Manual for the Design and Implementation of Recordkeeping Systems (dirks)
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Assess all components of a system
Remember, when you are assessing your organizational business information systems you are not just looking at the technical components of these, but also the broader framework of:
- the people who use the system
- the people who manage the system
- policies and procedures that support system maintenance and use
- recordkeeping tools used in the system
- business rules applied within the system, and
- training programs that support system use.
Step D will provide guidance about how to assess each of these different system components.
^
Keep your focus on the business you are examining
To identify systems for your Step D assessment, you need to keep your focus on the business activity or activities you are examining, as this will help you to identify the systems that are relevant to your assessments. In Step B you identifies business activities and processes, in Step D you are assessing the capacity of the systems that perform these processes.
Remember that the business activity you are examining may cut across more than one system, so be sure to think broadly and include all relevant components when assessing your existing systems.
| ^ Example: Assessing the personnel function As has been discussed, one organization wanted to improve the way personnel management was documented. In Step D, the focus of their system assessment had to be quite broad as, as they had identified in Steps A and B, aspects of personnel management were performed across the organization. The Staffing Section obviously had a coordinating role, but section managers also administered a range of personnel activities. To determine whether existing systems were adequate, they needed to look at:
Therefore not one, but a range of systems needed to be examined to ensure that the adequacy of their personnel records could be assessed. |
Sources for Step D assessment
Overview
Determine the requirements or benchmarks specific systems must meet
Use appropriate benchmarks
Other sources
Overview
This section outlines the different sources you will need to conduct a system assessment. These include:
- recordkeeping requirements, identified in Step C: Identification of recordkeeping requirements
- required recordkeeping functionality, as outlined in Introducing DIRKS, Characteristics and functionality of recordkeeping systems, and
- all relevant system components, including policies, procedures and training materials.
Determine the requirements or benchmarks specific systems must meet
Once you have identified the system or systems that should be the focus of your assessment, you need to determine their adequacy.
To do this it is necessary to establish measures or benchmarks against which your systems can be assessed.
The benchmarks that should be used to assess your systems are:
- identified recordkeeping requirements and
- required recordkeeping functionality.
You should measure the systems you need to assess against both of these types of requirements.
^
Identified recordkeeping requirements
Recordkeeping requirements pertaining to your department/section's business activities can be identified using Step C of the DIRKS analysis. If you have not undertaken Step C but are aware of the recordkeeping requirements that relate to the area of your business requiring assessment, be sure to document these. You should have some documentation of recordkeeping requirements to ensure the consistency and comprehensiveness of your analysis.
| ^ Tip: Pose questions It may be helpful to reframe the requirements for evidence as a series of questions. The answers to these questions should help to determine whether the requirement is satisfied or not. For example, in doing its Step C: Identification of recordkeeping requirements assessment, one organization identified that the following requirement applied to the management of its licence records: 'Licensees should not be given access to the records of other licensees.' To determine whether the system they use for managing their licencing operations is meets this requirement, they could ask:
If the response to each of these questions is yes, then it is likely that the recordkeeping requirement has been met. |
| ^ Tip: Remember all components of a requirement Remember that recordkeeping requirements may have several components to them. Be sure to read your requirements thoroughly and measure whether all its requirements have been fulfilled. For example, for a licensing activity, a recordkeeping requirement could be: 'When a licence is revoked, a record of the reasons for revoking the licence will be created and retained with the licence records.' This requirement contains a number of parts. Firstly it states that records must be created. In your system assessment you would firstly need to ensure that records documenting the licensing process are in fact being created, including records of licence revocation. You would then need to determine that the system is capable of linking all related records in ways that meet your identified business requirement. It is also important to realise that the sources that you used in step C contained implicit and explicit references regarding the form, content and quality of evidence your organization should satisfy. It is important that the survey techniques that you use in step D are flexible enough to assess the variety of recordkeeping requirements identified in the earlier step. |
Required recordkeeping functionality
Required recordkeeping functionality refers to the recordkeeping controls and business rules that are necessary to ensure your system operates effectively as a recordkeeping system.
The range of qualities a system should possess in order to be a recordkeeping system is outlined within the section of ^ Introducing DIRKS, Characteristics and functionality of recordkeeping systems. Review this section to help identify the range of recordkeeping functionality your business systems may need to possess. You can turn these requirements into benchmarks for your system assessment.
| ^ Example: Assessing the recordkeeping functionality in a system In the NSW (Australia) public sector, all records of government business must only be disposed of in accordance with authorized records retention and disposal schedules. General recordkeeping rules (outlined in Characteristics and functionality of recordkeeping systems) also specify that records must reside in a system where they cannot be tampered with or altered. In your system assessment, you may decide to assess whether your systems are capable of providing this recordkeeping functionality. Questions you may want to use to assess this functionality in a system could include:
Note, that depending on the business it documents, the system you are assessing may need to meet these and a range of other requirements. |