramatic changes to the management and disposition of records since cloud computing emerged. The traction gained by cloud computing influences how records are managed and disposed in the cloud storage. Currently, the South African Government manages and disposes records in the government premises as stipulated by the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Act (1996). This is enforced by the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa, which is the government records regulator because records are on paper-based, microfilms and audio-visual formats. It is hoped that the recommendations and framework proposed in this study may assist the government and related sectors in the adoption and implementation of the cloud computing system for records management and disposal. This may assist in resolving challenges such as missing files, damaged records and archives and long turnaround time for retrieval of records.

In South Africa, the digital records are securely stored in storage mediums such as hard drives and USBs, to mention but a few. In addition to digital obsolescence faced by the storage mediums, global access to information is hindered because information is limited to those who can visit the archival holdings. The alternative option is to manage and dispose of records in the cloud. The framework and recommendations in this study may also assist in improving information, archives and records management policies and service delivery to the community at large. The framework proposed may be applied as a theory for framing future studies in the same area of cloud computing and used as a resource to guide other future studies and policymakers.

This study provides a framework for management of digital records on the cloud in South Africa. It also proposes the promulgation of the Cloud Act to promote unlimited access to state heritage, regardless of time and location. This study is framed on the Digital Curation Centre Life Cycle Model.

The purpose of this study is to explore how the trustworthiness of digital records generated in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system known as the government accounting and budgeting system (GABS) is maintained to support the audit process in the public sector of Botswana.

This qualitative study used modern archival diplomatics as a theoretical framework to examine the procedures for authenticating digital accounting records in GABS to support the audit process in Botswana. Data were collected through interviews and documentary reviews.

The study established that although GABS is not a record-keeping system, it generates digital records. In the absence of procedures, auditors rely on social and technical indicators (system application controls) to authenticate records.

The findings of the study are limited to the case study and cannot be generalised to other organisations.

The findings of the study can inform the necessary measures that can be taken to ensure that digital records generated in ERPs are maintained authentic to support financial auditing processes. In addition, the paper also presents differing approaches by records managers, auditors and information technology specialists to evaluate the authenticity of records in digital systems, thus contributing to the literature about professional allies and competitors to archivists and records managers.

This paper provides empirical evidence from an original study.

This paper aims to present a high-level summary of the US archivist’s digital mandate for 2019, embodied in the publication “Managing Government Records”, issued on August 24, 2012, and a summary of US policy. The authors then consider the implications of the US e-recordkeeping initiative for lower-resource countries.

After setting out key elements of the US Archivist’s digital mandate, the paper proceeds to evaluate its policy implications for lower-resource countries based on the authors’ field experience and knowledge of case studies.

The USA is embarking on a state of the art approach for managing public sector archives in a digital form, with deadlines approaching for all federal agencies to manage e-mail and other e-records. Although a similar need exists in lesser-resourced countries, there are enormous barriers to successful implementation of a similar approach.

The archivist’s 2019 digital mandate assumes that the technology sector will embrace the needs of public sector agencies in working on applicable electronic archiving solutions.

The Archivist’s Directive has the potential to be an enormous driver of change in the records management profession with respect to future management of increasingly digital archive collections. Vast collections of public sector e-mail and other forms of e-records potentially will be preserved under the directive, raising the stakes that archivists and records managers work on solutions in the area of long-term preservation and future access.

The importance of capturing the activities of public-sector institutions in all countries for the purpose of openness, transparency and access cannot be overstated. In an increasingly digital age, new methods are needed to ensure that the historical record of governmental institutions is preserved and made accessible.

The US Archivist’s mandate represents a cutting-edge approach to long-term digital archiving with potential future applicability to the management of public sector records worldwide.

The purpose of this paper to describe the research work on the long‐term preservation of Chinese digital information funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) since 2001.

The paper provides an overview, in text and figures, of ways in which e‐documents originating in China, in now obsolete formats, can be made readable again. Also, results of a recent survey of electronic records management in government and corporations are given.

The lifecycle management gap with respect to electronic records is highlighted and the main factors that restrict the Chinese anti‐disaster data backup plan are analysed. It is suggested that the data backup centre which can be accepted by small medium enterprises should be the e‐government disaster recovery centre for local government.

All the research results are useful for those who need to understand the long‐term preservation of Chinese digital information and electronic records management.

The purpose of this paper is to assess examples of digital recordkeeping practice in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) and determine whether the discipline is tipping into a period where digital recordkeeping will change for the better, or whether it is tipping into digital oblivion. After assessing numerous case studies and examples, the paper also seeks to recommend some small but significant steps that can be taken to stem the tide and improve digital recordkeeping practices.

The approach is based on the authors' experiences and observations of recordkeeping practice in NSW.

Digital records and recordkeeping are at a critical juncture across all business environments. The tremendous benefits that digital records and recordkeeping can realise are in danger of being offset by significant threats, complexities and costs. All individuals, organisations and business environments need to take small steps now to start to make digital recordkeeping achievable and to make long‐term digital record sustainability possible.

The case studies presented in this paper provide both positive and negative digital recordkeeping scenarios for practitioners to consider. The paper also makes a number of practical suggestions that all recordkeeping environments can reflect on to tip the balance in favour of achievable and sustainable digital recordkeeping.

The paper is of value to all practitioners seeking to implement and sustain effective digital records management.