The Electronic Records Committee and State Standards

1. The Electronic Records Committee and State Standards Charles Arp, State Archivist Judy Walker, Assistant State Archivist

2. Introduction • The Ohio Historical Society/State Archives • Work with electronic records • Problems with electronic records • The Ohio Electronic Records Committee • The Electronic Records Policy • H.B. 488 - UETA • Guidelines for Managing Electronic Mail • Joint Electronic Records Repository Initiative

3. OHS and the State Archives • Section 149.31 of the ORC The Ohio Historical Society, in addition to its other functions, shall function as the state archives administration for the state and its political subdivisions. It shall be the function of the state archives to preserve government archives, documents, and records of historical value which may come into its possession from public or private sources.

4. OHS and the State Archives • Section 149.31 of the ORC The archives administration shall evaluate, preserve, arrange, service, repair or make other disposition…of those public records of the state or its political subdivisions which may come into its possession under the provisions of this section.

5. Problems with E-Records “For years, computer scientists said the ones and zeros of digital data would stick around forever. They were wrong.” Newsweek July 12, 1999Tests by the National Media Lab found that magnetic tapes might last only a decade. The fate of floppy disks, videotape, hard drives, and CDROMs is just as bleak.

6. Problems with E-Records Electronic Records are inherently unstable • Hardware dependent • Software dependent • Inscribed on impermanent media

7. Problems with E-Records • Great for access and manipulation • Must be created reliably and maintained authentically • Must include content, context, and structure • Preservation is difficult and expensive

8. Problems with E-Records Attributes that we take for granted are not always present in e-records Records Managers and Archivists must work together

9. Problems with E-Records • Reliability is the measure of a records authority and is a function of the records creation • Authenticity is proven reliability over time and is a function of a record preservation • System documentation • Metadata • Audit trails • Security Measures • Disaster Recovery

10. Problems with E-Records The cost of accessing and recovering digital information may far exceed the cost of dealing with the year 2000 computer problem National Science Foundation

11. Problems with E-Records The Gartner Group recommends: • that any record stored longer than 10 years should be stored in an "analog, human-readable form" such as paper or microfilm. • those formats are inexpensive • the media are relatively stable • they avoid problems with compatibility with newer technologies.

12. E-Records Work What has been done? • 1996 first Electronic Records Archivist • 1997 NHPRC grant • Hedstrom report • Digitization projects • GILS • Ohio ERC

13. Current E-Records Work • MN Educating Archivists and Their Constituencies • OCLC Digital Preservation Project Partner • XML work with San Diego Supercomputer Center • OBES email • TIS Working Group • Database Subcommittee • JERRI

14. Ohio Electronic Records Committee • ERC made up of 30 - 35 members • IT professionals • records managers • archivists • attorneys • policy experts • Meet twice a year

15. Ohio Electronic Records Committee • Electronic Records Policy adopted by DAS • Managing Email Guidelines • Digital Imaging Guidelines • Electronic Records Management Guidelines • General Schedules - Administrative Electronic Records • Trustworthy Information Systems Handbook • Guidelines for responding to public records requests for databases

16. Ohio Electronic Records Committee • Continue to meet to draft guidelines for specific issues • Recommendations on DOD 5015.2 software • Website Management guidelines

17. ER Policy • 4.1 Electronic information is a record if it satisfies the criteria defined by Ohio law. • Records are compilations of data that document the organization, functions, policies, procedures, operations, or other activities of the office ORC 149.011 • E-records may exist in non-traditional structures • E-records are subject to public records access requirements • E-records are subject to audit and legal proceedings

18. ER Policy • 4.2 Electronic records should be managed effectively as part of a comprehensive records management program • “the head of each state agency, office, institution, board, or commission shall…establish, maintain, and direct an active continuing program for the effective management of the records of the state agency…” ORC 149.34(A) • Employing records management procedures will facilitate the most cost effective use of the state’s computer resources

19. ER Policy • 4.3 State agencies, boards and commissions should keep and manage their electronic records in compliance with standards, best practices and guidelines • non-proprietary formats • ANSI standards, ITP best practices, ERC guidelines • ERC subcommittees

20. ER Policy • 4.4 Work processes and tools should support the creation and management of electronic records • provision for adequate maintenance, disposal, and preservation of e-records should be built into work processes and tools • capture of descriptive metadata at the time of creation • records management should be designed into new systems

21. ER Policy • 4.5 Electronic records should be create and maintained in reliable and secure systems • identify systems that create and maintain records • reliability and authenticity • context, content and structure

22. ER Policy • 4.6 In most cases, electronic records should be maintained in electronic fom, because preserving the context and structure of and facilitating access to those records are best accomplished in the electronic environment • system dependent records • system independent records

23. ER Policy • 4.7 Maintaining and providing access to electronic records over time is a shared responsibility • records managers, IT managers, State Records Administrator and the State Archives must work together to manage, preserve and provide access to electronic records • transferring all historical significant e-records to State Archives is not feasible • SA will provide guidance

24. Uniform Electronic Transactions Act In 2000 the CIO and DAS • H.B. 488 passed - Section 1306 of the ORC • Digital signatures and Electronic Records Act or UETA • Legal foundation for the use of digital signatures • Administrative rules for use of digital signatures

25. Uniform Electronic Transactions Act Gives DAS “in consultation with the State Archivist” the ability to create administrative rules that: • Document the migration of data (1306.20) • Provide minimum requirements for the creation, maintenance, and security of electronic records... to ensure adequate preservation, disposition, integrity, security, confidentiality, and auditability of electronic records (1306.21)

26. Managing E-mail “Almost every workplace lawsuit today,especially a sexual harassment case, has an E-mail component” Nancy Flynn, executive director of the ePolicy Institute, which develops E-mail and Internet policies for employers. US News and World Report

27. Managing E-mail • Some consider email to be the most legally risky form of business communication • users assume, incorrectly, that their messages are private and not subject to public access requirements • email encourages “chatty” modes of expression • used like voice-mail -- once it has been read, it is presumed to have no more value • this email usage culture is entrenched and difficult to change

28. Managing E-mail • Email use in the U.S. will grow from the current 3.2 billion messages daily to over 9 billion by 2003 • Critical Networks reports that 60% of business critical information is stored within messaging systems • Many organizations estimate that up to 70% of the email data they currently receive is not necessary and could be eliminated prior to archiving

29. Managing E-mail • Email is a fast growing technology • 50 millions users worldwide • Email has become so prevalent that it is now often used as the de facto tool for enterprise-wide communication and collaboration • However….

30. Managing E-mail • Email systems were never intended to support the need to manage and archive an organization’s huge volume of business data. • Many email systems have become long-term stores of business critical information • up to one-third of the information used by employees of large companies resides within the email system • An email system is a communication system, not a recordkeeping system

31. Managing E-mail • Need solutions • policy • tools • Solutions need to take into account • IT issues (performance and storage volume) • Records Management compliance • Business practices of the office • And they must benefit the organization

32. Managing E-mail • Email - is it a public record? • ORC 149.43 • fixed medium • created, received by, jurisdiction of the office • documents the functions of the office • Email must be filed and maintained per retention requirements • transient documents • correspondence • permanent record (executive level correspondence)

33. Managing E-mail • The strategy that is used within an organization should be an analysis of several factors including: • how email is used and user sophistication • IT environment • records management environment • litigation concern • fiscal resources • support from upper management

34. Managing E-mail • Draft and Implement an email policy • circumstances under which email messages are records • how should email be used (ex. administrative use only) • retention requirements and implementation • how to file and retain • backup and purge cycles

35. Managing E-mail • Email backup and purge • assure that email backups are deleted when all retention requirements expire • legal liability to maintain • assure that users understand purge cycles and know what to do if they need to retain a message beyond the purge time period • save to hard drive or central file repository • print • User Training is vital

36. Managing E-mail -- options 1. Don’t use email 2. No organizational policy/guidelines • let email users manage email however they want to 3. Policy stating email will be used only for transient communications 4. Print what is important and purge everything else

37. Email -- options 5. Purge messages that aren’t needed; create simple file structures for some messages; print messages that are important • Where should messages be stored? • Hard drive, email system, central filing repository 6. Develop an internal email/RM system • pop-up boxes, filing options, plan for maintaining messages in the system, security 7. RMA

38. RMA • Records Management Application • products based on the DoD5015.2 standard • software that incorporates recordkeeping into the desktop • records retention schedules • security • versions • disposition of records • web pages • email • Ohio Department of Insurance • MI NHPRC project

39. RMA • Example • TrueArc • www.truearc.com • white papers about email • demonstration of email management

42. Email -- options • None of these strategies is without problems • decide what will work best in the organization’s environment • Make sure you do something to deal with email messages that meet the ORC definition of a “record” • Ohio Electronic Records Committee Guidelines for Managing Electronic Mail • http://www.ohiojunction.net/erc

43. Preserving Electronic Records

44. Preserving Electronic Records • About 3-5% of all records have enduring historical value and need to be preserved in the archives • Preserving electronic records is more difficult than preserving paper and microfilm • hardware and software dependence/obsolescence • proprietary formats • no standards

45. Preserving Electronic Records • Eye-readable formats • Technology museum • Migration • the period transfer of digital material from one hardware/software configuration to another • Emulation • programs that mimic the behavior of other (older) computers

46. Preserving Electronic Records Migration • Data Loss and Corruption • In one case involving FDA-mandated records of drug testing, blood pressure numbers were randomly off by up to 8 digits following data transfer from UNIX platforms to Windows NT operating systems Business Week April 20, 1998 • It has to be done every 5 - 7 years

47. Preserving Electronic Records • The migration must be documented • ORC 13206.20 If a state agency... alters the format of the records, the state agency shall create a certificate of authenticity for each set of records that is altered - DAS in consultation with the state archivist, shall adopt rules IAW section 111.15 of the Revised Code that establish the methods for creating certificates of authenticity • Cost • In some instances migration can cost up to 2.5 times the original cost of creating the information in the first place • IT managers routinely budget 20% to 30% of the cost of an application for upgrades

48. Preserving Electronic Records Emulation • Emulator will work for all records using that operating system • Emulator will be migrated, not the records • Three commercial emulators available now: • SoftWindows and VirtualPC both run Windows on Macintosh operating system • Wine runs Windows in Unix

49. Preserving Electronic Records • Largely theoretical - no practical model • Archivists have not used it for preservation yet • Has been used for other applications - browsers and games • University of Michigan and Leeds University are working on a model for archival preservation

50. Joint Electronic Records Repository Initiative Goal: to create an archival repository for electronic records and resources for the state and its political subdivisions in Ohio Partners OHS/State Archives State Library of Ohio DAS Ohio SuperComputer Center JERRI