Archives: Digitisation Policy of WC Governmental Bodies 2017 | Western Cape Government

Archives: Digitisation Policy of WC Governmental Bodies 2017

The rapid pace of technological innovation in information handling, such as digital technology, has created new opportunities to improve the accuracy and availability of information. Digital technology provides distinctive advantages, namely, improved and more efficient processing of business transactions through application of optical character recognition (OCR) and workflow technologies, improved access to records to a wider audience, and electronic preservation of original records that would otherwise be at risk of damage through frequent handling.

On the other hand, digital technology has brought about new challenges that the Western Cape Archives and Records Service (WCARS) needs to deal with, such as management of digitally born records, transformation of the largely paper-based current, semi-current and historical records  to digital formats, digital preservation and short life cycle of technology.

The evident and increasing need for governmental bodies to embark on digitisation projects has necessitated the compilation of a policy document to guide the processes and storage of the resulting digital images and accompanying data. The WCARS is mandated with the task of ensuring that reliable records are maintained over time as evidence of official business for the purposes of accountability, operational continuity, disaster recovery, institutional and social memory. It is in this light that the WCARS developed a policy to best manage the rapidly evolving digital landscape that governmental bodies find themselves operating within.

Please see the online version of the Digitisation Policy of Western Cape Governmental Bodies 2017.

The content on this page was last updated on 21 May 2021