Preparing the schedule and supporting documentation for final authorisation

Mandatory templates for disposal schedules

These are the mandatory templates to be used by public sector organisations to document information relating to functional records disposal schedules.

Before submission to the Records Retention and Disposal Working Group

Consultation

The draft disposal schedule must be circulated to key stakeholders in the public sector organisation, such as business managers, audit, legal and information officers, for comment before submission of the draft to the RRDWG.  Stakeholders should be made aware that feedback from the RRDWG may result in further changes.

Draft disposal schedule/s and associated documents submitted to the NT Records Service for consideration by the working group must include:

• function class description form
• record class description forms
• first draft of schedule

Type of feedback an agency may receive from the Working Group

Feedback may include:

• clarification on the record class covered by the schedule
• clarification of the reason for the retention or destruction of particular record classes
• suggested changes to retention periods based on experience with previous disposal decisions and knowledge of related records in the Northern Territory Archives Service
• establish if the records will have longer-term interest to the Northern Territory community
• relationship between the functions and activities documented in the schedule and in other disposal schedules
• request more information on the background or history of the functions and activities documented in the schedule.

Formal approval

After the RRDWG review process is completed, feedback (if required) is addressed and agreement has been reached, the disposal schedule will need to be authorised by the chief executive (CE) of the organisation, the Senior Director, ICT Policy and Governance (the Records Service) and the Director, NT Archives (the Archives Service).

The Senior Director, ICT Policy and Governance (the Records Service) and the Director, NT Archives (the Archives Service) will require:

• hard copy and electronic version of the final draft, as signed off by the CE of the organisation
• letter of request for approval of the disposal schedule from the organisation (see Appendix E for sample document)
• signed original of the authority form (see Appendix F).

Agencies will lodge final documents in the first instance with the NT Records Service for authorisation.

The NT Records Service will facilitate the final approval through the Records Retention and Disposal Committee (RRDC).

NT Archives Service will register the disposal schedule in the Register of Disposal Authorities and formally notify the organisation of the final approval and the registration number allocated to the disposal schedule. A version of the disposal schedule will be published on the NT Archives Service (DoAM) and the NT Records Service (DCIS) websites.