To understand what records your agency needs to create and how these records should be managed, it is important to consider the wider administrative, legal and social context in which your agency operates.

To identify these requirements, your agency will need to develop:

• an understanding of its requirements to make and keep records as evidence of its activities. These requirements can either be defined in legislation, or they can be a part of good business practice. For example:
• • the Patents Act 1990 (s186) requires the Patents Office to keep a register of patents (legislative requirement)
  • minutes of important meetings should be created and kept (a requirement of good business)
• an appreciation of its business-related risks (such as legal action or the loss of vital records)
• an appreciation of the internal factors (eg legal and business requirements) and external factors (external stakeholder expectations) that influence how these requirements may be met
• a framework of policies and procedures to support decisions about keeping and destroying records
• a benchmark for assessing whether its current practices meet these records management requirements
• a basis for determining which strategies best meet its records management requirements

For information on the division of records responsibilities between an agency and the National Archives, see Responsibilities of the National Archives and agencies.

For more information on Australian or international standards that might be relevant, see Australian and international standards.