1. > WHAT IS ISO 15489?

The International Standard on Records Management, ISO 15489, was launched in October 2001 at the ARMA International Conference in Montreal. The Standard was developed by an international committee and is strongly based on the Australian Standard on Records Management, AS 4390 – 1996: Records Management.

The Standard was designed to meet the ongoing generic needs for recordkeeping in a business environment. It is not just for government agencies to use, as the advice it gives will help any organisation to set up efficient, cost effective business recordkeeping practices and procedures.

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2. > WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE?

The standard has two parts.

• ISO 15489 Part 1: General gives a high level framework for recordkeeping and explains the benefits of good records management, the legal considerations and the importance of making someone responsible for recordkeeping. This part also looks at what's needed for good records management, designing recordkeeping systems, records management processes, auditing and training.
• ISO 15489 Part 2: Guidelines is a guide to putting the advice given in Part 1 into practice. It provides specific detail on developing records management policy and responsibility statements and suggests a process for developing recordkeeping systems. It also provides practical advice about developing records processes and controls such as thesauri, disposal authorities, and security and access arrangements. It discusses how you might use these tools to properly manage (including capturing, registering, classifying and storing) your records. It also gives specific advice about setting up monitoring, auditing and training programmes, which will help make sure the benefits of good records management are understood across any organisation, large or small.

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3. > WHY IS IT USEFUL?

The Standard is useful to agencies because:

1. It provides comprehensive advice to help staff with routine, yet critical, recordkeeping work.
2. It meets the recordkeeping needs of organisations worldwide.
3. Because it is an international standard, it gives an internationally accepted framework to help managers set up and maintain best practice recordkeeping systems.
4. It has a monitoring and auditing framework, so you can measure your levels of compliance and the benefits you are getting objectively.
5. Archives New Zealand's advisory products are either based on it or are consistent with it. If you can meet the ISO Standard you are likely to be meeting Archives New Zealand's standards too.
6. Now that the Public Records Act 2005 has become law and Archives New Zealand is moving to introduce a compliance system, using the ISO 15489 Standard will mean you won't need to make changes to your recordkeeping systems to make sure you meet the requirements of the Act.

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4. > WHERE CAN I GET A COPY?

Archives New Zealand has a licence to give, free of charge, copies of ISO 15489 to public offices in New Zealand for uploading on their intranets.

Offices which get the Standard from Archives New Zealand can produce local copies of the documents, in full or in part, for their own staff or contractors and sub-contractors to use (where the contractors are doing work for the organisation). You may not make copies of the Standard, in full or in part, to sell, loan or distribute to people outside your organisation.

For information about getting a licensed copy of the Standard for your organisation, contact Archives New Zealand on: rkadvice@archives.govt.nz

Copies of the Standard can also be purchased from:
Standards NZ at http://www.standards.co.nz/
Standards Australia at http://www.standards.com.au

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