Federal Records Management

AC 14.2013

February 08, 2013

MEMORANDUM TO FEDERAL RECORDS OFFICERS: Agency Participation in Pilots and Other Activities Supporting Managing Government Records Directive Goal A3.1: Economically Viable Automated Records Management Solutions

Goal A3.1 of the Managing Government Records Directive states,

"NARA, the Federal Chief Information Officers Council and the Federal Records Council will work with private industry and other stakeholders to produce economically viable automated records management solutions.

By December 31, 2013, NARA will produce a comprehensive plan in collaboration with its stakeholders to describe suitable approaches for the automated management of email, social media, and other types of digital record content, including advanced search techniques. The plan will detail expected outcomes and outline potential associated risks."

At the January 24, 2013 Federal Records Council meeting, NARA requested agency involvement in the development of the A3.1 plan.  The initial plan, including more detail on how NARA is interpreting Goal A3.1 is attached to this email. There are three major ways for agencies to get involved:

  1. Conduct a pilot of an innovative automated solution for one or many tasks in electronic records management, and then share information about your experience.

    Propose a pilot by contacting Meg Phillips at meg.phillips@nara.gov or 301-837-3111.

    NARA commits to providing flexibility necessary to enable innovation as long as the agency fulfills its essential responsibilities for managing electronic records as well or better than it currently can.

    NARA will provide a simple MOU, similar to that used for the e-mail pilots last year.
     
  2. Share information on tools for automating management of electronic records, including social media, e-mail, and all other types of electronic records, with the Federal records community.

    NARA has established a wiki to support information gathering and collaboration related to Goal A3.1 at http://erm-automation.ourarchives.wikispaces.net. Join the wiki and share what you know with your colleagues.

    To join, send an e-mail to socialmedia@nara.gov saying you want access to the ERM Automation wiki.  They will set up your account and send you an invitation to the wiki.
     
  3. Help plan market research and concept development activities related to automating the management of electronic records

    The wiki also provides space to collaborate with NARA on several activities designed to gather information about what tools currently exist that could be used to automated records management tasks.

    In mid February 2013, we will begin planning for an Industry Day to communicate the community's needs for automated solutions to industry.

    If you would like to participate in planning, please express your interest on the wiki or by contacting Meg Phillips directly by February 15, 2013.

The goals of these preliminary A3.1 steps are to use the results of the market research, industry engagement, and input from agency pilots and other agency experiences to identify:

  • Automated tools that are available now for agencies to use 
  • Areas where the tools are adequate but other hurdles are in the way
  • Gaps where current tools cannot do what we need to do
  • Strategies for encouraging development of the necessary tools to fill the gaps

The 2013 plan for development of affordable automated tools that is required by the Directive will be drafted in Fall 2013 based on this input.  The plan will focus on developing tools that do not exist now and on reducing the barriers to implementation of tools that are already available.

For more information or to get involved in A3.1 activities, please contact Meg Phillips at meg.phillips@nara.gov or 301-837-3111.

PAUL M. WESTER, JR.
Chief Records Officer
for the U.S. Government

Attachment:Plan for A3.1.pdf

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