Service Alberta
2014-01-08
eTips: Busting Myths about the Electronic Workplace
Did you know…?
Government of Alberta (GoA) employees, through the Reaching Our Full Potential
(ROFP) initiative, expressed a strong desire for a “digital by default” workplace.
They recognized that printing, mailing, filing, retaining, accessing, and disposing of
paper materials is often more expensive than electronic solutions, particularly for
paper records that end up being stored for several years.
Many myths about electronic communications affect the way employees handle
the document needs of GoA programs and services.
These eTips debunk myths, clarify misconceptions, and seek to help realize the
full value of ROFP and ‘digital by default’.
1. MYTH: Employee timesheets must be printed, signed, and filed.
BUSTED: IMAGIS online time entry has replaced paper timesheets.
This means that paper timesheets should only be printed and retained
in special cases, such as General Illness reporting, or where MyAgent is
not available.
2. MYTH: You must send original signed invoices to Accounts Payable.
BUSTED: Signed invoices can be scanned and then emailed to your
Accounts Payable contact, speeding payment and reducing paper
handling costs and use. Consider keeping the signed electronic copy
for your own records and discarding the original, rather than retaining
and filing the original or a copy of the invoice. When scanning invoices
or other documents reference the GoA Digitization Standards to
ensure the images are legally admissible in court.
3. MYTH: You must print, sign and file a hardcopy of your P-Card Transaction
Report each month.
BUSTED: Much like time entry approvals, IMAGIS retains the official
record of p-card transactions. Approved p-card transactions include
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the record of the Expenditure Officer’s review and approval. IMAGIS
has the builit-in functionality to store all supporting receipts to all pcard transactions. If the “receipt attachment” functionality is used,
there is no need to print, sign, submit or file a hardcopy of the P-card
Transaction Report and the accompanying receipts.
Check with your finance area on whether this functionality is active in
your ministry.
4. MYTH: You must print, sign and file a hardcopy of your expense claims form,
and attach your receipts to it.
BUSTED: ExClaim2 is the official record for GoA expense claims.
Approved transactions in ExClaim2 include the record of the
Expenditure Officer’s review and approval. ExClaim2 has the built-in
functionality to store all supporting receipts to all expense claim
transactions. If the “receipt attachment” functionality is used, there is
no need to print, sign, submit or file a hardcopy of your expense claim
and accompanying receipts.
Check with your finance area on whether this functionality is adopted
in your ministry.
5. MYTH: There is a legal requirement to print, sign and file 7001 Financial
Reports each month.
BUSTED: There is no legal requirement to print, sign and file 7001
reports but, for the time being, there is an audit requirement in some
ministries. Check with your finance area to see if this applies to you,
and also ask when these copies of the 7001 Reports can be destroyed
given all the information on the 7001 Report is available in IMAGIS.
Note: in Service Alberta, there is no requirement to print and retain
these reports as the Expenditure Officer’s control over expenditures is
demonstrably exercised through Service Alberta’s monthly forecasting.
6. MYTH: You must submit printed and hand-signed staffing request forms.
BUSTED: Staffing request forms can be digitally signed and forwarded
by email. There is no human resources requirement to print, sign and
submit a hardcopy version of the staffing request form. This also
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applies to other human resources forms such as the Administrative
Change and Expense Distribution Change forms.
The most current versions of these forms are listed in the GoA Forms
Repository.
7. MYTH: Printed copies or duplicates of master files must be saved and filed.
BUSTED: Printed copies of originals do not need to be kept once you
no longer regularly need them. They can be safely discarded as
transitory records.
8. MYTH: If you scan and electronically file an image of a paper record, you must
keep the original.
BUSTED: The electronic image of a paper record is as valid a record as
the paper original provided the GoA Digitization Standards were
followed to create the electronic image. In fact, electronic records that
did not start as paper originals are also valid, so you can avoid printing
these electronic records.
There are only a very few instances where only a paper record with a
physical signature is necessary: examples include wills and codicils, or
trusts, enduring powers of attorney under the Powers of Attorney Act,
personal directives under the Personal Directives Act, records that
create or transfer interests in land (including interests in mines and
minerals), and guarantees under the Guarantees Acknowledgment Act.
9. MYTH: You must keep a paper copy of any record requested under the
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP).
BUSTED: The FOIP Act does not indicate that records must be provided
in paper format nor that only paper records may be requested..
10. MYTH: Electronic signatures won’t be accepted in court.
BUSTED: The Electronic Transactions Act sets out the conditions
needed by electronic documents and electronic signatures so they are
accepted in court. Most electronic records in government meet these
criteria, including administrative forms such as staffing request forms,
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procurement forms and so on. You do not need to print and sign a
form if the ability to apply a digital signature is available.
Possible exceptions are listed under Myth #8, above.
What can each of us do?
In addition to helping bust these myths by spreading the word, here’s some
simple practices that will support our ROFP goals of a “digital by default”
workplace, promote greener business practices, and reduce the cost of printing,
mailing and storing documents in the Alberta Public Service:
 Send memos and short documents by email or other electronic means.
Scan items or use a digital signature, and refrain from following up with a
hard copy.
 Collaborate on projects and documents by using online tools such as
SharePoint or GoA Connect. Visit Service Alberta’s Service Catalogue to find
out more about these tools!
 Challenge those who insist on physical copies or signatures, and encourage
your business to adopt digital processes. Your ministry may also consider
changing legislation requiring paper documentation to recognize the
changing expectations of citizens.
 Convert your own paper forms to electronic ones, and challenge other
forms owners and managers to do the same. Service Alberta’s Forms &
eBusiness Support team can help ministries convert their existing forms to
electronic, or digital, versions.
 Enable digital signatures on all forms needing signatures. Service Alberta’s
Forms & eBusiness Support team can help ministries take advantage of
digital forms and signatures!
 Ask your administrative or corporate support about enabling the ‘scan-toemail’ function on your nearest multifunction printer/copier. You’ll be
surprised at how quickly and easily you can scan multipage and doubleDocument1
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sided documents right to your email inbox as digital Acrobat PDF files! From
there it’s a snap to file or forward electronically.
 Keep in mind that information management requirements must be applied
to the electronic workplace.
Helpful resources
Forms & eBusiness Support
Service Alberta’s Shared Services Catalogue
GoA Forms Repository
Electronic Transactions Act
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
GoA Digitization Standard A000013
GoA Digitization Standard A000015
Powers of Attorney Act
Personal Directives Act
Guarantees Acknowledgment Act
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