VPRS 16575 General Correspondence, Multiple Number System

Full description

The General Correspondence series consists of the Gas and Fuel Corporation's Central Executive File. A memo created by the Executive Officer that appears to date from circa 1971 formalises the establishment of the Central Executive File and outlines the implementation process.

Responsibility for the system was to be handled by the Secretary's Department. It was to combine all material more than five years old directed to or originating from the following executives:

* Chairman and General Manager
* Associate Directors
* Secretary
* Executive Officer
* Chief Accountant

Lists were created showing the location within the Central Executive File of all papers and files forwarded for retention. This was to assist in locating material that originated from the individual executive file systems. In December of each year, the Secretary was to arrange for files held by the various executive secretaries to be examined and all correspondence dated in excess of five years was to be removed and incorporated into the Central Executive File.

Content of the file was to date from the inception of the Corporation and files classified according to subject were to be stored in numerical sequence on open shelving. A 3-part multiple number system was used - the first two numbers relating to primary and secondary headings from a list of subject classification headings (VPRS 16597) and the third a single consecutive number.

Content

Content includes
Board papers and agendas
Project contracts
Gas industry reform files
Gas company records

The degree of implementation and maintenance of the system is subject to further research. Information from previous Gas and Fuel Corporation employees indicates that the system was not necessarily implemented as planned. The inconsistencies of the application of the Central Executive Filing System were highlighted when the Gas and Fuel Corporation's records were processed for archiving in 1996. The files were split into three main categories - Corporate/Secretarial Archive (CorpSec), ArchCity (records from Gas and Fuel offices other than Corporate and Secretarial) and Historic Archive (records from gas companies pre Gas and Fuel and early Gas and Fuel Corporation records which may be of historical interest).