Government e-government programme

Further to our meeting of May 28, 2005, in respect of the above subject, I am pleased to give hereafter an executive summary of the subject and how we can help as consultants.

Electronic records management is a key technology underpinning electronic government.

The electronic delivery of services to business and the citizens will produce electronic records as evidence of individual transactions; this evidence will need to be retained and maintained over the medium to long term as records, which can demonstrate accountability and preserve reliable access. The replacement of manual and paper-based processes with electronic processes in government administration will generate electronic records as evidence in policy-making, casework and service delivery areas.

Until now, new information systems development often generates electronic records that do not fall under any formal corporate management and control. Effective electronic records management to support information age government will require a formalization of control over electronic records already existing in departments and agencies, as well as planning for those that will be generated by new service delivery and policy-making systems.

Government organizations need to manage electronic records as valuable corporate information resources.

Records represent an explicit corporate memory for the organization. Electronic records unlock the content previously difficult to access in paper form, enable more effective sharing of information and contribute to knowledge network flows. They support evidence-based policy making by providing reliable evidence of past actions and decisions, but to do so must be managed so as to retain their integrity and authenticity. Electronic records of authenticated electronic transactions need to be kept in such a manner that retains their qualities of legal admissibility and evidential weight. Privacy and access issue, and particularly freedom of information legislation, requires that electronic records be managed consistently within regulatory frameworks. Aspects of electronic records management should be built into both record-generating and records management systems to ensure that these longer-term requirements are met.

...By constructing interacting systems of software, standards, policies, procedures and interfaces.

Greater commonality between records management systems, including metadata standards, standard logical and physical formats, and compatible procedural control, will support interoperability and joint working between departments and agencies, and enable the managed sharing and exchange of records. The longer term requirements of public records will require public sector organizations to plan for migration of records, as hardware and software platforms change, to ensure continued access and authenticity. This maintenance of records in electronic form will make feasible their transfer to the National Archive Office, and public access both there and remotely to records in electronic form.

Government organizations must establish framework for electronic records management to provide:

Information age government is underpinned by the effective management of electronic records. Transactional records will be generated by new forms of service delivery, as electronic transactions are received from business and the citizens, and processed in one or several departments. Document-based records will be generated within departments by day-to-day working activities in relation to policy-making and administration, casework and operational services. Increasingly, innovation in ways of working, knowledge-based activities and operational use of information will produce more sophisticated electronic records that can only be managed electronically. All types of electronic record form part of the corporate memory of the organization. Effective electronic records management (ERM) supports:

Depending on maintaining physical records in conventional paper filing system, by printing electronic records to paper as most government organizations do, and as electronic methods of working increase in extent and sophistication these systems are breaking down. For example:

A failure to manage electronic documents and transactions as formal corporate records will mean that significant opportunities are lost, for exploiting the content to support new ways of working with faster access to higher quality and up-to-date information. Electronic records will have to be managed and maintained by electronic means to gain the full benefits of e-government which include:

The modernizing government target applies to all central government departments and their agencies, and Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs)

Developing infrastructure for ERM in government organizations in three ways

Building such an infrastructure will involve co-ordination of records management and information management issues across several aspects of e-government strategy; including:

We hope the above proposal shed light on the subject matter, and capture your interest.