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LCQ15: Electronic records of the Government
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     Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Henry Tang, at the Legislative Council meeting today (November 25):

Question:

     The Government Records Service (GRS) has been addressing issues relating to the electronic records of government bureaux and departments since late 1990s through organising presentations by international experts, hiring overseas consultants to study different aspects of electronic records management and conducting pilot studies in testing prototypes of electronic recordkeeping systems.  With increasing reliance on computer technology in conducting government business and delivering public services, and given the susceptibility of electronic records to easy manipulation and technological obsolescence, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

(a)  after more than a decade's effort, what specific policy, standards and measures GRS has put in place to ensure that government electronic records are properly captured and managed with those having been appraised of holding archival value being transferred to the Public Records Office (PRO), and the others properly disposed of;

(b)  of the current quantity of government electronic records, the percentage of that number in the total number of government records, how this percentage compares with that of the paper records, the most popular electronic record format and the types of electronic systems used by government bureaux and departments, as well as how electronic records of continuing value are managed to meet archival requirements;

(c)  of the quantity and types of government electronic records destroyed in the past three years;

(d)  of the quantity, content, format and access status of archival electronic records transferred to PRO by government bureaux and departments in the past three years, and the quantity of electronic records likely to be nominated as archival records and transferred to PRO in the next three years;

(e)  what PRO has done to ensure that the electronic records transferred to its custody as archives are authentic, preservable and accessible by the public over time;

(f)  of the total number of professional archivists working in PRO and the number of professional archivists responsible for appraising electronic records, their relevant experience and professional training in electronic records;

(g)  whether they know how the electronic records program of GRS, in terms of resources and capacity, progress and achievement, effectiveness and comprehensiveness, compares with similar programs in Australia, Canada, the Mainland, Singapore and the United Kingdom, which started their electronic records initiatives a little earlier than or at around the same time as Hong Kong; and

(h)  whether there are unresolved issues concerning the government electronic records program; if so, what they are and what plans GRS has adopted to address them?

Reply:

President,

Electronic Records Management - policy, standards and measures in place, plans on further work and progress made in comparison with other jurisdictions (Parts (a), (g) and (h) of question)

     Since 2001, the Government Records Service (GRS) has been working in conjunction with the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) and the Efficiency Unit to formulate policy, strategies, and standards for the effective management of electronic records.  The ultimate objective is to develop new records management practices and tools to assist bureaux and departments (B/Ds) to manage both electronic and non-electronic records in an integrated, efficient and consistent manner.  A consultancy study was conducted in 2001 to gauge the requirements and priorities in electronic records management (ERM).  With the consultant's input, guidelines on managing electronic mail (e-mail) records were promulgated in 2001 to help B/Ds identify, create, file and manage e-mail records.

     On the basis of the consultancy study carried out in 2001, GRS has formulated a set of functional requirements with regard to both international standards and the Hong Kong Government context to provide a sound basis for developing an electronic recordkeeping system (ERKS) for the Government.  GRS has also developed a set of records management practices and guidelines for an ERKS setting.  Following system development, an ERKS pilot run was carried out between September 2007 and September 2008 in some selected offices of OGCIO and Transport Department.  The review of the pilot project has identified the need for undertaking further work to address issues relating to ERM and ERKS, including development of records management standards on metadata and on transfer of records from one ERKS to another, and preservation of electronic records with archival value.  Consultancy services will be engaged to follow up on these issues.

     In taking forward ERM, GRS has been making extensive reference to ERM implementation experience in overseas jurisdictions, including the formulation of functional requirements and records management practices and guidelines for ERKS by relevant authorities in Australia, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.  GRS has also been referring to the best practices advocated by an international professional organisation, namely the International Council on Archives.  However, it has not compared its ERM programme with those in other places.  This is because the development of ERM varies from place to place in terms of objectives, scope, implementation approach and pace in the light of the unique situations in each place.

Quantity and format of electronic records, types of systems used,  management of electronic records with archival value, and transfer and destruction of electronic records (Parts (b) to (e) of question)

     Electronic records mostly appear in such formats as e-mails, office documents (e.g. word processing documents and spreadsheets), scanned/ faxed documents (e.g. in Portable Document Format), databases, static webpages or dynamic webpages.  The most common electronic systems used to generate these electronic records are e-mail systems, B/Ds' specific application systems and web application systems.  In addition, office application software is commonly used to generate electronic records.

     Pending the full implementation of ERKS in the Government, B/Ds are required to convert e-mail records into printed form for management and storage.  Printed e-mail records with archival value are transferred to GRS together with other paper records.  The authenticity and accessibility of these printed electronic records are protected in the same way applicable to paper records.  For electronic records with archival value but which cannot be printed (e.g. audio records), the Public Records Office (PRO) of GRS will store them in a suitable and secure environment for preservation.

     GRS does not have readily available information on the quantity of government electronic records nor its percentage in the total number of government records.  With the prevailing arrangement for managing and storing electronic records, no electronic record with archival value was transferred to the PRO by B/Ds in the past three years.  We expect that the amount of electronic records with archival value to be transferred to PRO in the coming three years would be minimal.  

     On destruction of electronic records, as already explained above, a significant portion of electronic records are printed for storage along with other paper records.  GRS does not keep separate statistics on the quantity of printed electronic records which have been approved for destruction.  Separately, for electronic records still stored in B/D's databases, GRS has approved the destruction of 18,575 electronic records in two cases in the past three years.  These electronic records are concerned with data of job applicants.

     As mentioned above, to tie in with the further development of ERKS, the Administration will conduct a comprehensive study to enable appropriate strategies and technical solutions to be developed for preserving electronic records with archival value so that they can be accessible by members of the public.

Staff responsible for appraising electronic records (Part (f) of question)

     There are four Archivist Grade staff working in PRO and two of them are responsible for records appraisal work, irrespective of the format of the records.  Although electronic records constitute a very small proportion of the records appraised and ERKS is at its early stage of development for use by B/Ds, GRS is mindful of the need to step up training and build up knowledge on appraisal of electronic records to dovetail with the development and adoption of ERKS in B/Ds.  During the past few years, the two Archivist Grade staff responsible for records appraisal work attended training courses, seminars and conferences on various aspects of electronic records, including records classification, preservation and management of metadata and ERM in general.  In addition, an attachment to an overseas archive with expertise in appraising electronic records was arranged in October 2009.  GRS will continue to arrange suitable professional training in electronic records for the relevant staff.

Ends/Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 12:54

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