NARA looking for ERM solutions based on shared services framework

The National Archives and Records Administration said it will host a market research day this spring to court electronic records management solutions based a new shared services framework it developed with the General Services Administration.

NARA officials detailed the records management framework it developed with the Shared Solutions and Performance Improvement (SSPI) office — formerly the Unified Shared Services Management office — on March 22 at conference hosted by the Digital Government Institute.

“We’ve been working with them to see if we can help find ways to offer electronic records management shared services and also to make sure that [ERM] requirements are included in other shared services,” said Courtney Anderson, a NARA senior electronics records management policy specialist.

As part of its Federal Electronic Records Modernization Initiative, NARA is both trying to identify electronic records management solutions that can be used across the federal government, while crafting policies flexible enough to allow for new technology adoption.

To facilitate governmentwide ERM solutions, NARA developed its Electronic Records Management Federal Integrated Business Framework, or ERM-FIBF in January, modeling it on SSPI’s Federal Integrated Business Framework, and designing to coordinate end-to-end businesses processes for agencies moving their records to a cloud-based infrastructure.

“So what we’ve done is we have created this FBIF specifically for electronic records management,” Anderson said. “It identifies the key functions, activities and capabilities necessary for agencies to appropriately manage their electronic records.”

The ERM-FIBF maps records management functions through their lifecycles, as well as the capabilities that support them and which offices that are responsible for them.

As part of its modernization efforts, NARA has also crafted use cases based off of the ERM-FIBF to give vendors insights into the criteria for potential management solutions agencies might be looking for, such as the criteria for preserving electronic messages.

“This basically tells vendors exactly what needs to happen,” Anderson said. “We basically run through an ideal workflow of how electronic messages can be managed. There’s basically a use case for each phase of the lifecycle.”

Anderson said NARA is currently evaluating around 200 public comments on the ERM-FIBF and will publish an updated version this spring. The agency also plans to hold a market research day in late spring where vendors will be able to demo potential solutions based on the use cases provided.

Those solutions will be offered on a new special item number for electronic records management within GSA’s Schedule 36, SIN 51-600.