The 2022 deadline set by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration for government agencies to submit all records in electronic format continues to inch ever closer.
Already challenged by the ambitious deadline, many agencies are feeling the time crunch. The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly not helped, and it’s easy to be left overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work required to meet the 2022 mandate.
Managing that overwhelm requires setting smart priorities. “Agencies must focus on what’s important,” writes GCN.com, an online news resource for Public Sector IT managers. But what does that mean?
1: Prioritize records management as a function.
Unfortunately, this is a longstanding issue at many agencies. A 2001 report from NARA and SRA International noted how government records management is consistently treated as a low priority: The study found that “records officers have little clout and do not appear to have much involvement in or influence on programs.” One agency even told the report’s authors that records management was Number 26 on their list of top 25 priorities!
That report is 20 years old, but little progress has been made since. A more recent report similarly commented on “the low priority that records management has historically received within the federal government.”
De-prioritizing records management has many negative impacts. For one, records management gets allocated fewer resources, including budget and manpower. Given that NARA’s mandate is largely unfunded, this is a particularly critical issue. It also means policies and procedures may be underdeveloped, and skills development may be lacking.
2: Close underlying skills gaps.
Following that last point, it’s key to ensure that everyone involved in records management has the appropriate and necessary skills to undertake this work.
This is doubly important when dealing with new tools and processes specific to electronic recordkeeping. As the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) writes, “[R]ecords managers can’t afford to sit back and let the business and IT drive technology projects without some input – and it’s hard to provide meaningful input if you don’t have at least a basic understanding of the technology in question.”
3: Put first things first.
In other words, which electronic records management tasks are the most important? GCN argues that “retention, disposal or disposition rules don’t matter right now.” That’s a pretty strong statement, but they’re right that records managers need to put first things first. For example, they suggest starting by getting a classification plan in place as the top priority. This classification plan doesn’t need to be perfect or overly complicated. For example, classification based on location or working group is a good starting place. Then, with a plan that can produce a complete inventory, records managers can gain more visibility into what they’re dealing with and can make better decisions around disposition and retention.
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