Portable pig pen, regional research station, Hermitage, November 1955 – Digital ID: 1810
While the GRDSv8 is out for consultation, we are going to bring you weekly blogs about all the proposed changes. The first in the series is about the new section ‘Common Classes’.
Remember back when we released the GRDS Renewal Discussion Paper in 2014, one of the issues raised was that finding the correct record class for an activity can be confusing because some activities only appear once in the GRDS and are not repeated under each function, even though they may relate to more than one function?
Ask and you shall receive, as they say – your feedback has led to the introduction of ‘Common Classes’ in the GRDS.
What’s been done?
The new ‘Common Classes’ section proposed in version 8 aims to reduce duplication and allow you to sentence these records under any function.
We analysed the GRDS and identified 19 activities that will fit under ‘Common Classes’:
You will find that many of these activities have jumped ship from Strategic Management, but we have also taken them from other functions, making those functions a bit more lean. We haven’t put the GRDS on a diet, we have just moved things around!
What do you think?
As this is something new for the GRDS, we would really like your feedback.
Are there any activities missing from ‘Common Classes’ that you think should be included?
Do the scope notes make sense to you? Is it clear what is meant by common classes or does it cause confusion?
Should we introduce a similar section into sector schedules? (since the GRDS Renewal discussion paper, we have already approved a core business schedule that has this new feature – Agriculture QDAN719 v1).
Are we missing any ‘see’ references? Are we missing any exclusions?
It’s not just the approach we’d like your feedback on – do you think the retention periods are too short, just right or too long?
Let us know your thoughts, in the comments below or via any of the usual channels. We’re keen to hear them – by Friday 26th February 2016 please.
Remember, you can contact us at any time via email, telephone, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Flickr.
Elizabeth Harvey
Appraisal Archivist
