The Limitations of Existing Case Studies for an International Audience:

Scenario:

Commentary and Questions:

The many offices (motor registries) which manage the business of licensing drivers and registering vehicles accept identification documents and other supporting documents from drivers and vehicle owners. The documents support

• the declaration of identity,
• the fitness to drive,
• the proof of ownership and of roadworthiness of the vehicle and
• the state of its insurance.

There is a centralised computer system in each State which registers the vehicles and records the licensing of the drivers and the electronic record is generally regarded as the primary record. The other documents are supportive. That is they are evidence of the basis of the decision to license a driver or register a vehicle.

In all state jurisdictions recordkeepers in the relevant agency must make arrangements for managing these documents which generally become part of the record of registered vehicles and licensed drivers. In all of the jurisdictions, these supporting records may be recalled quite soon after the initial transaction is completed, or at any time for some years later. When the documents are retrieved within days of the initial transaction, it is generally required immediately, at the motor registry counter where a mistake of some kind has been discovered and needs to be corrected.

The choice of storage medium, storage and retrieval arrangements and retention practices varies quite widely. The documents may be accepted as paper, photocopies generally, and subsequently held as paper, microfilmed or scanned and stored digitally. The scanned image and microfilmed versions of the supporting documents are generally kept for an indeterminate period ( not "permanent retention" but the records have not been destroyed to date. In the states/territories where the records are maintained as paper, the retention period varies from 7 to 10 years.

One state is investigating the costs and benefits of the three identified storage arrangements (paper, microfilm and digital storage). The accumulation of documents has been measured at 4 shelf metres/per week. The rate of retrieval is approximately 30 items per week, 20% of which are required "immediately" to deal with a motor registry customer waiting at the counter. The other requests come from insurance companies, solicitors and the police for a variety of purposes.

The first two are charged for access to the documents on a cost recovery basis, the police are not. The police often require the most complex searches for vehicle histories, changes of addresses of drivers going back several years and comparison of signatures. The access points for retrieval are:

• date
• motor registry location (name of suburb)
• motor registry officer ID (barcode)

and the means of pinpointing those access points is the computer system which logs the Motor Registry officer's ID, linked to the motor registry, to every transaction she makes. Whether the documents are retained in paper or migrated to another medium, the computer system will continue to hold the principal record of the transaction (an electronic registration) and the means of accessing the supporting records will continue to be that computer system. Because these records, electronic and supporting documentation, hold current personal information, the control of access to them (to maintain confidentiality) is of premium importance so all access transactions must be recorded.

1.     List the advantages and disadvantages of each storage medium ñ paper, microfilm, scanned image ñ for the supporting documentation.

2.     Identify the issues that will need to be addressed in order to establish the cost of the best storage solution (e.g. what procedural steps will be needed to check image quality? etc.)

3.     Propose your own recommendation for the agency.

(twenty shelf metres equals 20 type 1 archival boxes which fit 5 to a metre of standard metal shelving.)

cost recovery = charging according to the labour and resources involved in completing the transaction.

Note:

Don't overdo this exercise. We are not expecting definitive and fully costed options. Address each point (in dot form if you like) making sure that you're clear and make a recommendation.