File References

MEMORANDUM

Academic Services
Office of the Registrar

Facsimile 1075
Extension 2450
Email:wedgeley@acs.uwa.edu.au

Ref: 02/15/005/008

23 April 1996

Faculty Executive Officers
Faculty Administrative Officers

 
FILING ISSUES

(a)  Filing of Reports on Reviews of Departments and other Academic Units  

In the course of responding to some recent FOI applications, the FOI Co-ordinator has had some difficulties locating copies of departmental reviews, both formal and ad hoc. It appears that a number of reviews conducted in recent years have never been filed in the Central Records system. This means that the University’s formal records are incomplete, a situation which can lead to serious public embarrassment.

I would be grateful if Faculty Executive Officers could ensure that a copy of the final version of every Review Report forwarded to the Vice-Chancellor is forwarded to the Records Officer for filing. The Review files are confidential; that is, they are kept in a locked cabinet in Records and are only issued to authorised personnel.

In order that we may complete the file record as far as possible, I will be asking the Records Officer to check existing files against the list of reviews of Departments and other academic units completed in the new system and to seek a copy of any missing Departmental Review Report from the FEO concerned. 

 (b) File Reference Numbers for agenda and minute items 

At intervals I send out a plea for those writing agendas and minutes for Faculty and Faculty Board meetings to quote the appropriate file reference number against the heading of each item. I refer you to my memorandum of 13 May 1994 which is at F3 in the Faculty Officers’ manual.

FOI experience again points to the importance of routinely allocating items to a file number. A recent case in which an officer had not allocated a file reference number to a minute entry in 1993 resulted in days of frustrated searching for attachments mentioned in that entry.

Please also bear in mind that it is much simpler for Records staff to check a reference number allocated by the "experts" than to have to determine the appropriate file number themselves. If you do not do the work in your office, this results in additional work in Records. Having spent a few hours in Records recently helping to check a backlog of unfiled documentation, I was very disappointed to see that large numbers of internal documents, both from faculties and some areas of central administration, bear no file reference at all.

If you feel you or your secretary need assistance with understanding and using the Records system, please do not hesitate to contact Jenny Edgecombe on extension 3023.

If you have problems determining the correct file number for an item, please check with Jenny rather than allocate it to the wrong file; Jenny would much prefer to help at the initial stages rather than have to rectify errors at a later stage.

Over the next few months Joan Robins will be working on the production of lists of files commonly used by each faculty (e.g. course files, prize files, review files etc.) for inclusion in the manual. We hope this will make the important task of allocating each item to a file a little easier.

One other point. When sending minute extracts for filing, please consider carefully whether it is in fact necessary to file each item, and if the answer is negative, omit the item concerned. Examples of the kinds of items which are not worth filing, in that they will not be of any importance to those consulting files in the future are:

• Faculty Board congratulations to Faculty staff on promotions;

• Thanks to members completing periods of service on committees;

• Routine confirmation of minutes (with no changes).
  

The key question in determining whether a document should be filed is "Is this a significant part of the file record?"

Thank you for your co-operation.
 
WENDY EDGELEY
Assistant Registrar (Academic Services)

c.c.   Jenny Edgecombe, Records Officer
      Joan Robins, Academic Services