Managing Government Records Ideas

Like what was done for FOIA, issue a directive for each agency requiring them to appoint a Chief Records Officer who is a peer of the CIO. This must be a full time position. This will help significantly to ensure that records management issues are considered when deploying new electronic systems. This position should require an individual who has the following skills: Records Management Information Technology Legal ...more »

While an overhaul at the agency level is necessary, I wonder if the units within each agency will be overlooked in the process. My unit is very often overlooked by our governing agency - forgotten at the bottom of the morass. We are trying to follow records management procedures, but feel that our agency and NARA just doesn't seem to care, therefore records management is put on the backburner. A mandate is all well-and-good, ...more »

President Obama stated, “The current federal records management system is based on an outdated approach involving paper and filing cabinets.” NARA suggested ideas about reducing unnecessary costs and burdens. Instead of each Agency spending staff resources and funds to develop and implement its own federally compliant electronic recordkeeping system, NARA should offer this as a service, like they do for our paper records ...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 »

Although Subchapter B was reorganized in 2009 and went through the Federal Register process, little changed. The words were simply put in different places. Existing practices as described may have suited the Federal Agencies in the past, but they haven't kept up with the times. Funding and staffing is shrinking and the manner in which records are created has changed completely from the manner in which the CFR was written ...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 »

As a professional researcher, access to the documents located both in the Federal Records Center and National Archive are an invaluable source of information. The following recommendations are provided to help with open government and access: 1) Adhere to established records schedules and accession records to the National Archives in a more orderly and timely manner. 2) Create a system by which researchers may access ...more »

Transparency in actions and accountability of activities by government are two of the most important aspects of American democracy. By expecting openness in communication with the citizenry, a trusting relationship can be built between public employees and the individuals they serve thus creating effective government that meets the needs of the people. A primary means of guaranteeing Open Government is to support and ...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 »

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 »

My idea is that NARA be enabled to staff appraisal archivists and building inspectors that REGULARLY review agency records ON-SITE. Self agency reviews are not sufficient. NARA needs to be empowered and resourced to ensure that our Republic is documented through the ages. Done in a positive manner, these on-site teams can be seen as assets by the agencies.

An annual and new employee mandatory records management training requirement should be implemented. It would involve civilians, military and contractors. It would consist of a general understanding of their records management responsibilities and requirements. It would be informative but not overwhelming.

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 »

If we, who identify as records and informant professionals, are given a chance, we will add greatly to the president’s reformation initiative. We must seize the day and be accountable partners in this great enterprise with President Obama. We must insist that our organizations take a leadership role in the presidential initiative. ARMA, NARA, and AIMM must all be responsible advocates for our profession. I am ...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 »

Keep it seriously simple: What is the least amount of records management support one may expect (ask, require or mandate) from electronic records creators? Perhaps that they fill out a very simple xml-based web form any time they create a record. I know what you're thinking: Another form, really? But consider this… Most of the fields in a "Lifecycle Tracking Form" may be filled out automatically based on a user's e-profile ...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 »

HAving seen comments submitted by a couple of Agencies, it is apparent they want to see not only RM processes updated, but a total revamp of guidance provided by NARA. They also see a need for an acknowledgement of the immense cost associated with improving RM at the Federal level. I can guarantee you, they didn't pull their punches. It is time for many of the ideas being submitted here to be taken seriously. This ...more »

Date: March 27, 2012 TO: David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Jacob J. Lew, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB); and Tony West, Associate Attorney General (Acting), Department of Justice (DOJ) RE: MEMORANDUM TO FEDERAL AGENCY HEADS: Presidential Memorandum on Managing Government Records Gentlemen: On behalf of the ...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 »

There is a business proposition and/or opportunity to improve how long-term temporary and permanent technical and R&D; records are managed in the Federal Government. Right now very little integration exists for of these types of records horizontally across the Federal Business Lines. This leads to challenges for researchers and limits the ability to leverage the research and technology effectively within the Federal Government. ...more »

The Office of Management and Budget should require records identification and compliance with records policy for all deployments of information technology in the federal government. The Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC) process should do more than pay lip service to the records status of information managed in federal IT systems. Records Management is a requirement similar to the Section 508 requirements ...more »

NARA should be tasked with the development, testing, legal validation and dissemination of the innovative records management technologies. Special attention should be paid to the tools for handling huge volumes of unstructured records (including auto-classification), “big data”, new ways of database preservation (SIARD format) etc. NARA might reuse its experience of development new technologies and solutions for declassification ...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 »