Requesting an amendment to records disposal schedule
Officers within agencies applying published records disposal schedules should continually review and determine if the class descriptions, status and disposal actions remain current and are appropriate.
Published retention and disposal schedules are not static documents and may require amendment for a number of reasons, which could include:
- the business function or processes that have changed and the schedule no longer adequately covers all records captured by the function
- spelling and/or typing mistakes have been identified
- terminology has been superseded
- existing cross references may be redundant, or a new cross reference needs to be added
- classes are no longer relevant to the schedule and need to be updated or removed
- a class or classes need to be added to the schedule
- functions covered by the schedule have been affected by machinery of government (MOG) changes
- the schedule is long standing and is no longer relevant in its current form
- legislative changes have been implemented and have had an impact on the published schedule.
Schedule reviews are divided into three categories.
- Category A - Minor amendments which do not alter a disposal action or the scope of records disposal class.
- Category B - Changes which do alter disposal actions and/or the scope of the records class descriptions, without reviewing the whole schedule, and requires CE approval of the agency.
- Category C - Review of the entire schedule, which is superseded, and then published under a new schedule number. The process for this category is the same as the development of a new schedule.
Category A - Minor
The following information will assist agencies in identifying what may be determined as a minor change:
- spelling or typing mistakes have been identified
- adding a new cross reference
- deleting a cross reference
- grammar or style inaccuracy.
Requirement
An email from senior management or an equivalent delegate of the business area or section to the Records Service including a completed amending an existing records disposal schedule form DOCX (57.9 KB), will be sufficient evidence for this action to proceed.
Category B - Minor with approval and evidence
The following information will assist agencies in identifying what may be determined as a minor change that will require evidence (i.e. Record Class Description) and CE approval.
- adding a new disposal class
- adding a new activity
- changing a keyword scope note
- changing the description of an existing disposal class
- changing a disposal status or trigger
- removing a class/es.
Requirement
An email from senior management or an equivalent delegate of the business area or section to the Records Service, who will advise the RRDWG of the amendment request and will liaise with agency to progress request.
The agency will be required to supply relevant forms and associated authorisation i.e. CE certification. Record Class Description statements will be required for any new disposal classes.
Category B changes will be noted and inserted in the preamble of the revised schedule.
The new classes will be added at the end of the amended schedule in order to avoid the re-numbering of existing classes.
Schedule of amendments
Amendments to the [Function name] Functional Records Disposal Schedule
Dated: February 2025
Table of amendments
| Page | Element | Type of edit | Description of amendment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Class 1.1.4 | Category B | Addition of class 1.1.4 |
| 6 | Class 1.3.4 | Category B | Change to description to expand coverage of disposal class |
Category C - Major review
The following information will assist agencies in identifying when a major review is required.
- machinery of government changes that has substantial influence on published functional records disposal schedules
- internal restructures that have a substantial influence on published functional records disposal schedules
- significant changes to legislation that has substantial and direct effect on published functional records disposal schedules
- functions being split
- plans are made to commercialise or privatise the function
- the published schedule is long standing and has not had a review for several years.
For further information on major changes refer to: Guideline for the development of a functional records disposal schedule - reviewing a functional records disposal schedule.
Requirement
An email from senior management or an equivalent delegate of the business area or section to the Records Service, who will advise the RRDWG of the review request.
The agency will be required to supply relevant forms and associated authorisation as prescribed in the guideline.
Contacts
For further information and advice contact:
Records Service
Department of Corporate and Digital Development
GPO Box 2391
Darwin NT 0801
Email: NTG.RecordsPolicy@nt.gov.au
Phone: 08 8999 1746