Information assets: When government functions move, the records must follow
Records of government decisions and actions are more than administrative by-products. They are core strategic assets, and when government functions change hands, ensuring those assets move appropriately is critical.
Australian Government guidance on Machinery of Government (MoG) changes reinforces the National Archives of Australia’s broad definition of an “information asset”, encompassing records, information and data collectively.
For Records and Information Management practitioners, this is an important distinction. Records and data may be managed by different teams or held across multiple systems, but during a MoG change they need to be considered collectively and managed in accordance with requirements including the Archives Act 1983.
Records follow function
The established principle is that “records follow function”. When responsibility for a government function moves between entities, the information assets supporting that function generally need to move with it.
That can include much more than records held in an EDRMS. Information may exist across business applications, shared drives, cloud platforms, third-party systems, websites, social media and physical storage.
This makes collaboration between R&IM and ICT teams essential. Information assets need to be identified, transferred accountably and checked to ensure their completeness, context and integrity have been preserved.
Importantly, decisions about whether information assets are transferred must also be documented by both the transferring and receiving entities.
More than a system migration
For R&IM practitioners, a MoG change is not simply about moving files from one organisation to another. It requires consideration of records authorities, metadata, control records, custody arrangements, privacy, FOI obligations, third-party storage and the systems that create and manage information.
Receiving entities also need to preserve the original context of inherited records rather than simply incorporating them into new series or structures.
The guidance is a useful reminder of the strategic role R&IM professionals play during organisational change. Systems can be transferred, functions can be renamed and responsibilities can move, but the evidence of government activity must remain complete, trustworthy and accountable.