The National Archives of Australia has developed two new products to help Commonwealth agencies achieve the Government’s Digital Continuity 2020 policy targets. 

The two products are known as the ‘Business System Assessment Framework’ and the ‘Minimum Metadata set’.

They are designed to help agencies to ensure their information, systems and processes are interoperable, and enable information to be found, managed, shared and re-used easily and efficiently.

This is part of the Australian Government's digital transformation initiatives which aim to make government services simpler, faster and easier to use, and also reduce unnecessary duplication.

The ‘Business Systems Assessment Framework’ ensures that information in business systems is well managed. It recognises that not all information is of equal value and that business systems which manage high risk, high value information need a more extensive assessment than systems that manage low risk records. 

The ‘Minimum Metadata Set’ provides a simple guide to tagging and identifying essential information. This supports the management, interoperability and transfer of information within and between agencies, including records which will be transferred to the National Archives.