Electronic Records Management Guidelines, Web Content Management

Electronic Records Management Guidelines

Web Content Management

Summary

As the state moves towards e-government and the routine use of technology, more and more government agencies will rely on A collection of Uniform Resource Indicators (URIs) in the control of one administrative entity. May include different types of URIs (e.g., file transfer protocol sites, telnet sites, as well as World Wide Web sites). web sites to serve citizens. In doing so, agencies will have to manage their web content effectively. Citizens must be able to find the information they want easily and then be able to determine if it is accurate and current. Information they use for transactions or decision-making will have to be preserved; it cannot be online today and gone tomorrow.

Web content management makes government accountable. Web sites contain 1. According to the State of Minnesota, an item that documents an official government transaction or action.
2. "All cards, correspondence, disks, maps, memoranda, microfilm, papers, photographs, recordings, reports, tapes, writings and other data, information or documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, storage media or condition of use, made or received by an officer or agency of the state and an officer or agency of a county, city, town, school, district, municipal, subdivision or corporation or other public authority or political entity within the state pursuant to state law or in connection with the translation of public business by an officer or agency… The term 'records' excludes data and information that does not become part of an official translation, library and museum material made or acquired and kept solely for reference or exhibit purpose, extra copies of documents kept only for convenience of reference and stock of publications and process documents, and bond, coupons, or other obligations or evidence of indebtedness, the destruction or other disposition of which is governed by other laws" (Minnesota Statutes, section 138.17, subd.1).
3. "Information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form" (Minnesota Statutes, section 325L.02). records that document government activity and the use of taxpayer dollars, just as any paper record does. Government agencies therefore manage web content with a carefully developed and implemented policy. Legally, web content must be trustworthy, complete, accessible, legally admissible in court, and durable for as long as an approved A plan for the management of records listing types of records and how long they should be kept; the purpose is to provide continuing authority to dispose of or transfer records to the Minnesota State Archives. records retention schedule requires. When agencies manage web content to meet these requirements, they are accountable to Minnesota's citizens.

Legal Framework
For more information on the legal framework you must consider when developing a web content management policy, refer to the Introduction and Appendix D of the Trustworthy Information Systems Handbook. Also review the requirements of:

Official Records Act (Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 15.17) (available at: http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/15/17.html), which mandates that government agencies must keep records to maintain their accountability. A well-constructed web content management policy can help ensure that your web site records help provide this accountability. This statute also stipulates that the medium must enable the records to be permanent and that you can copy a record and that the copy, if trustworthy, will be legally admissible in court. Therefore, though you may originally publish a record on your web site, if you copy the record and save it separately, the record is still legally admissible.
Records Management Act (Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 138.17) (available at: http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/138/17.html), which establishes the Records Disposition Panel to oversee the orderly disposition of records using approved records retention schedules. Like other records, your web site records must be maintained according to the established records retention schedule.
Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA) (Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13) (available at: http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/13/), which mandates that government records should be accessible to the public, unless categorized as not-public by the state legislature. You may request data through the Internet or use the data on an agency intranet that must be protected according to the MGDPA.
Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) (Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 325L) (available at: http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/forms/getstatchap.shtml) and Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (E-Sign), a federal law (available at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c106:S.761:). Both UETA and E-Sign address the issue of the legal admissibility of electronic records created in a trustworthy manner and address the issue of applying a paper-oriented legal system to "A record created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means" (Minnesota Statutes, section 305L.02). electronic records.

Key Concepts

As you develop your web content management policy, you will need to be familiar with the following concepts:

Internet, intranets, extranets, and the World Wide Web
Web site records management
Legal aspects of web content management
Involving stakeholders
Internal communication
Web content file naming
Web content management policy components
Metadata and the Dublin Core set
TagGen tool for metadata capture
Web site snapshots

Internet, Intranets, Extranets, and the World Wide Web
The The vast network of computer systems that enables worldwide connectivity among users and computers. Internet is the vast network of computer systems that enables worldwide connectivity among users and computers. The Internet allows you to send Electronic correspondence sent from one user to one or more recipients. e-mail messages around the world, transfer large files outside your agency using A type of URL that is commonly used to store and exchange large files. file transfer protocol (FTP) sites, telnet to another computer, participate in newsgroups, and view the graphical pages of the World Wide Web.

The Internet links a wide variety of resources. These resources all have implications for use and management. There are resources in different formats (e.g., HTML, PDF) using different protocols for access (e.g., A protocol commonly used to access resources on the Internet. HTTP, FTP, A URI access protocol that provides the user remote control (not just access) to another computer. Most commonly used for interactive, text-based sites. telnet), and different resource indicators for locations (refer to the File Naming guidelines). Selecting from these options will have consequences that you need to understand and manage.

The technology that enables the Internet to exist also enables extranets and intranets to exist:

Extranet. An A type of Internet site to which organizations allow only selected external access. extranet is a type of Internet site to which organizations allow only selected external access. For example, a government agency extranet may only allow access by the staff of one other specified agency, or specific government officials.
Intranet. An An internal Internet site that cannot be accessed by anyone outside the organization. intranet is an internal Internet site that cannot be accessed by anyone outside the organization. For example, a government agency may have an intranet for sharing internal administrative information.

Web Site Records Management
Your web site may contain records defined by the Official Records Act, including public and not-public records as described by the MGDPA. You should manage these records as part of your overall "A record created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means" (Minnesota Statutes, section 305L.02). electronic records management strategy. Manage records created for, and published on, web sites at each point in the records continuum, rather than as discrete elements in a set life cycle. Your web content management policy should address web site planning, development, and maintenance with an emphasis on The planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training, promoting, and other managerial activities related to the creation, maintenance, use, and disposition of records. See also Recordkeeping. records management. For more information on the An Australian concept that holds that each person who touches the record should manage the record during its existence, using the stage of the record (e.g., creation, use, long-term storage) as a reference point, not a separate function. records continuum, refer to the Electronic Records Management Strategy guidelines.

Legal Aspects of Web Content Management
Consider your legal requirements carefully. (For more information on Minnesota rules and statutes, refer to Appendix D of the Trustworthy Information Systems and the Introduction.) You will need to consider:

Public versus not-public. Determine which web site records are public and which are not-public as described in the MGDPA. For example, you may gather and store confidential data via a web interface. This data should be protected from access as outlined in the MGDPA.
Record or non-record. The State of Minnesota, as outlined in the Official Records Act, does not differentiate among the media on which records are created or stored. The content of the web file determines whether the file is a record.

Involving Stakeholders
Your web content management policy should include all those who are involved in web site creation, administration, and use. Key groups to include are:

Content creators and experts
Web site technical experts
Web site internal users
Records management staff

Each group should be familiar with:

Your policy for web content publication, removal, storage, and Either the destruction of a record or the transfer of the record to the Minnesota State Archives. disposition
How the policy affects their daily work practices, including their roles and responsibilities under the policy
Your agency's electronic records management strategy

Internal Communication
Initial and on-going internal communication will be a crucial aspect of your policy, because:

Many groups are involved in the creation and administration of a web site.
Much of a web site's content is interrelated.
Web site content tends to change frequently.

Consider establishing a formal mechanism to keep stakeholders informed of each other's activities related to the web site. This communication will help ensure the trustworthiness of your web site records, since all stakeholders will know when and why content changes.

Web Content File Naming
Consider establishing a file naming protocol for web pages to help ensure ease of management, usability of the site, and internal communication about contents. For more information about web site file naming, refer to the File Naming guidelines.

Web Content Management Policy Components
Consider these ideas as you develop your web content management policy:

Determination of records. As you develop your policy (and on an on-going basis), you will need to analyze the content of your web site to determine which elements are records.
Complete records. When you capture the record, you must be sure that you capture enough information to preserve the appropriate content, context, and structure.
- Content. Factual information in the record that documents government business
- Context. Information that shows how the record is related to the business of the agency and to other records
- Structure. Technical characteristics of the record (e.g., file format, data organization, page layout, hyperlinks, headers, footnotes)
Records series and records retention schedules. As with other records, you should manage records on your web site as records series and develop specific records retention schedules for each records series, as outlined in the Records Management Act.
Version control. Because web sites are updated constantly by different individuals and groups, you should develop a method for designating and controlling versions. This practice will help ensure the trustworthiness of your web site.

Metadata and the Dublin Core Set As part of ensuring that you capture enough information in a record to demonstrate the record's content, context, and structure, you will need to capture Data about data. Information (e.g., creator name, creation date) that is used to facilitate intellectual control of, and structured access to, other information. metadata. For more information, refer to the Metadata guidelines. Many Minnesota government agencies have elected to use the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set as a standard (NISO Standard Z39.85; ISO Standard 15836). The Dublin Core was designed to be:

Manageable
Searchable
Extensible

You can read more about the A widely used set of metadata elements that is easily embedded in a web page. Dublin Core at the Bridges project web site listed in the Annotated List of Resources.

The Dublin Core set includes:

Title. The name of the resource given by the creator or publisher.
Subject. The topic of the resource.
Description. A short, text description of the resource's contents.
Creator. The name of the person who created the resource.
Publisher. The name of the entity that published the resource. Note that the publisher is not the person who posted the resource to the web site, but the entity responsible for the publication of the resource, such as your agency.
Contributor. Someone aside from the creator who made a significant contribution to the resource.
Date. Either the creation date or the publication date. Your agency will need to determine which date to use.
Resource type. The category the resource belongs to, such as committee minutes, press release, or report.
Format. The file format of the resource. For more information on file formats, see the File Formats guidelines.
Identifier. A text string or number unique to the resource, such as a URL or other formal name. See the File Naming guidelines for more information on naming web site files for longevity and ease of use.
Relation. An element that refers to related resources.
Source. Information about the source from which the current resource is derived (e.g., a report which has been abstracted).
Rights management. A text statement regarding copyright and use permissions.
Language. The language used in the resource (e.g., English, Spanish).
Coverage. Either geographic (e.g., Minnesota) or temporal (e.g., the years 2000-2001).

TagGen Tool for Metadata Capture
TagGen is a software tool that facilitates the creation of standardized metadata. It is available free to Minnesota government agencies. Information on using and acquiring TagGen is on the Bridges web site, as listed in the Annotated List of Resources.

Web Site Snapshots
If you must document your entire web site as a record, consider taking The capture of a complete web site as a backup copy using special software. web site snapshots, using a software program to enable you to reconstruct your entire web site. For example, an agency set up a short-term extranet web site for a legislative initiative that included a bulletin board for key people to discuss the initiative. For public records purposes, the agency took web site snapshots in order to reconstruct the site completely as it existed at a given point in time.

Key Issues to Consider

Now that you are familiar with some of the basic concepts of web content management, you can use the questions below to discuss how those concepts relate to your agency.

You will want to discuss:

Changes to content, organization, or administration
Transactions completed via the web site
Communication that takes place via the web site (e.g., bulletin boards, live chats, e-mails posted)
Development of web site
Versions and history of web site development

Pay special attention to the questions posed by the legal framework, including the need for public accountability, managing public and not-public records, and following records retention schedules. Put yourself in the citizens' place, and think about how they will use your web site. Take into account your current use of the web and your expectations for future use. For example, you may currently publish a newsletter in paper format, but in the future, you may publish the same newsletter on the web.

Discussion Questions

What information will citizens seek on our web site? How can we ensure that we make the information easy to find? How can we assure those seeking information of the trustworthiness of the information?
Which elements of our web site are records?
Which elements of our web site should we track and store? How long are we legally required to retain our web site records?
How can we build web content archiving into overall web site management?
How can we build staff awareness and compliance with web content archiving procedures?
What will be the archival responsibilities for all staff members involved in web site development and management, especially the webmaster and content developers? Who will authorize web site content removal? Who will have the responsibility to accomplish the physical removal and archiving of web site content?

Download a copy of the Web Content Management Key Issues to Consider and Discussion Questions.

Web Content Management, Annotated List of Resources

Go to Table of Contents

Electronic Records Management Guidelines, March 2004, Version 4.