The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) still expects federal agencies to submit all records in electronic format by December 2022. But, with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing after more than a year, is that goal still achievable? This is a question we were already asking late last year, but now NARA itself is [...]
Once upon a time, records managers only needed to worry about a finite number of records formats, mostly paper and analog documents. That’s not true anymore. In today’s digital world, the number and variety of record types have exploded and continue to proliferate every day. This creates entirely new risks in records management. What happens [...]
When it comes to records creation, management, and oversight, many work-related technology platforms are a double-edged sword. These platforms – which can be anything from productivity suites to communication technologies – typically offer features that make it easy for users to modify, customize, and create content, documents, and records in line with their and their [...]
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has set an incredibly ambitious deadline for the federal government’s digitization effort: all records must be submitted in digital format by the end of 2022. And unfortunately, this mandate did not provide for a dedicated budget or other resources to meet this goal. And yet, this situation [...]
Records schedules are a key element of any governmental records management system. Essentially formalized instructions for the disposition of records, they guide agencies in how to handle records and how long to keep different kinds of records. We talked about how to create a records schedule step-by-step here. Be aware that records schedules can create [...]
Records destruction is an integral part of any records management process. Not every record will be destroyed – many will be archived indefinitely – but others have a natural lifecycle that ends with the destruction of that record after it becomes obsolete. In fact, retaining some records past their “best by” date imposes certain costs [...]
The 2022 deadline set by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration for government agencies to submit all records in electronic format continues to inch ever closer. Already challenged by the ambitious deadline, many agencies are feeling the time crunch. The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly not helped, and it’s easy to be left overwhelmed by [...]
We’ve previously discussed how good records management fosters transparency. Today, we want to take a deep dive into one of the positive effects of transparency: trust-building. As with transparency, good records management will cultivate trust because users and stakeholders can have confidence in the authenticity, accuracy, and legal compliance of the records in question. That, [...]
In records management, transparency is often overlooked as a success factor, yet it is a critical and necessary ingredient in any effective records management program. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) itself stresses the importance of transparency. Laurence Brewer, the NARA’s Chief Records Officer, explicitly told Federal News Network, “Our goal … is [...]
The majority of data breaches and malware attacks occur as a result of vulnerabilities that are patchable - and thus potentially preventable. Vulnerability scanning is the solution. But what is vulnerability scanning? How does it work, and is it really worth the investment? Click on the this link or the image below to view and [...]
