Issues in Electronic Record Keeping

1. Issues in Electronic Record Keeping Presentation to Electronic Records Working Group Chris Prom, Assistant University Archivist University of Illinois Archives

2. What I’ll Cover • University Archives Interest in Electronic Records • What are Records and Archives? • Transience of Electronic Information • A Few Examples • Legal and Administrative Issues--Discussion Later University of Illinois Archives

3. UIUC Archives Mission • UIUC Archives Mission Statement: “To select, preserve, and make accessible an authentic record of the programs, people, and operations of the University of Illinois” • Includes administrative functions, teaching, research, student life • General rules and State Law mandate records management functions related to paper and electronic systems University of Illinois Archives

4. What are Records and Archives? • Records: “all books, papers, maps, photographs, or other official documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made, produced, executed or received by any agency in the State in pursuance of state law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its successor as evidence of [its] organization, function, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities . . . or because of the informational data contained therein” 5 ILCS 160 • Archives: “are the organized noncurrent records of an institution or organization retained for their continuing value in providing a) evidence of the existence, functions, and operations of the institution or organization that generated them, or b) other information on activities or persons affected by the organization.” (University Archives Definition) University of Illinois Archives

5. Simpler Definitions (Phil Bantin, Indiana University) • Records: “recorded information in any form created or received and maintained by an organization or person in the transaction of business or the conduct of affairs and kept as evidence of such activity” • Archives: “documents made or received and accumulated by a person or organization in the course of affairs and preserved because of their continuing value” University of Illinois Archives

6. How do records differ from data or information? • Part of a filing system • Not just information, but the consequence or product of an event • Are recreatable in the future, inviolate • Trustworthiness; less susceptible to legal challenge • Have appropriate metadata • Appraisal: Not all electronic records can or should be retained permanently University of Illinois Archives

7. Why keep electronic records and archives? • Wise investment of University resources • Risk management • Allow for informed decisions • Provide permanent evidence of rights, obligations, entitlements • Support rule of law and provide accountability • Communicate social, political, and cultural values • Education, research, and personal enrichment University of Illinois Archives

8. Our Assumptions • Electronic records are now as or more important than paper • Electronic Records needing attention include ERP systems, EDMS, websites, e-mail, files created in desktop applications, scanned images of paper documents, others • Preserving appropriate records requires partnerships between record creators, technologists, legal counsel, archivists, librarians, auditors, and others. University of Illinois Archives

9. Transience of Electronic Records • Often created dynamically; the record is assembled from a variety of sources, but does not exist as a discrete item until created • Systems may lack appropriate metadata to allow for recreation of record • Decentralized work processes • When is record created? • When can it be captured? • Most records depend on software • Media on which records are stored is frail University of Illinois Archives

10. Transience Issues (Slide 1) • Transaction Processing Systems (DBMS, ERP, Data Warehouses) • limit data redundancy, improve integrity • good for current business or intermediate reporting needs • not designed to capture business records • often keep excessive amounts of data much longer than necessary for legal or administrative reasons University of Illinois Archives

11. Transience Issues (Slide 2) • Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) and Records Records Management Systems (ERMS) • Paper-based “subject files” are disappearing • EDMS • most offices do not use one • no provision for file management, retention, disposal • ERMS • less common (TRIM, Provenance Systems) • DOD 5015.2 • includes filing system for items of record • requires retention periods, version control • Reduce information liability; provide risk management University of Illinois Archives

12. Transience Issues (Slide 3) • Websites • constant change • dependencies on other sites, hyperlinks • E-mail • lack of appropriate metadata (e.g. recipient lists) • no control over retention of important e-mail • usually not managed in EDMS or RDA University of Illinois Archives

13. Examples of Records Needing Attention • Data being migrated to UI Integrate • Department and office files • Documents to be managed by OTG system (preliminary survey indicates no record-keeping component, limited version control) • Web-based resources • Course Catalog (U Mich example) • Campus Administrative Manual • Student Web Pages • Email University of Illinois Archives