We are now in an information era. Managing information is one of the challenges faced by governments over the world. Information is generated from various sources and stored in many formats and media. Increasingly, decision-making processes and programme delivery are documented in a mix of paper files, e-mails and word processed documents, each representing only a part of the whole. The exponential growth in the use of electronic technologies to conduct business, enhance information exchange and automate business processes in government has made the overall management of information resources more important than ever.

Against this background, the Record Systems Development Office was established effective 20 October 2003 to focus on meeting a new service demand related to management of electronic records to support e-Government initiatives, new technologies and practices in recorded information management.

The realignment of existing resources of the Government Records Service has enabled the Record Systems Development Office to focus on developing a sound foundation for the effective management of information resources, regardless of media, and to integrate the appraisal of record values for retention planning and to preserve records with identified historical value.