Nishika

I'm advising our IT on this right now. Have a look at NSW State Records
Accountable outsourcing: Recordkeeping considerations of outsourcing NSW
Government business (No. 16) at

http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/recordkeeping/guidelines_984.asp

Hosted services is just another type of outsourcing in this context, and
Guideline 16 has some very useful checklists.

In our case we have the additional issue that the State Records Act
prohibits state records going outside NSW without NSW State Records
Office permission, so we are into deep and meaningful discussions
of databases as records or systems as repositories of the master copy of
records, process integrity, risk assessment etc.

The point is, at least here in Oz, you can't outsource your recordkeeping
responsibilities, so it all has to go in the contract before you start, eg
you insist on a periodic snapshot in a format your software can read, and
don't forget the exit strategy, either at end of contract or when the
supplier goes broke. Escrow and / or backup is NOT good enough. Your
contract has to specify access (privacy, FOI, security), retention and
disposal and all the other standards you work with in house.

More and more we are not records managers we are contract managers.

Cheers

Glenn

Glenn Sanders
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Australia

These views are mine alone. They may or may not be those of any
previous or present employers or clients. I don't know. If I'd asked
and they'd agreed, I would have signed it "Harry Peck and Co and
Glenn". Or whatever. But I haven't, so I didn't.

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