Sunday, February 27, 2011

Unauthorized Destruction

Unauthorized Destruction
by Arian Ravanbakhsh
These are two words that records managers never want to hear. An unauthorized destruction occurs when records are destroyed or deleted in any of the following cases:

Without an approved disposition;
When the record has been approved for permanent retention;
Prior to the end of the approved retention period (unless order by a court);
When the record is subject to another requirement (e.g. FOIA, litigation) to retain the record.
NARA and agencies are responsible for preventing the unauthorized disposition of Federal records, including their unlawful or accidental destruction, deletion, alteration, or removal from Federal custody. Agencies should carefully monitor the implementation of approved records schedules to prevent such unauthorized destruction.

When an agency becomes aware of an incident of unauthorized destruction, they must report the incident to us. The report should describe the records, the circumstances in which the unauthorized destruction took place, and the corrective steps being taken to properly manage the records in the future. If we hear about the incident before the agency has reported it, we will notify the agency and request similar information.

The goal of this process is to ensure that circumstances that may have led to the loss of Federal records are corrected and do not repeat. As a result, agencies are better able to ensure that they protect and manage their records.

Our regulations at 36 CFR 1230 describe this process in detail including how agencies should go about reporting such instances and how we handle allegations of damage, alienation, or unlawful destruction of records. A recent example of this process was the Department of Justice’s handling of e-mail messages maintained by the Office of Legal Counsel. Newsweek reported on this story; here is the report to us from the Justice Department (.pdf) and here is our response to their report (.pdf).

Unauthorized Destruction: "

These are two words that records managers never want to hear. An unauthorized destruction occurs when records are destroyed or deleted in any of the following cases:



  1. Without an approved disposition;

  2. When the record has been approved for permanent retention;

  3. Prior to the end of the approved retention period (unless order by a court);

  4. When the record is subject to another requirement (e.g. FOIA, litigation) to retain the record.


NARA and agencies are responsible for preventing the unauthorized disposition of Federal records, including their unlawful or accidental destruction, deletion, alteration, or removal from Federal custody. Agencies should carefully monitor the implementation of approved records schedules to prevent such unauthorized destruction.


When an agency becomes aware of an incident of unauthorized destruction, they must report the incident to us. The report should describe the records, the circumstances in which the unauthorized destruction took place, and the corrective steps being taken to properly manage the records in the future. If we hear about the incident before the agency has reported it, we will notify the agency and request similar information.


The goal of this process is to ensure that circumstances that may have led to the loss of Federal records are corrected and do not repeat. As a result, agencies are better able to ensure that they protect and manage their records.


Our regulations at 36 CFR 1230 describe this process in detail including how agencies should go about reporting such instances and how we handle allegations of damage, alienation, or unlawful destruction of records. A recent example of this process was the Department of Justice’s handling of e-mail messages maintained by the Office of Legal Counsel. Newsweek reported on this story; here is the report to us from the Justice Department (.pdf) and here is our response to their report (.pdf).


"

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Rethinking Custodian-Based E-Discovery in a World of Automation - RegOnline

Rethinking Custodian-Based E-Discovery in a World of Automation - RegOnline

8 great #ECM blog posts from the #AIIM community expert bloggers - Part 2

8 great #ECM blog posts from the #AIIM community expert bloggers - Part 2: "




Getting rid of the 10016 error on SharePoint Server by Michael Doyle SharePoint Architect for Waggener Edstrom Worldwide [SharePoint]


If you are getting a 10016 error in the Application Server part of the Event Viewer then you are having Distributed COM error. It is most likely due to the NETWORK SERVICE not having the correct... read more






Don’t transform Social Network into the next inbox nightmare by Vinicius da Costa Collaboration & Social Media Solutions, A. Director for Kraft Foods [Social Business]


Whether you are leading Social Business transformation in your company or joining the bandwagon of Social Networking in your personal life, there are some few tips I wanted to share to make sure... read more




Collaboration "In Context" by Rich Blank Management Consultant for Independent [Social Business SharePoint]


I rarely if ever have used this forum to rant but let's face it....collaboration continues to happen via email.  And one of my pet peeves with SharePoint is that it lacks what I call  "collabor... read more






Good enough would be great by Joe Shepley Consultant for Doculabs [Social Business]


In the last post I talked about the importance of taking the time to clearly identify your target users when rolling out E2.0 capabilities. I also presented a high-level walkthrough of an effect... read more






E2.0 Adoption Strategy - "Hidden" Influencers by John BrunswickSenior Solution Consultant for Oracle Corporation [Social Business]


Over dinner a friend was sharing details of a new startup his acquaintances were launching.  As he told me more about the end users and their experience it dawned on me that the success of this ...read more






The Format is the Message by Marc Solomon Knowledge Planning and Coordination for PRTM, [SharePoint


Here's a little known secret that's not so little or secretive. Most knowledge work is reformatting. That's right. No big thoughts to cloud out rebuilding that table. No mind cramps for ... read more






The Capture Bowl by Joe Budelli Senior Vice President of Sales for ABBYY USA [Capture]


Who watched the big game last weekend? What started as early domination by Green Bay, gave way to an evening of back-and-forth American football that kept fans rooting through the end, as the Pa...read more






SharePoint Designer 2010 Timing | Don’t Assume Synchronous! by Russ Edelman President for Corridor Consulting [SharePoint]


Greetings AIIMers, Hope your year is off to a good start and it’s nice to be back on the AIIM blogging scene once again.  I’ve got a bunch of experiences and information I’ll be sharing with... read more




 



"

8 great #ECM blog posts from the #AIIM community expert bloggers - Part 3

8 great #ECM blog posts from the #AIIM community expert bloggers - Part 3: "




SharePoint Turf Wars - Part 1 by Russ Edelman President for Corridor Consulting - SharePoint


Regardless of whether you are fan or foe, SharePoint has firmly planted a stake in the ground and has become part of the IT fabric in most organizations.  The purpose of this blog is not to exto... read more






How to conduct a needs analysis for electronic forms by Daniel O'Leary VP, Global Solution for LincWare - Capture


One of the best ways to analyze and refine your electronic forms projects is to conduct a brief needs analysis to determine what forms are targets for optimization and which can be eliminated or... read more




It’s either Darwin or the way of the Dinosaurs by Lawrence Wischerth Records Information Manager for Healthfirst - Capture


The blogs posted here in the Capture Community focus primarily on the front side of document capture. By that I mean we blog about the “how to”; expanding document capture, increasing throughpu... read more






Learning How to do SharePoint Right by Daniel Antion Vice President Information Services for American Nuclear Insurers - SharePoint


Six years ago, I gave a presentation at AIIM Expo called “Robust Communication on a Modest Budget”. One of the 10 take away ideas in that presentation was to use SharePoint Services a.k.a WSS a....read more






Reconciliation, Part One by Mimi Dionne Consultant for Mimi Dionne Consulting - ERM


So. Retention. Consultants may advise you to outsource your company’s schedule to a law firm.  If you have the time to do it, don’t cheat yourself. A retention schedule is still an essential... read more






Mobile capture: the hype, the truth, the future by Chris "Imaging Savant" Riley Sr. ECM & Document Capture Architect for ShareSquared Inc. - Capture


There is no surprise that the capture world is talking a lot about mobile capture.  Mobile capture is a way to boost the energy level and excitement around a technology that has clear business v... read more






SharePoint: The World's Most Impersonal Network by Marc Solomon Knowledge Planning and Coordination for PRTM 


What we value most about social networks isn't the number of friends, invites, reconnects, or diversions from the dullness of rote tasks. It's more basic that that. It's that we know where t... read more






Social Collaboration Enables Us to Help Each Other by Oscar Berg Senior Consultant, Strategic IT for Acando 


Imagine that you are dealing with a burning problem which you are not certain how to solve. You might be on to a solution, but you are not confident enough that it will work to invest your time ... read more




 



"

Baltimore must attend event for Ham radio and computer enthusiest!

Greater Baltimore Hamboree
& Computerfest
Maryland State Fairgrounds
Timonium, Maryland
March 26 & 27, 2011
One Of the Largest Shows On The East Coast

in reference to:

"Greater Baltimore Hamboree  & Computerfest Maryland State Fairgrounds Timonium, Maryland March 26 & 27, 2011 One Of the Largest Shows On The East Coast"
- Greater Baltimore Hamboree & Computerfest (view on Google Sidewiki)

Greater Baltimore Hamboree & Computerfest

Greater Baltimore Hamboree & Computerfest

Records Management Training for State Agencies and Local Governments - TSLAC

Good training and some free!

Records Management Training for State Agencies and Local Governments - TSLAC

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Future of the Electronic Records Archive | CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

I make every effort to follow very closely the information CREW produces in regards to Electronic Records Mangement. It is always very thought provoking.

The Future of the Electronic Records Archive | CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Electronic records mandate puts health information technology specialists in demand  | ajcjobs.com

Electronic records mandate puts health information technology specialists in demand  | ajcjobs.com

VV 23 - English Vocabulary for Risk Management 2



Document Management through Software - Business - Management

Document Management through Software - Business - Management

Document Management through Software by Bruce Chable
in Business / Management (submitted 2011-02-22)

EDRM is alternatively referred to as Electronic Document and Records Management. It is a type of content management system that makes use of tools that are used for record management and document management. The management of records and electronic documents is one of the prime challenges faced by most business organisations these days.


Such a records and electronic document management system is directed towards enabling organisations to manage their documents effectively throughout its life cycle, right from the time of its creation to termination. An automated system considers a particular document to be part of 'work-in-progress' cycle until the time it has been reviewed, approved and locked. Then it is considered a formal record held by an organisation.


When a document is no longer in use and thus needs to be kept as a part of the archives, then the organisation may apply the best practices for their preservation. This would determine how the second part of the cycle should be initiated. The earlier documents, however, are retained unless of course there is some event that necessitates the elimination of the records from the system. The records are finally discarded after a set time.


Some organisations make use of EDRMS software at the enterprise level. Several vendors offer electronic document management systems. Several associated technologies are used in combination with EDRM. These include:

Enterprise content management

Scanning

Business process management




An electronic document management system is used to process, capture, retrieve, store and distribute the electronic documents so that various departments of the organisation can access important documents. The documents may be in the form of word documents, spreadsheets, and multimedia files. An electronic document management system comprises bar coding, workflow management tools, optical character recognition and scanning devices.


Processes that are commonly associated with enterprise document management systems are carried out with the help of electronic document management (EDM) software. This enables documents to be effectively captured and then stored as graphical images. The document management system is an effective way to create a paperless office. Such a system also allows organisations to save on office space, organisation systems and time.


Several companies claim that their EDM systems help to protect information apart from ensuring their safe storage. However, at the same time, an EDM system works best when it is combined with an online backup system. An EDRM system can:

Work as an online library that is complete with document check out rights.

Help businesses provide an effective archive management solution.

Allow documents to be stored over a longer duration without being concerned about their loss or mishandling.

Protect engineering firms that have to deal with records and blueprints and convert the documents into electronic images.

Provide automatic search capabilities that allow the user to access documents quickly.




Though every business tries to keep its record management system as simple as possible, complications arise when the business changes or grows. Therefore, it is necessary that steps for its effective management be continuously implemented to ensure its smooth functioning over time.
About the Author
Bruce Chable is a business consultant and is consulted by people when it comes to the effective management and administration of their business processes. He advises the use of
enterprise document management system for maintaining important documents.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Go Slow on Electronic Records, IT Group Urges - Health IT Update

Go Slow on Electronic Records, IT Group Urges - Health IT Update

Records Management in the Age of Information Overload: 5 Tips for ...

<b>Records Management</b> in the Age of Information Overload: 5 Tips for <b>...</b>: "Scantronix leveraged their expertise in critical document management including Document Digitizing & Archiving, aiming to a paperless office by scanning and Electronic storage of records which includes scanning of files, ..."

How Effective is Your Records Management Program?

How Effective is Your Records Management Program?

Records policy will protect - Fiji Times Online

Records policy will protect
Samisoni Nabilivalu
Saturday, February 19, 2011
A NATIONAL records management policy is being implemented by the Government to strengthen its standards.

The new policy entails the implementation of effective record keeping guidelines and processes in all Government ministries, departments and agencies.

Permanent secretaries and heads of departments will be responsible for implementing the policy and integrating the guiding principles within their record keeping systems from January 2011.

The policy will apply to all files, emails, memoranda's, minutes, audiovisuals, electronic, digital, materials and any other document that is created or received by Government officers. It will also apply to all confidential and classified records in Government offices as defined under Section 2 of the Public records Act (Cap 108).

PSC permanent secretary, Parmesh Chand, said the records of Government's actions and decisions were knowledge assets and a vital part of the Government's corporate memory.

Mr Chand said the policy should address the poor management and non-recognition of Government's records as vital sources of information across Governments departments.

"As such, the managing of these assets in an efficient way will not only ensure that vital information can be located when needed but will also help save time and money," he added.

Email to a friend

Records policy will protect - Fiji Times Online

Sunday, February 20, 2011

VV 16 Business English Vocabulary - Internet & Web 2.0 - Business English on Vimeo

Good presentation!

VV 16 Business English Vocabulary - Internet & Web 2.0 - Business English on Vimeo

Saturday, February 19, 2011

CNET Tech Review: Plug it in, plug it in

Flash Controversy Continues - Is It a Good Choice for Development?

Flash Controversy Continues - Is It a Good Choice for Development?: "

Garin Hess wrote a post 5 Reasons Flash is NOT dying...give me a break! and it seems like my recent post  Mobile Learning and the Continuing Death of Flash got him a little fired up. 

I am fed up with people saying Flash is dying. That it's old technology. That HTML5 is the ultimate replacement. That it shouldn't be allowed to go forward. Come on! Give me a break!

Garin has some good arguments on why he likes Flash as a delivery mechanism.  Probably worth visiting his blog to read them. 

Let me go back to the original issue that I raised a little less than a year ago in Beginning of Long Slow Death of Flash:

As a Part-Time CTO, I am continually making choices about what platforms to use, what do we build for, how do we integrate with social networks, etc. And just like a few years ago when it became clear that you shouldn’t build desktop applications anymore, I think we are hitting a tipping point where you have to question building anything that uses Flash as the delivery mechanism.

I'm defining my technical approach for my eLearning Startup or for my application that will be delivered to employees, consumers or students, etc.  This could be a new authoring tool, an aggregator, the course playback mechanism, a recruiting tool, etc.  My technical choice needs to seem like a good choice 5 years from now.  I need to think about what will produce the best user experience.  The costs.  Technical and business risk.

Garin raises a great point.  We don't know whether Apple iOS will eventually support Flash to stave off competition from competitors.  Originally, I thought that Apple would bow to pressure.   No one at this point really knows.  But let's assume for a second that you believe that Apple will cave and iOS will support Flash.  And let's also assume that we are not strictly talking HTML5, but rather HTML+JavaScript + some ideas of where it is today and where things are going.

What's to Like about Flash

1. Greater consistency across platforms. 

2. Good support for animations, 3D, and video.  Video especially is problematic without Flash to do cross platform.

3. Able to do things visually that are hard with CSS/HTML.  As an example, CSS 3 introduced linear and radial gradients. Good. Can these gradients be applied to the text rendering engine? No? Why not?

http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2009/02/24/css3-feedback-graphical-thoughts/

like rounded corners, no surprise [gradients] came up. (All we need is to define wet-floor-reflect and we’ll complete the Web 2.0 design tricks hat trick.)

Yes, CSS 3 can do awesome things, and I love it. But it was designed to just barely meet the design needs of today. Any time you want to experiment with a wildly new design direction, you find yourself fighting against the way HTML and CSS were intended to be used.

4. Flash (AIR) can create and use raw TCP or UDP sockets.

Of the above, 2, 3 & 4 of are likely to be a question of what the site/app needs to be able to do.  #1 is definitely an issue as you need to write once and test everywhere for HTML. 

Flash Concerns

There are some things I would be concerned about:

1. Security - some recent security issues with Flash that caused real damage are a continuing concern for me.

2. Closed - as Garin points out there are lots of people working with Flash - an ecosystem.  That said it's still closed.  And it's MUCH smaller than the world that works with HTML.

3. Commercial - it costs money for Flash development and anytime you are dealing with something that's commercial and closed, there are clear risks.

4. Installers - these are somewhat annoying and there are greater risks around them.

Will I Choose Flash?

So - what do I use as a developer? It's way too complex a question because there are a ton of factors that will need to be considered for any given system.  Here's some things I would definitely look at:

  • What's our mobile strategy?  Are we actually looking at Apps or via Mobile Browser?  Big time tradeoffs in each?
  • Do I need an interface that could be provided more quickly via Flash?  I've been involved in creating some pretty sophisticated interfaces via HTML+JavaScript.  But there are development cost tradeoffs to be made.  As an example Flash is used by Zynga to create their games.
  • What's the cost of Cross Browser HTML compatibility issues?
  • What's our strategy around multiple screen resolutions?
  • Will we need to run in low-end phones with basic web access capabilities?
  • Right now Flash is causing performance issues on mobile devices.  This will be improved, but there will be issues.  What will the impact be of those issues?
  • What audio and video do I have?  Complex animations?  Can these be Flash elements within an HTML wrapper?
  • Do I need audio or video capture?
  • 3D?
  • Do I need raw sockets?
  • Who is developing it?  What skills do they have? How easy/hard is it to source people with the skills?
  • What are the implications downstream for the organization?  Do we believe it will help or hurt us around time of acquisition?

Impact of iOS?

All of the above is greatly impacted by the choice that Apple makes around iOS support.  People want their content to work on iPhones and iPads right now.   To Gain's point, if Flash is on iOS and gets over the current performance issues, then it's going to win out far more often as the delivery mechanism of choice. 

Of course, my guess early on was that Apple would bow to pressure.  But then it became clear they wouldn't in the short term.  Now, no one knows.

Using Flash

Interestingly, I'm right now looking at technical choices for an eLearning Startup.  And guess what - Flash looks like it will make sense as a choice.  Of course, we are trying to hedge our bets and we are definitely making it an element on the page rather than betting the entire delivery on Flash.  The idea is that we could change the approach for that portion if another solution comes along.  iPhones and iPads will be supported as an app - ugh.  But we don't really have another choice for now.

All of that said, I still will tell you - even though you won't be happy to hear it - if this application didn't need these specific features that are supported by Flash - we would choose HTML+JavaScript because it would work on iPads in the browser.  That's why I still believe until we know that iOS will support Flash - it's death is continuing for now.  Choices are being made to avoid it everyday by CTOs.


eLearning Technology

Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.



"

Madam C.J. Walker in the National Archives

The importance of records management clearly illustrated!

AIIM International Expo + Conference

Looking forward to presenting at both AIIM and ARMA events!

AIIM International Expo + Conference: "

AIIM International Expo + Conference
from Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 12:00 AM to Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 12:00 AM


DC Convention Center

801 Mount Vernon Place NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20001 United States


"

ARMA Internationals 2011 Annual Conference and Expo

ARMA Internationals 2011 Annual Conference and Expo: "

ARMA Internationals 2011 Annual Conference and Expo
from Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 12:00 AM to Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 12:00 AM

ARMA Internationals 2011 Annual Conference and Expo

Portals Theater

1201 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, District of Columbia 20024 United States


"

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Disposing of Electronic Records with “Triggering Event” Based Retention Periods - ERM Expert Blog

I appreciate the way this subject is handled here.

Disposing of Electronic Records with “Triggering Event” Based Retention Periods - ERM Expert Blog

Electronic records inventory form definitions - RECORDS INVENTORY FORM

Electronic records inventory form definitions - RECORDS INVENTORY FORM

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Electronic Records/Document Management Systems and Services - Compliance & Monitoring Support - Macfadden

Electronic Records/Document Management Systems and Services - Compliance & Monitoring Support - Macfadden

Web Manager's Toolbox (7/23/99) -- GovExec.com

Web Manager's Toolbox (7/23/99) -- GovExec.com

Group recommends creating council to oversee electronic records management (11/2/04) -- GovExec.com

Group recommends creating council to oversee electronic records management (11/2/04) -- GovExec.com

Archives begins charging agencies for services (11/2/99) -- GovExec.com

Archives begins charging agencies for services (11/2/99) -- GovExec.com

GAO: E-records management varies across agencies (7/21/99) -- GovExec.com

GAO: E-records management varies across agencies (7/21/99) -- GovExec.com

Agencies' electronic storage of records lags, archivists say (7/8/03) -- GovExec.com

Agencies' electronic storage of records lags, archivists say (7/8/03) -- GovExec.com

FAIR Act Report - National Archives and Records Administration (10/13/99) -- GovExec.com

FAIR Act Report - National Archives and Records Administration (10/13/99) -- GovExec.com

Nara National Archives PDF | Free PDF Ebook

Nara National Archives PDF | Free PDF Ebook

Saturday, February 12, 2011

AIIM - Your Information Management and Collaboration Resource

AIIM - Your Information Management and Collaboration Resource

Cost Overruns at the National Archives | Downsizing the Federal Government

Cost Overruns at the National Archives | Downsizing the Federal Government

The Future of the Electronic Records Archive | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

The Future of the Electronic Records Archive | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Friday, February 11, 2011

IBM Social Computing Guidelines

IBM Social Computing Guidelines

NARA Social Media and Web 2.0

Social Media and Web 2.0

Court orders Interior to halt plans for e-mail upgrade - Nextgov

Court orders Interior to halt plans for e-mail upgrade - Nextgov

GARP, Information Governance Education - ARMA International

Excellent Information!!!!

GARP, Information Governance Education - ARMA International

PDF/A Sofware and Workflows Article

PDF/A Sofware and Workflows Article: "

The current issue of DLib Magazine contains an excellent overview and evaluation of methods to convert documents into PDF/A, by Dan Noonan, Amy McCrory and Elizabeth Black, looking mainly at conversion tools in Acrobat and Word 2007.  Key findings:



  • In an environmental scan completed before the project, “[v]ery few institutions were even experimenting with the PDF/A format, let alone having adopted it as tool. Early adopters were predominantly in Europe. Towards the end of our project, we conducted a somewhat broader, yet informal environmental scan via an on-line survey. We received fifty-four responses of which seventeen, or 31.5%, noted that their institution had adopted the use of PDF/A as a preservation tool.”

  • “After spending over a year experimenting with various conversion tools and file types, we settled upon conducting implementation testing with existing tools that we had already licensed, Adobe® Acrobat® Pro and Microsoft Word. The tests revealed a number of issues that may impede achieving compliance with PDF/A-1a.”

  • “The working group concluded from our tests that PDF/A is most appropriate for files that are primarily text documents, and that it is significantly easier to get files into PDF/A form if those files are born digital or when one has control over making them digital. Surprisingly, the easiest to make fully PDF/A-1a compliant were those we scanned to PDF/A.”

"

Web Archiving Service Evaluation

Web Archiving Service Evaluation: "

This is the fourth installment in a series of evaluations of website harvesting software on the Practical E-records blog.  The first three installments were reviews of open source software that you can download and install locally—HTTrack, GNU Wget free utility, and Heritrix.  This fourth installment is a review of the Web Archiving Service (WAS) developed by the California Digital Library, which is a fee based service for capturing and storing websites.



The Web Archiving Service provides tools and support for harvesting websites and preserving them, as well as providing tools for analyzing the captured content.  For example, you can check between two captures to see how many web pages (and what pages) were changed or deleted.  Unlike the other web archiving software previously evaluated here, WAS is a fee based service for those outside the University of California (University of California organizations only pay for storage).  For those outside the University of California system, a yearly fee is required, but there are discounted rates for consortia of three or more institutions.  Thankfully, WAS also provides a free trial subscription to those institutions wishing to try out the software.


This is an excellent choice for those institutions that can afford a subscription.  It is very user friendly and produces a capture that has a high fidelity to the original site.  The largest concern I have is that the data is stored with WAS rather than on an internal server.  This might bring up long term preservation concerns if the subscriber is not able to commit to long-term support for the service or if CDL is not able to maintain the service for whatever reason.


Chris Prom contacted the WAS to get our trial subscription (on the right hand side of the page is info on how to contact them about getting a trial subscription).  We were then given a username and password to access the service over our internet browser.  I read over the WAS User Guide, skimmed some of the other documentation, and watched the user videos before beginning, but all of this is not necessary in order to begin.  Familiarizing yourself with the general system is important, but overall the service is straightforward enough that you could follow the manual as you are going through your first capture if you need to.


Once you’ve signed into the WAS site with your username and password, there are two main things you need to do to get the capture started.  You first need to create the site information and then capture the site.



Under the Create Site section you are able to adjust capture settings, scheduling, and add descriptive data.  Unlike the other web capturing software profiled previously, WAS has narrowed down many of the parameters that need to be adjusted for the capture.  This simplifies the process for those archivists who don’t have a lot of experience with more technical computer applications.  For example, with WAS, the capture settings that need to be adjusted are only scope, whether to capture linked pages, the maximum amount of time spent on the capture (1 hour or 36 hours), how frequent to make the capture (daily, weekly, monthly, custom), whether the capture will be made public, and added descriptive data about the site.  This is one of the many aspects of the WAS software that is well designed.  There are only a few easy to understand parameters to adjust, you can schedule the program to automatically capture the site on a regular basis, and you can add descriptive metadata associated with your capture.


After you have set up your site information you can click on the Capture Sites option which takes you to a “Manage Sites” page.  This page includes both your site as well as other sites that are on the WAS system.  In order to start your capture you can click the Capture Icon under the name you gave your site and it will start capturing the site according to your specifications.  An email is sent to you once the site has finished capturing.  Once the capture has finished WAS provides a variety of options for looking at your captured site.  These include an ability to review the entire captured site and navigate around it as if it were live as well as an ability to search the site by keyword while narrowing your search results by file type (such as pdf, images, audio, video, etc.).  Once you have captured your site more than once there are additional options available to compare the results of the captures to see what items have changed or been removed from the site.


In my case, I chose the 36 hour capture option (recommended for first time captures).  Once the capture was done, I signed back on to navigate the harvested site.  The harvested website, as far as I am able to tell, has the highest fidelity to the original site (compared to the other web capturing software I evaluated).   I had no problems running the program or setting up the capture and the documentation was clear and easy to understand.  Considering the ease of use, the quality of the result, and the options for navigating and comparing the finished captures, I am recommending this program as the best of the four programs I have tried.  My only concern for the WAS software is whether there are long term preservation issues because  the captured site resides with WAS rather than our own internal server.


Evaluation Criteria:



  • Installation/Configuration/Supported Platforms: Because WAS is run through a web browser there is no installation necessary.  All you need is access to the internet in order to use the service.  Configuration of each capture is minimal.  All you need is a subscription name and password in order to get started.  20/20



  • Functionality/Reliability: There were no problems in running the capture and on an initial look through the captured site it has a very high fidelity to the original live site. 20/20



  • Usability: Incredibly user friendly.  There are very few parameters to adjust, so it is not overwhelming to a novice.  10/10



  • Scalability: I’m not sure how this would work since I was only capturing one site. However, my guess is that if you were trying to capture a large number of websites it might not scale well since the max capturing time is 36 hours.  It seems very well designed to capture specific hosts rather than single broad captures of numerous host sites.  5/10



  • Documentation: There are a number of helpful video tutorials as well as pdf manuals available. The manual and videos were easy to understand and follow.  10/10



  • Interoperability/Metadata support: There is a description section available to add metadata associated with your captured site.  10/10



  • Flexiblity/Customizability: Unfortunately the thing that makes WAS user friendly is also what makes it less flexible in terms of adjustable parameters.  There are only a few parameters that can be adjusted when setting up the crawl so this program may be frustrating to those who have a lot of programming experience who want to be able to make small adjustments.  To balance this though, there is a lot of flexibility in terms of the output of the program since the site can be searched by keyword, file type, can be compared to previous crawls, or can be navigated as if it were live. 7/10



  • License/Support/Sustainability/Community: WAS is part of the University of California Library system and seems to be very actively used.  There are regular “Introduction to WAS” web conferences held for those interested in learning more about how to use the program.  They provide contact information for service support in case there are issues.  There is also a mailing list, Facebook page, and RSS feed for WAS.  The downside is that it is not an open source program and users outside of the University of California system must pay a yearly fee for use.  While it is likely to be sustainable over the long run since it is part of a large public university system, I do have concerns over the long term preservation of individual sites since they are not available for download (as far as I could tell) from the WAS site to our own internal servers.  8/10


Final Score: 90/100


Bottom Line: If you can afford to subscribe to this service and are okay with not hosting your captured sites in house, this is the program to use.  It is incredibly user friendly, easy to use, and provides output that is of high quality in addition to having features that allow you to compare your captures.

"

New IBM Center for Technology in Government Report

New IBM Center for Technology in Government Report: "

The IBM Center for Technology in the Business of Government recently released a report entitled How Federal Agencies Can Effectively Manage Records Created Using New Social Media Tools. This report identifies challenges for records management that arise from the increasing use of social media and web 2.0 by Federal agencies and offers several recommendations and best practices to start to resolve those challenges.More information is available on their blog.


We are grateful for this report. It reflects much of what we found when talking to agencies. In fact, much of the report is drawn on guidance that we have produced or efforts within the Federal government that we have been a part of. Our Bulletin 2011-02, Guidance on Managing Records in Web 2.0/Social Media Platforms, reminds Federal agencies that they have records management responsibilities when using web 2.0 platforms and also discusses some of the challenges for records management inherent in those platforms. It should be noted that our Bulletin was not released until after the report was drafted, so we understand why it is not included as a resource. We do appreciate that an independent party has undertaken a review of the existing records management guidance and issues around web 2.0 for Federal agencies and essentially reached most of the same conclusions that we have.


What do you think about the IBM report or our Bulletin? We are happy to have a discussion about these issues here.


Updated: November 16 to properly credit the IBM Center for the Business of Government.

"

Toolkit Spotlight - New York Preliminary Guidance on Social Media

Toolkit Spotlight - New York Preliminary Guidance on Social Media: "

image of spotlightThis month, our Toolkit for Managing Electronic Records spotlight returns to illustrate how the Toolkit incorporates materials from anywhere. While we released our Web 2.0 Bulletin to heads of Federal agencies in October, (see: Guidance on Managing Records in Web 2.0/Social Media Platforms) other archival and records management programs have been working on similar guidance. The New York State Archives issued a Records Advisory: Preliminary Guidance on Social Media in May. While directly applicable to local government and state agencies in New York, the guidance does contain some best practices on knowing the risks of social media, appropriate use procedures, developing a comment policy, and dealing with service providers that can be used by anyone dealing with the records management implications of social media.


We designed the Toolkit to include any type of tool. Tools can include case studies, best practice documents, process models, policies and directives, tips and techniques, training programs, “lessons learned”, and even presentations. What tools have you discovered that make managing records easier? Did you know that you can suggest a tool? Are there other tools that we should feature? Please let us know by leaving a comment. Thanks!

"

NARA New FAQ on the site today!

New FAQ on the site today!: "

For many, many, many years we have been answering calls and e-mails from you, the records schedulers, about when a change to an existing schedule can be done without submitting a new SF 115, and when a revised one is needed.  For the most part, we’ve been able to answer your questions clearly, but there has never been one place you can go to for an answer (other than calling NARA staff, that is).  Now, there is an FAQ that discusses the various types of changes that can be made without submitting a new 115 and when you need to inform us if you are making any of these “pen-and-ink” changes.


Go http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/faqs/previously-approved-schedule-items-faq.html to take a look at the FAQ, and come to the BRIDG meeting on Monday to hear a briefing on it and to ask any specific questions you have about it.

"

Do you know about ISO TC46/SC11?

Do you know about ISO TC46/SC11?: "

As you may know, NARA is a regular contributor in the development of records management standards.  One of the standards groups that NARA actively participates with is the International Standards Organization (ISO) and specifically TC46/SC11 (archives and records management).


TC46/SC11 is an ISO subcommittee comprised of representatives from over 20 member nations, which voluntarily develop international standards and technical reports pertaining to archives and records management.  SC11 members are records management and archives professionals working in government, academia, and industry.  SC11 meets biannually and works throughout the year to develop new standards and reports. They are the developer of well known records management standards such as ISO 15489 and ISO 23081.  NARA participates as part of a US delegation that includes representatives from ARMA International and private industry.


SC11 is continually developing new records management standards and technical reports. Current topics include management systems, metadata, digital migration, digital preservation and risk assessment.


Below is a list of some SC11 standards and reports that are under development and likely to be published in 2011.  Please note that the majority of the TC46/ SC11 standards and reports are not freely available, but many can be purchased through ISO, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and ARMA International.



  • ISO/PDTR 23081-3 - Managing Metadata for Records - Part 3: Self-assessment method: Developed by SC11’s Working Group 1, this technical report provides records and IT professionals with a self-assessment method to evaluate the current state of metadata capture and management in or across their organization, and provides direction on how to prioritize and schedule work to improve on the current state. This report aligns with ISO 23081-1 and ISO 23081-2. Annexed to this technical report is a software tool (spreadsheet) that supports the self-assessment method.



  • Digital Records Preservation - Where to Start Guide. Developed by SC11’s Working Group 7, this document provides guidance related to developing a preservation plan. This guide relies on the concepts set out in ISO 15489-Part 1 and ISO 15489-Part 2 and is recommended be applied in conjunction with that standard.



  • Management system for records. Developed by SC11’s Working Group 8 and Working Group 9, these two standards are the first part of a SC11 initiative to develop a series of management system standards for records (MSR). The MSR standards are high level, aimed at the controls and processes for managing the organization and establishing the strategic framework for good records management. The target audience for the MSR is primarily senior management, IT, and records management professionals.


The first two standards in the MSR will be:



  1. ISO/DIS 30300 Management system for records - Fundamentals and vocabulary Developed by Working Group 8, this standard covers topics such as key principles behind the MSR, fundamentals and principles of the MSR, and terms/definitions related to records management and the MSR.

  2. ISO/DIS 30301 Management system for records - Requirements Developed by Working Group 9, this standard sets out the requirements that must be met by an MSR.  This includes sections on leadership, management, operations, planning, and improvement.


SC11 also has developed a FAQ that answers some basic questions about the two draft MSR standards including background, audience, the relationship with ISO 15489, potential benefits, etc.



  • ISO/CD 13008 - Digital Records Conversion and Migration Process: Developed by SC11’s Working Group 12, this standard will provide guidance in understanding records management requirements, the organizational and business framework for conducting the conversion and migration process, technology planning issues, and monitoring/controls for the process. It identifies the steps, components, and particular methodologies for the conversion of records from one format to another, and migration of records from one hardware or software configuration to another-covering such topics as workflow, testing, version control, and validation. This standard is derived from ARMA International’s The Digital Records Conversion Process: Program Planning, Requirements, Procedures (ANSI/ARMA 16-2007), March 2007.


If your organization is interested in the development of ISO standards and TC46/SC11, please contact the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) for information regarding membership fees and eligibility.


For more information about NARA’s participation in ISO TC 46/SC11, please contact Don Rosen.

"

The National Archives Blogs

The National Archives Blogs

How to preserve social media records -- Federal Computer Week

Very good and timely information!

How to preserve social media records -- Federal Computer Week

Morse Code vs. Texting: Which is Faster? - Tech Insider

You may be a little surprised who won!

Morse Code vs. Texting: Which is Faster? - Tech Insider

4 natural advances in the evolution of Gov 2.0 -- Federal Computer Week

4 natural advances in the evolution of Gov 2.0 -- Federal Computer Week

National Archives And Records Administration | Read book online

National Archives And Records Administration | Read book online

JITC - DoD 5015.02-STD Electronic Recordkeeping System Compliance Testing Home Page

JITC - DoD 5015.02-STD Electronic Recordkeeping System Compliance Testing Home Page

Document Management Compliance

Document Management Compliance

DoD certification has its place but that place is limited | InContext Magazine

DoD certification has its place but that place is limited | InContext Magazine

Thursday, February 10, 2011

The power of social media

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/the-bishops-gambit/the-power-of-social-media/20110209-1aly4.html

Social Media Fuels Egypt Unrest

Backing Up Twitter and Facebook Posts Challenges Governments

Back up tools for social media

Backing Up Twitter and Facebook Posts Challenges Governments

Electronic Records Management An Overview

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Manage Telecommuters Without Losing Your Mind - PCWorld Business Center

One of the best telecommute articles that I have read!

Manage Telecommuters Without Losing Your Mind - PCWorld Business Center

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Advantages And Classification Of Records Management

Good article, well written and very instructive!

Advantages And Classification Of Records Management

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Uniqueness of Managing Federal Government Records

My recently published article!

The Uniqueness of Managing Federal Government Records

Monday, February 7, 2011

List of Requirements for a Electronic Records Management System | eHow.com

List of Requirements for a Electronic Records Management System | eHow.com

ERM Useful Sites Page

ERM Useful Sites Page

10 Questions For Creating A Secure Records Management Program

I like list! On my blog and in my bookmarks are hundreds! This is a good one!

downloads.vertmarkets.com/files/downloads/9d94a9f9-b8be-4804-ab81-561f8fa26616/ocebusinessservices_1.pdf

NARA in the news

NARA articles of significance

National Digital Archive Soaring Over... - Google News

Sunday, February 6, 2011

The Presidential Records Act of 1978 (Part 2 of 2)



The Presidential Records Act of 1978 (Part 1 of 2)

Worth viewing!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Thinking about Technology, Risk, and Change Management Through a Social Lens

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
This is a very excellent presentation and addresses the question: What makes a social media content a record?

This information is well presented. A very good use of power point, and makes one wish they could have been present for the audio.

Tools for teachers: Web 2.0



Six Reasons Why Companies Deploy Both CRM and Zendesk

Six Reasons Why Companies Deploy Both CRM and Zendesk: "

Zendesk provides a number of important benefits that go beyond traditional CRM help desk functionality. While native CRM help desk functionality can certainly provide a financial return to companies, Zendesk can provide even greater overall business benefit for many help desk scenarios. The recently released integration, Zendesk for Salesforce, allows Salesforce users to create and manage Zendesk tickets directly inside of Salesforce.com. In addition, selected Salesforce Account, Contact, or Lead fields can be viewed within ticket records within Zendesk. If needed, Zendesk tickets can also be converted to Salesforce cases. Six Reasons Why Companies Deploy Both CRM and Zendesk Ok, but since Salesforce.com has built-in case management, why wouldn’t a company just use the help desk functionality that’s available within Salesforce? Why deploy two separate technology solutions if the CRM help desk has case management functionality? Below are six reasons. Comments about the capabilities of CRM systems are based on general observation and do not apply to all CRM solutions.

1. Subscription Cost Price, of course, isn’t everything. But, if an organization or a group within an organization initially has a small support team, its support users can get started with Zendesk for a fraction of the cost of CRM system license pricing. Even as a support organization grows, Zendesk user license fees are generally less than the average online CRM user license price. Since Zendesk is pay-as-you-go, it means it supports elasticity for both adding and subtracting users. One of the great promises of cloud computing is elasticity, but many CRM systems are more elastic on the way up than they are on the way down.

2. Simplicity Zendesk has made application simplicity an art form. A new Zendesk customer’s help desk team can begin interacting with customers literally within minutes of creating a new Zendesk account. Configuration options for business rules, such as Triggers (which are predetermined workflows automatically applied to tickets when created or updated) and SLA service targets, are easily accessible from a single menu and are modifiable via an intuitive, fully graphical interface. As simple as Zendesk already is to configure and use, the company is focused on continually raising the bar on its ease of use, which translates into saved time and greater application effectiveness. Even though most CRM systems are instant-on, it can take some time to configure the customer-facing ticket management options that may be available. Many CRM help desk systems on the market are primarily designed for internal users. Therefore, customer-facing functionality tends to be an afterthought to the original, internal-use application design. This can means more setup time and less streamlined functionality.

3. Email Workflow With customer-facing functionality a major part of its DNA, Zendesk’s design is inherently more oriented toward managing email-originated case workflow compared to what is normally found in CRM systems. In Zendesk, the interactive customer engagement thread is the functional and visual core of a ticket. In many CRM systems, the customer engagement thread is more of a secondary item to the core CRM lists and forms motif. A CRM user may need to drill down one or more levels to review customer messages and then reply to a customer by email. The inability for support staff to view the entire communication thread in the main screen and respond from that screen can result in longer resolution time.

4. Customer Login Access Zendesk provides an easy way for customers to log into a rich user interface. There’s no extra subscription fee for customers to access all their logged ticket information. The more limited, free customer portal access provided by certain CRM systems can be somewhat inflexible.  For instance, some CRM vendors charge extra for full customer portal access. Also, since CRM help desk systems can hold a lot of data across different functional areas such as sales, marketing, and customer service, it can take extra effort to set up table and record level security so that end customers are not inadvertently given access to information that they shouldn’t be able to view.

5. Community Forums Zendesk has created a way for conversations with customers and conversations among customers to be integrated into its help desk environment via the Forums area. Forum categories, which can be customized, are all listed on a single page. Here’s an example of the Forums page of one of Zendesk’s customers. When used properly, Forums decrease the number of incidents that need to be handled by a staff member. Most CRM systems do not have this type of free-form, interactive customer communication functionality built into their help desk areas.

6. Social Media Integration Not all companies have customers who post customer service issues on Twitter — yet. However, end-users of a company’s product or service are more likely than ever to take the immediate action of posting a tweet about a problem rather than taking the time find a support email address or site. Zendesk has worked with its San Francisco neighbor and customer Twitter to develop tweet-to-ticket, or “Twicket” functionality, which is needed when the customer conversation needs to be taken off Twitter. Customer or prospect engagement can shift from a public conversation on Twitter to a private conversation within Zendesk. Some CRM systems allow for monitoring for relevant customer tweets from within the UI, but have not yet developed the same level of interactivity with Twitter. Twitter integrations will likely become increasingly important over time for customer engagement and retention.

The All-in-One CRM Suite Approach

Using two, separate products and then connecting them to one another can still be perplexing to some. There are a number of scenarios in which the relational database and integration capabilities of a CRM help desk system are important, if not necessary, for fully managing an organization’s customer support workflow. One example is a call center, in which telephony integration is often desirable so that an agent gets an automatic screen pop with caller information before picking up a call. An agent may need access to a caller’s order history — data that’s been fed into related CRM tables from a legacy ERP system. Another example is an equipment manufacturer, where a ticket needs to be related to an installed product record containing warranty data and even sub-assembly child records. These equipment records, in turn, may display field service history that a support tech can review. The same system may even be used to manage preventative maintenance schedules for which field service technicians with the optimal skill set and appropriate geographic responsibility are dispatched. As with any technology buying decision, buyers should first assess their organization’s needs and then determine which solution or solutions will best address those needs.  If purchasing from more than one vendor is the appropriate path, it’s important that those technologies can be integrated with one another. Steve Chipman is the founder and president of Lexnet Consulting Group, based in San Francisco. Lexnet is a leading value added reseller for CRM (customer relationship management) and email marketing solutions. For more information, read our Guide to Integrating Zendesk for Salesforce.



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