Building a vital records program
Erica Wilson-Lang (512) 542-3533 Erica.Wilson-Lang@trs.texas.gov 2
What is a Record? And why does it matter? 3
“ The application of management techniques to the creation, use maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of records for the purposes of reducing the costs and improving the efficiency of recordkeeping. LGC §201.003 4 GC §441.180
Why Manage Records? Liability Asset Litigation/Open Records Conduct business Serve members Data Security Measure and improve Storage Costs processes Clutter/inefficiency Preserve historic records 5
A Record is: ✘ Recorded information in any format ✘ Created or received by or on behalf of an agency INFORMATION YOU NEED TO DO YOUR JOB ✘ Documenting activities in the conduct of a state business or use of public resources 6
An Electronic Record is: ✘ Anything meeting the definition of a record that’s “maintained in electronic format for computer processing” ✘ a.k.a. Machine-readable 7
Metadata is: 8
Information Records 9
Records have Rules ✘ How long you keep them ✘ Where you keep them ✘ How you dispose of them 10
Vital Records 11
Vital Records: Resume or continue Recreate Legal and Fulfill Obligations operations Financial Status to People ✘ ✘ Delegations of authority Contracts and leases ✘ Deeds, mortgages, land records ✘ ✘ Rules, policies, and procedures Accounts receivable/payable ✘ Birth and marriage records ✘ ✘ Prison, jail, parole records Insurance records ✘ Active court proceedings ✘ ✘ Maps and building plans Payroll ✘ Voting Records ✘ ✘ Emergency or COOP plan Retirement records ✘ Medical Records ✘ ✘ Equipment inventories Customer records ✘ Professional licenses 12
Two types of Vital Records Dynamic – updated often, so you’ll want to Static – rarely, if ever, updated protect the most current version ✘ Phone tree ✘ Board meeting minutes ✘ Payroll ✘ Policies and directives ✘ Disaster Plans ✘ Birth/death records 13
Vital records (~5% of all records) All government records 14
Factors for Identifying Vital Records ✘ Essential/vital functions ✘ Stakeholders ✘ Records custodianship ✘ Relevant statutes, regulations, and standards 15
Narrow down to essential/vital functions Which records support these functions? Vital records 16
Know the Needs of Stakeholders ✘ Who depends on you? ✘ Who provides mission-critical support? ✘ What do they need to access? ✘ When do they need it? 17
Know Your Records Records Inventory Retention Schedule ✘ Physical and electronic information ✘ List of all records created by agency with instructions on retention, ✘ Data map disposition, etc. ✘ Guidance in Bulletin C (bit.ly/BulletinC) ✘ Can also identify vital record series 18
Do Your Due Diligence ✘ Applicable statutes and ordinances ✘ State/local/federal regulations ✘ Professional standards ○ ANSI/ARMA 5-2010 19
Prioritize acccess Priority 3: Priority 1: Priority 2: After first First 0-12 First 12- 72 hours hours 72 hours What do we need for emergency operations? What do we need to resume and continue business functions? What do we need to fulfill legal, audit, public responsibilities? 20
Disasters as big as texas 21
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Technology Threats ✘ Unsecured networks, viruses, denial-of-service attacks ✘ Ransomware – a cyberthreat to publish records or block access to them by demanding a sum of money as ransom. 23
Ransomware Prevention ✘ Records-related tips from DIR: ○ Modernize legacy systems and ensure software is as current as possible. ○ Limit the granting of administrative access. ○ Perform regular, automated backups and keep the backups segregated. 24
Storage Conditions to protect against: Enviornmental hazards/ Direct exposure to sunlight Contact with the floor unauthorized access Fire Flood water Bulletin F: Records Storage Standards
Optional Enhanced Storage Conditions Operational fire suppressant Pest management program Use appropriate shelving system Environmental controls Archival quality boxes UV filters/limit florescent light
Storage Security ✘ Keep sensitive records secure in a locked, limited-access area. ✘ Establish rules or procedures for allowing access to storage areas. ✘ Lost or damaged records may be unrecoverable. 27
Storage Site Inspections ✘ Make it routine. ○ Quarterly, semi-annual, annual ✘ Identify potential hazards and be pro-active! ○ Pests ○ Water/mold ○ Proper shelving ○ Fire-protection and suppression ✘ Create or update a disaster plan. 28
Site Survey ✘ Environmental ✘ Physical ✘ Personnel ✘ Information Security ✘ Preparedness 29
Probability of Risk LOW MEDIUM HIGH Minor/marginal Minor/marginal Minor/marginal impact, some loss; impact, some loss; impact, some loss; LOW similar incidents little chance of this incident is have occurred in occurring expected to occur past Serious/critical Serious/critical Serious/critical impact, significant impact, significant impact, significant Impact of Risk MEDIUM loss; similar incidents loss; little chance of loss; this incident is have occurred in occurring expected to occur past Catastrophic impact, Catastrophic impact, devastating loss; Catastrophic impact, devastating loss; HIGH similar incidents devastating loss; little chance of have occurred in expected to occur occurring past 30
Preparedness & Mitigation Measures ✘ On-site protection ✘ Evacuation ✘ Tape backup ✘ Data replication ✘ Mirroring ✘ Dispersal 31
Records Emergency Action Plan (REAP) ✘ Outlines the information and actions needed to respond to and recover from a records emergency ✘ Purpose is to prevent: ○ Loss of records and information ○ Costly salvage of records and information ○ Delay in restoring critical business functions 32
Components of the REAP ✘ Vendors and suppliers ✘ Introduction ✘ Facility information ✘ Policy statement ✘ Preparedness, response, ✘ Responsibilities and and recovery procedures authorities ✘ Training, testing, and ✘ Communication plan updating ✘ Locations of vital records ✘ Records salvage priorities ✘ Supplies 33
Recovery Options Do-it-Yourself Hire a Vendor ✘ ✘ Low expense High item volume ✘ ✘ Endangerment of staff Preservation of records ✘ ✘ Endangerment of records Safety of staff ✘ ✘ Low item volume High expense 34
Worst Case Scenarios For records that cannot be salvaged: ✘ Use the template provided by TSLAC ✘ Document the accidental damage/destruction of records that have not met retention. 35
Update Documentation Regularly ✘ Procedures and plans ○ Personnel, delegation of authority ○ Lists of hardware and software vendors ○ Equipment and records inventories 36
Disposition: when it’s time to make space 37
Benefits of Disposition Promotes: Prevents: ✘ ✘ Cost savings Information overload ✘ ✘ Faster information retrieval Human error ✘ ✘ Use of space Negative perception from the public ✘ Legal protection 38
Before Destroying Records ✘ Has the record met the retention period? Ask ✘ Are there any copies? Yourself… ✘ Is there a destruction hold? ✘ Did I receive internal approval? ✘ Do I have a disposition log? 39
Elements of a Disposition Log ✘ Record series title ✘ Dates of record ✘ Date of disposal ✘ Volume of records disposed ✘ Disposal method ✘ Approval signatures 40
Resources ✘ Tex exas Div Divis ision of of Em Emergency Management (T (TDE DEM) ○ http://www.dps.texas.gov/dem/ ○ Training and assistance to local governments in emergency planning ✘ Tex exas His istorical l Re Records Adv dvisory Boa oard (T (THRAB) ○ https://www.tsl.texas.gov/thrab ○ Promotes awareness and support for records management and preservation efforts. Assists in procuring funding from National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) ✘ Fe Federal l Em Emergency Management Age gency ○ http://bit.ly/femacoop ○ COOP templates for non-federal entities 41
Resources ✘ Tex exas Sta tate Libr ibrary and d Arc rchives Com ommis ission ○ http://www.tsl.texas.gov ○ Guidance on RIM, EP, laws, etc. ✘ Bull lletin in C: In Inventoryin ing and d Sch cheduli ling Re Records ○ https://bit.ly/BulletinC ○ Statutory requirements, methods, worksheets, and appraisal guidance ✘ dP dPla lan ○ http://dplan.org ○ Online disaster-planning tool for cultural and civic institutions 42
Resources ✘ Natio ional l Arc rchiv ives and d Re Records Adm dmin inistratio ion ○ https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/essential-records ○ Essential records guidance, points of contact, recovery information, etc. ✘ ARM RMA In International ○ https://www.arma.org ○ Vital Records and Business Continuity guide (cost associated) ✘ NAGARA ○ https://www.nagara.org/ ○ National Association of Government Archives & Records Administrators 43
thanks! Any questions? You can find me at Erica.Wilson-Lang@trs.texas.gov (512) 542-3533 44
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