You may recall that earlier this year, we issued a draft of the Automated Records Management Report and Plan. This document has now been finalized and is available here.
The report addresses categories of suitable approaches for automating electronic records management and discusses their outcomes, benefits, and risks. It covers the goals of electronic records automation, what work we have accomplished to date, our stance on DOD 5015.2, and a framework of 5 suitable approaches to automation that the Federal government can pursue.
The plan, on the other hand, will remain a living document. It will be revised at least once a year as we complete initial tasks and assess the feasibility of the initiatives we will start exploring in the first year. We are in the process of launching a website where we centralize the information about all of our activity related to this project.
This report emphasizes that: traditional RM, such as inventories, file plans etc. need to go hand in hand with the development and implementation of ERM solutions, but that both sides must be adaptive. I see that often records managers and agencies, either just say, “we will follow the old ways” and ignore how they must be modified to fit into ERM solutions or the agencies buy an ERM solution, which will not work, because they have not considered – inventories, file plans, etc. The report offers a balanced approach for cooperation of the federal RIM community and the vendor (tech) community in the development of solutions which are compliant with the MGRD, et al.
I think the main thing I got out of the report is that this report sets many topics directly on the table for discussion and review. Several of these have not been (my opinion) addressed fully by NARA, before (Don’t ask which ones the reader can make their own list). I hope your report is widely read and discussed. I think the development of federal records management COI required in MGRD “B2” is a possible outcome of, or well supported by, the A3.1 report. The efficacy of the report (again my view) would be if it generates ongoing dialogue and forums.
This is a good jumping off point for the future of federal RIM, which must become automated to remain relevant. There are many obstacles (reported very well in the report) but there are avenues to solution (which, the report notes, all have problematic areas, but offer a hope for compliant implementation, if we cooperate on them).
One past glimmer of hope, mentioned was the RM portion of the FEA. I believe that was a great concept and may have led to a better outcome by this time, had it been completed and incorporated into the NARA/Vendor dialogue and solution development. (Wow ->Records Management (RM) Profile in the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) provides agency decision- makers with a framework for incorporating statutory records management requirements and sound records management principles seamlessly into agency work processes, enterprise architectures, and information systems.) I would hope that the report at hand would lead to the fulfillment of the quote from the NARA RM FEA report of 2005.