Author: Government recordkeeping

Transferring digital records to Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) can seem daunting to those agencies who don’t yet have experience with the necessary digital formats or technical requirements involved in their creation. 

PROV requires all digital records be provided in a format called a VEO, or a VERS (Victorian Electronic Records Strategy) Encapsulated Object. A VEO is a long-term digital file that contains the digital record alongside contextual information about the record. 

We have guidance available to make the process easier for records managers, but there is still a learning curve involved in creating VEOs ready for transfer to PROV. 


A digital transfer case study

A recent transfer of Metro Tunnel Early Works Project records proved that agencies can create VEOs internally, and successfully transfer them to PROV by leveraging the skills and knowledge of their team. 

The records held by the Metro Tunnel Project Team, based out of the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority (VIDA), include drawings and environmental and heritage reports.

The team were aware of the significance of theses permanent-value records and the need to transfer them to PROV. We initially met with: 

  • their Records Manager and their manager
  • Document Control Manager who was able to explain the recordkeeping system and how it was used 
  • a Business Analyst to work out resourcing requirements
  • technical specialists including a Data Architect Manager, an Application Support Manager, a Systems Administrator, a Senior Data Analyst and a Data Engineer.

Not all worked directly on the creation and transfer of the VEOs, but they were all present at the start to help understand the requirements, resources and knowledge needed to proceed with the transfer. 

After a productive first meeting, the Metro Tunnel Project team went away and determined the resources required for the records transfer. Not long after, their Senior Data Analyst and Data Engineer, in close collaboration with PROV’s Digital Record Transfer team, used the PROV VEO creation tool alongside their existing document management systems to create VEOS for transfer. They then submitted these into our VEO Validation Program, where they were validated against our technical and archival specifications. A few tweaks later, their VEOs were ready to go to production. 

Once access arrangements were confirmed and ministerial sign off attained, the VEOs were transferred to PROV, and the records were ingested into our Digital Archive. Some of the records are closed and only accessible to authorised agency users, with 69 open records available for viewing by public researchers through our catalogue.


Observations and lessons

Ideally, digital transfers are identified as a priority by the executive and managers which allow employees to meet the requirements of a transfer project along with performing their day-to-day duties. This applies especially to IT staff and those executing the business functions. 

Those same managers and executives being aware of their recordkeeping obligations and responsibilities ensures that digital records transfers are included in strategic and business planning at the commencement of any projects involving permanent value records.

The technical skills needed to create VEOs are often achievable by utilising the capabilities of existing staff. It requires bringing together people who have those skills to the table and allocating them the time and resources to implement the tool and develop a process. 

Although this transfer had many people with technical backgrounds involved, we found that there were a few people who were instrumental in the transfer:

  • An executive level manager, to advocate for resourcing a digital records transfer in annual strategic and business planning 
  • A records manager, to manage the transfer and who can express recordkeeping requirements and translate those into technical requirements
  • A subject matter expert who uses and understands the recordkeeping system in place and can explain how the records were used and are structured.
  • 1 or 2 technical specialists who have been allocated to the transfer project and have business system knowledge and access to data. 


Other things that helped the transfer progress

  • Direct contact between Data Engineer and our Digital Records Specialist, talking directly to each other to work through any issues
  • An existing Retention and Disposal Authority (RDA) was in place which outlined the permanent records that were to be transferred to PROV
  • Subject Matter experts were involved in the identification of the permanent records and explaining the use and meaning of the records
  • Agreement on the access arrangements
  • Record staff at the MTPO worked closely with their IT team which streamlined the process and allowed for appropriate allocation of tasks so not to burden people with things they were unfamiliar with or don’t necessarily need to know.  

The Metro Tunnel Early Works Phase Records have now been transferred to PROV with open records available to the public via the catalogue. View the Records in Series 20234.

For more information about considering a Digital Record Transfer see here.

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