Tune in monthly for a curated collection of articles we found interesting on a broad range of topics; some which are directly related to records management and others which might share common themes.
No, we didn’t write these articles —hence the name of this series, “Off the Record”— but fortunately, we didn’t need to in order to share the knowledge with our subscribers.
Let us know in the comments below what topics you are interested in learning more about!
“El Paso County unveils new online management system for meeting records” — The Gazette
Not to be confused with El Paso County in Texas, El Paso County in Colorado recently finished an overhaul of the system used to manage resolutions, ordinances, and minutes from county commissioner meetings. Now these records will be searchable and accessible via databases within the Agenda.NET portal.
Local governments should take a minute to read about how citizens are able to access information faster and easier than before.
“NARA: Move to digital records ‘does not get cheaper,’ but easier to manage” — Federal News Radio
When FERMI (the Federal Electronic Records Modernization Initiative) launched back in 2015, the expectation was NARA would take the lead among federal agencies to successfully make the switch from paper to digital record keeping. “We’ve been struggling, and striving, and succeeding, and taking a step back and two steps forward for decades when it comes to electronic records management,” says Lisa Haralampus, director of the records management and outreach at NARA. The good news, it has become a little easier.
How is NARA handling the expectation that “agencies will spend less on records management in the long-term” when the reality is they may save time, but probably not money when transitioning to digital.
“Balancing security with accessibility: Properly managing information and high-value assets” — GCN
Have you ever wondered how your agency/local government can possibly be protecting all its information and assets when we operate in a decentralized records and information management world? True to this concern, the Department of Homeland Security identified inadequate governance and risk management as one of its six risk areas in high-value asset control. If your organization has a tendency to employ “asset-by-asset approaches [to information management], rather than…an enterprisewide strategy”, you may be suffering without the holistic view that allows for adequate tracking of information assets.