Current and past award nominations

The winner of the 2022 service excellence award is retired Archivist, Librarian and Photographer, Jenny Scott. 

Jenny’s nomination as the 2022 award winner recognises and celebrates her records, information and archives management service excellence for more than three decades encompassing an extensive career, and outstanding achievements and contributions to academia, professional associations and industry as a records archivist, librarian and photographer. Jenny is also highly regarded as a passionate and extraordinary advocate for transgender people and the LGBTIQA+ community and other social causes.

Jenny’s tertiary qualifications in photography, history and politics, and library and information management, together with her accomplished career – including positions with the City of Port Adelaide Library, the Darling House Community Library, State Records of SA, the State Library of SA and as a professional photographer – have involved researching, creating, editing, preserving, publishing, promoting and project managing an array of significant, high quality SA photo and other records and information archive, library and personal collections and initiatives documenting the history of SA for current and future generations. These projects have led to extensive published online digital photo and other records archive collections, presentations, panel discussions, media news articles, as well as appearances in a documentary film and a TV episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’.

Jenny’s outstanding achievements and initiatives adopted best practice digital record archive and library history collection processes, and include the delivery of organisational, university, professional association and other education programs to share her extensive knowledge and digital content learnings. These contributions have made a significant difference across multiple information industries, professional associations, practitioners, groups and students that Jenny has connected with throughout her remarkable career and community work.

As an archivist at State Records of SA for three years, one of Jenny’s many government records and archives initiatives and passions involved retrieving and collecting historical student enrolment and other registers and records from state preschools and schools. These activities ensured that these valuable government information assets were archived and preserved for archivists, researchers, genealogists, historians, community groups, members of the public and other stakeholders. They also ensured availability for state and national stolen generation, institutional child abuse and other royal commission, commission of inquiry and similar investigations and reparations. Jenny was also involved in researching and developing government records disposal schedules as the legal basis for the archiving and disposal of agency records documenting important business information, data, transactions, decisions and communications in SA’s history.

Jenny’s career at the State Library of SA from 2000 to 2019 involved a range of roles, including library curator of pictorial collections, library collection specialist, content services librarian, collection development librarian, and archivist for unpublished collections. Some of Jenny’s outstanding achievements during this time included authoring web content and implementing the State Library’s initial Flickr, Facebook and Twitter social media presence. Jenny was also involved in editing, publishing and contributing to or promoting the State Library’s extensive and diverse collections of digital photos and other record archives such as the:

• • SA Memory Radical Dream website. This online gateway to SA’s history, heritage and culture highlights SA’s people, places, issues and events from the state’s colony beginnings to contemporary times, and showcases a wide range of archival materials and information. These include original photographs, art works, posters, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, artefacts, sound recordings and film clips documenting past and present life in SA.
  • ‘Chamberlain Photo Collection’ of World War I soldiers from 1914 to 1915. This important historical collection involved digitising and uploading more than 500 glass plate negatives of WWI photographs to the State Library’s Flickr site, including a 1915 image of a young soldier, Thomas Playford, who survived the war to later become SA’s longest-serving Premier from 1938. Jenny participated in promoting this collection via a front-page feature article in SA ‘The Advertiser’ newspaper on the eve of Anzac Day 2013.

These initiatives demonstrate Jenny’s extensive technical skills and expertise in research, design, collaboration, content management, engagement, leadership, marketing, problem solving, project management, publishing, and web and social media capabilities.

Jenny has promoted record archiving practices and digital photo, film and other archive library collections in a range of media news articles highlighting the importance of preserving, archiving and looking after digital records, including ‘selfies’, to prevent the loss of memories and important history and what day-to-day life was like over time. Some of the media articles covered valuable collections developed by State Library teams including:

• • The ‘Holden Collection’ chronicling the 150+ year history of the car manufacturer, Holden, spanning 140 metres of shelf space of historic Holden car models, advertising, WWII car production and other archival records deposited at the library by General Motors Holden. The collection provides invaluable research materials on these topics, including artefacts, films, videos, sound recordings, drawings, photos, plans, promotional material and magazines.
  • The ‘Kyffin Thomas Collection’ capturing the history of the Kyffin Thomas family who set up SA’s first newspaper called ‘The Register’. It includes rare family films capturing insights into high society during the 1930s, thus highlighting the importance of capturing, preserving and digitising fragile historical photo and film archive records before they are lost. The films incorporate personal moments with aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, as well as a family wedding depicting the life of extraordinary wealth and privilege enjoyed by the Adelaide establishment in the 1930s.
  • ‘The Panther Within’ documentary film by writer, director and filmmaker Edoardo Crismani. The documentary’s subject is Joe Murray, a boxer and member of the stolen generation, who was part of a boxing tent troupe and known for his incredible speed and lightning punches. The filmmaker is Joe’s grandson, who along with Joe’s daughter, embark on a search to unravel the mystery surrounding their family identity. They meet with Aboriginal elders, as well as with researchers and archivists including Jenny, to shed light on Joe’s life and discover their connections. The documentary highlights the methods of enquiry and sources available to archivists and researchers to examine the past and accurately retell history. Jenny researched State Library archive collections to contribute information for the documentary and appeared in the film and a companion study guide.
  • The SBS TV documentary series ‘Who Do You Think You Are? with Michael O’Loughlin’ (series 4, episode 1). In this episode, Aboriginal AFL footballer Michael O’Loughlin returns to Adelaide to trace his family bloodlines. His mother’s maternal line stretches back before white settlement to his great, great, great grandmother, a Kaurna woman, whose husband was a white settler and whose marriage made legal history. On his father’s side, a family legend connects Michael to an ancestor whose image appeared on the Australian $50 note and who had a close friendship with anthropologist Norman Tindale. Tindale studied genealogical records about Aboriginal communities in reserves and missions to help Indigenous people discover evidence of their family lineage and connections. Jenny appeared in this episode on behalf of one of her State Library colleagues who did the research on Michael’s family history for the program.

Jenny has been instrumental in securing, to the State Library of SA, the donation and preservation of personal photo and other record collections of prominent South Australians who form an important part of SA’s history. This involved sensitive negotiations with family members to gain their trust to transfer their precious family photo and other records to the library for archiving, preservation and digital access purposes. These include the ‘Keith Phillips Photo Collection’, ‘Eric Arthur Photo Studio Mount Gambier Collection’ and ‘Janine Haines Collection’ (former Australian Democrats Senator and Party Leader).

From 2010 to 2018, Jenny was a lecturer at the University of SA for the Graduate Diploma in Business Information Management (Archives and Records Management) for the providing access to digital content subject. In addition to educating students, Jenny was a role model and mentor for current and future practitioners undertaking the course.

To further share her digital content and other archive learnings, Jenny has developed and delivered many presentations at various local, national and international professional association and industry conferences, forums and events – including for the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand (NZ), Australian Society of Archivists, a Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library National Conference, Collections Network Australia, International Council on Archives Pacific Regional Branch, National Library of Australia, NZ Association of Women in Aviation, and Oral History Association SA/NT.

In a personal capacity, Jenny has compiled, edited, catalogued and published more than 110 personal Flickr digital photo albums comprising over 11,200 high quality digital photos depicting significant events, people, places, war and memorial activities, and professional association conferences and events. These digital photos contribute to preserving SA’s history and include albums relating to World War II, SA Anzac Day dawn services and marches, SA war memorial monuments, a SA Proclamation Day ceremony, SA record and other collection event launches and presentations, and people, communities, places, events and environments around Adelaide.

Jenny has also researched, authored, edited, catalogued and published a book, Flickr digital photo site and blog depicting the history of the Royal New Zealand Air Force No. 6 Flying Boat Squadron 1943-1945. Her father, Alastair Scott, was the squadron’s adjutant in the Solomon Islands in 1944 / 1945 after serving in the United Kingdom between 1941 and 1943.

In addition, Jenny has been an active, long term professional member and event delegate, presenter and panel member for the Australian Society of Archives as an accredited professional member since 1999; International Council on Archives (ICA) – including member of the ICA Advocacy Expert Group Steering Committee from 2014 to 2019 and member of the ICA Pacific Regional Branch from 2013 to 2019; Friends of SA Archives; National Archives of Australia Adelaide Consultative Forum; Australian Museums and Galleries Association; and other professional associations and bodies over her career. Jenny also authored two articles for ‘iQ’, the quarterly Records and Information Management Practitioners Alliance – Global (RIMPA Global) magazine.

Jenny is a strong advocate for the rights of transgender people and the broader LGBTIQA+ community, a former member of the Council of The Ageing (COTA) SA’s Rainbow Hub Advisory Group, and an honorary trustee for The Parkestone Foundation which financially supports LGBTIQA+ community projects. In 2021, COTA published an inspiring magazine feature article about Jenny’s lived experienced as a transgender person called ‘Doing what I feared the most’. Jenny has also been an energetic participant in many community advisory groups and conference organising committees. In 2017, Jenny’s significant efforts as a passionate activist for the LGBTIQA+ community over 30 years led to her being honoured by having her name added to the prestigious ‘South Australian Women’s Honour Roll‘. This honour roll provides formal recognition of women who contribute to the SA community; and acknowledges and celebrates the diversity of women in our community and their commitment to effecting change that provides a safer and more inclusive society.

The award judging panel found that Jenny is highly regarded by her work colleagues and network contacts in professional and industry associations across Australia and the globe as a significant member of the records and information archives, library, photography and history collection industries. Jenny’s intelligence, expertise and lived experience as an archivist, librarian, photographer, university lecturer, author, advocate, presenter and panel member for a broad range of government and community organisation, professional association and industry conferences, forums, news articles, documentary film and TV appearances and other events make her a strong role model for new practitioners, groups, students, researchers, volunteers and other individuals that Jenny has connected with during her career and personal life.

The panel was impressed to learn about Jenny’s extensive capabilities and outstanding professional and other achievements across a wide range of disciplines and industries. These outcomes were achieved during Jenny’s accomplished career, and through her extensive community efforts and other volunteer activities, spanning more than three decades. This includes the many varied and brilliant outcomes that Jenny’s extraordinary contributions, innovations and advocacy have made to government and community organisations, professional associations, industries, members of the public and the state of South Australia. These achievements demonstrate Jenny’s remarkable passion, focus and commitment to service excellence, collaboration, knowledge sharing and best practice in records and information archive, library, photography and history collection management, preservation and digital access for the benefit of current and future generations.

The panel congratulates Jenny on her extraordinary career, academic, professional association and volunteer contributions and successes across a wide range of records, information and archives related disciplines and industries, as well as her strong advocacy for communities and social causes, and is delighted to recognise and celebrate these achievements as the 2022 award winner.

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2021 award winners

The winners of the 2021 service excellence award are Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) Manager Health Information Services, Terry Seery, and Manager Medical Records, Tanya Reid.

The panel was delighted to bestow the 2021 award winners’ prize package to Terry and Tanya to recognise and celebrate their exemplary leadership, innovation and teamwork which resulted in the digital transformation of the CALHN Medical Records Department from a paper medical record environment to a comprehensive electronic medical record best practice environment. This included transitioning from physical based records processes with significant offsite historical patient admission file records totalling over 20,000 paper files per month and related significant third party records storage management costs. The new digital environment is supported by an innovative centralised scanning model and streamlined workflow processes, complemented by a “working smarter” framework and “doing it right the first time” quality assurance improvement model.

Panel members were impressed to learn how Terry and Tanya led their dedicated colleagues to digitally transform the CALHN Medical Records Department. This included:

• • achieving over $4.7 million budget savings on offsite paper medical records management costs, and an extra $200,000 savings on scanning and IT equipment. These benefits were derived from large, complex, innovative, and highly successful electronic records management digitisation and centralised scanning initiatives implemented at SA’s flagship new Royal Adelaide Hospital, the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre and for the CALHN COVID-19 vaccination program. Around 300,000 to 340,000 CALHN documents per month are scanned with the new IT equipment
  • how the electronic medical records solutions transformed paper inpatient admission and outpatient attendance health files and medical records to an electronic medical records management environment, with major efficiencies, improved records integrity and other benefits realised for clinicians, administrative staff, the community and the state. These benefits include improved clinical service delivery and patient safety with real-time access to concise, contemporary and high quality electronic patient health information and medical records
  • extensive consultation and change management programs and cultural change implemented across multiple clinical, administrative and executive personnel and teams to streamline core workflows, and improve scanning and quality assurance processes. These initiatives positively impacted on clinicians and other users involved in creating, accessing, updating and managing patient health files and medical records
  • the education and training/upskilling of existing medical records staff. These efforts led to significantly improved team values, morale, satisfaction and retention of valuable team members; and a sustainable best practice work environment conducive to continuous improvement initiatives and providing support for other teams
  • how these best practice digital transformation and centralised scanning models, efficient workflow process improvements and advanced quality assurance initiatives are capable of being scaled and easily adapted to improve service delivery across diverse services, local health networks and multiple healthcare facilities.

The sheer impact and scale of the efficiency outcomes, savings and other benefits led by Terry and Tanya through their complex digital transformation initiatives were seen as outstanding by the panel.  Supporting “before” and “after” snapshot graphs, examples and other content included in Terry and Tanya’s nomination provided clear evidence of their contributions, and the major savings and other benefits realised for patients, clinicians, administrative staff, the community and the state.

Terry and Tanya’s award winners’ nomination was submitted by Andrew McAlindon, Acting Executive Director Digital Services / Chief Data and Analytics Officer, CALHN.

2021 award merit recipients

The strong field of 2021 award nominations received led the panel to bestow service excellence award merit certificates to each of the following recipients:

City of Onkaparinga Corporate Information Management Team

The City of Onkaparinga Corporate Information Management Team’s outstanding achievements during 2020 to 2021 in implementing four separate significant council records management and archiving projects – as well as records and information management digital transformation and systems initiatives – during the challenging and disruptive 2020 COVID-19 outbreaks and beyond were commended by the panel. The team’s activities related to:

• • managing the retrieval, preservation and archiving of large pallets of boxed field operations centre historic council records. This included sorting, identifying, listing and archiving these historical documents to prevent their loss or destruction
  • supporting the council in managing organisational information in line with records management legislative, policy and procedure requirements during council building works and electrical refits, which required council teams to temporarily move offsite while these works occurred. This included meeting with staff prior to these moves to offer best practice records management support and advice. It also included managing the sentencing and archiving of several cabinets of council records to preserve and avoid the loss or destruction of historical road registers dating back to the 1950s, and cemetery and burial records dating back to the 1800s. These archived records will be invaluable to current and future residents, staff, archivists, researchers, family historians, community groups and other stakeholders
  • project managing the council’s ECM (Electronic Content Management) system IT cloud transition project. This included the development and implementation of high quality and adaptable change management, Q&A training sessions and support programs for 800 users located over multiple council sites and working from home. These programs facilitated the successful migration of the council’s corporate information to a new IT cloud-based environment, and created further buy-in and understanding of the council’s ECM system and importance of managing council information
  • implementing and promoting a three-month council-wide “document amnesty” campaign to encourage council staff to identify and capture a significant number of old documents and digital records storage media devices (USBs, CDs, floppy discs and hard drives) stored onsite and in various council offsite storage areas. The campaign facilitated the sorting, sentencing and archiving of historical corporate information to significantly reduce storage costs and improve the integrity of council information over time. It included developing and publishing signage, intranet advertising, “Docs in the Box” posters and campaign drop off collection points; relationship building; and providing support to council staff to promote a greater understanding of the value of council information
  • provision of corporate information management services to 800 internal users plus external customers to futureproof the council’s corporate information and sell the team’s services in a modern and positive way to council staff. This was achieved via engagement, support, training, building trust, risk management and information management quality process improvements.

Panel members were impressed by the number and diversity of the records management, archiving and ECM system IT cloud-based transition projects and activities for 800 internal users that the team undertook during the challenging 2020 SA COVID-19 outbreaks and restrictions, and disruptive council building works and electrical refits – with limited resources and council staff required to work offsite during these activities. They were also impressed to learn how the team’s flexible training and support programs, and the innovative three-month council-wide “document amnesty” campaign, have strengthened internal relationships with the council’s staff; and ensured future engagement and buy-in across the council for managing corporate information.

The panel congratulates the team on lifting the profile of information management and the team’s services throughout the council; and its plans to remain resilient and committed to quality improvements for best practice records management, digitised information and legislative compliance.

The team’s nomination was submitted by Tracey Bell, Team Leader Corporate Information, City of Onkaparinga.

Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA) Senior Document and Records Management Consultant, Rita Novia

The panel was delighted to receive Rita’s nomination which detailed her efforts in leading the successful design, development and implementation of a bespoke PIRSA Objective ECM system digital transformation, workflow automation and electronic registration filing system solution for the five-person PIRSA Biosecurity SA Business Performance Registrations Group to address their business and records management needs.

Rita provided digital records management project consulting, business analysis and workflow automation services which enabled the business group to transition from a paper-based biosecurity registrations process for large volumes of property identification code and other registrations to an automated ECM system digital registration filing environment. This includes the automated migration and assignment of metadata to large volumes of historical email records stored on PIRSA network drives to ECM system electronic registration files.

The solution has significantly reduced the time to manually move very large volumes of biosecurity property identification code registration emails (around 9,400 emails per year) and apiary registration renewal emails (around 2,800 emails per year) into corporate ECM system file containers, as well as new and cancelled registrations.

The project outcomes that Rita and the business group achieved included:

• • consulting services to identify business and system requirements, and approve proposed solutions
  • identifying and implementing document naming conventions and metadata to facilitate the automated creation of ECM system electronic registration files for each biosecurity property identification code
  • development and implementation of a series of sophisticated PIRSA Objective Perform (workflow automation software) automated workflows to poll nominated folders and identify relevant documents, to add appropriate metadata, and to file these documents into the appropriate ECM system electronic registration file
  • migrating a backlog of around 18,000 email correspondence and other documents from PIRSA network folders into the ECM system electronic registration files using workflows and other automation tools, after document naming conventions were applied to the legacy documents. Prior to this, staff within the business group estimated they spent 40% of their workday moving correspondence and other documents into ECM system electronic registration files
  • provision of training to two business group members on manual intervention workflow completion tasks
  • delivery of configuration documentation and a comprehensive end user guide for the business group.

The solution developed currently processes around 4,700 biosecurity registration renewal documents per month with limited staff manual workflow task intervention required. It has led to significant efficiency improvements for the business group, eliminated the need to employ temporary agency staff to undertake filing, and provided better work/life balance for business group members.

Panel members were impressed to learn about Rita’s innovation, ECM system workflow automation, digital transformation and user documentation skills; and the sound methodology adopted for this initiative. This included consultation, delivery of workflow training, and production of a high quality end user guide developed to transfer knowledge to assist the business group maintain and complete biosecurity registration workflows. 

The workflow automation solution delivered has vastly reduced the five-person business group’s workload, streamlined their processes, and directly contributed to best practice digital records naming conventions, metadata capture, registration and filing. The panel observed that the nature of the learnings and approach used for this best practice digital transformation solution has the potential to be adapted for other business units and ECM system customer sites.

Rita’s nomination was submitted by Peter Zviedrans, Data Administrator, Biosecurity SA Business Performance Registrations Group, PIRSA.

CALHN SA Dental Records Management Coordinator, Kerry O’Donohue

Kerry’s merit certificate celebrates her excellent records and information management services provided to customers within the state-wide SA Dental health service and Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN). This includes Kerry’s mentoring; leadership of records and information management practices and system initiatives; and dedication to records and information management best practice.

Kerry was nominated by her colleagues for her:

• • positive and enthusiastic guidance and offers to provide assistance on records management legislative and other requirements to SA Dental staff, management and the wider CALHN community
  • sharing of expert knowledge of the new SA Dental ECM Objective Perform (workflow automation software) system
  • ability to identify issues and streamline processes to create system efficiencies. This included transforming manual and duplicative processes to streamlined digital processes for the registration, processing and management of large volumes of annual third party clinical records access requests and patient consent release forms. This  digital ECM system workflow initiative has led to email and network electronic  records storage savings, reduced staff effort in recording files, improved access to and recoverability of corporate information, dramatically reduced response times, and consumable and postage cost savings
  • assistance provided to others to increase their understanding and use of SA Dental and CALHN IT systems
  • expertise provided on the implementation and rollout of the Objective ECM system within CALHN by providing sound advice on improving workflows, developing cheat sheets and other resources, problem solving, sharing tips, providing training, and continually pursuing the engagement and education of others in “all things records related”.

Kerry was recently invited to join the Office of the Chief Executive Office, CALHN, to provide expertise and advice on improving ECM system workflows and training staff. She regularly attends records and information management seminars and workshops to keep abreast of developments in the industry and to apply best practice learnings within SA Dental and CALHN.

Panel members were inspired by the numerous positive comments and references provided by Kerry’s work colleagues and manager regarding her dedication and commitment to best practice records and information management and business improvement. This includes Kerry’s willingness to build positive relationships with central agency records and information management units, and to share her knowledge with others.

The panel was also impressed to learn about Kerry’s ability to influence and foster positive change, and her commitment to educate, train and support staff.  One of Kerry’s referees described her as being a highly valued staff member who “… works tirelessly as a lone ranger in her mission to bring the organisation in line with legislated requirements under her own steam”. The panel observed that being a “one stop shop” like Kerry, without a team to assist, requires significant knowledge, capabilities and an appetite for continuous learning and improvement to pursue and achieve great outcomes. Kerry’s nomination and references from her colleagues make it clear that the state-wide SA Dental health service highly values her outstanding efforts and records and information management service excellence.

Kerry’s nomination was submitted by Lesley Patrick, Executive Assistant to the Executive Director SA Dental, CALHN.

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2020 award winners

The winner of the 2020 Bernadette Bean SA Records Management Service Excellence Award is Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA) Digital Workspace Manager, Deanna Fleming.

The panel was pleased to bestow the award winner’s prize package to Deanna in recognition of her continuous passion for records management service excellence, and dedication and commitment to the records and information management industry. This includes Deanna’s leadership in leveraging PIRSA’s best practice records and information management framework and Objective ECM – which were designed, implemented and managed by Deanna and her former PIRSA records and information management team to:

• • drive best practice digital transformation, and innovative process automation and system integration
  • promote records and information governance
  • share knowledge, methodologies, experiences and reasoning with peers in other agencies

to further enhance business outcomes for PIRSA and other government agencies across Australia.

Examples of Deanna’s significant records and information management contributions and achievements include:

• • Design, development and implementation of agency-wide best practice information governance and digital transformation initiatives to revolutionise the way PIRSA delivers services to its customers and internal users. This was achieved by harnessing the power of PIRSA’s Objective Perform (workflow automation software), Objective Connect (secure file sharing application) and other product functionality to minimise organisational processing response times, facilitate collaboration and information sharing, improve customer service, and promote information governance.
  • Significant organisational business benefits, productivity gains and increased compliance via the digitisation of records; business process re-engineering; and innovative design, programming and implementation of automated process solutions. Some examples of agency-wide digital transformation initiatives and automated business critical processes designed by Deanna to increase ECM adoption, minimise user effort, realise benefits, and promote compliance relate to the management and approval of: ministerial and chief executive correspondence, agency and government briefings, parliamentary estimates, grant applications, and human resource onboarding and employee contract activities. They also encompass FOI request, digitisation and disposal of paper-based records, QA reviews of scientific research publications, ECM system administration tasks, and other targeted business activities. These best practice initiatives required Deanna to develop and apply a high order of innovation, business analysis, problem-solving, process re-engineering, engagement, technical coding, testing, change management and other skill sets.
  • Development of ECM system integrations with other business applications to improve information governance, productivity and business performance. Examples of innovative and technically challenging system interfaces conceptualised and facilitated by Deanna include integrated solution improvements to automate the capture and governance of information and conversations created in Objective Connect digital workspaces and Microsoft Teams channels into PIRSA’s ECM system. The ECM vendor, Objective Corporation, subsequently incorporated these solution improvements into Objective Connect core product functionality, and also released a new Objective Governance for Microsoft Teams Module. Deanna worked with her team at PIRSA, Objective Corporation, other SA Government agencies, State Records of SA and Microsoft Corporation to ensure the new Governance for Microsoft Teams Module would meet PIRSA and other agency information governance needs. This new integrated module has been adopted by other customer sites within Australia and New Zealand. The availability of the new solutions became even more strategically pressing when COVID-19 led to the rapid deployment of collaborative platforms, such as Microsoft Teams and Objective Connect, to thousands of team members across government and other organisations to facilitate collaboration and information sharing while working remotely from home or other alternative office locations.  Other PIRSA ECM best practice integration solutions previously developed and implemented by Deanna and her former team members led to them winning two national Objective Collaboration and Integration Innovation Awards in 2016 and 2017. These awards celebrated the agency’s innovative Objective ECM and Connect automated digital workspace closure and management task workflows; and ECM and web content management system integrations for publishing links to the latest approved version of ECM documents (such as policies, forms, system documentation, corporate plans, research reports and other publications) on PIRSA’s intranet and internet sites. The integration solutions implemented – which led to significant business efficiencies, and version control and information governance improvements – were subsequently shared with and adapted by other SA Government customer sites.
  • Sharing of methodologies, learnings and other knowledge with her peers in other agencies, and contributing to the industry to promote the importance of information governance and best practice. This includes Deanna’s mentoring of team members in other agencies; and her delivery of case studies, articles, ECM system process automation workflow demonstrations and presentations to records and information management and ICT professionals and executives at various ECM and information management professional association user group, convention, roadshow, site visits and other events in SA and across Australia.

Deanna’s award winner’s nomination was submitted by Vanessa Savic, SA State Account Director, Objective Corporation Ltd.

The runner-up of the 2020 service excellence award is Port Augusta City Council Records Co-ordinator, Melody Poole.

The award judging panel elected to award a 2020 Bernadette Bean SA Records Management Service Excellence Merit Certificate to Melody based on her dedication and commitment to best practice records management; and her outstanding achievements in developing, implementing, managing and maintaining a holistic records management framework for the Port Augusta City Council. This encompasses her work on:

• • the council’s Micro Focus Content Manager (HP RM) EDRMS upgrade projects and digital transformation initiatives. These projects were rolled out across 14 council regional sites which deliver diverse and complex community and remote services
  • the council’s records management policy, business classification scheme, disposal schedule, digitisation, monitoring and reporting, change management, disposal, storage, disaster recovery, training, succession and other programs implemented across multiple worksites to encourage EDRMS uptake, compliance and best practice.

The Service Excellence Merit Certificate also recognises Melody’s willingness to mentor and develop her team members, and to share her knowledge and information with other regional councils.

The panel was particularly impressed to learn that Melody:

• • achieved the above outcomes while she faced and overcame the challenges of working in a remote regional council, where access to resources and opportunities to engage with, and learn from, industry experts and peers in other councils are limited
  • is considered the ‘go to’ person for records management advice across the Northern Records Management Group
  • has been instrumental in developing a model of best practice records management for the region’s councils.

Melody’s award nomination was submitted by Shane Wilkinson, Principal, Docs in the Box.

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2019 award winners

The winner of the 2019 service excellence award was SA Courts Administration Authority (CAA) Records Manager, Matthew Fry.

The award was bestowed on Matthew in recognition of the records, information and archives management service excellence and innovation he has demonstrated by being the main driving force for:

• • leveraging the value of CAA records and information as corporate assets to improve business outcomes, mitigate risk and deliver better services
  • improving records and information governance by leading significant workplace best practice contributions and efficiency improvements for electronic content management (ECM) system users across the SA Coroner’s Court, Magistrates Court, Supreme Court, Youth Court, Sheriff’s Office and CAA Corporate Services Division.

Examples of Matthew’s outstanding records and information management contributions and achievements include:

• • Tirelessly pursuing records and information management excellence through the procurement and increased adoption of an enterprise-wide ECM, Objective. Matthew’s long term strong commitment, drive and focus resulted in significant improvements in the capture and management of CAA’s digital content and reduced organisational reliance on legacy paper records; greater recognition of the importance of sound information governance; increased compliance with recordkeeping legislation and standards; and adoption of innovative automated business process solutions. He also initiated and led significant CAA archiving projects involving the recovery, archiving and preservation of SA court records previously held in decommissioned court buildings around the State.
  • Consistently leading, supporting and mentoring his records management team. Matthew is also an active participant at ECM user group and networking events. He uses these opportunities to share collective learnings and build on CAA’s capabilities. These learnings are then applied to other CAA business processes to promote further knowledge transfer, efficiency improvements and other business benefits. Matthew’s team regard him as an exemplary leader and mentor.
  • Dedication to records and information management innovation. Matthew’s dedication has led to long lasting, increased elevation of ECM, digital transformation, business performance and better services across the CAA. These activities support the implementation of the SA Premier’s Digital by Default Declaration, SA Government Information Management Strategy and CAA Strategic Plan. An example of his team’s creative thinking – with support from Youth Court of SA management – was the design and implementation of an innovative, highly successful ECM business process workflow and digital transformation initiative to automate travel approvals for Youth Court staff. This exemplary initiative resulted in the CAA winning their ECM vendor’s Objective Information Governance Innovation Award in November 2018.
  • Displaying perseverance and dedication and commitment to best practice records and information management and the industry. In addition, Matthew is always willing to share his team’s learnings with other records and information management professionals and ECM user group members across the industry.

The runners-up of the 2019 service excellence award were District Council of Loxton Waikerie Records Officer, Helen Roberts, and Executive Assistant, Tanya Cregan.

The award judging panel awarded Records Management Service Excellence Merit Certificates to Helen and Tanya based on:

• • their outstanding success in jointly managing the design implementation and user uptake of their council’s electronic document and records management system (EDRMS), Micro Focus Content Manager 9
  • the challenges they faced and overcame working in a remote regional council with limited resources and competing priorities.

They each stepped up to obtain and utilise the skills and knowledge required to:

• • determine the council’s EDRMS requirements and assist with pre-configuration scoping works
  • coordinate with vendors
  • arrange EDRMS user training and desktop software roll-out
  • champion the benefits of an EDRMS and its correct use
  • assist EDRMS users at go-live, and thereafter, to integrate the use of the EDRMS into their daily work activities
  • monitor and provide guidance on EDRMS use.

The panel was impressed to learn how Helen and Tanya worked above and beyond normal expectations; and about the energy, initiative, enthusiasm, focus and resilience they displayed throughout the best practice implementation of the EDRMS within their council.

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