Trends (and Some Issues) in Electronic
Records Management
William Saffady, Professor
College of Information and Computer Science
Long Island University
Important characteristics of electronic records

Contains machine-readable rather than human-readable
information

Information originates as electronic signal

Any type of information


Quantitative data

Character-coded text

Images

Sound
Electronically encoded: digital or analog
Important characteristics of electronic records


Originating devices

Computers of all types

Scientific and medical instrumentation

Video recorders

Audio recorders

Obsolete devices
Physical forms

Magnetic media

Optical media

Other
Issues and Concerns


Growth of electronic records

Quantity: paper vs. electronic records

The cause: proliferation of information processing technology:
computers, storage, software

E-business and E-government initiatives
Importance of electronic records

Many support mission-critical applications

Computers automate most important activities, store most
valuable information

Computer records more complete than source documents
Issues and Concerns


Inadequate controls for creation, storage, retention

Computers are commonplace but operational
guidelines are rare

Many records management decisions guided
by user discretion
Information redundancy

Same information in electronic and non-electronic
formats -- the problem of “official copies”

Problems of space, control, coordination of
retention actions
Issues and Concerns

System dependence

Hardware

Software

Media stability

Data migration requirements


Periodic recopying of media

Periodic conversion of records to new file formats
Remote access: an advantage and a security problem
Issues and Concerns

E-discovery issues

The duty to preserve evidence in all formats

Amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Broadens discovery process to include records of all types

Electronic records must be produced in usable format

Attorneys must understand electronic recordkeeping
infrastructure

Accessibility of backup copies, archived copies, legacy
data
Some Ideas and Trends


The declining cost of storage

Do retention guidelines play an important role in cost
reduction?

Are retention actions cost-justifiable?

Concept of Total Cost of Ownership for electronic
storage -- is purging more expensive than keeping?

Cost consequences of indefinite retention beyond
storage costs
The problem of email and fileshares

Problem of discretionary retention

Does a uniform maximum retention period make sense?
Some Ideas and Trends

Electronic records as official copies

Definition

Advantages: compactness, reusability, backup

Complications for long retention


Data migration requirements

Keeping legacy systems in service
“Born digital” vs. conversion of paper records to digital
formats for retention
Some Ideas and Trends

Software solutions

Email “vaults”

Records management application software

Concept -- relationship to document management
software

Role of DoD 5015.2-STD

Preconditions for successful implementation

Retention schedules cover electronic records

File taxonomy to organize records

Document management software for active records

Automatic categorization