When strategic planning, Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) recommends all Victorian Government agencies consider whether a digital record transfer project is required.
A record transfer is the process of PROV taking custody (but not ownership) of records of permanent value from a government agency. A digital transfer is when the records sent to PROV are digital files, rather than physical documents, like the cabinet records transfer departments do every year.
Should your agency be planning a digital record transfer?
Ask yourself these questions to determine whether your agency should be undertaking a digital transfer in the next financial year:
- Are you decommissioning a system? Migrating from an EDRMS to SharePoint? Or commissioning a brand-new system?
- Have you recently completed a significant program or campaign?
- Are you paying significant storage costs for digital files that staff no longer need?
- Do you hold high-risk digital records you no longer need?
- Do you hold digital records that are of permanent value and should be preserved as state archives?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, contact us to determine whether a digital transfer project should be included within your next strategic plan.
Why transfer your records to PROV?
Reduce your storage costs, transfer to PROV the risks associated with storage of sensitive data and ensure your agency's significant projects are captured for posterity. You will also be helping your department meet its legislative obligations under the Public Records Act.
What you will need
- Executive support
- A records manager with experience and knowledge to manage transfer
- A subject matter expert who understands the recordkeeping system in place
- 1-2 technical specialists with business system knowledge and data access.
- Digital transfer project included in strategic planning
- Permanent value records identified for transfer
- Access arrangements identified in consultation with PROV
- Authorisation from the Department’s records manager.
How can PROV assist you
We can accept a wide range of digital formats and provide standards, policies and guidance on our website which, if followed from the start, will make eventual transfer easier. We can also offer agencies:
- a step-by-step process to digital transfer
- a free tool for of converting digital records into our digital preservation format (the VERS encapsulated object, or VEO)
- VEO Validation to ensure the digital records have been converted correctly.
After transfer, your authorised staff will still retain full access
Once your Department’s digital records are transferred to PROV, they can still be easily accessed by you and your authorised staff – follow our website guidance to find out how! Or view our 'where to start' videos to learn how to search the collection to find the record/s you're looking for and how to easily access digital records.
Recent digital record transfer success stories
Agency-led VEO creation: Metro Tunnel Early Works Project Records
The recent transfer of Metro Tunnel Early Works Project drawings and heritage and environment reports is a great example of an agency utilising their knowledge and internal expertise to ensure important records containing valuable information are transferred into PROV custody. The Metro Tunnel Project team, based out of the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority (VIDA), worked closely with PROV’s Digital Transfer team to capture and transfer the project records as VEOs. The Project team, aware of their obligations and the upcoming conclusion to the Metro Tunnel Project construction phase which would produce many more records, approached PROV to trial and complete a born-digital record transfer.
The Early Works Project ran from 2017 – 2019 and produced drawings of the as-built conditions of the areas and locations impacted by the project as well as environmental and heritage reports containing information relating to public infrastructure for the project including assessments, management plans and applications. These permanent value records document the vital planning and management required to prepare for the commencement of the Metro Tunnel Project.
Website preservation: Deadly and Proud Campaign Website
When a Victorian Government website is no longer operational, ie. after a short-term project or awareness campaign has ended, agencies must ensure that any information of ongoing value, not being carried forward elsewhere, is saved prior to the website’s decommissioning.
A recent website that was captured and transferred to our collection for posterity is the Deadly and Proud Campaign website and associated videos. The Deadly and Proud Campaign was a 2021 collaboration between the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria that aimed to build a collective understanding among Victorians of the importance of the process of Treaty. The website featured an interactive map sharing stories of Aboriginal Victorians and a timeline up to the establishment of the Yoorook Justice Commission.
The website records have been saved in a format called Web ARChive to ensure preservation into the future.
Learn more about this transfer project and access the records here.