For the past several years, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has been pushing federal agencies to manage more and more records in electronic format. As the government transitions away from analog and paper-based record-keeping, NARA has imposed a series of accelerating objectives:
- Manage all permanent and temporary emails in an accessible electronic format by the end of 2016
- Manage all permanent electronic records in electronic format by the end of 2019
- Manage all permanent records in electronic format with appropriate metadata and manage all temporary records in electronic format (or store them in a commercial records facility) by the end of 2022
Where does the federal government stand on meeting these requirements?
That’s not an easy question to answer. NARA itself is the primary source of information about agency readiness. According to their report last year, 98% of agencies said they were confident they would be managing all permanent records in electronic format by the end of 2019. More recently, an independent survey found that while 93% of government decision-makers were “very” or “somewhat” confident that their agencies are managing records “to federal standards,” only 33% actually transferred all eligible records to NARA, at least in fiscal year 2018.
According to the survey, manual processes, a lack of manpower, and continued reliance on legacy systems were the most common culprits slowing the transition.
For example, many agencies have been saving and submitting emails to NARA by literally printing the email and manually posting it. To comply with NARA’s electronic record-keeping requirements, these agencies have to completely re-think how they capture, collect, organize, and share records. That presents a major challenge.
Agencies are still awaiting further guidance from NARA.
Agencies are also having to deal with uncertainty around specific requirements. Memorandum M-19-21, issued in June 2019, established new objectives for the next three years but left several questions unanswered. For example, NARA said it would be revising relevant regulations but didn’t describe how. NARA expects to release this supplemental guidance within the next few months, according to Arian Ravanbakhsh, a supervisory records management policy analyst with NARA’s Office of the Chief Records Officer.
NARA is also partnering with the General Services Administration (GSA) to develop a shared services model for records management to ease the transition moving forward. “Every agency needs tools to manage their electronic records,” says Courtney Anderson, the senior electronic records policy analyst at NARA.
For agencies concerned about their own state of readiness, a few steps can help them get back on track and even gain ground:
- Acquire an Electronic Records Management platform that can ease the transition.
- Specifically, look for solutions that employ automation and, ideally, can be used or configured to manage both physical and electronic records.
- Be willing to leave behind proprietary and legacy systems and wholly rethink management processes.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
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