Managing Electronic Records by NARA

The National Archives and Records Service, in terms of its statutory mandate, requires governmental bodies to put the necessary infrastructure, policies, strategies, procedures and systems in place to ensure that records in all formats are managed in an integrated manner. The National Archives and Records Service endorses the SANS (ISO) 15489 Records Management Standard, SANS (ISO) 23081 Metadata for Records and SANS (ISO) 15801 Trustworthiness and Reliability of Records Stored Electronically. These are benchmarking tools for sound records management. The primary benchmark for creating and managing electronic records in office environments which is endorsed by the National Archives and Records Service is contained in the suite of publications Principles and Functional Requirements for Records in Electronic Office Environments adopted by the International Council on Archives in 2008.Module 2 of these publications, Guidelines and Functional Requirements for Electronic Records Management Systems relates to structured records systems such as those in which records are managed according to a file plan. A product that complies with these standards would possess the records management functionality required by the National Archives and Records Service.

The National Archives and Records Service requires governmental bodies to implement and maintain Integrated Document and Records Management Systems that provide as a minimum the following records management functionality:

• managing a functional subject file plan according to which records are filed;
• managing e-mail as records;
• managing web-sites as records;
• maintaining the relationships between records and files, and between file series and the file plan;
• identifying records that are due for disposal and managing the disposal process;
• associating the contextual and structural data within a document;
• constructing and managing audit trails;
• managing record version control;
• managing the integrity and reliability of records once they have been declared as such; and
• managing records in all formats in an integrated manner.

Not many governmental bodies have the capacity to implement fully automated Integrated Document and Records Management Systems. This does not however mean that they should not manage their electronic records. If these records are created to aid in decision-making and to perform transactions that support the governmental bodies' activities, governmental bodies are responsible for the proper management of those records. If records generated in such an environment are not managed properly it can lead to the possible illegal destruction of records. To enhance their accountability, bodies should ensure that, even without the benefit of an Integrated Document and Records Management System, they exercise effective records management.

Detailed information regarding the management of electronic records is contained in the National Archives and Records Service's two publications 

• Managing Electronic Records in Governmental Bodies: Policy, Principles and Requirements
• Managing Electronic Records in Governmental Bodies: Metadata Requirements 

Both publications are available on the National Archives and Records Service's website or can, alternatively, be requested in hard copy from the Records Management Division of the National Archives and Records Service.