Government Technology - April 2008 - (Page 50)

records management “It’s more knowledge on how you do your search, and it will assist agencies with getting better searching on the records that are in the vault.” Cammy Webster, assistant director, Washington Department of Information Services APR_08 is electronic, agencies must be able to search their archives and find it quickly. In 2006, the U.S. government tried to help minimize confusion about e-discovery by amending the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The revision outlines what constitutes an electronic document. The rules now cover most modern electronic documents, including e-mails, Web sites, IM chats, Microsoft Office documents, etc. Though it pertains only to civil cases, many government agencies use the amended rules as a foundation to build electronic document standards. “[The amended rules] were one of the factors we gave consideration to,” Robinson said. “We wanted to have a way where we could ensure we were being responsive to those federal rules, and have a common way that can be used by all state agencies to be responsive to the federal rules.” The best way to comply with e-discovery is to build a system that stores data so it is easily searchable. Anyone can pile a terabyte of data onto a disc. The real challenge is quickly finding the one or two important data sets you need. For that, building in a contextual search feature is a crucial part of the plan for the Washington vault system. Though not yet built out, Robinson and Webster have designs ready for the search feature. “Another task that we’re proceeding with now is having a solicitation issued for a conPHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA 50 Join Our Growing Government Team Apply your government experience to a career with ESRI, a company known for innovation and growth in the geographic information system (GIS) software industry. Our dynamic sales, marketing, and consulting experts work together to provide strategic direction and leadership for federal, state, regional, and local government agencies. We are looking for energetic, articulate people who are enthusiastic about GIS technology and have expertise in government-related disciplines for the following positions: textual search engine that we can layer over the electronic records vault system so we can have the ability to do the contextual search,” Robinson said. “The goal with the contextual search engine is to ensure we are identifying the records that are responsive to an agency’s business need, public records request or an e-discovery request.” Another uncertainty agencies face is how long to store electronic documents. Washington state agencies worked with the Secretary of State’s Office to develop data-retention schedules. Records needed for daily operations will be stored by the new vaulting service; the rest will be shipped to the Secretary of State’s digital archiving service. Washington’s contextual search engine can search both repositories in case of an e-discovery request. At press time, three state agencies were using the vault, essentially to beta test the system. Webster, who wouldn’t name the early adopters, said a number of other agencies are interested in the service. The e-mail portion of the vaulting system was scheduled to go live in February 2008, she added. “We have our three classified early adopter agencies that are actually working with the solution right now and doing the testing,” she said. “There’s some business work that is done with agencies to prepare “It would be really beneficial for us to move forward with a records, particularly e-mail records.” Gary Robinson, CIO, Washington state common storage system for electronic These positions are based in our Washington, D.C., regional office and corporate headquarters in Redlands, California. Join the team dedicated to helping government agencies improve the quality of life for their constituents. Copyright © 2007 ESRI. All rights reserved. ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, and www.esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. ESRI is an equal opportunity employer. themselves for going into the tool. Right now we’re going live with agencies the first part of February, and we’ve got the schedule right on down the line to start bringing agencies on as they’re ready to come on board.” Learn more and apply online at www.esri.com/careers/govt. http://www.esri.com http://www.esri.com http://www.esri.com/careers/govt

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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