Decommissioning of legacy systems: A methodology for indentifying and preserving records of ongoing business value in legacy business systems: Paper - iPES 2014 - Melbourne

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the methodology and supporting advice developed by Queensland State Archives to help Queensland government departments undertaking the disposal or replacement of legacy ICT assets to lawfully manage the information content of those systems. Before deleting or investing in any preservation effort on records in decommissioning candidate systems, agencies need to have a clear understanding of: which records need to be kept and for how long; how to seek disposition authorisation for records which may have no ongoing value to the organisation; and what is and is not deemed a suitable preservation environment for managing records of ongoing value, from a recordkeeping perspective. Developed with the non-record professional in mind, a key message underpinning the methodology is that records as evidence of business activity are strategic assets in their own right, not just a byproduct of the business process, owned by the application.