Page 11 - FCW, May 30, 2016

SPECIAL REPORT RECORDS MANAGEMENT
Take an Enterprise Approach to Meet Records Management Directive Deadlines
A comprehensive information governance program is the best way for Federal agencies to meet M-12-18 objectives while also reducing costs, improving security, and promoting transparency.
Several recent high-profile incidents have revealed records problems at federal agencies. Some make national headlines, while others slip under
the radar. They all demonstrate a disturbing lack of effective process and technology.
Here’s a closer look at a couple of the more notable incidents:
IRS officials informed Congress hard drives containing emails central to an investigation had been destroyed. The lack of a centralized approach to managing email documents as records contributed to the situation.
The Department of State email controversy began in March, 2015, when it became widely known that during her tenure as United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had used a private email server for official communications, instead
of official State Department email accounts maintained on federal servers. Even though these emails were eventually turned over to the State Department, the perception that there was an attempt to
keep information from the public continues to this day.
The common thread here is
the lack of an enterprise-grade, policy-driven, reliable information management system to meet the requirements of federal records
management policy and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
NARA/OMB MANAGING GOVERNMENT RECORDS DIRECTIVE: M-12-18
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had to act on a memorandum from President Obama calling for a move to
electronic recordkeeping. President Obama noted that, “When records are well managed, agencies can
use them to assess the impact of programs, to reduce redundant efforts, to save money, and to
share knowledge within and across their organizations. In these ways, proper records management is the backbone of open Government.” Subsequent to the Presidential Memo, NARA and OMB issued
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