Cardinia Shire Council’s innovative approach recognised

Established in 1998 by the Public Records Advisory Council, the Rupert Hamer awards recognise excellence and innovation in records management within the Victorian Public Sector.

Cardinia Shire Council’s General Manager Corporate Services, Derek Madden said the Records Management team had consistently risen to the challenge of modernising its processes and achieving financial and procedural efficiencies year-after-year.

“Our Records Management team has worked diligently with eCloud Business Services over the past 18 months to automate all our incoming correspondence. As a result of this partnership and finding smarter ways of working, we are now saving 80 hours of work per week, have reduced the cost to process mail and improved the quality of our data,” Mr Madden said.

The team, which is virtually unchanged, won the Rupert Hamer award four years ago for achieving a streamlined transition to the new Activity Based Working and paperless environment at Council’s new building in Officer.

“This latest success is a credit to our staff for innovating and adapting to the changing world of records and data management. And, while the award is focused on government agencies, we could not have achieved this outstanding result without the ongoing, diligent, responsive and flexible support delivered by eCloud staff.”

Under the new automated process, all mail received by Council is run through multiple algorithms developed by eCloud which read, assess and then allocate mail into the document management system. With millions of records being processed per month for eCloud’s clients, the system’s self-learning nature is invaluable and means the process is continually improving and becoming more efficient.

Mr Madden said the benefits of the approach were wide-reaching and enabled Council staff to achieve better outcomes with more focused resources.

“Council is now achieving 100 per cent data quality because the algorithms apply consistent business rules. Our staff have embraced the opportunity to direct their energies towards more value-add tasks that support excellent customer service and greater transparency - two key values to which Cardinia Shire Council aspires.”

Regarding the impact on the Records Management team, Council’s Team Leader Corporate Information, Ruth Edge said the team members are now challenged, work in a collaborative way and are invested in the future of records and data management at Council.

“Eighteen months on, I can say that as a team we are more in control and valued. We enjoy a much higher profile than in the past and have much respect across the organisation at all levels.”