What do you need to do when drafting your Appraisal Report and Retention and Disposal Schedule?
Start with reading the Appraisal Statement
The Appraisal Statement sets out Archives New Zealand’s direction for appraisal within the New Zealand whole of government information management context.
Blog 3 in this Appraisal Process series - the Value Statement, gave some tips on using the Archives New Zealand Appraisal Statement.
Also read
The current Recordkeeping Standard for the New Zealand Public Sector particularly Principle 5: Appraise Records and Dispose of them appropriately
The 6 sections of Principle 5 cover: value of records; retention periods and disposal actions; correct statutory process for disposal; systematic internal process for disposal; regular disposal of records; and minimum metadata requirements.
Please Note: a new Records and information management standard is currently out for consultation which will replace the current Recordkeeping Standard.
Use the Templates provided
These will focus your work and are provided for your Appraisal Report and Retention and Disposal Schedule. Check Blog 2 in the Appraisal Process series – Guidance and Templates.
Allow time and work with us
The drafting process will take some time and an Archives New Zealand Archivist/ Advisor from the Disposal and Acquisition team will work with you until you submit your final draft.
To help you with a functions approach to your appraisal refer to the Directory of Official Information for details about your organisation.
Consult your stakeholders
Comprehensive consultation with your internal and external stakeholders will add value and give you the necessary input to smoothly sail through the drafting process.
Internal consultation: do this first to understand the immediate retention requirements of the business and the value of the records to the organisation.
External stakeholders: identify them, including other public sector organisations, interest groups, academics, and people/groups who are the subjects of the records themselves. We can help to identify external stakeholder groups outside of your business.
When the draft of your Appraisal Report and Retention and Disposal Schedule is ready it will be submitted to a Senior Archivist/Archives Advisor for formal review. Please be aware there may be more changes needed after this.
Plan Appropriate Resourcing
Timeframes will vary for the drafting process and subsequent steps so please take this into account when planning resources for this work. If employing an external consultant ensure they will be available to work on changes to the documents after the formal review, or appoint someone to continue with follow-up work.
Appraisal Report and Retention and Disposal Schedule process
If you have comments or questions about this process please feel free to comment on the blog post or contact Archives New Zealand at rkadvice@dia.govt.nz
Next time: Appraisal Process: Part Five – Formal Review to Intention to Dispose
Acknowledgement: The photograph is from Archives New Zealand’s National Publicity Studio collection and shows the patent design for Richard Pearse’s Fantastic Flying Machine, July 1906. Archives reference: ABPJ W4832 7396 Box 17 Patent Number#87637
https://www.flickr.com/photos/archivesnz/8780298378/in/album-72157651555822850/