My records management presentation

1. Russell D. James, M.A.
russelldjames@yahoo.com

2. Agenda for Session 1
 Discover our goals and purpose for today.
 Learn to speak the RIM language.
 Discuss the records life-cycle.

3. Why Are We Here?
 Issue – records managers and systems technicians have historically
complained to each other that they cannot understand the languages
each other speaks.
 Complication – given that each group must work together in this age of
electronic information, we cannot get our work accomplished without
knowing the semantics of each other’s language.
 Solution - coming together today, we learn one language and its
applications in the RIM workplace.

4. Our Goals
 Learn the terminology of RIM
 Discover the reasons RIM is important
 Come up with strategies to better RIM practices
 Set some tactics to make our workflow easier and help each
other
 Discover what still needs to be done

6. RECORD

7. What is a Record?
 Standard definition - a document that can serve as
legal evidence of a transaction.
 Contemporary definition - information that has
been recorded or captured on a given
media. Recorded information may be found on
paper, audio tape, and computer hard-drives and
disks. The record is both the message and the
media it is stored on. (Massachusetts Secretary of
State).

8. Definitions for a Record That Better
Satisfy the Need of Electronic Records
 NARA Definition
 “A unit of information made or received in the course of
an activity and kept on a presumption of value or
relevance in subsequent activity or as a source of
information about what was done or what happened
with a known context of creation:
 Who created it,
 When it was created,
 What activity created it,
 And for what purpose it was created.”

9. More Considerations on the
Definition of a Record
 Records are created as members of an ordered set.
 Records have a logical structure and a conceptual
structure.
 Records have an archival bond.
 Records have:
 Authenticity
 Integrity
 Identity
 Reliability

10. What is a Non-Record?
 Extra copies of documents kept only for convenience
or reference.
 Stocks of publications and of processed documents
(i.e., maps, posters, pamphlets) not created by the
agency or used as a part of its functions or activities.
 Library or museum materials intended solely for
reference or exhibit purposes.
 Personal files.

11. Intrinsic Characteristics of Records
Content - Context - Structure
 Content -- that which conveys information
 Text, data, symbols
 Numerals
 Images and/or sound files

12. Intrinsic Characteristics of Records 2
 Context -- background information that enhances
understanding of technical and business
environments to which the records relate and the
origin of the records
 Metadata, application software, logical business models
 Title, address, link to function or activity, agency,
program or section
 Who made the records and why

13. Intrinsic Characteristics of Records 3
 Structure -- appearance and arrangement of the content
 Relationships between fields or entities
 Language, style, fonts, page and paragraph breaks
 Links and other editorial devices.
 Records have a logical structure and a conceptual structure.
 Logical – the way the computer or creator (for paper
records) organizes the data that comprises the
document.
 Conceptual – the organization of a record as perceived
by the user.

14. Extrinsic Characteristics of Records 1
 Authenticity – A record is what it says it is and has not
been corrupted over time.
 records that the creator relies on in the usual and
ordinary course of business are presumed authentic
 digital information creates significant risks that
electronic records may be altered.
 Determined by what we know about the way it was
created and stored.
 Note: Authenticity relies heavily upon integrity and
identity.

15. Extrinsic Characteristics of Records 2
Integrity - the wholeness or
soundness of a record.
 Has a portion of the record been lost?
 Has the record been altered?
 Are all versions of a record present?
 In other words, has the chain of custody
been preserved?

16. Extrinsic Characteristics of Records 3
 Identity – provenance, authorship, date, matter or
action, and archival bond.
 Provenance – can we tell who created and used the
record over time?
 Authorship – who created the record?
 Dates – of creation, use, alteration, digitization or
microfilming, destruction.
 Matter or action – what was the purpose for which the
record was created?
 Archival bond – what is the relationship of this record to
other records?

17. Extrinsic Characteristics of Records 4
 Reliability – can the record be viewed in the manner in
which it was created?
 Are there distinctions between the different versions of a
record?
 With electronic records, can the record be viewed in the
format it was created – software migration.
 Can the record be reproduced in another format and
still preserve its intrinsic and extrinsic natures?

18. RECORDS MANAGEMENT

19. What is Records Management?
 The field of management responsible for the systematic
control of the creation, maintenance, use, and disposition
of records.
 The proper care and maintenance of records from
creation to disposition.
 Records management is the systematic control of all
records, regardless of media format, from their initial
creation to final disposition. Records management
includes the development and application of standards
to the creation, use, storage, retrieval, disposal and
archival preservation of recorded information required
to administer and to operate the University. (Ball State
University website).

20. What is Records Management 2
 Records management is more than
retention, storage, and disposition of records; it entails
all record-keeping requirements and practices that
allow an organization to establish and maintain
control over information flow and administrative
operations. (Florida Bureau of Archives and Records
Management, http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/index_RecordsManagers.cfm)

21. Federal Government Definition of “Records
Management”
 Title 44 U.S.C. 2901 defines records management as “the
managerial activities involved with respect to records
creation, records maintenance and use, and records
disposition in order to achieve adequate and proper
documentation of the policies and transactions of the
Federal government and effective and economical
management of agency operations."

22. What is Information Management?
 The function of managing the organization's information
resources. Includes creating, capturing, registering,
classifying, indexing, storing, retrieving and disposing of
records and developing strategies to manage records.
(metadata.curtin.edu.au/manual/classification.html)
 The provision of relevant information to the right person at
the right time in a usable form to facilitate situational
understanding and decision making. It uses procedures
and information systems to collect, process, store, display,
and disseminate information. (U.S. Army, FM 3-0)

23. How Do We Differentiate Records?
 Records are divided into different groups called
SERIES.
 A series is kept together as a unit because they consist
of the same form, relate to the same subject, result
from the same activity, or have certain common
characteristics.
 The include every record of that type that was ever
created, is in existence now, or that will ever be
created.

24. Records Retention
 Retention is a term used to signify the length of time a
set of records is kept.
 Depending on the set of records, the retention will
change.
 Records’ retention is determined by statute and
administrative code in Louisiana, with approval by the
Secretary of State’s representative at the state archives.

25. Retention Schedules
 Documents the life-cycle of a record series, showing:
 Title of series.
 Length of time kept after transmitted to records center.
 Authority signatures for storage and destruction.
 Two types:
 General – lists all record series in the organization.
 Specific – lists a particular record series and may include
information about the life-cycle, though this is not
mandatory.

27. Why is RIM Important?
 John O’Brien
 Legal compliance
 Good public image
 Better use of resources
 Avoiding financial/natural disasters
 Good source of reliable information

28. What are the benefits of good
RIM?
 Smooth operation of agency/office operations.
 Consistent and equitable delivery of services.
 Effective performance of job tasks/duties.
 Protects rights of agency, employees, customers.
 Legal compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
 Protection during legal disputes.
 Frees up office space.
 Saves money by freeing up physical space and
preventing unnecessary office equipment purchases.
 Improves efficiency of office staff.

29. What does RIM address?
 Life-cycle of records (ISO-15489)
 Creation/receipt and use (active)
 Temporary storage and infrequent use (semi-active)
 Disposition (inactive)
 Most records are disposed of through destruction.
 5% of records are transferred to an archives.
 Legal and administrative control of records
 Records management affords legal protection for the
institution as well as satisfying federal and state
statutory requirements. (Ball State University
website).

30. Functions of Records Management
 Make sure records capture is possible.
 Ensure the provenance of the record.
 Categorize the record.
 Ensure the intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of the
record are present.
 Provide a means for reference for the record.
 Determine the retention and disposition of the record.

32. Records Creation
 Creation
 Records are created by persons or computers.
 Records are created to be used and then disposed of.

33. Semi-active Records
 A record that is no longer being used actively in the office,
but that may be used any time is called a semi-active
record.
 These records are usually stored in a records center where
they are periodically retrieved.
 Semi-active records take up space in the office, but they are
“still alive.”
 In Louisiana, the state records center is part of the state
archives on Essen Lane.

34. Inactive Records
 Inactive records are records that are no longer useful
for everyday purposes, but which still present timely
evidence of legal transactions between persons and
offices/agencies.
 Inactive records are also stored in a records series.
 The retention period of a record does not begin until
the record becomes inactive.
 Paradox – a record series has a retention, but the
retention begins for each record in a series at a
different time.

35. When the Time Has Come
 After a record’s retention has expired (or “been
met”), the record is disposed of.
 Disposition can take many forms:
 Burning
 Shredding
 Dumping
 Deleting (electronic records)
 Placing in an archival facility.
 Only 5% of records created are placed in an archives.

36. SUMMARY OF SESSION 1
 Records are created, used, stored, and disposed of.
 Records and information management is the
management and preservation of records.
 Records management must preserve authenticity,
integrity, identity, and reliability of records.
 Retention is an important consideration in the
management of records.
 Knowing the life cycle of records you deal with is an
important consideration in determining the best way
to manage the records.

37. Break Time!!!

40. Session 2 Agenda
 metadata and its importance to ERM.
 electronic records basics.
 problems with managing electronic records.
 how electronic records differ from paper records.
 What must take place to properly manage electronic
records.
 How to work together to make sure electronic records
are managed correctly.

41. METADATA

42. Metadata? What is that?
 Metadata is in reality “data about data.”
 Used to facilitate the understanding, use and
management of data.
 Used more with electronic records.
 Four types of metadata:
 Descriptive
 Administrative
 Technical
 Preservation

43. Descriptive Metadata
 Descriptive metadata is information that describes the
item, such as title, author, publisher, subject, physical
dimensions.
 Usually applied by a person.
 For ORM, includes: claim #, claimant name, adjustor
name, date of closing of file, classification type (sub-
series).

44. Importance of a Taxonomy
 A taxonomy is a defined series of terms with specific
definitions that are used to standardize metadata
within a particular agency or office.
 ORM Taxonomy contains:
 Classification type (legal, medical, OWC, General)
 OPENFILE and CLOSEDFILE
 CLAIMS or UNDERWRITING or ACCOUNTING

45. Why Use a Taxonomy?
 Everyone understands terms that everyone uses all the
time.
 Terminology is easy to define.
 How do we define terminology?
 A taxonomy is a means of
standardizing metadata
within an office.

46. Administrative Metadata
 Definition – recording of the use and maintenance of
the record.
 Examples:
 When a record was created, went semi-active, sent
inactive.
 Who scanned the record into the system.
 When was the record scanned into the system.
 Versions of the record.

47. Technical Metadata
 Definition – metadata recorded to provide information
on the technical aspects of a file.
 Usually used with digitized or born-digital files.
 Examples
 Pixilation
 Encoding scheme (ASCII, Unicode)
 Usually added by a computer system.

48. Preservation Metadata
 Definition – metadata added so as to make migration
and rendering possible in the future.
 Examples
 Storage media file is on.
 Format of file (pdf, tiff, doc)

49. Why is Metadata Important?
 Protects investment in records.
 Helps user understand the records.
 Enables legal discovery of records.
 Can prevent disasters due to data loss.
 How?
 Provides evidence of prudent data stewardship.
 Formats change rapidly like every other technology
does these days, and it can be a drain on time trying to
keep up with them.

50. ELECTRONIC RECORDS

51. What is an Electronic Record 1?
 An electronic record is any record that,
in the ordinary course of business, is
used and set aside or stored in digital
form regardless of whether it was made
or received in such form.

52. What is an Electronic Record 2?
 Electronic records are digital objects that must contain
the means to identify them and their context of
creation so that they can be managed beyond the
active system in which they were generated.
 This can mean records that were born digital or
that were digitized from paper records or
audio/video.
 Natural ER – created in the digital arena.
 Artificial ER – created in paper and ending up digitized.

53. Purpose of Electronic Records
 To free up space in our file rooms and file cabinets.
 Electronic records are better protected in emergency
situations.
 To fulfill the goal of every government office to become
“paperless.”
 Paperless Office video

54. Where Do Electronic Records Come From?
 Mainframe and LAN based records
 PC based records
 Email
 Digital images of paper and audio/video records
 World Wide Web

55. Problems With Electronic Records
 Systems may not be compatible with human desires
for the management of electronic records.
 Software goes the way of the 8-track and Beta all the
time.
 Hardware becomes outdated easily.
 Electronic records need to be migrated from one
system to another.

56. Problems With Electronic Records 2
 Electronic records are:
 hardware & software dependent
 recorded on impermanent media
 Preservation is difficult
 temperatures, water, hardware & software changes and
obsolescence
 In other words, electronic records do not survive by
accident, like paper records.

57. Problems With Electronic Records 3
 Approximately 85% of all government documents are
created electronically
 NARA expected more than 8 million electronic files
from the Clinton administration
 NASA satellite photography files 1970’s - unreadable
 Viking Mission to Mars tapes – decomposing
 We have the first email sent in 1962 between two
Univac mainframe workstations, we even know what it
says, but we can’t read it because the hardware
specifications were never recorded for posterity.

58. Problems With Electronic Records 4
IT managers must be prepared to see half of all the well-
known IT vendors doing business today disappear in
the next three years, either through mergers or
bankruptcy
 Gartner Inc. CEO and Chairman Michael Fleisher,
October 2001

59. Problems With Electronic Records 5
 Often thought of as an Information Technology
problem, not a records management problem
 Creators of electronic records may not be aware they
are creating “records”
 deletion/disposition must occur per retention schedules
 automatic purges of records must be scheduled

61. Juggling Porcupines
 Scalability – ability to grow and adapt to increasing
volumes and evolving types of records while
serving a variety of user groups.
 Ensuring infrastructure independence is necessary
in electronic records management.

62. INFRASTRUCTURE INDEPENDENCE
 The ability to manage all of the
properties of the electronic record
independently of the choice of storage
system.
 Data virtualization
 Trust validation

63. Data Virtualization
 Ability to manage the properties of a shared collection
independently of the choice of a storage system.
 Ability to access the records stored in all types of
access mechanisms independently of the choice of
type of storage system.
 In other words, a good ERM program will make sure
that records can be stored and their properties
managed if and when the files are moved to another
system or migrated to another format.

64. Trust Validation
 Ability to authenticate creators and users independent
of the local administrative domain and independent of
the local file system.
 ROLE-BASED ACCESS CONTROL – roles are created
for various job functions such as records processor.
 PRINCIPLE OF LEAST PRIVILEGE – a user is given no
more privileges on a system than is necessary for them
to perform their job duties.

65. Managing Electronic Records 1
Apply the record series concept to the electronic records
 Identify a body of digital information, however large or
small, that needs a separate retention period to
provide proper instructions to govern its disposition

66. Managing Electronic Records 2
Determine retention periods
 Construct retention periods to include:
 Online retention period --length of time data should
remain on primary storage devices
 Nearline retention period -- length of time data needs to
remain onsite but offline
 Offline retention period -- length of time data needs to
remain offline and offsite
 Total retention period -- total amount of time data
needs to remain in computer processable form

67. Managing Electronic Records 3
 The total retention period for an electronic record
series depends on how long the data needs to remain
in computer processable format
 If electronic records no longer need to be maintained
in a manipulatable state usually there is no
justification for retaining them in a digital format

68. Managing E-Records 4
 Retention periods for electronic media should be longer
than for other media - greater accessibility; therefore
maintain digitally as long as user needs dictate
VS
 Retention periods for electronic media should be shorter
than for other media - computer based information is
difficult to maintain

69. Managing E-Records 5
 Decide if you retain a record by format or by record type:
 Format Specific
 retention periods differ based on the format of the record
 Ex. Deeds: Retain paper copy until microfilmed
Retain digital image 10 years
Retain microfilm permanently
 Record Specific
 retention is the same for all formats of the record
 Ex. Deeds: Retain paper, digital image, and
microfilm copies permanently

70. What Do We Need to Manage
Electronic Records?
 We need to fully document the activity of the record.
 We need to gather all the relevant dates.
 We need to identify any preservation already taken.
 We need to add the administrative metadata.
 We need to add the descriptive metadata.
 We need to make sure the chain of custody has not
been broken.
 We need to establish security and control procedures
to ensure the continued authenticity of the record.

71. An Important Consideration
 Most electronic content management systems (ECMS)
do not store only records, but non-records, as well.
 For these systems to store something as a record, it
must be declared a record. This meets a legal
requirement of authenticity.
 This also meets a legal requirement for ORM to start
shredding the paper records instead of storing them in
the state records center.

73. What We Need to Do
 Determine together that the intrinsic and extrinsic
characteristics of a record are reflected in our ECMS.
 Make sure our taxonomy is solid and useable to our
systems people, our RIM people, and our users.
 Determine and set retention periods in our ECMS.
 Follow through on the destruction/disposition of the
records according to the retention schedules.

74. How can RIM and Technicians Work Together?
 Have set periodic status meetings with no distractions to
hammer out policies, guidelines, and procedures.
 Set communication procedures that ensure efficient and
effective control over inter-office relations.
 Communications should be in writing or on electronic forms
that can be saved.
 These communications are records themselves.
 Set retention schedule for them and store these in ECMS.
 Try to have all training shared between both agencies.
 Make sure all RIM procedures for electronic records have
input from both offices before they are enacted.

75. Summary of Session 2
 Electronic records are a specific type of records and thus
have specific needs in the RIM environment.
 Electronic records have a unique set of problems associated
with their management and preservation.
 ERM cannot take place without cooperation between RIM
staff and systems’ technicians.
 The authenticity and integrity of records can be changed
easier for electronic records than for paper records and
thus procedures need to be in place to prevent this.
 Retention periods take on a whole new meaning in ERM.

76. FINI
Russell D. James, M.A.
russelldjames@yahoo.com