Corporate Records Management Branch

1.2 What is ARCS?

ARCS is a combined records classification and scheduling system that facilitates the efficient and systematic organization, retrieval, storage, and destruction or permanent retention of the government's administrative records. ARCS is maintained by the Corporate Records Management Branch (CRMB) and is the standard government-wide classification system for all administrative records of the Government of British Columbia.

A standard classification system such as ARCS is the cornerstone of an effective records management program. ARCS identifies and describes the administrative records created by offices throughout government, and organizes them into a structure that reflects administrative functions. This organizational structure ensures that records can be quickly and easily identified, documented and retrieved.

ARCS is also a records scheduling system. A records schedule is a timetable that governs the life span of a record from creation, through active use within an office and retention in off-site storage, to destruction or transfer to the government archives.

The records schedules incorporated into ARCS ensure that all administrative records are retained for sufficient periods of time to meet the legal, operational, audit, fiscal or other requirements of government. A records schedule identifies those records that have enduring values and provides for their transfer to the government archives. Records schedules also provide for the timely destruction of routine administrative records when they are no longer required to support the government's operational functions.

What are Administrative Records?

Administrative records document and support those functions that are common to all government offices, such as the management of facilities, property, finances, equipment and supplies, personnel, and information systems. Administrative records also document common management processes, including committees, agreements, contract management, public information services, information and privacy, records management, postal services, and other related functions. Although these records are administrative, they may have considerable operational impact. For example, a committee may make decisions which affect ministry or agency policy.

Administrative records are created in a variety of media, including: textual records, photographs, sound recordings, motion picture films, video recordings, audio-visual materials, pictorial records, paintings, prints, maps, plans, blueprints, architectural drawings, and other sound, film, video, photographic, or cartographic materials. Records exist in a number of different physical formats, such as paper, microfilm, and electronic records.

Administrative records do not include the central agency records relating to administrative functions, because these are operational records for the central agencies. Examples include the Corporate Procurement Solutions, the Office of the Comptroller General, Queen's Printer, and the British Columbia Public Service Agency. Those records are covered by relevant operational records classification systems (ORCS).

Operational records relate to the operations and services provided by a ministry or agency in carrying out the functions for which it is responsible according to statute, mandate, or policy. Operational records are distinct from administrative records and are unique to each government organization. CRMB establishes standards for the development of ORCS for all operational records of the Government of British Columbia. Each ORCS is tailored to fit the specific operational records of a unit of government.

The ARCS manual is available in hardcopy from your Records Officer, or online at http://www.lcs.gov.bc.ca/CIMB/arcs/admin/arcsdown.asp.

Some categories of records or data have special retention and disposition requirements and are handled by special records schedules. These schedules are standardized for all ministries and agencies, and cover both administrative and operational records. They can be used effectively to dispose of records not covered by ARCS and ORCS.

The following categories of special records schedules are available online at http://www.lcs.gov.bc.ca/CIMB/special/default.asp:

Schedule No.	Schedule Title

112907	Commission of Inquiry Records
112910	Computer System Electronic Backup Records
102903	Electronic Mail
102906	Executive Records
102908	Record Copies of Published Maps
102905	Special Media Records (including photographs, motion pictures, audio-visual materials, videotapes, etc.)
102902	Transitory Electronic Records
102901	Transitory Records
112913	Unsolicited Records
112914	Voice Mail Records
102904	Word Processing Records
112916	Year 2000 (Y2K) Project Documentation and Test Data Records

See the special schedules section of the ARCS manual for a description of these records and the records retention and disposition schedules covering them. For further guidance on applying these schedules, contact your Records Officer.

The Purpose of ARCS

ARCS facilitates the efficient management of operational information by:

providing a tool for executive control of recorded information;
ensuring that needed information can be accessed quickly and accurately;
ensuring that records are available to protect the fiscal, legal, operational, audit and other liabilities of government for required periods of time;
providing for the timely destruction of routine administrative records that are no longer required and ensuring that records of enduring value are retained by the government archives;
providing a framework for the audit and review of operational functions; and
providing a legal basis on which the integrity, authenticity, and completeness of operational records may be established.

Responsibility for ARCS

The CRMB is responsible for developing and maintaining ARCS for the administrative records of public bodies covered by the Document Disposal Act (RSBC 1996, c. 99). CRMB records analysts and archivists develop and amend primaries to reflect changing government needs. They also identify secondaries covering records of enduring value, develop appraisal statements for them, and select, arrange, and describe the records when they are transferred to archival custody.

Each ministry, government agency and Crown corporation has a designated person responsible for implementing and coordinating records management procedures. This records officer, usually known as the Ministry Records Officer (MRO) or Corporate Records Officer (CRO), should be contacted for further information whenever necessary. If you cannot determine who your records officer is, call Corporate Records Management Branch at 387-1321. The Records Officer may alert CRMB if issues arise which appear to require amendment to ARCS.

The British Columbia Archives (BC Archives) is responsible for preserving and providing access to records of enduring value to the province. The BC Archives takes care of records that are no longer needed by their creating agencies and have been appraised by an archivist for full or selective retention. In scheduling terms, these records have become inactive and have final disposition designations of full or selective retention. Records in BC Archives custody can be accessed through the BC Archives Reference Room, located at 655 Belleville Street, Victoria, or through the BC Archives website at http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca. Access is subject to provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (RSBC 1996, c. 165).

©	Province of British Columbia 2003-2009
	Page last updated: January 21, 2009