E-mail fact sheet (07/03/2007) 1 ARE E-MAIL ARCHIVING SOLUTIONS RECORDKEEPING SOLUTIONS? 7 th March 2007 Stephen Clarke Government Recordkeeping Programme.

E-mail fact sheet (07/03/2007) 1

ARE E-MAIL ARCHIVING

SOLUTIONS RECORDKEEPING SOLUTIONS?

7th March 2007

Stephen ClarkeGovernment Recordkeeping ProgrammeArchives New Zealand


Managing E-mail as Records under the PRA :

An OverviewBackground

Principles & ResponsibilitiesCoverage & Compliance

New E-mail Continuum Fact-sheet


Public Sector Legal Framework

Information and Accountability

• Official Information Act• Public Finance Act• Privacy Act• Evidence Act• Electronic Transactions Act• Public Records Act


The Purpose of the PRA is Good RecordkeepingReliable recordkeeping makes good

business sense

• Good business practice (efficiency, risk management, knowledge management)

• Management accountability• Democratic accountability• Collective memory and

historical heritage


Recordkeeping ResponsibilitiesThe 2 key requirements

are:• Organisations must

create and maintain full and accurate records

• Organisations must not dispose of records without the Chief Archivists authorisation


Create and Maintain

A public office must create and maintain:• Full and accurate records• In accordance with normal, prudent business

practice• Including records of matters contracted out• Continue to maintain records so as to be

accessible for subsequent reference until disposal is authorised


Create & Maintain RecordsIncludes all formats• Email• SMS• Instant

Messaging• Telephone calls• Water samples• Human tissue • Databases, etc.


What is a Record?

• Wide definition of records record means information, whether in

its original form or otherwise, including (without limitation) a document, a signature, a seal, text, images, sound, speech, or data compiled, recorded, or stored, as the case may be,—

(a) in written form on any material; or

(b) on film, negative, tape, or other medium so as to be capable of being reproduced; or

(c) by means of any recording device or process, computer, or other electronic device or process


What is a Public Record?

public record—• Records created or received

(whether before or after commencement of PRA) by a public office in the conduct of its affairs, this includes correspondence

• (80% of current business correspondence is conducted by e-mail)


Disposal

• No lawful records disposal without Chief Archivist’s authorisation

• Disposal includes transfer of control, destruction or deletion, sale and discharge

• Unless required to dispose by another Act

• Failure to maintain electronic records is considered disposal


Compliance Framework

• Independent audits • Mandatory standards• Direction to report to Chief

Archivist• Inspections• Annual Report to Parliament

on state of recordkeeping


2005 Report to Parliament Results & Recommendations• All public records must be disposed of lawfully – 52%

had authorisation of Chief Archivist before disposal• Recordkeeping policies should be in place - 89% had

established policies, 46% specific budget• Corporate control over records management - 80%

had a formal recordkeeping programme• Further efforts needed in management of electronic

records - 67% exclusively in electronic form, 52% had an ERKS, 69% applied policy to email


Continuum Resources

• E-mail fact sheet• General Disposal Authorities for finance,

human resources, corporate services, general housekeeping (these allow disposal of high percentage of records including e-mail)

• Electronic Record-Keeping Systems Standard• Guide to implementing IT solutions• Guide to the PRA


New E-mail Fact-sheet ARE E-MAIL ARCHIVING SOLUTIONS RECORDKEEPING SOLUTIONS?


Are Email Archiving Solutions Recordkeeping Solutions? Managing email under the PRA

• To maintain complete and accurate evidence of business correspondence it is essentil to manage your email, as records

• The most successful method is to ensure that email is created, stored and managed in an Electronic Record-Keeping System.


Is E-mail Management Covered by the Electronic Record-Keeping Systems Standard (ERKSS)?

E-mail recordkeeping involves not only capturing e-mail as a record but also capturing the metadata of business context, so that an e-mail can be subsequently retrieved as a reliable and trustworthy record of business activity. The requirements of electronic recordkeeping systems are outlined in Archives New Zealand’s ERKS Standard


A PRA Compliant ERKS ensures that e-mail:• maintains its contextual links with related

records and embedded attachments;• has its recordkeeping metadata captured

and this information is authentic, inviolable, searchable and retrievable;

• can be re-titled to more accurately reflect its context or content,

• can be grouped according to a classification scheme as necessary and/or with records of a similar retention period; and

• retention and disposal actions can be defined and implemented.


What are ‘E-mail Archiving Solutions’?

Many e-mail ‘archiving solutions’, arealso known as ‘vault storage’ or ‘black-box’ e-mail retention systems, they enable e-mail correspondence to be transferred from an organisation’s primary e-mail server to another storage system.


E-mail ‘Archiving’?

The term ‘archiving’ when applied to e-mail archiving products is being used in the ‘Information Technology’ sense as an email storage facility rather than the recordkeeping definition; the ongoing management and preservation of records in a e-mail recordkeeping framework


E-mail Storage Systems can offer the following advantages for users:

• Managing the risk of inappropriate or unauthorised e-mail use;

• Filtering and automated ‘archiving’; • secure, tamper-proof copies; • Improved discoverability for litigation or Official

Information Act purposes (a double-edged sword!);

• It acts as a back up system for ‘lost’ e-mail; • Reduced storage requirements — elimination of

copies of the same message in multiple inboxes; and

• Potential for reduced load on servers.


Do these systems meet my Recordkeeping needs?• Many of these advantages are

worthwhile benefits in an agency’s overall information technology infrastructure. However, e-mail ‘archiving’ solutions are not designed for managing e-mail as records.

• They can act as a complimentary back-up for your recordkeeping system


Why are E-mail ‘Archiving’ Solutions not Recordkeeping Systems?

• Automated classification of content — messages are not reliably linked to their business context;

• Records communicated via e-mail are separated from related records in other formats and systems;

• It is difficult to differentiate between business critical, informational, personal, and unsolicited commercial e-mails;

• Generally, only the sender, recipient or an administrator can access the messages, which means that other staff do not know of the existence of potentially key organisational information;


Why are E-mail ‘Archiving’ Solutions not Recordkeeping Systems? (2)• where more widespread access is available, there

may be problems protecting personal privacy, especially if personal e-mail use is permitted;

• it is very difficult to apply naming conventions to the message to better reflect the content, or implement classification schema (making retrieval more difficult);

• there is lack of control and/or appraisal (selection process) for the records that are captured into the system; and

• it is difficult to assign different retention periods according to the different activities documented in the messages.


E-mail Recordkeeping is a User Responsibility• Ultimately it is the responsibility of

all e-mail users within an organisation to ensure that full and accurate records of their business activities are maintained. ‘Vault storage’ may not permit users to control which e-mails are captured as records.


What does Archives New Zealand recommend?

• E-mail archiving solutions or e-mail storage products do provide benefits for organisations, but they are not a substitute for a recordkeeping system.

• Where organisations use ‘e-mail archiving solutions’ these systems should be considered information storage solutions only, not recordkeeping solutions.


Conclusion

• To meet the recordkeeping requirements of the Public Records Act organisations need to manage their information, including e-mails, within a recordkeeping framework that meets the Public Records Act and ERKSS requirements. A recordkeeping system will provide a framework for capturing, maintaining and providing access to evidence of transactions over time and implementation of retention and disposal regimes. An electronic recordkeeping system is not just an information storage facility it actively manages your information.


Further Information

Archives New Zealand

Government Recordkeeping Programme Website

www.archives.govt.nz/continuum

E-mail fact sheet (07/03/2007) 1 ARE E-MAIL ARCHIVING SOLUTIONS RECORDKEEPING SOLUTIONS? 7 th March 2007 Stephen Clarke Government Recordkeeping Programme.

Documents

authorisedemail fact

processemail fact sheet

disposal email fact

records management

public recordrecords

electronic form

managing email

maintaina public office