DESPITE A DEADLINE of December 31st, about

one-third of federal agency leaders still don’t know how

they will comply with NARA requirements. This statistic,

from the latest round of self-assessments reported to the

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA),

underscores the difficulty agencies are having in finding the best way to

manage growing stores of records in more varied formats.

The NARA 2016 and 2019 mandates require agencies to put

systems and processes in place to manage temporary and eventually

all permanent email and records in an electronic format by set

deadlines. This includes the ability to identify, store, retrieve and

retain those records for as long as they are needed so agencies

can quickly locate and deliver them in a timely manner that is

trustworthy and complete.

Many agencies still use the print-and-file approach of printing

all e-mails and filing them manually or use e-mail archiving

systems that save all e-mails, regardless of whether their retention

is required. Other agencies use first-generation electronic records

management systems which include multiple discrete point solutions

from different vendors. They meet the minimum needs for records

management; however, these systems are costly and complicated and

typically can’t handle unstructured data like content from mobile

devices and social media or digital assets such as video.

Most existing systems and processes won’t be able to fulfill

the 2016 NARA requirements. Among other things, systems will

need to distinguish between temporary and permanent records and

purge the system of temporary or non-critical e-mail records after a

designated time period.

The best way to meet the NARA mandate is to find a way to

manage all records in a single repository. A single system would

help agencies manage all electronic content—not only e-mail and

Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents; but also mobile content,

social media and digital assets such as video files.

“It’s not easy to commit to a new system, but it’s really the only

way to ensure that you meet all aspects of the NARA requirements,”

says Tara Combs, a records management specialist at Alfresco, which

developed the modern enterprise content management and business

process management systems used by many government organizations.

An enterprise approach to managing content can pay off in

numerous ways, besides meeting the mandate. According to Gartner,

it can reduce the operational costs associated with managing

diverse repositories while also creating opportunities for optimizing

business processes and making information easier to share.

MEET THE MANDATEBefore finding the right system, it’s important to identify applicable

policies. How long will the system retain different types of physical

and electronic records? When they will be deleted? How will the

system handle content from other systems, such as e-mail attachments?

These are the types of policy questions that need answers.

Another important part of this step is and identifying the

agency’s Capstone officials. These are generally top-level senior

agency leaders and other key decision-makers. Capstone officials

are separated into three levels based on how critical they are to the

organization and the relative importance of their e-mail.

NARA released a new directive called Criteria for Managing

E-mail Records in Compliance with the Managing Government

Records Directive (M-12-18), on April 6, 2016, defining the success

criteria for the 2016 deadline. The key success criteria are to:

Policies: Agency-wide policies and training must inform account

holders of their responsibilities for managing e-mail records.

Systems: Agencies must have systems in place that can produce,

manage, and preserve e-mail records in an acceptable electronic

BEYOND MEETING THE NARA MANDATESSatisfying NARA requirements is just one reason agencies should change the way they manage records.

SPONSORED REPORT

NARAMANDATE

CONSIDER OPEN SOURCENARA AND MANY AGENCIES have rules in place to ensure electronic records will always be accessible and readable, no matter how much time passes or technology changes. For example, the DoD’s 5015 standard, which NARA has adopted, defines an import/export schema for interoperability between records management systems.

The best way to ensure records remain accessible and readable is to choose a content management system based on open standards and open source code. These systems are transparent, easy to integrate and allow contributors to improve everything from the repository to the web interface and mobile apps. Dependency from a single vendor is reduced. Users will often contribute new features as well, which after being vetted by the vendor, are added to enhance usability und guarantee the highest security levels.

format until disposition can be executed.

Access: E-mail records must remain usable and retrievable

throughout their lifecycle.

Disposition: The agency must have a NARA-approved schedule in

place to be able to carry out the disposition of permanent and temporary

email records; using either agency-specific schedules or General Records

Schedule (GRS) 6.1: E-mail Managed under a Capstone Approach.

A comprehensive records management system that can

address all agency policies, its Capstone requirements, other

NARA requirements and meet the success criteria should have

several capabilities. These include features such as federated

search, customized filters, extraction and indexing of metadata,

collaborative features, secure mobile access and high-level security.

The ability to search across multiple systems is critical. Not only

does federated search save time, it also helps ensure agencies don’t

unintentionally miss potentially important content during the search.

For example, if an agency is responding to a FOIA or e-discovery

request, it may have to search across five different systems to satisfy

the request conditions. The time it would take to issue search queries

and cull through the results of each system is inefficient and labor-

intensive at best and subject to human error.

Searching through gigabytes or potentially petabytes of data takes

time. With customizable filters, agencies can refine searches by

various characteristics. For example, a search for content created in

the past year by a specific user is easier with filters that can specify

those parameters. The ability to extract, index and search metadata

from documents, PDFs, e-mail files and attachments and other

records stored on legacy systems also is useful for hold, e-discovery

requests and FOIA requests. Metadata includes information such as

the sender, subject and recipient of emails.

A full-featured content management system will also help foster

the type of inter- or intra-agency collaboration often needed to

fully respond to an e-discovery request, FOIA request or litigation.

For example, during litigation, an agency might have to search for

specific records and export them to outside counsel.

Security is a particularly critical aspect of records management,

especially for federal agencies. Most legacy systems don’t provide

security classification or marks, roles-based access or permissions.

These features have become important tools in the struggle to

maintain security. Security classifications and security marks are

the most important line of defense. With this structure, users with

specific security clearances, such as Top

Secret or Secret, can only view anything

marked at that level or below.

With roles-based access, agencies can

assign roles to each function in the system and ensure only users with

those roles can access relevant information. Permissions take access to a

more granular level. Depending on a person’s role in a project, he or she

may be able to simply view a document, edit it, or add a version. This

not only helps maintain security, but ensures efficient version control.

In today’s mobile world, extending security to mobile devices

and accesses also is essential. That means making sure every device

has appropriate profile and provisioning tools to ensure downloaded

applications are secure and accessible to specific classes of mobile

users. A secure provisioning capability also ensures users are using a

virtual private network (VPN), which encrypts transmission channels.

BEYOND THE MANDATEUltimately, the NARA mandate is not an end in itself. Instead, it is

a step towards a greater goal: Improving the ability of government

agencies to carry out their missions.

“Records are the foundation of open government, supporting the

principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration,” states

the NARA mandate. “Well-managed records can be used to assess

the impact of programs, to improve business processes, and to share

knowledge across the Government.”

That is what is at stake. It is a bold vision, but it is also

achievable. The mandate points the way.

The best way to meet the NARA mandate is to find a way to manage all records

in a single repository.

SPONSORED REPORT

For more information, visit: alfresco.comTransforming the Business of Government