Washington State Archives

Presented by:

Leslie Koziara, ERMP - Records Consultant

Cowlitz County February 11, 2010

Electronic Records Management

“What should I be doing?”

• What is a record, really?

• Do I have to keep everything?

• How to organize and manage electronic

records

Overview

“Public records include any paper, correspondence, completed form, bound record book, photograph, film, sound recording, map, drawing, machine-readable material, compact disc meeting current industry ISO specifications, or other document, regardless of physical form or characteristics, and including such copies thereof, that have been made by or received by any agency of the state of Washington in connection with the transaction of public business”

RCW 40.14 Preservation and Destruction of Public Records

Two Key Points• “regardless of media or format…”

• “made or received in connection with the transaction of public business…”

WHAT IS A RECORD? QUIZ # 1

State Patrol is called to the scene of an accident. The patrol officer takes a digital photo of the car involved. Is this photo a public record?

□ Yes □ No

WHAT IS A RECORD? QUIZ # 2

In your desk drawer, you have a copy of the contents of your personnel file. It contains duplicates of your application, training taken, awards received, etc. Is this a public record?

□ Yes □ No

You come back to your desk following lunch and your computer indicates that you have two email messages waiting for you.

A.) One message is from the assistant director requesting shared leave for an employee on extended sick leave.B.) The other message is from your boss, giving you the agreed-upon timelines and goals for an upcoming project.Which message is a public record?

□ A only □ B only □ Both A and B □ Neither A nor B

WHAT IS A RECORD? QUIZ # 3

While cleaning out the shelves in your office, you come across a 1994 copy of the Idaho Toxic Spill report.Is this a public record?

□ Yes □ No

WHAT IS A RECORD? QUIZ # 4

WHAT IS A RECORD? Quiz # 5

Your agency has a web blog and has invited public comment on a controversial issue.

Is this a public record?

□ Yes □ No

Content matters

Messages that facilitate or document actions affecting the conduct of business

• Policies, significant decisions, commitments, or important meetings

• Requests or provides substantive information

• If content protects rights – legal, fiscal, property, other

Records with little or no retention value

• “FYI” or information requiring no action• Social, meeting or announcement type of notices i.e.

potluck notices, cookies in the break room, retirement party, carpooling

• Personal messages and “chit-chat”• Spam and junk mail• Get rid of it as soon as you can!

Official or record copies

When does a document become an

“official” record?

– The moment you begin typing?– Need email approval?– Other electronic means?– Requires hard copy signature?

Primary copy

For retention purposes, only one copy of the record needs to be kept and retained

according to the appropriate retention schedule

This is the copy that an agency is to keep for the minimum required period as outlined in

records retention schedules

Finders keepers

Who is the record or primary copy holder?

• Is someone else keeping this message?– How many people were cc’d?– Does this record already exist in your office’s

official files? – Another department or section?

Having policies and procedures in place will help determine responsibilities for retention

What about

public disclosure?

Records Management Supports Public Disclosure

• Organizing and knowing what you have helps you find responsive materials

• Applying disposition reduces the volume to be searched and reviewed for e-discovery

• Any archival records transferred to Washington State Archives becomes our responsibility

Public Disclosure Who Can Help?

Tim FordOpen Government OmbudsmanOffice of the Attorney General

http://www.atg.wa.gov/OpenGovernment/Ombudsman.aspx

“The field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records” Citation: ISO 15489: 2001 (International Standard for Records Management)

RECORDS MANAGEMENT

Also known as…

“Should it stay, or should it go?”

Records and information are an agency’s most important

assets While ordinary and mundane to most,

records are a vital necessity!• People come and go

• Records provide the continuity for the ongoing operations of agency

Records Retention in a Nutshell...

• Agencies are required to:

1. Retain all public records for the minimum retention period as listed on the approved Records Retention Schedule – regardless of format – it’s the content and function that drives retention!

2. Continue to retain or transfer to Washington State Archives all archival records

What should I be doing?

Your Agency’sRecords Management

Program

First recommendation

“Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night”

All About Eve (1950)

Just a reminder….As public employees, everyone needs to have a level of responsibility for the public

records they create and use

Records Management is a team sport!

Have a policy & procedures

Some items to include in your policy:

• Address legal requirements

• Roles and responsibilities

• Incorporate appropriate use

• Fundamentals of records management

• Make sure all media is covered, not just emails!– Other electronic communications (texting, IM,

cell phone, voice mail, blogs, wikis, Twitter)

Follow up!

• A formal policy that is not adhered to is a greater liability than no policy at all

• Make sure users are educated and trained in the use of the policy and procedures

• Do periodic compliance checks

Do an inventory

Know what you have and where it is:

• Who has records

• What are the records

• Where are the records

• Why are those records there

• How to manage

Where are my records?

• You need to know where your records are:– Where are the paper records?– Where are the electronic records?– Who has what email records?– Are there records anywhere else?

(websites, blogs, wikis, social networks, etc)

Draw a map

By drawing a map you can “at a glance” know where records are kept. You can create a “data” map, drawing servers etc and

labeling what data is kept where along with the tradition methods

of retention and storage

Classify it! Classification scheme

• Often called taxonomies, classification, file plan, file structure, or a records series, it’s grouping information or types or records together

• Makes it easier to manage as a group for retention and disposition

• Provides a consistent, systematic method for organization that everyone can use

For example

Permits

Building Permits

2009 Building Permits

Building Specific Address

Grouping information together by records series makes it easier to file, search and

apply retention and disposition

Don’t agonize, organize! Get to know your retention

schedules

Does your office look like this?

How about your desktop?

Black hole

What technologies were in common use in the typical

office in 1982?

Time Travel

“Technology du jour”

• Current trend will probably not outlive the records being created

• Need to prepare for next generation of users and technologies

• The technology used is not the record, the content and function is what matters

Why not just keep it all?Consider this:

Searching• The more you have, the more you have to review

and search through• Think needle in a haystack.. less hay, easier to

find the needle• Discovery costs increase when more time is

spent searching for information• What does an attorney or forensic consultant

charge per hour? What is your time worth?

Why keep it if you don’t have to?

• 1 GB of storage is cheap, litigation is NOT

• There are increased costs for:– Administration/staff for maintenance– Migration or recopying– Disaster recovery/restoration– Energy costs

A brief word on metadata

THE IMPORTANCE OF METADATA

• Descriptive information that facilitates management of, and access to, the objects being described – “data about the data”

• A means of describing: – What is in the record– Circumstances of creation and use– Who, what, why, where, when

• Need to maintain metadata as part of complete record to establish authenticity, facilitate retrieval, and to understand the record’s context and relevance

Supports authenticity

A complete electronic record contains sufficient metadata exists to prove:

• It is what it is – an authentic record

• Was created/sent by the person purported to have created/sent it

• Was created/sent at the time purported

For example

 

Electronic file cabinets

Think electronic “file cabinets”

Desktops and servers are digital “file cabinets” and can be used as such

Just like traditional metal cabinets were

used for paper

Setting up the structure

• Can be as individual “drawers” – working files set up in email application

• Can be work group or section “file cabinets” – files sent to shared drive or server used by group

• Can be “central files” or “records center” – files sent to a central repository for longer retention

Create a plan• Create a “file plan” or “file structure”

• Link to retention schedules

• Pre-determined file folders provide consistency, centralization and organization

• Mirror the plan throughout – use same plan or structure for paper, email, desktop, network drives and servers

When using email Just a note

• Educate users when drafting emails to provide context by using subject line when drafting messages, and be sure to change subject line if content and context changes during exchange

• Easier to determine content and subject without opening, easier to manage and search

Just so you know…there is a difference

Email Archiving• Generally just “storage” rather than

“records management”

• Typically lacks coherent filing structure

• Generally no records retention functionality included

“Filing” emails – within email application

How it works

• Individual users move e-mails into pre-determined folders that match those on server or shared drive

• Good to set up as “working files”, or for records with no retention value

• Recommend “records with retention value” be retained on drives or servers

GS22005

Next level

Additional folders can be set up to further define the content – easy to locate and search, still

all under DAN # GS 22005

Mirror this structure on shared drive or server for records with

retention value

Be diligent with cleaning out records with no retention value

in these “working files” and save primary copies to shared

drive

Using email application folders

Remember:

• Recommended use is for short-term or temporary retention

• Mirror folders you set up on network server or shared drive

• Match up to retention schedules

• Use alternative methods for longer term retention needs

“Filing” records in shared drive or network serverHow it works

• Designated shared drive or server is used as centralized “file cabinet” or repository

• Users save their e-records into pre-determined folders in specific “drawers”

• Users can retrieve and move at will

• Generally no active retention or disposition applied, will need to have IT set up methods for retention (tags, flags, etc)

In addition• Centralization makes good sense

– In event of staff turnover, other “life happens” scenarios

• Increased search capability for discovery and disclosure purposes

• Can apply retention and disposition to stored records, can appoint system administrator to manage

Can look like this

Create file “drawers” and create appropriate folders in a server or shared drive “electronic

file cabinet”

Marry up with appropriate retention schedules and mirror pre-set email folders

Conferences & Seminars

GS22005

Click

Create appropriate file “drawers” and create the folders as necessary in

which to “file” your information – all of these are still GS 22005

“Saved As” email

By using the .msg extension, it can saves record copyemails electronically and preserve the metadata as well – also will save attachments

Using classifications and naming conventions make it easier to search and locate the information

Email regarding meeting room contract

Email saved using .msg

extention in server along with other

formats

Drag and drop

BBy using the .msg extention, you are able to save emails with all the other formats together in one folder, under one record series, under

one retention and manage it as a whole instead of bits and bytes

One place, one folder, one retention Get rid of the silos!

Local Gov’t CORE

Another example

Additional file folders can be created

as necessary under each record series

Additional records series under a

categorycan be added

Local Gov’t CORE

More examples

Additional file folders can be created

as necessary under each record series

Additional records series under a

categorycan be added

This is an essential record and should tagged accordingly

This is a PERMANENT, ESSENTIAL and POTENTIALLY ARCHIVAL series and should be tagged or marked and

handled accordingly

Also a PERMANENT, ESSENTIAL and POTENTIALLY

ARCHIVAL series

Right of Way files are ESSENTIAL and

POTENTIALLY ARCHIVAL and should be tagged or

marked and handled accordingly

Helpful hints

• Use existing retention schedules!

• Consult with users, enlist their input

• Work on keeping file names short and simple, yet make sense to users

• Keep it under 255 characters & spaces, otherwise may have problems with access and retrieval

Content and function determines retention

What purpose does the website perform?• Provide communication that already exists in a

different format? Secondary copies? • Is there an exchange of information via the

website?• Financial or information transactions?• Advice to the public on various subjects & topics?

• It’s all about the record, not the technology

Websites

Website Spidering• Digital archives will … copy state and local

government web sites that are determined to have archival value either annually or more frequently. (WAC 434-662-140)

• Archival snapshots.

• May not satisfy all legal and other requirements to retain records of websites.

Websites continued…

Have boundaries with websites:

• Keep only what you need to complete the record

• Address INTRANET sites as well

• Be sure to include links as necessary– Internal– External

Capturing websitesIt depends on the website and what

records are needing capture

Options include:• Snapshots• Email confirmations/webmaster• Change logs/audit logs• Maintaining entire site• 3rd party software for ECM

What about databases?

• Apply same principles– Content and function– Is it a repository of information held

elsewhere?– Does it contain evidence of business

transactions not found in another format?– Is the database dynamic with continuous

changes, updates?

Capturing databases

It depends on the database and what records are needing capture

Options include:

• Change logs/audit logs

• Maintaining entire database

• 3rd party software for ECM

Blogs, Wikis, Twitter and more!

Five key considerations for posts and comments on social networking sites:

1. Are they public records?

2. Are they primary or secondary copies?

3. How long do they need to be kept?

4. How will they be retained by the agency?

5. Is this technology appropriate?

Points to ponderAsk some questions:

• Make a business case – do you really need to add another “technology du jour”?

• Check with legal counsel

• Check out terms of service (TOS) agreements – Amendments or codicils

TOS = Contract

• Indemnity issues

• Determine choice of court if any legal action

• Rights of company to edit/display/advertise

• Issues of assignment in the event of merger/acquisition

• Will use meet overarching regulations?– FOIA, ADA, RCW’s, WAC’s

More issues

• Copyright and intellectual property rights

• Privacy, data gathering, data ownership

• 1st amendment concerns if public forum

• Identity “hijacking”

• Security

Also applies:

• Web 2.0 or “cloud” computing

• “SaaS – Software as a Service

• Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, any other social networks

• Other collaborative/shared workspaces hosted over the internet

Who is minding the store?

Establish rules and responsibilities:

• Monitoring site and any TOS changes

• Monitoring security

• Who can post?

• Who can make changes to content?

• Who needs to capture and maintain?

Also applies:

• Web 2.0 or “cloud” computing

• “SaaS – Software as a Service

• Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, any other social networks

• Other collaborative/shared workspaces hosted over the internet

Take a deep breath

• No magic one-size-fits all solution

• Fixing it will not happen overnight

• Acceptance will take time

• It can be done without investing in additional technology

You can do it!!

Plan of action• Appoint a Records Officer/Manager• Sign up for RM listserv• Contact us for list of unique schedules and

holdings (records center and archives)• Attend RM trainings• Discontinue any uniques covered by General

Schedules• Update and revise existing schedules to meet

current business needs and changes

More planning and action items

• Do an inventory– Locate archival records– Locate essential records– Get rid of records that have met retention

• Develop file plans based on records retention schedules

• Take another deep breath, train and educate, and implement your plan!

You Are Not Alone

For advice and assistance:

recordsmanagement@secstate.wa.gov

Subscribe to listserv for the latest in updates

http://www.secstate.wa.gov/archives/RecordsManagement/

Washington State Archives: Partners in preservation and access

www.secstate.wa.gov/archives

Thank You!