Managing Government Records Government-wide Framework

Compliance is a reaction to both internal and external requirements. Compliance requirements can best be met by modifying an organization's current RIM state into a more compliant state.
A first step in this process is to design a customized strategic information management plan and roadmap. One key objective of this process is to transfer information management design from the vendor back to the client.
The SIM plan... more »

The Federal Government can learn from the private sector where over 25,000 businesses select offsite storage companies who offer Class 125 Media Rated Vault Chambers for their disaster recovery records.

Also, this trend has been recognized by State Government where the State Archives of Indiana, Texas and Washington installed Class 125 Media Storage Vaults.

Currently the Federal Government fails to recognize the much... more »

I have been scratching my head regarding NARA reaching out to the RM Community for solicitation of ideas to transform Federal RM to the 21st Century. I was struck by the thought that we have always looked to NARA as the authority and mentor for RM constructs. After all we are tax payers also and should expect this very important Federal Agency to not only provide the "best of breed" RM services and processes in the... more »

Of course, it’s an obvious idea. The problem is, the best practices don’t collect themselves, and someone should do the collecting, analysis and dissemination. At present it’s especially important to collect and share cloud experience.

Many practitioners aren’t good at communicating their successes. NARA could help them by providing advice, suitable forum and encouragement. It would be helpful to compile a directory... more »

The ascendency of information management over records management began in 1985 with the publication of OMB Circular A-130. Since then records management in Federal agencies has diminished in significance to the steadily expanding universe of information creation, use, and sharing throughout the Government. Records management has always been a part of the information mangement process, however, it deals with information... more »

Prior to coming to NARA, I knew that I should be managing my own records better, but didn't know how or where to turn. What about a short orientation for every Federal employee/citizen, perhaps as part of the mandatory Ethics training, on how to make your own records, open and accessible to all, now and for the future. A one-page handout made available to every employee would help as a reminder; and it could be posted... more »

Background (Why)
During the FY 2013 Strategic Budgeting Event on July 18, 2011 the following agenda was executed to deliver specific brainstorming products utilizing:
• Visioning
• Needs and opportunities
• Strategies and Priorities
Based upon this Executive Level sponsored event, this proposal addresses the following strategies from the event deliverable:
• NARA leads the profession in developing a new records management... more »

As a representative of a private sector company that supports government agencies with their records management, here are a few ideas for RM reform:
1. OMB should consider providing upfront funding for agencies to digitize their records. Agencies will need help figuring out "what" records to digitize. A short-term capital expense would lead to longer-term ROI for government budgets; 2. Records management programs typically... more »

Many of these ideas are part of Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles, GARP, and could be implemented following the Information Governance Maturity Model. The first thing each agency needs to do, however, is to perform an assessment and then differentiate among strategic and tactical Principles, as well as identifying which business processes are at greater risk than others. Then business processes, recordkeeping... more »

Government is not a business, because it has so many stakeholder needs to address; many of which are conflicting. For example, there is a whole element of public access that simply does not apply to the private sector - and conflicts between who wants access, and who doesn't. For that reason, facile claims that the federal government should operate like a private corporation fail to recognize the true scope and complexity... more »

A key benefit of applying Information Governance to an enterprise is the ability to delete/destroy records that are not essential to the business process. Therefore by adding "Transitory" as a new Big Bucket record series, agencies can explicitly define what is a non-record, and apply a retention schedule such as 90 or 120 days.

This can save agencies millions in reduced digital and physical storage costs, and reduce... more »

Many original records are in an "unusual" format, i.e., e-mail, paper, etc., and not in a standard electronic record. In some cases, this original format will contain information that cannot be easily captured for digitized storage.
Provision needs to be made to store certain primary records and make them available for future access so that (a) correct generation of secondary digital documents can be verified and (b)... more »