Governance and Compliance was targeted as one of the key result areas in the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation (ANMF) TAS Branch Strategic Plan 2014 – 2017. The implementation of an effective business system to manage record-keeping of both electronic and physical records was identified as a major requirement within this key result area.

Along with the need to be able to integrate with their existing membership system, consolidation of disparate data stores was also identified as a core issue that needed attention. Legacy systems, unstructured file shares and individual email stores meant that accessing information could be a time consuming, if not impossible task.

ANMF TAS Branch is both the voice and the strength for the thousands of nurses, midwives and carers working within Tasmania's health system. ANMF TAS Branch also works alongside their members, government and industry to improve professional status, education and working conditions for the greater nursing team, while safeguarding the quality of patient care.

Under the guidance of Heather Ragg, ANMF TAS Branch’s Records Management and Library Officer, a decision was made to tackle this requirement with the implementation of Knowledgeone RecFind 6, an Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) to manage a range of the organisation’s information including library catalogs, historic images, workplace, student and member records, as well as handling the need to electronically capture and manage email correspondence.

According to Heather, “We aim to produce a consolidated home for as much of our data as possible.  A home that is easy for busy end-users to add to and find what they need – fast.  ANMF TAS Branch staff are often multi-tasking across a broad-range of issues so reducing end-user workloads by automating many capture and classification activities was an essential outcome.

“The work we do is challenging, advocating on professional and industrial issues effecting nurses, midwives and carers, as well as providing quality training through the Health Education and Research Centre. Ensuring all team members can easily capture and access relevant information is important for providing the service excellence our members and students expect.

“Before we began the journey with RecFind 6 in late 2015 we relied on time consuming manual capture and classification; supplemented by unofficial individualised structures and processes as well as storage in a variety of locations including personal and network drives, hard copy files and email accounts.

“We needed to be able to streamline and automate the capture and classification of our electronic records, especially our voluminous emails. Selecting a system that provided this was imperative. We also needed to ensure the system we selected could be customised to suit our particular needs, which included integrating to our existing membership business system. Using the latest Electronic Document and Records Management technology, Knowledgeone Corp and ANMF TAS Branch are working together to make integration and automatic capture a reality,” said Ragg.

Having used RecFind 6 in a previous organization, Heather understood how the RecFind 6 software suite could solve their issues. “I was aware that through the excellent and supportive training provided by Knowledgeone, customization of the software would be something we could go on to manage internally, without the need to outsource or engage the vendor anytime a change was required” she said.

ANMF TAS Branch will also benefit from using the fully browser based RecFind 6 Web Client. Not only does it reduce the workload on their IT resources, it also makes connecting to the system during off-site meetings, worksite visits and from their Launceston office a breeze.

Moving forward, the ANMF TAS Branch sees RecFind 6 as being a critical part in managing their compliance and governance by becoming the central repository for all their information, and are currently reviewing the possibility of integrating their finance systems with RecFind 6 to store relevant financial documentation.

“With RecFind 6 the potential is very exciting.”