The Better Records Initiative was launched by the Provincial Archives in 1996, with a broad mandate to identify and address electronic records issues facing the Manitoba government. It is based on the Archives' statutory authority for corporate records management and archives policy and programs. The long-term goals of the Initiative are: the adoption and implementation of corporate recordkeeping standards and best practices; the protection and accessibility of viable electronic records; development of a new blueprint for preservation and provision of access to archival electronic records; and the drafting of new Archives legislation.
Better Records' immediate focus is on a set of new government re-engineering initatives, under an executive umbrella known as Service First, aimed at redesigning key processes and applying information technology to "reinvent" government. One of these Service First Initiatives, Better Systems (BSI), is responsible for the development of an enterprise-wide information architecture that will integrate currently isolated applications and establish a "single window to government" for business clients and citizens. A commercial vendor has been contracted to develop the BSI architecture. In the first phase, teams led by the vendor will re-engineer seven major business areas (each with a significant recordkeeping mandate), including land titles registration, registration of personal property, registration of companies, workplace inspections, and child protection services. Business Process Re-engineering and Rapid Application Development of the systems will take place over a fourteen month period beginning in June 1997. It is expected that the Better Records partnership with Service First will provide opportunities to implement and test Functional Requirements for Recordkeeping and to advance corporate recordkeeping standards and best practices.
PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES OF MANITOBA
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