Council on archives international records management trust

Survey of Computerised Systems and Electronic Records

The survey should begin by asking the following questions. The subsidiary questions will help refine understanding of answers to the main questions.

This is the fundamental question. It will identify where to find computerised systems that may be creating records. If no functions have been automated, then this survey of existing systems can stop here and people can concentrate on identifying proposed systems.

If only data is produced, it needs to be managed, but records issues (such as authenticity and so on) are not a primary concern. See lesson 1 for a discussion of data and records.

There is a big difference between the problems to be encountered in keeping records electronically for two or three years or even seven or eight years and keeping them for ten years or longer. The longer the period, the greater the risk that the hardware, software or medium will become obsolete and that the costs of preservation will escalate.

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  What is the system’s purpose? The reason records are generated and the nature of the users will have a significant effect on how they should be kept.
  
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  Does it serve different purposes for different users?
  
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  Do the different purposes reflect different needs for retaining data?
  
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  Does the organisation REALLY need to keep the record electronically? One of the ways of reducing the risk of obsolescence, as described in Lesson 3, is to copy the records on to a more stable medium, such as paper. Inevitably, printing records will negate the benefits of having the records in electronic form: records can no longer be manipulated or changed. In some cases, this would not be acceptable to the users, but in others a paper record will meet the needs of the organisation. It may not be technically possible to print out the record. However, whenever printing out is an acceptable solution, this option will be more cost effective and easier.
  
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  What inputs, papers or electronic are needed and how long should they be retained?
  
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  Are they needed for legal or audit purposes?
  
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  What will be done with the reports, either on paper or computer output microfilm (COM), generated by the system?
  
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  How long do the records need to be kept electronically? The uses for records change over time. For instance, the organisation may need to access the record electronically while it is active, but it may be acceptable to put the record or copy it to microfiche during the semi-current or non-current stages of its life.
  
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  How long does information need to be kept online?
  
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  If the agency no longer needs data on line, does it need to retain it off-line? For how long?
  
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  What information about the transaction can the organisation afford to lose? This is a difficult aspect to evaluate. On the one hand, migrating records on to software independent formats such as ASCII text can carry the risk that aspects of the structure and layout of the record will be lost. This will depend upon the nature of the original format and whether appropriate software and necessary formatting standards are available (see Lesson 1). In general, however, migrating electronic records over a number of cycles will probably involve some loss of information. On the other hand, printing records out on to paper or microfilm is also likely to involve loss of information. For example, printing out an electronic mail message will ensure the preservation of the message as it appears on the computer screen, but it will not preserve details of ‘blind’ copies, information about which of the recipients opened the message and when, etc. The final decision will need to take into account the relevant legal requirements for keeping records and to be accountable, as well as the business needs of the organisation. These are complex decision that need to be taken on a case by case basis and reviewed at regular intervals.
  

Choose one computerised system in your organisation and try to answer the following questions:

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  What business functions have been automated?
  
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  Is the system producing records?
  
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  How long do the records need to be kept?