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What is Record?

To understand what benefits can be made from good recordkeeping practices it is best to first understand what the definition of a record is.  A record is recorded information, in any form, including data in computer systems, created or received and maintained by an organisation or person in the transaction of business or the conduct of affairs and kept as evidence of such activity.
A record is any record of information however recorded and includes;

1. a. anything on which there is writing or Braille;
2. b. a map, plan diagram or graph;
3. c. a drawing, pictorial or graphic work, or photograph;
4. d. anything on which there are figures, marks, perforations, or symbols, having a meaning for persons qualified to interpret them;
5. e. anything from which images, sounds or writings can be reproduced with or without the aid of anything else; and
6. f. anything in which information has been stored or recorded, either mechanically, magnetically, or electronically.

Western Australia State Records Act 2000