Author: Government recordkeeping
The beginning of the new year is an opportune time to revisit the state of government recordkeeping findings of 2025 and recommit to improvement into 2026.
In June 2025, two reports (including our own maturity findings) highlighted serious and widespread issues with government programs and services due to inefficient and inadequate records and information management:
- The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) Audit Lessons and Insights report for Records Management (covering Commonwealth government organisations)
- The Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) 2023-24 Information Management Maturity Assessment Program (IMMAP) report (covering Victorian government organisations; in Victoria, records are defined to include information and data).
Both the ANAO and the IMMAP reports pointed to wide-spread records management failures across government, especially in relation to governance and creating/capturing relevant business information. Standards and guidance alongside skilled and knowledgeable records management professionals have existed in both jurisdictions for several decades. So, what went wrong?
The real barriers to good recordkeeping; What the IMMAP findings reveal
The IMMAP Report’s recommendations concluded:
‘Organisational governance structures should include information and data management requirements as part of a program of continuous improvement towards addressing regulatory, business and stakeholder needs.’
Challenges included insufficient resources, staffing, tools and executive level support to undertake the work needed. The increasingly complex technical and business environment has made achieving compliance with standards more complex than a decade ago.
The ANAO report highlighted ‘governance of information’ and ‘creating necessary information that is fit for purpose’ (corresponding with the principles one and two of the National Archives of Australia’s Information Management Standard) as being the main problem areas. Multiple systems that are disjointed and not designed for recordkeeping, along with a slide in basic recordkeeping practices, have meant that key records, including records of meetings, emails, and communications messages, are not being captured and kept as business records.
Strengthening information management maturity (IMM): The essential elements
The eight lessons that structure the ANAO report and the five recommendations highlighted in the IMMAP Report provide direction for what is needed to improve maturity. Considered together, maturity requires:
- An improved understanding of what information/data/records need to be kept along with the necessary level of detail to address the business needs of the office and of stakeholders.
- An understanding of the technology, systems, and structures used, including their functionality, limitations, and how they fit with the business of the office.
- Agreement on the appropriate formats, methods and points at which records need to be created, captured and kept.
- Sufficient resources, including knowledgeable staff and executive level support, to achieve the desired results.
ANAO lessons and IMMAP recommendations at a glance
Below: table showing the 8 ANAO Report lessons and 5 IMMAP Report recommendations.
| ANAO report | Lesson 1: Promote a culture where records management is valued Lesson 2: Establish an information governance framework Lesson 3: Make records available for use and reuse Lesson 4: Use compliant records management systems Lesson 5: Ensure that official business communications are appropriately recorded Lesson 6: Integrate records management into business processes Lesson 7: Prioritise records management during machinery of government changes Lesson 8: Ensure records are complete and accurate |
| IMMAP report | Recommendation 1: Information and data management staff levels and expertise should be sufficient for the size and complexity of the organisation Recommendation 2: Information and data management staff should be provided with sufficient tools and resources to implement and maintain information and data management programs in line with regulatory, business and stakeholder needs. Recommendation 3: Organisational governance structures should include information and data management requirements as part of a program of continuous improvement towards addressing regulatory, business and stakeholder needs. Recommendation 4: Executive level management position responsibilities should include championing best practice information and data management across the organisation Recommendation 5: Information and data management teams should note areas of increased complexity in audits and reviews and address them as part of continuous improvement programs |
These lessons and recommendations outline the foundations needed to lift information management maturity across government. Learn more on the Information Management Maturity Measurement Tool (IM3).
Material in the Public Record Office Victoria archival collection contains words and descriptions that reflect attitudes and government policies at different times which may be insensitive and upsetting
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