Government Technology - April 2008 - (Page 48)

records management S TAT E | LO C A L | F E D E R A L j j Synopsis: A look at the centralized records vault Washington state is implementing to store and manage electronic documents. Agency: Storage hat a striking irony it is that government at all levels must grapple with how to properly manage electronic documents. After all, it wasn’t so long ago this magazine heralded the inevitable age of the paperless office, a utopia wherein the burden of tangible documents would be banished and replaced by virtual memos and electronic mail. Back in those days of optimism, it seems no one gave much thought to what exactly an office was supposed to do with its electronic documents. Despite the cliché, we all know nothing really ends up in the ether. Instead, many electronic documents end up on a forgotten hard drive or server, dutifully wasting space. Most government IT shops are well aware that they must get a handle on electronic records management. In addition, the issues of e-discovery and public records put added pressure on agencies to effectively manage electronic records and make them easily discoverable. Unfortunately there is no single solution that satisfies everyone. However, Washington state’s CIO Gary Robinson and Department of Information Services (DIS) Assistant Director Cammy Webster are working on a centralized records vault that may serve as a model for others confronting this challenge. Public Washington Department of Information Services. Technology: Symantec electronic record archiving. Contact: Washington Department of Information Services, 888/241-7597. W With no one-size-fits-all solution to electronic records management, Washington state strikes out on its own. In Washington state, the DIS is the central provider of computing, telecommunications and Internet services — a tremendous amount of data. About a year and a half ago, after securing $1.8 million from the state Legislature, Robinson and Webster began looking at ways to better handle electronic records in terms of storage and retrieval. “We decided it would be really beneficial for us to move forward with a common storage system for electronic records, particularly e-mail records,” Robinson said. “We have been trying to get our focus on doing this in a shared, common way. I should point out Gov. [Chris] Gregoire had asked our department to work in conjunction with other agencies in ensuring that we can be responsive to public records requests when the requester has the desire to receive them in an electronic format. That really builds upon this service initiative.” Opening the Vault Like other CIOs, Robinson recognizes the central challenges of managing electronic documents. In general, large volumes of differently formatted data need to be stored on a platform that encourages interoperability and makes data easily searchable and discoverable. APR_08 48 BY C H A D VA N D E R V E E N | T E C H N O LO G Y A N D P O L I T I C S E D I T O R http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - April 2008

Government Technology - April 2008 Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile On the Scene Four Questions for... Freeze Frame How Safe Is Your Data? Easy Street Gadget Overload Indiana Overhaul First Person: A Better Bill Data Defense Strength in Numbers Public Storage Products Two Cents Spectrum Personal Computing signal:noise

Government Technology - April 2008

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