What’s beyond 2019? Preparing agencies for the future of information management today

Now that we’ve made our way through the new administration’s first 100 days, most people have been focused on the many change-ups in priorities from the old administration. While many of these changes are immediate, federal agencies must remain focused on long-term priorities as well. One of these lasting priorities is increasing the digital literacy of the government and transforming agencies into truly 21st century entities.

And while initiatives like the Digital Government Strategy and Cloud First Policy were responsible for massive leaps forward in digital competency, agencies still have much more ahead of them before they achieve their end goals.

In this regard, one of the most important carry-overs from the prior administration is the Managing Government Records Directive (OMB memo M-12-18), which laid out the timeline for federal agencies to comply with the electronic storage and management of various federal records. Agencies have just recently progressed beyond the directive’s deadline for managing all of their email records in an electronic format, a major landmark in the government’s aspiration to become more accessible, accountable and transparent. However, now is not the time to rest or lose focus, as another, larger mandate looms on the horizon.

The next deadline on the Managing Government Records timeline is Dec. 31, 2019 — the date that all agencies must manage all permanent electronic records in an electronic format and consider digitizing hard-copy records. This goes far beyond just email correspondence, to include records such as Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, traditional SMS texts, encrypted communications, messaging applications and even direct messages on social media platforms. Although agencies have already begun planning for this deadline, we are rapidly approaching the crunch time for putting these plans into action. In doing so, the government needs to ensure that it is doing everything in its power not just to store information electronically, but enhance the accessibility and usability of its information assets.

Since we are still a little more than two years away from the next deadline, now is the prime time for agencies to begin the preparatory measures that will be required for meeting both the letter and spirit of the directive.

The first step for most agencies should be their data classification policies.

Agencies should begin assessing their current classification schemes and taxonomies now in order to understand if they need to be updated or even rebuilt entirely. After all, the purpose of managing electronic records in an electronic format is to realize benefits like enhanced searchability, automation and metadata tagging. If an agency’s classification schemes are too far behind the modernization curve, they will not be able to realize these meaningful returns.

Once agencies are confident in their classification schemes, they can ease their 2019 workload by automating several aspects of their records programs. First, they should automate the classification schemes they have worked so hard to update or overhaul if they have not done so already. This will ensure that all information continues to be generated and stored in an electronically sortable and convenient format. Next, applying automated capabilities to their compliance programs will improve upon existing efficiencies, reduce associated administrative costs and ensure continued compliance.

Finally, agencies need to be able to identify and retrieve federal records generated through social media platforms. Both Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump have been recognized for their familiarity with, and use of social media, and agencies are increasingly using social media platforms to communicate with citizens, making this an urgent and rising priority. This makes implementing automated social media capture more and more important with each passing day, since the earlier that agencies begin archiving these records in an electronic format, the less work they will have to do in 2019.

As we approach the next records management deadline, there are a multitude of opportunities available to the government.

The more steps that agencies can take today, the closer they will be towards meeting the requirements of the Managing Government Directive two years from now. However, and perhaps even more importantly, this will put agencies on the right track towards managing all of their information and data, not just their permanent records, in an efficient and value-generating manner beyond 2019.

As we move into a more digitized future, agencies’ records and information management work will never be truly finished. But being proactive now can ensure that they are ahead of the requirements of whatever directive comes next.

April Chen is a senior product manager for Iron Mountain.

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