Corporate management

Corporate management services are provided in support of the organisation's outcome and outputs. Management support in 2001–02 was provided by six functional areas, with the following responsibilities:

1 – Coordination, corporate accountability and development and management of external relationships

Coordination

The National Archives replied to a number of inquiries sent to the Minister regarding the sale of purpose built estate previously leased by the Archives from the Commonwealth, and regarding the processes involved in reviewing the Archives collection. All information was supplied in a timely manner.

Departmental requests for information were provided in a timely manner, with all input provided within prescribed deadlines or negotiated time frames.

Corporate accountability

The Advisory Council was provided with reports from the Public and Reader Services Branch, the Collections Management Branch and the Government Recordkeeping Branch at each of its meetings. In addition, special reports were prepared for each meeting on topics of significance. These included the 'National Archives Publishing Program' and the 'National Archives Exhibitions Program'.

Between meetings the Council was kept informed of activities of the Archives through a newsletter to members.

All actions arising from the meetings, including specific requests for additional information, have been, or are currently being, dealt with.

Development and management of external relationships

During 2001–02, Archives staff were sponsored to participate in the combined Records Management Association of Australia and Australian Society of Archivists Conference held in Hobart, Tasmania from 2–5 September 2001.
The Archives provides administrative support for staff who hold office in professional organisations. These office holders are listed in Appendix F.

The Archives continued to provide Treasury support to the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (PARBICA).

2 – Human resource management policies and services

Human resources

In 2001–02 the National Archives paid the equivalent of 388.79 full-time staff. At 30 June 2002 staff employed numbered 435 and included 322 ongoing full-time, 15 ongoing part-time and 98 non-ongoing staff.

Table 16 – Staff distribution by office as at 30 June 2002

Figure 3 – Employment classification by gender as at 30 June 2002

Note: DG – Director-General, a position created under the Governor-General's Order to Establish the National Archives of Australia as an Executive Agency in February 2001.

Human resource management

The Archives has introduced a number of initiatives to enhance the effective management of staff so that the Archives' objectives can be met. A key strategy involves working towards achieving the Investors in People (IiP) accreditation. A plan has been developed with the aim of attaining IiP accreditation in late 2003.

Workforce planning

In addition to the graduate recruitment program, the Archives has introduced a new local classification of Conservator-in-Training to enable the recruitment of students in their final year of Materials Conservation studies. The students are paid as Cadet (APS) while studying and advance to the Professional 1 level
(APS 3) on successful completion of their training.

The Archives has offered Australian Workplace Agreements to employees with highly sought after skills as a staff retention tool and this has proven to be highly successful. The Archives has used the flexibility provided by the Public Service Act 1999 and associated Regulations to engage a number of non-ongoing employees to cover staff absences, short term workload peaks and projects or work with limited funding.

Workforce movements

During 2001–02, the Archives' workforce increased by a net amount of 27 employees. Movements into the Archives totalled 49 and consisted of 38 new engagements, five promotions from other agencies, four transfers from other agencies and two temporary transfers from other agencies. Movements out of the Archives totalled 22 and consisted of 16 resignations, three promotions to other agencies, two transfers to other agencies and one retirement.

Productivity gains

The Archives has introduced Employee Self Service (ESS) whereby staff can view their personal record on the pay system, update their own personal details and apply for leave (and have it approved) online.

Non-salary benefits

A range of non-salary benefits is offered to staff. These include sacrificing salary for a motor vehicle, additional superannuation, laptop computer and/or mobile phone through the Archives Salary Packaging scheme, leave (paid or unpaid) and financial support for study through the Archives Studybank scheme, cash-out of a week's Recreation Leave per year and the ability to purchase up to an additional four weeks leave per year.

Training

During 2001–02 a comprehensive induction package for new employees was finalised and implemented. Work continued on the development of a leadership strategy. A Learning and Development strategy will be developed as part of the IiP accreditation plan, a key element of which will be the creation of Personal Development Plans for all staff as part of their Performance Agreement under the Archives Performance Management Scheme.

All employees have been provided with access to an Australia-wide training database, the Australian Training Register, and key internal training has also been offered. Evaluation of training provided in-house indicates that participants and managers have been happy with the training provided. During the year $471 842 was spent on fees for staff to attend external staff training and development courses, seminars and conferences.

Professional development seminars

The Archives conducts a program of professional development seminars in order to promote the training and development of its staff. Seminars are held monthly and cover a wide range of topics. During the year there have been visiting speakers from overseas, speakers from various service provider organisations, as well as a number of Archives staff who have spoken about special projects in which they have been involved.

Compliance with staffing-related legislation and government policies

The Australian Public Service Commission and Department of Employment and Workplace Relations advices to agencies issued from time to time are actioned as appropriate to ensure continuing compliance with legislation and government policies.

Occupational health and safety

The National Archives has an occupational health and safety policy in place, in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment Act) 1991. The Archives Occupational Health and Safety Agreement 1999–2001 with staff representatives is currently under review. All Archives offices have a Health and Safety representative on site and deal with occupational health and safety matters either through a committee or, where not required due to the size of the office, through staff meetings.

During 2001–02 the Archives continued to implement an action plan developed as a response to a Planned Investigation Program carried out by Comcare. As part of the action plan, Occupational Health and Safety Risk Management Guidelines were developed and implemented and Occupational Health and Safety Awareness training was provided to all Canberra based staff during the year.

There were no incidents reported to Comcare under section 68 of the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 during 2001–02. There were no directions given to the Archives under section 45 of the Act and no notices were given to the Archives under sections 29, 46 and 47.

Certified Agreement

The Australian Industrial Relations Commission certified the Archives 2001–03 Agreement on 26 November 2001.

The following changes to conditions of employment have been implemented through the Archives pay system:

• new Motor Vehicle Allowance rates (clause 40);
• new salary rates effective from 21 June 2001 and 20 June 2002 (51.2);
• payment in January 2002 of a bonus equivalent to 1 per cent of salary or $500, whichever was greater on achievement of milestone (51.4); and
• Cadet APS salary rates established (57).

The Performance Management Scheme (65.2) now provides for accelerated pay point progression for employees rated superior at the end of the 2001–02 cycle. Individual performance bonuses were not paid during 2001–02. The Workplace Relations Committee has developed a guideline to further clarify the Performance Management Scheme ratings (65.4).

The Archives Certified Agreement applies to 421 staff. Fourteen staff, including 11 non-SES, are covered by comprehensive Australian Workplace Agreements and more are to be offered. The salary ranges available to staff as at 30 June 2002 are shown in the following table.

Table 17 – National Archives' salary ranges at 30 June 2002

3 – Financial management policies and services

E-commerce

Over 70 per cent of Archives' payments were paid by electronic means from December 2001.

Budget

The budget allocation for 2001–02 was completed as scheduled in mid July 2001. There was no Additional Estimates Statement for 2001–02 for the Archives. The mid year review for 2001–02 was completed as scheduled in late January 2002.

The National Archives Budget for 2002–03 was completed by the Department of Finance and Administration's timeframe in April 2002. The budget allocation for 2002–03 commenced in early May 2002 and was completed in June 2002 as scheduled.

Compliance with Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997

The Archives received no report from the internal auditor (KPMG) or the Australian National Audit Office on non-compliance with the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.

Chief Executive Instructions

The full set of 58 interim Chief Executive Instructions and the supplementary Administrative Procedures have been re-prioritised and will be progressively reviewed by 2002–03.

By 30 June 2002, the Acting Director-General had approved 10 revised Chief Executive Instructions and Administrative Procedures. Work is well advanced on a further 20, and we anticipate that these will be finalised and approved by December 2002.

4 – Property planning and management and services

Property management

New leasing arrangements, purchase and sales of property

Adelaide, SA

A lease was finalised for the new premises in May 2001 and occupancy took place in August 2001 following refurbishment and fit-out.

Cannon Hill, Qld

Agreement has been reached with the new owner to extend the existing lease for a further 12 months.

The entrance to the Archives Darwin building. Refurbishment of the public reading room and staff facilities was completed in April 2002.

Darwin, NT

A new lease agreement was finalised for a reduced area of space to better suit the needs of the Archives in Darwin. Fit-out of the area retained by Archives was completed in April 2002.

Greenway, ACT

The renewal of the lease for the repository was renegotiated with the Department of Finance and Administration on terms that are less onerous to Archives than previously imposed. The Commonwealth sold the asset to the private sector in June 2002 with a lease in place.

Hobart, Tas

A lease was secured in the central business district of Hobart and occupation should take place early in
2002–03. This location provides better access to Archives' resources for visitors and researchers. Negotiations to retain a small portion of the current Rosny site (east Hobart) for continued use as a repository were also finalised.

New Adelaide building

The Archives entered into a lease in May 2001 to accommodate its new Adelaide office, reading room and research facilities. These premises were occupied in August 2001 following refurbishment and fit-out. The conservation architect, who also designed the heritage aspects of the Archives building at Parkes (ACT), designed the refurbishment of the Archives area of this building.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Alexander Downer, MP, officially opened this new facility on 29 April 2002. The Adelaide changes are in line with the Archives Strategic Facility Plan of enhancing the presence of State offices to better serve the needs of the general public and raise the profile of the National Archives.

Building performance management

The new Building Condition Index (BCI), which quantifies the condition level of a building, has been applied to four Archives building complexes at Parkes and Mitchell ACT, East Burwood Vic, and Adelaide SA.

These buildings have performed well over the past year with their building conditions remaining at high levels. The building condition at Mitchell has remained at 82 per cent and this is expected to increase when the Fire Services Upgrade project has been completed in 2002–03.

The Archives' buildings in Darwin and Hobart will be included in the Building Performance Strategy 2002–03 with other Archives buildings following in subsequent years.

Strategic life cycle planning for building assets

Strategic plans prepared for the buildings at Parkes and Mitchell have identified a series of building assets that have reached the end of their functional life and are due for replacement. Projects to the value of $1.44m are underway and projects to the value of $0.49m are in the forward planning stages.

Strategic plans have also been prepared for the buildings at Adelaide (SA), Chester Hill (NSW) and East Burwood (Vic). These indicate that, with the exception of the new premises in Adelaide, substantial and ongoing expenditures will be required if the Archives decides to remain in the existing buildings.

By 2002–03 most buildings in the Archives' portfolio will have a strategic plan. When this has been achieved the Archives will be able to identify a list of assets requiring either attention or replacement and more accurately forecast long-term funding needs for its property portfolio. An option open to the Archives is to seek alternative premises to suit the long-term property portfolio strategic needs. The strategic plan will be developed over the next 2 years.

Energy monitoring of buildings

The Facilities section has been monitoring and benchmarking energy consumption of the property portfolio. This has been made possible by the use of the latest technology and by applying energy reduction techniques using specialised energy management software. Electricity, gas and water usage and temperature and humidity conditions are analysed on an ongoing basis.

Viewing the energy consumption of sites in real time on the Internet has facilitated better monitoring and analysis of energy use.

The unique nature of areas within climate-controlled repositories can be analysed with specially developed software. This analysis allows for optimum energy use and ensures that conditions are kept to the required environmental levels of temperature and humidity.

Environmental management system

In order to conform to the Greening of Australia Policy and the Commonwealth Government's reporting requirements, the National Archives engaged a specialist consultant in October 2001 to conduct an initial environmental review of its Parkes building. The consultant's review was conducted with regard to Environment Australia's Guide to Conducting an Initial Environmental Review, and the requirements set out in ISO 14004: Environmental Management Systems – General guidelines on principles, systems and supporting techniques.

The consultant's report concluded that:

• there are no large environmental risks associated with the business of the National Archives of Australia;
• there is no critical need for a full Environmental Management System for the Archives; and
• developing and implementing a full and accredited Environmental Management System would impose costs on the Archives which would significantly outweigh the savings.

Given these conclusions, the Archives has decided not to proceed with developing a full and accredited Environmental Management System. However, the report identified a number of innovative solutions and opportunities for better practice in relation to environmental performance. The Archives will consider these suggestions as part of its commitment to continually improve its environmental performance.

Monitoring the performance of cleaning buildings

The Facilities section has developed a method of monitoring the performance of the cleaning contracts for buildings in the Archives' portfolio. It has adapted the Building Condition Index to evaluate cleaning performance by applying measurable qualitative criteria. As part of this process, contractor's supervisors have been trained in the evaluation procedures. The Archives has benefited by obtaining better value for money and improved outcomes under the cleaning contracts.

Training

Facilities staff have attended property and security seminars, facility conferences and emergency evacuation training and undertaken other training and professional development. A number of staff, on their own initiative, have commenced a training program to achieve facilities management accreditation through the Facility Management Association of Australia.

5 – Information technology infrastructure and services

Systems Development Project Plan

During 2001–02, the systems re-development project was substantially completed with the implementation of the Transfer Lending and Location module in December 2001. The implementation of the agency transfer component of this module has been delayed until some initial problems with the internal application of the module have been rectified. Work on improving the stability of the text retrieval engine, the addition of more RecordSearch modules and the implementation of the Prince2 project management method have progressed through the year.

Availability of systems

The Archives' strategies for protection against hardware failure, data corruption and computer viruses have proved successful during 2001–02. All systems except the Search and Retrieve function of RecordSearch were available in excess of 99 per cent during reporting period. The Search and Retrieve module was available only 97 per cent of the time for the year due to the 300 per cent increase in usage during the year which caused some instability in the text retrieval engine. In 2002–03 the Archives is bringing forward planned expenditure on hardware and software upgrades in order to improve the reliability and speed of the database retrieval facilities.

6 – Information management and services

Information Management Policy Committee

The Archives established an Information Management Policy Committee in February 2002. The objectives of the committee are to:

• help ensure that the Archives pursues an agency-wide integrated, coherent, cost effective and strategic approach to information and knowledge management, providing a model site of best practice to Commonwealth agencies;
• advise the Director, Information Management on strategies and tactics to facilitate the better management of information within the Archives; and
• promote internally the value of well managed and shared information to National Archives staff.

Recordkeeping

The electronic recordkeeping system used to capture the Archives' corporate records is available to all staff across the organisation with 49 797 records captured this year. An active training program on using the electronic recordkeeping system continued in 2001–02 with a total of 66 staff being trained during the period. A total of 416 staff have been trained since the implementation of the system began in 1998.

The Archives conducted a review of its corporate recordkeeping environment following the methodologies set out in the DIRKS Manual, part of the e-permanence suite of best practice products. As part of this review, staff were surveyed to obtain information on recordkeeping practices in the organisation. The survey results will be used as a benchmark to measure improvements in the Archives' recordkeeping, with similar surveys being conducted every two years.

Internal information network

The Archives intranet provides a corporate information network for Archives staff. The front page of the intranet was redesigned to facilitate access. A review of the content, content management and navigability of the system was undertaken to improve the service.

Library management

The Library continues to be an important portal of information supporting the work of staff. During 2001–02 the Library introduced a link from the intranet to selected electronic literature and commenced an electronic distribution service of the table of contents of professional journals. There is a high use of the Library collection with internal loans totalling 727 for the year. A review of the Library Collection Review Policy commenced in March 2002. The project has involved wide consultation within the Archives and is due for completion later this year.