Business information systems (BIS) are those that are capable of creating, capturing or managing records of business activity. The Guidelines are designed to help Australian Government agencies interpret and use the Specifications for Business Information Systems to design, review, purchase, build and evaluate a business information system.

The Guidelines are written for Australian Government agencies and Industry software developers and vendors. They are technical and detailed, but relevant if you:

• create, capture or manage records using BIS software
• prepare tender documents to procure BIS software
• audit, assess or review existing BIS software
• develop BIS software
• market BIS software to government agencies

The Guidelines provide detailed explanations of some – but not all – of the requirements included in the Specifications. Explanations are only provided for requirements that:

• require special consideration by agencies
• address complex issues

See Appendix 2  for further information.

The Specifications deal with business software systems that create, capture or manage records of business activity (for example, line-of-business systems, case management systems, content management systems, finance and human resource management systems). They are not intended to provide functional requirements for software specifically designed for the purpose of keeping and managing records. For records management capability for these systems see the Specifications for Electronic Records Management Systems Software.

The Guidelines are designed to help Australian Government agencies interpret and use the Specifications for Business Information Systems Software.

The specifications provide a generic set of requirements that Australian Government agencies can use to ensure that their business information systems (BIS) software has adequate recordkeeping functionality to support the creation, capture and management of digital records of business activity. These requirements will help agencies develop design specifications to build or purchase new systems, or upgrade recordkeeping functionality in existing systems. Business information systems include line-of-business, case management, content management, human resource management and financial management systems.