Digitisation in Maltese public administration : a number of case studies

Abstract

The Malta Public Service and authorities in public administration are obliged to provide the best support and service to their citizens. In order to do so they need an efficient and well organised management framework. Records provide the necessary evidentiary and legal basis for any organisation to operate efficiently. Keeping records is a demanding task since records should be overseen and dealt with from the moment of their creation till their disposal or archival manner. This investigation examines the current circumstance of the records' administration in the Maltese Public Service and scrutinises the path forward to implement a digitisation project. A considerable amount of paper records are being created on a daily basis. Born digital records are being printed out instead of managed in their original format. Storage Spaces are getting out of hand as the secure mode of keep records is still the hard copy format. Investment in a digitisation project is being proposed as an effective way forward for the administration records. An evaluation of business processes will identify what records should be kept and what records should be disposed of, and therefore can be destroyed. Retention schedules are to be planned and followed. The proposed system for a records administration programme would ideally contribute towards powerful and productive recordkeeping.