1. Dates: 1-3rd October 2018 Suva, Fiji
Some best practices on the creation and maintenance of civil registration records
Workshop on Improving storage and archival of civil registration records and documents
Dates: 1-3rd October Suva, Fiji

2. Outline Introduction Basic lifecycle of civil registration records
Key considerations to make while dealing with records at different stages
Fundamental elements of integrity of civil registration documents and data
Some questions for your consideration

3. Introduction: the responsibility entrusted to a civil registration office
Governments rely on civil registration offices to provide:
The public with legal identity documents which are a true reflection of who they are, their civil status incl. their family relationships
A record of legal identities that can be used to verify individual identities during important transactions between the state and the public
Population data that is accurate, complete and timely and that can be relied upon to make important decisions for/ that affect a population
Implicit in this assignment is TRUST that the office and officials undertaking these functions do so in the most reliable way, established on the highest standards of practice

4. The sensitivity of civil registration records and data
Through the issuance of a single identity document/ creation of a single record, civil registration records can have enormous impact to the social, security and economic wellbeing of an individual, a country, a region and at an international level.
-Identity fraud –creation and use of false id docs
-identity theft – theft of a persons existing identity
Inaccurate data, leads to inaccurate policies and hence inability to adequately respond to important (sometimes life-threatening) phenomena among the popn
It is therefore critical that every step leading to the creation of a record or a document is driven by sound business rules that eliminate any potential risks, and detect situations where reliability could be compromised

5. Basic life cycle of Paper records
At pre-record creation: New registers/forms, New certificates
Record creation: Active registers, copies of certificates
Record maintenance: Active registers, old registers
Pre-record creation
Record creation
Record maintenance
Record storage and archival
Disposition

6. Key considerations to make while dealing with records at different stages
Pre-record creation
Controlled access to New registers/ forms and certificates
Safe storage, protection from loss, theft, physical damage
Paper security
Record creation
Good documentation practices:
Assurance of confidentiality to registrants and its impact on data quality
Data integrity i.e. consistency, completeness, accuracy
Staff practices (record etiquette)
Numbering and filing of records
Record maintanance
Routine back up
Modification/ amendment of records
Sharing of data for statistical purposes
Sharing or records with other government departments

7. Fundamental elements of integrity civil registration document and data
Assurance of confidentiality
Record and documents should be Attributable
Records and documents should be Legible , traceable and permanent
Registration should be Contemporaneous
Original source documents should be verified
Accurate and quality should be assured

8. 2. Attributable
Information is captured in manner that it is uniquely identified as executed by a particular person. This can be achieved through the use of:
Initials;
full handwritten signature; or
personal seal.
There should be a verifiable, secure link between unique identifiable, (actual) person signing and the signature event.
While using personal seals, it is critical to ensure secure storage, controlled access to only authorised individuals and other means of ensuring potential misuse is eliminated
Use of digital images of a persons handwritten signature should be discouraged. These are at a high risk of misuse especially where there are no proper controls in access

9. Attributable… For Electronic records the same can be achieved through:
unique user logons that link the user to actions that create, modify or delete data; or electronic signatures, (either biometric or non-biometric).
Use of shared and generic log-on credentials should be avoided to ensure that personnel actions can be attributed to a unique individual.

10. 2. Legible , traceable and permanent
Use of permanent, indelible ink, no use of pencil or erasures;
use of single-line cross-outs to record changes with name, date and reason recorded (i.e. the paper equivalent to the audit trail);
No use of opaque correction fluid or otherwise obscuring the record;
Controlled issuance of bound, paginated registration books with sequentially numbered pages (e.g. that allow persons to detect missing or skipped pages);
Controlled issuance of sequentially numbered copies of blank forms (e.g. that allow persons to account for all issued forms);

11. Legible, traceable and permanent..
Use of secure, time-stamped audit trails that independently record operator actions;
Configuration settings that limit access to enhanced security rights, such as turning off the audit trails or enable over-writing and deletion of data),
Backup of electronic records to ensure disaster recovery;
Importantly it should be possible to associate all changes to data with the persons, changes should be time stamped and a reason for the change recorded.

12. 3. Contemporaneous
It is important that data entries are made at the time of the activity directly in official documents
NOT in unofficial documentation (e.g. on a scrap of paper) and later transfer the data to official documentation
It is improper to back date or forward date a record. Instead the date recorded should be the actual date of the data entry. Late entries should be indicated as such.
For electronic records, configuration settings should enforce
Saving of electronic data at the time of the activity and prior to proceeding to the next sequence of events,
Secure time and date stamps that cant be altered by personnel

13. 4. Original
Review of the documents presented as evidence of occurrence of a event:
Have written guidelines that ensure adequate review and approval of original paper records presented for registration
The guidance should provide for how to evaluate changes made to original paper records such data correction;
It is important to have review and approval signatures to ensure persons understand their responsibility as reviewers and approvers
Steps on how to handle documents that do not meet a particular threshold should be outlined
Its important that staff are adequately trained in this regard

14. Accurate
Staff are trained to ensure they have the capacity and skills for the effective collection, recording, analysis and reporting of data.
Routine quality assessment of the records: You could have a second or third person verifying the entries
Providing data for analysis is one of the key steps to improving its quality as it provides opportunity to critical review the quality
Monitoring of registration completeness is an important approach to data quality assessment

15. Accurate
Identify, nominate a senior individual at top management level to have overall strategic responsibility for data quality, and this responsibility is not delegated.
Clearly communicate the commitment to data quality among staff reinforcing individual responsibility
Have accountability on quality linked to staff performance appraisal
Establish a framework to monitor and review data quality
Registration processes should be consistent and clearly defined in a procedural manual
Information systems have built-in controls to minimise the scope for human error or manipulation and prevent erroneous data entry, missing data, or unauthorised data changes

16. Questions: For the group discussion session
What are the key challenges faced by your country in the management of civil registration records? Discuss risks associated with Paper records, followed by those associated with digital records
Are there staff practices that could compromise on the quality or authenticity of CR records- please discuss these?
Are there environmental factors that could affect the quality or authenticity of your CR records?
In general, what do you perceive to be the key risks faced by your country in the management of CR records
Has your country adopted any strategies to mitigate any of these risks? If so please outline some of the key strategies adopted and recommended approaches.

17. Thank you!