Systems used to arrange or classify government records play a keyrole in a government department’s ability to conduct and manage itsbusiness information over time. In recent years, there has beengrowing interest within the public sector records managementcommunity in using function-based classification systems as a meansto link business context, instead of classifying it into groupingsreflecting ever-changing organisational structures. Function-basedrecords classification systems are in line with the principle of levels ofarrangement and description as records are organised according tohierarchical levels in order to reflect the nature of their creation. Thedevelopment in South Africa with regard to records classificationsystems resulted in the National Archives and Records Servicepropagating the use of functional subject file plan by governmentalbodies. Therefore, this article presents a perspective on the approachbeing taken by the National Archives and Records Service of SouthAfrica in assisting government departments to classify their businessinformation to achieve accountability and service delivery. The article sets out the background to; and the factors affecting the developmentof government departments’ records classification systems and thebenefits thereof. It then evaluate the effectiveness of NARS functionalsubject file plan in meeting service delivery by government departments.In trying to arrive at the bottom of the story, a survey wasconducted on existing national government departments in SouthAfrica.