EDUCATIONAL VISIT TO ARKIB NEGARA

Educational visit on Arkib Negara Malaysia

On 24th June 2015, we are student from HRM 3, 4 and 5 have industrial visit to Arkib Negara Malaysia. It's located at Petaling Jaya. We go to visit with our beloved lecturers, Mr. Sathish. The objective of this Visit is to apply knowledge how their company handle the record management. It's because this visit have related with our subject for this semester (Final semester/semester 7), Record management for administrative services subject. Before I start with my experience and knowledge based on the visit, let’s to know about Arkib Negara Malaysia first and them organizational Background, organization business process and what are the activities carried out at the organization.

                                                  Organizational background

                                                 

                      

The National Archives of Malaysia (ANM), established in 1957, and as an agency that serves as a repository of data, information and government records, is responsible for the collection, preservation and preparation of public records in various types and forms as references for researchers as well as the public. In line with the development and surroundings of current technological advancements as well as the Government Transformation Policy, ANM is hereby determined to foster widespread awareness among the people in all aspects thus generating the formation of excellent human capital through the dissemination of information regardless of boundaries of time and place.

Divisions within ANM:

Planning and Coordination Division

Government Records Management Division

Archives Management Division

Development Division

Research & Documentation Management Division

Statesman Archives Division

Vision

To become an outstanding National Centre for Archives and Archival Researches

Mission

To preserve records of enduring value, provide research and reference services, as well as to communalize and popularize archival heritage

Core business process of Seksyen Pengurusan Rekod, Arkib Negara Malaysia

This Section describes some of the basic concepts associated with record keeping and the management of electronic records. It is a foundation section upon which the standards provided in subsequent Sections can be understood more clearly. According to the Akta Arkib Negara 2003 and in accordance with the Policy on the Management of Electronic Records,

"records" means materials in written or other form setting out facts or events or otherwise recording information and includes papers, documents, registers, printed materials, books, maps, plans, drawings, photographs, microfilms, cinematograph films, sounds recordings, electronically produced records regardless of physical form or characteristics and any copy thereof;

 "public records" means records officially received or produced by any public office for the conduct of its affairs or by any public officer or employee of a public office in the course of his official duties and includes the records of any Government enterprise and also includes all records which, on the coming into operation of this Act, are in the custody or under the control of the National Archives of Malaysia established under the Akta Arkib Negara 1966 [Act 511 ];

Electronic government records are those records that fulfill these criteria and which are created and maintained in electronic format.

How the organization conducts their business operation.

Adequate public records enable organizations to:

·         Conduct business in an orderly, efficient and accountable manner.

·         Help deliver services in a consistent and equitable manner.

·         Support and document policy formation and managerial decision-making.

·         Provide consistency, continuity and productivity in management and administration.

·         Facilitate the effective performance of activities through an organization.

·    Promote transparency, openness, accountability and related attributes that demonstrate n the concept of ‘good government’.

·         Provide continuity in the event of a disaster.

·         Meet legislative and regulatory requirements including archival, audit and oversight      activities.

·        Provide protection and support in litigation including the management of risks associated with the existence of or lack of evidence of organizational activity.

·  Protect the interests of the organization and the rights of employees, clients and present and future stakeholders.

·  Support and document current and future research and development activities, developments and achievements, as well as historical research.

·         Provide evidence of business, personal, and cultural activity.

·         Establish business, personal and cultural identity.

·         Function as corporate, personal or collective memory.

Public records are an integral part of business processes and must be managed and retained for as long as they are needed to support the functions of the government and to provide evidence of decisions and activities.

The important aspects/factors affecting the organization's business operation

In order to serve as reliable evidence of decisions and activities, public records must have the following qualities:

Authenticity

An authentic public record is one that is proven both to be what it purports to be and to have been created or sent by the person who purports to have created or sent it. To demonstrate the authenticity of public records, organizations should implement and document policies and procedures which control the creation, transmission and maintenance of public records to ensure that records creators are authorized and identified and that public records are protected against unauthorized addition, deletion and alteration. To be authoritative, a public record should be created at the time of the transaction or incident to which it relates, or soon afterwards, by individuals who have direct knowledge of the facts or by instruments routinely used within the business to conduct the transaction.

Reliability

A reliable public record is one whose contents can be trusted as a full and accurate representation of the transactions, activities or facts to which they attest and can be depended upon in the course of subsequent transactions or activities.

Integrity

The integrity of a public record refers to its being complete and unaltered. It is necessary that a record be protected against alteration. Records management policies and procedures should specify what additions or annotations may be made to a public record after it is created, under what circumstances additions or annotations may be authorized, and who is authorized to make them. Any authorized annotation or addition to a public record made after it is complete should be explicitly indicated as annotations or additions.

Usability

A useable public record is one which can be located, retrieved, presented and interpreted. It should be capable of subsequent presentation as directly connected to the business activity or transaction which produced it. The contextual linkages of public records should carry the information needed for an understanding of the transactions that created and used them. It should be possible to identify a public record within the context of broader business activities and functions. The links between public records which document a sequence of activities should be maintained.

The stages involved in Records Management process

The staged process comprises the following eight steps:

Step 1: The public office will notify the ANM that they have records for transfer. The Notification will indicate whether transfer requirements are already in place or need to be Developed or modified.

Step 2: If the transfer’s requirements have not already been tested, then a transfer of test data will be undertaken to confirm that the indicated requirements are satisfactory. The test transfer will include export of test data in an agreed upon structure and format from the public office system to an agreed upon medium. The medium will be delivered to the ANM where it will be accessed and the test data reviewed. Unsatisfactory aspects of the transfer requirements will be renegotiated and another complete test will be run. The object of the test transfer is to ensure that risk to the records by the transmission from the public office to the ANM is minimized.

Step 3: During the test transfer process the public office will gather all metadata and documentation that must accompany the transferred records. These will be listed and a count of transferred records, including checksums for each computer file comprising the transfer, will be appended to the listing.

Step 4: The records will be transferred using exactly the approved transfer requirements. The records will be accompanied by their metadata and documentation.

Step 5: The ANM will review the transferred records to ensure that:

a. The transferred records are those that were supposed to be transferred

b. All the transferred records were received

c. The format and structure of the records is that which was negotiated

d. The metadata can be correctly linked to the records

e. The documentation provides the necessary context to access and understand the records

In the event that one or more of these conditions are not met, the public office and ANM will jointly address the identified problem(s).

 Step 6: Transferred media are received into the quarantine facility, where the contents are copied, using a verified write process, to new physical media. The quarantine facility is a ‘stand-alone’ environment, allowing records to be checked and problems resolved without the risk of infecting other digital records. ANM staff checks against the disposition authority to confirm that the appropriate records were transferred. Then the checksums for each record are recalculated and compared against the original checksums provided by the public office. The records are then virus checked.

If any of the records in the transfer fail these checks, the agency is alerted and asked to re-copy their original records onto a new transfer medium. The original transfer medium is either destroyed or returned to the agency.

Step 7: Records are maintained on removable media within the quarantine facility for four weeks after which the records are re-checked for viruses using updated virus definition files.

The four-week period between virus checks allows virus-checking software vendors time to update their software to counter new or previously unknown viruses.

Step 8: Once the records have passed all tests, they are physically moved on their media from quarantine to the preservation repository. At this point the transfer is complete and the ANM will confirm receipt of the records and update its records accordingly. This information should be reflected in the next review of the appraisal agreement between the transferring public office and the ANM.

The ANM will not normally accept records that are not governed by a disposition authority, and in turn, an appraisal agreement. Bodies of records, normally expressed in relation to an identified record series and date range, will be transferred at scheduled intervals. Individual electronic records are not acceptable for transfer. Transferred records will not include software applications.

The stakeholders of Records Management

Records have been created by all business transactions.

• Communications in the conduct of business between two people, between a person and a store of information available to others, and between a source of information and a person, generate a record.

• Data interchanged within and between computers under the control of software employed in the conduct of business created a record

Records are identifiable. They are related to a transaction which used all the data in the record and only that data.

• There exists a discrete record, representing the sum of all communications associated with a business transaction.

• All data in the record belongs to the same transaction.

• Each record is uniquely identified.

Records are complete. They contain the content, structure and context generated by the transaction they document.

Records are accurate. The content of records is quality controlled at input to ensure that information in the system correctly reflects what was communicated in the transaction.

Records are understandable. The relationship between elements of information content is represented in a way that supports their intended meaning.

Records are meaningful. The contextual linkages of records are in place to carry information necessary to correctly understand the transactions that created and used them.

• The business rules for transactions, which minimally locate the transaction within a business function, are maintained.

• A representation of the source and time of the transaction which generated a record is maintained.

• Links between records which comprised a business activity are retained.

Records are authentic.

• All records have creators which are documented.

• Authorized records creators originated all records

• Records creators have been authorized to engage in the business transaction that generated the records.

Conclusion

Arkib Negara Malaysia is one solution to keep all document if the company not enough storage to keep their document. It's easy to find out the problem with the space to keep document. This also my first time visit to Arkib Negara Malaysia and I get more experience from this visit. This experience maybe I can use in the future or I can with my friends or people. I want to say thank you for my lecturers to bring us in this company and thank you so much from our heart to Ms. Haifa for shared everything information about record management. Last but not least, thank you to my entire classmate to involved this visit. Thank you.  

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