Abstract:
The New Zealand Public Records Act 2005 sets out new recordkeeping requirements for organisations in New
Zealand. The legal requirement urges the organisations to maintain electronic records in a system so that these
records can be accessed and retrieved in future as evidence. It is particularly important for government
organisations to effectively manage the electronic records as these records are critical evidence of government
accountability. Electronic Records Management Systems (ERMS) is adopted by many government
organisations as a way to manage the electronic records. This research aims to identify Critical Success
Factors (CSFs) of an implementation of the ERMS in three New Zealand government organisations who have
already introduced ERMS. The research also analyses to what extent that age, gender, ethnicity, qualification
level and working group influences the perception of the CSFs of an ERMS implementation.
Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and idea of CSFs provided the theoretical framework for the
research. The research was based on quantitative method to collect data about the CSFs. An online survey was
distributed to staff member of the three government organisations. Participants were self selected and
anonymous.
The research found that the overall CSFs in the three government organisations were:
Reliability of the ERMS
Efficient and friendly training environment and support
User's willingness to use the new technology
The research also found that according to different human and social attributes, there were differences on
perceptions of the CSFs. CSFs are key areas that should be focused on first and positive results are absolute
necessary. As implementing an ERMS requires skills, technology, management, training time and money, this
research hopes to make some contribution to those government organisations that have a plan to make the
move.
