RecordPoint is helping South Australian government agencies with their digital transformation process

In 2021, RecordPoint delivered the first IRAP-assessed, in-place compliance solution for the whole of South Australian government's Microsoft 365 tenant. In partnership with Microsoft and the Department of Premier and Cabinet, RecordPoint delivered several features that ensured that any SA state government agency could deploy Records365 to manage their components of the shared Microsoft 365 tenant, while maintaining data separation, security, and access controls.

With this in place, our solution has enabled SA government agencies to rapidly transform and evolve their information management and compliance practices and enhance their compliance and data privacy posture.

State government has always been a mature player in the records management game. With the state-wide adoption of Microsoft 365 and many agencies also leveraging tools like Salesforce, Dynamics, and SAP, agencies are transitioning away from the legacy EDRMS systems and adopting in-place, SaaS platforms that can meet the changing demands of the digital-first workplace.  

We're starting to see more local, state and federal governments go through that digital transformation, not just with a focus on records management and document collaboration but looking at interconnectivity with their structured data sources, like ERP and CRM tools, that tend to be more the focus for local government organizations.  

In South Australia, we have partnered with the Department of Premier and Cabinet to make the digital transition easier and more reliable for government agencies.

The South Australian Government shared tenancy

As part of our demonstrated commitment to the Australian public sector, we have developed various features that ensure our public sector customers can meet the changing compliance, data privacy and regulatory landscape, both at a national and local level.  

These include our ‘Shared Tenancy’ feature, initially developed specifically to support the SA State Government, which offers a shared, fully supported Microsoft 365 tenancy for all state government agencies in South Australia. While this M365 tenant offers obvious benefits for agencies, it also brought a unique challenge when it comes to records management: With a range of shared services, how does each agency maintain a compliance posture that considers the information lifecycle, security, information borders, and ensure data is not lost or leaked?

RecordPoint’s Shared Tenancy feature resolves those challenges and ensures that each agency can manage their information and systems in compliant and fully automated manner. This includes support for both the shared tenancy and the shared Azure Active Directory, along with strong role-based access and security permission features. This ensures the agencies working within the SA government shared tenancy can manage their records without any risk of data intermingling or crossing those various departmental boundaries.

Since launching support for Shared Tenancies, RecordPoint has onboarded a range of new customers, including: the Department for Correctional Services, the Department of Trade and Investment, the SA Tourism Commission and the Lifetime Support Authority. Each of these agencies can manage information in Microsoft 365 without risk of data intermingling, while leveraging the full capabilities of the Records365 platform.  

DPC has worked with RecordPoint and with Microsoft to develop a comprehensive services catalog to support each of these agencies. For anyone new coming on to this service, this is a documented and sanctioned process that can be performed without any limitation to functionality or capabilities.

This approach has since been used by the Victorian State Government as part of the Cenitex Shared Tenancy arrangement.  

Meeting South Australian government standards, initiatives, and frameworks

RecordPoint is the only true SaaS player to formally complete a full third-party Infosec Registered Assessors Program (IRAP) assessment for records management. RecordPoint’s products and services were assessed to the security classification of PROTECTED. This assessment is vital when working with customers with sensitive critical information that needs to be managed. RecordPoint is also SOC-2 Type II certified.

RecordPoint also supports a comprehensive list of South Australian government standards, initiatives, and frameworks. These standards are not just records management standards or initiatives, but other digital transformation and cybersecurity initiatives that are currently live across SA government. These include:

The State Records Act 1997

The State Records Act 1997 establishes the requirements and responsibilities of agencies in the management of official records. Agencies must ensure records in their custody are maintained in good condition and not destroyed without appropriate authority. RecordPoint meets the SRA 1997, with a focus on record retention, defensible disposal and satisfying long-term preservation outcomes.

Digital by Default

Digital by Default is a commitment by the SA government to proactively transform IT services using digital technology. The commitment promotes online availability, mobility, accessibility and digitization, underpinning the digital strategy toolkit. The declaration sets the tone for digital transformation across SA government, andgovernment and underpins the need for agencies to more digitize their services and move to tools and processes that promote online, real-time access to information, mobile accessibility digitization of your paper-based processes. RecordPoint ushers in a new era of records management system that aligns with the principles promoted by both digital services and the Open Data Declaration.

The South Australian Cyber Security Framework

The South Australian Cyber Security Framework (SACSF) is a cabinet-approved, whole-of-government approach designed to ensure cyber security is adequately managed in each agency. RecordPoint has been assessed by DPC and multiple independent vendors against the SACSF.

The SA Gov IM Strategy and IM Standard

The SA Government Information Management Strategy establishes the Government’s agenda to ensure that all information and data (whether emails, documents, data in business systems, records or other types of information) which is created, received or collected by state and local government is managed appropriately. Meanwhile, the SA Gov Information Management Standard establishes the principles and behaviours expected of agencies in managing government information and data – this also aligns with the ISO 15489 and the more system-specific ISO 16175 standards and includes compliant systems in its scope.

RecordPoint confidently helps SA government agencies support these two pieces of legislation. The SA Gov IM strategy is supported by our federated model. RecordPoint can connect to any system, manage that content in place, providing greater visibility and accessibility into that information. And then from there, customers can use the IM standard and the governance model to help appraise their content to determine value, risk, insight and make more informed decisions.

This is just the start

Combined with the South Australian Government shared tenancy, our compliant and IRAP-assessed platform is enabling SA government agencies to accelerate their digital transformation in a safe and compliant way.

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