This is the second in a series of blogs about the Appraisal Process from the Archives New Zealand Disposal and Acquisitions team.
Using the guidance and templates provided by Archives New Zealand is pivotal to the process of writing an appraisal report and schedule that will fit the current requirements of Archives New Zealand. Your Retention and Disposal schedule will be read not only by your internal staff, as an end product, but also by external consultants, the public and the Chief Archivist and the current standard format is required.
Using the current advice and templates will help ensure that lengthy/drastic amendments are not necessary once the report is ready for review. If you are using an external consultant during the appraisal process please make sure they are using the current versions of the templates and guidance.
Guidance Documents
Archives New Zealand Appraisal Statement
This document sets out Archives New Zealand’s direction for appraisal within the New Zealand whole of government information management context.
The Appraisal Statement covers:
- Focus for Appraisal (Purpose and Benefits)
- Implementation of Appraisal (Principles and Criteria)
Records Management Standard for the New Zealand Public Sector (Principle 5)
Assessing the value of records, and defining retention periods and disposal actions for them, helps to ensure they are provided with an appropriate level of care and are managed for (only) as long as they need to be.
Principle 5: Appraise Records and Dispose of them appropriately
Local Authorities
Guidance for local authority records can be found in the List of Protected Records and the Association for Local Government Management (ALGIM) toolkit when making appraisal decisions.
Appraisal for Local Authorities
Templates
Public offices need to use these templates to produce an Appraisal Report and Disposal Schedule:
Appraisal Report Functions, Activities and Records Evaluation Template (Appraisal Report for current functions)
Appraisal Report Legacy Functions, Activities and Records Evaluation Template (Appraisal Report for legacy functions)
Disposal Schedule and Access Schedule Template (Disposal and Access Schedule)
Contact Archives NZ to discuss the current process rkadvice@dia.govt.nz
Next time: Appraisal Process: Part Three – Value Statements
Acknowledgement: This photo is from the Archives New Zealand collection. Constable Bill Humphries, of Wellington, directs a citizen on Lambton Quay, Wellington, 1973. Photographer: D. Nicholson. AAQT 6539 W3537 130 / B2140
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