The Non-Record: Is It Evolving?
Session 507
San Francisco
August 30, 2008
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Our Position
 Business processes have changed as technology has been
applied to them, but our thinking about records and their
management has not kept up
 Records are only a part of the information assets that support
business goals
 Non records may exist, but the dichotomy is no longer useful
and, in fact, can be harmful
 Our definition of what needs to be managed may be suboptimizing our organizations
 A bigger, more pressing, problem than record/non record: Lack
of management of all information assets
 Better to manage all information assets according to records
management principles (ISO 15489)
 How this is done in the management of records and other
business assets depends on business needs
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
A View of the Organization Ecosystem
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
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The RIM Process Model™
Leverage/Share/Repurpose
Search & Access
Create &
Capture
Use
Preserve
Assess
Manage
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Recognize the
Share
RIM
Re-use
Hierarchy
Re-purpose
Exploit
of
Needs
Preservation Capability
Get Disposition Control
Get Intellectual Control
Get Physical Control
Drowning in the Digital Swamp
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation
All Rights Reserved
LEVEL SET
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Definitions
 Record (components of the definition)




All media
Made or received
In the course of the transaction of public business
Preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency as
■ Evidence
■ For informational value
 Other variations on the record definition
 Non record (components of the definition)
 Enumerated items
 Anything that does not meet the definition of a record
 Older items: Items not on a schedule
 Unifying concepts
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Questions
 What is your understanding of the definitions of
record and non record?
 Is the distinction useful and if so why?
 What are your examples of non records?
 Cited by NARA:
■ Information copies
Routing slips
■ Tickler files
Duplicate copies in the
same file
■ Catalogs, trade journals, etc., that require no action
■ Extra copies of printed materials where a record copy
exists
■ Artifacts with no evidential value.
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Non Record Examples?
Some common ones we’ve heard. Is there a match?
 Emails about lunch
 Emails that replace phone calls
 Desktop documents
 Drafts
 Comments/edits on
documents
 GIS layers from other sources
 Databases
 Text messages / IM / Twitter
 Web sites / Blogs / Wikis
 Voice mail
 Database search results
 Information feeds
 Surveillance videos
 Mash-ups that mix
organizational information
and external information
 Web sites caches
 Software
 Google alerts
 Downloaded publications
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Gray areas in the definitions
 What is public business of, for which we need evidence?
 What is a business transaction?
 Who makes the decision on what is necessary to document
public business?
 Record of what activity, for what purpose, in whose opinion?
 Is everything that serves as evidence a record?
 If we can’t agree on what a record is, how can we agree on
what is a non record?
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Origins of the Non Record Approach
Objectives
Assumptions
Conditions
Driving forces
Constraints
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
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Common misunderstandings/views
 Record/non record may be OK in theory, but in
practice can be dangerous
 Some common views in organizations
 Records belong to the organization and I may be
responsible for them, but I don’t “own” them
(stewardship)
 Non records are mine and I can set my own rules
(ownership)
 There is no need to manage non records, even
though the management, from a volume
perspective, has been seen by RIM for decades
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Why is this important?
 Differing mental models on record/non record cause
confusion and hinder communication
 As a mental model, it frames and constrains our thinking to
focus on a subset of information assets
 Focus is on what information assets must be managed as
records rather than how to manage them. EPA example
 Uneven application results in poorer records and increased
organization vulnerability
 RMO and archivists are not included in conversations about
non record materials.
 RMOs represent needs of the organization and
 Archivists the needs of the larger community
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
WORKPLACE
CHANGES AND THEIR
IMPLICATIONS FOR
RECORDS AND
RECORDS
MANAGEMENT
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Changes In The Workplace
 Decline in the number of support staff
 Storage issues change for staff
 Accountability, transparency and privacy are driving forces
in recordkeeping
 New multi media information streams
 More documentation is being created
 More litigation and regulation
 Shift in costs
 IT problems have shifted
 Record/non record status is not always clear at creation, yet
many ERMS require it at creation
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
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Potential Impact – Overall
If we ignored the record / non record question, it could:
 Eliminate confusion and/or misunderstanding about record / non
record
 Refocus discussion on management of information assets
rather than record status
 Improved management
 No threshold question barrier to prove record status
 Improves intellectual control of all information assets
 Reduce complexity and simplifiy management
 all assets managed by same set of policies/procedures
 Reduce confusion between records policy and legal and
compliance programs
 Ensure RMOs and archivists a seat at the table for all
information assets
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Impact on Ecosystem Components
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
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Potential Impact On Archivists
 Actual impact on archives is unclear since most records that
are affected are disposable.
 What is your mandate for collection?
 Activities of government/organization – focus on official
actions
 Maintain record for accountability and transparency
 Provide records for researchers
 Where does the archival interest end
 What is your greater fear:
 Getting too much stuff
 Getting too little
 Do we want to require electronic records be
managed like paper?
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Impact On Archival Appraisal
 Much that many would consider non record will enrich the
understanding of decision making.
 Disagreements among decision makers captured in email
 Characterizations of other decision makers captured in email
 Who is on the short list of people the decision maker
contacts regularly
 Emails to spouse and/or love interests
 Email as a telephone log
 Do you want top-level officials (or their admins) making a
record/non record decision?
 Do you want to give them a rationale to purge files?
 How would you defend that to the public,
journalists, etc.
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
A Better Approach
 Records are a part of the information assets that support
business goals
 Records management must balance the records,
requirements for recordkeeping,
 the risks poor management of the records poses
 the business benefit good management offers, and
 the available resources to identify what is “good
enough” records management for the organization
 Manage everything using records management principles
(ISO 15489)
 How this is done in the management of
records and other business assets depends
on business needs
Leverage/Share/Repurpose
Search & Access
Create &
Capture
Use
Preserve
Assess
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Manage
The Next Phase
 Archivists especially need to think about whether
the record/non record distinction is still useful.
 If we maintain a narrow the definition of record we
risk losing a lot of the richness of the information
available that will allow us to provide a fuller
understanding of the past.
 If we don’t do it nobody else will.
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Feedback Loop
We’d appreciate your:
QUESTIONS
COMMENTS
SUGGESTIONS
Michael L. Miller
michael.2.miller@lmco.com
Office: 301-640-3678
L. Reynolds Cahoon
reynolds.cahoon@lmco.com
Office: 301-640-2844
Copyright 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.