managing public sector records: a study programme - International ...

Case Study: A New International Traveller
Movements System for the Immigration Department
Background
The Immigration Department is in a country which is popular with many visitors,
including migrants and tourists as well as refugees. The Government of the country
therefore places a high priority on the monitoring and regulation of movements in and
out of its borders. This monitoring is important in screening potential new citizens as
well as for guarding the fragile and pristine environment of the continent against over
population.
The Department of Immigration and the Monitoring Function
The Department of Immigration includes amongst its primary functions the
monitoring and processing of international traveller movements into and out of the
country by air and sea. To support this function, Ports conduct the activity of
recording international traveller movements both in and out of the country. This
activity is in turn supported by a process which involves passengers receiving cards at
the port they are leaving from or on the flight/vessel they are coming in on,
completing them on their arrival or departure and submitting these to Immigration
Officers. Clerical staff then enter this information into a database on a local
computer, which weekly produces computer output microfiche (COM) on a strict
chronological basis. Copies of the microfiche are then distributed from each Port to
all other Ports, for reference purposes. Master sets of microfiche are retained in their
‘home’ Ports and subsequently sent to semi-active storage.
Prior to the introduction of the current International Traveller Movements (ITM)
system in 1977, a paper manifest prepared by masters of vessels or aircraft recorded
passenger movements. There is a large quantity of records of passenger movements
from both these systems, including paper manifests, paper cards, 16-mm microfilm,
and some electronic tapes and discs from an early scanning experiment. Many of
these records are held by the Department in semi-active storage and some of the
pre-1950 manifests are in the National Archives, where they are a heavily used
research resource to prove eligibility for pension and citizenship entitlements and for
family history.
Organisational Context
Currently the Department of Immigration is structured around a Head Office in the
national capital, to which all the Ports report. Amongst the programme areas
managed from Head Office is the ‘Corporate Information’ programme, headed by the
Chief Information Officer, Mr French. This programme has responsibility for the
Corporate Records Unit, the Library and the Information Technology section.
Corporate Records has essentially been a centralised paper filing system for the Head
Office, with each Port pretty much doing its own thing. The International Traveller
Movements (ITM) data has always been seen as the domain of the Information
CASE STUDIES 14: FINDLAY
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