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9 o identifying records that are due for disposal and managing the disposal process; o associating the contextual and structural data within a document; o constructing and managing audit trails; o managing record version control; o managing the integrity and reliability of records once they have been declared as such; and o managing records in all formats in an integrated manner. Integrated Document Management Systems consist amongst others of electronic document management systems that support the immediate operational requirements of an office by helping governmental bodies to exploit their information resources more effectively, and electronic records management systems that support the medium to long term information requirements of an office by capturing electronic records and managing them according to records management principles. The records management functionality covers the following: 4.1.1 Classification Systems To support the continuing conduct of business and provide accountability, governmental bodies should create and maintain authentic, reliable and usable records and protect their integrity by capturing them into recordkeeping systems that routinely capture all records, organise the records in a way that reflects the functions of the office, protect the records from alteration and/or unauthorised disposal, and provide ready access to the information contained in the records. Records can only be interpreted if the underlying relationships between the records is understood. To provide the underlying relationships it is crucial that the records captured into the recordkeeping system should be classified intelligently by organising them into categories/subjects through which users can navigate to find individual documents. Classification refers to the process whereby electronic documents stored in the electronic repository are assigned subjects in the classification system that match the document's subject. If this is done consistently for all electronic documents, the disposal and retention decisions will be properly applied to the right documents, and they will be archived/destroyed at the right times. The staff will also spend less time looking for information and more time actively acting on the information. The functional subject file plan prescribed by the National Archives and Records Service organises documents into categories that reflect the functions/business of an office. Disposal instructions with retention periods are then determined for each unique subject. The classification system with the disposal instructions and the retention periods attached is called a disposal schedule/disposal authority. Managing electronic records_Policy Guidelines.doc First Edition Version 1.1 April 2003
10 4.1.2 Appraisal and disposal While all records need to be appraised timeously by archivists to identify those records that have archival value and thereby promote a systematic disposal programme, it is crucial for the appraisal of electronic records to take place at an early stage. Conceivably, a terminated system of paper-based correspondence files can be appraised after the lapse of many years, because their content, structure and context will have been maintained as part of the records themselves. In contrast, it could be very difficult to appraise a terminated electronic system, as sufficient information on its functioning may not have been retained and it may not even be able to be accessed, owing to having used hardware and software which have become obsolete. Appropriate appraisal, scheduling and disposal procedures should be applied to electronic records. If not, records needed for litigation or investigation purposes or to comply to an access of information request, might be inadvertently destroyed. 4.1.3 Accessibility Records, which are created by using the hardware and software technologies of today, should remain available, usable, understandable and authentic over a long period of time. Inaccessibility of data is can be caused by the media and the data being damaged, but also by a lack of ability to read the data content on the storage media. Technology changes so rapidly that the storage media outlast the software and devices needed to read the content on the storage medium. It is not adequate to focus on the physical storage requirements for preserving the media optimally. One could maintain the media perfectly, but there might be no way in which it could be accessed and read after the passage of time. To enable electronic records to be used over time, they must remain readable by computer and intelligible to humans. This however, does not mean that obsolete hardware and software should be preserved along with the records to ensure access to electronic records. Rather, steps have to be taken to ensure that the records themselves are adapted or migrated to be compatible with the new systems as technological change takes place. Even though longevity of storage media is not the real issue in the management of electronic records, it is still necessary to know how to take care of the media to ensure that information is not lost while it is still possible to read the media with existing technologies. 4.1.3.1 Storage of electronic records When identifying records that must be preserved indefinitely, the special Managing electronic records_Policy Guidelines.doc First Edition Version 1.1 April 2003
Page 1 and 2: MANAGING ELECTRONIC RECORDS IN GOVE
Page 3 and 4: Content PREFACE ...................
Page 5: i PREFACE The increasing use of ele
Page 8 and 9: 3 The Public Finance Management Act
Page 10 and 11: 5 guidelines set out in this public
Page 12 and 13: 7 means that it takes up very littl
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Page 18 and 19: 13 the AIIM International Standards
Page 20 and 21: 15 invalidates accounting entries.
Page 22 and 23: 17 While some of the records publis
Page 24 and 25: 19 The National Archives and Record
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Page 30 and 31: 25 • if and e-mail is received an
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Page 38 and 39: 33 Managing electronic records_Poli
Page 40 and 41: 35 To ensure that records remain ac
Page 42 and 43: 37 Because users have high expectat
Page 44 and 45: 39 records. Archiving Electronic re
Page 46 and 47: 41 The electronic records managemen
Page 48 and 49: 43 duplicating documents that alrea
Page 51 and 52: 46 ANNEXURE B: Digital preservation
Page 53 and 54: 48 Migration Strategy 5. Store reco
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Page 57 and 58: 52 the system. A transfer list in w
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60 4.13 Security Backup Files Elect
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63 (e) (f) (g) annotated drafts whe
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65 - Information in a form intended
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67 3. Deterioration of magnetic med
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69 Floppy disks and diskettes shoul
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71 signal which can be read using a
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73 in optical disks. WORM and rewri
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75 Insects and rodents once attract
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78 ANNEXURE I: Glossary Act The Nat
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80 Electronic records Any informati
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82 microfilm or electronic media).
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84 Transmission data Information in
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86 ANNEXURE J: Bibliography Aeon Ar
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88 Kronauer, C.: Special Report SAN
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90 Vasudeva, A.: Special Report SAN
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