Trustworthy Information Systems Handbook: Section 1
What's in it for you?
Good news!
The Trustworthy Information Systems Handbook can help
you—information systems developers, policy makers, and current
and future system users—to be confident that your
1. “An electronic system for creating, generating, sending, receiving, storing, displaying, or otherwise processing information.” (e)
2. “The organized collection, processing, transmission, and dissemination of information in accordance with defined procedures, whether automated or manual. . . . Most often refers to a system containing electronic records, which involves input or source documents, records on electronic media, and output records, along with related documentation and any indexes.” (i)
information systems
can support accountability to elected officials and citizens by creating
1. Reliability is the measure of a record's authority and is determined solely by the circumstances of the record's creation.
reliable,
1. Authenticity is a function of a record's preservation and is a measure of a record's reliability over time.
authentic,
and accessible
1. Data, text, images, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, databases, etc. (e)
information
and
1. “Information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.” (e)
2. Information created or received during the course of government business that becomes part of an official transaction.
3. “All cards, correspondence, discs, maps, memoranda, microfilms, papers, photographs, recordings, reports, tapes, writings and other data, information or documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, storage media or conditions 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 transaction of public business by an officer or agency.” Excluding “data and information that does not become part of an official transaction, library and museum material made or acquired and kept solely or reference or exhibit purposes, extra copies of documents kept only for convenience of reference and stock of publications and processed documents, and bonds, and coupons, or other obligations or evidence of indebtedness, the destruction or other disposition of which is governed by other laws.” (g)
records.
The Handbook provides tools so you can:
- Understand why 1. An information system that produces reliable and authentic records. trustworthy information systems are important
- Apply statutory and legal mandates and policies to information management
- Evaluate the level of government accountability that your records and information embody
- Determine the importance of your government agency records and information
- Establish how much 1. “The act or process of substantiating by recording actions and/or decisions.” (i)2. “Records required to plan, develop, operate, maintain, and use electronic records. Included are systems specifications, file specifications, codebooks, file layouts, user guides, and output specifications.” (i) documentation or evidence in record keeping is adequate
- Use the trustworthy information systems criteria effectively
Records and information in government are extremely important for the following reasons:
- They facilitate government business
- They demonstrate government 1. The quality of being responsible, answerable; the obligation to report, explain, or justify an event or situation. accountability
- They serve as evidence of government activity in Minnesota for current and future users of government information
In the face of the rapid growth of information technology, government information systems must demonstrate accountability through sound information management and documentation of government activity.
For these reasons, records in government need to be reliable and authentic. With 1. “A record created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means.” (e) electronic records and information in 1. “Describes any system based on discontinuous data or events. Computers are digital machines because at their most basic level they can distinguish between just two values, 0 and 1, or off and on. There is no simple way to represent all the values in between, such as 0.25. All data that a computer processes must be encoded digitally, as a series of zeroes and ones.” (b) digital formats, we cannot demonstrate reliability and authenticity as easily as we can with paper records. We cannot see, touch, or examine electronic records in any intelligible way without the assistance of hardware and software. The Handbook provides the next best thing—the tools needed to examine government information systems for trustworthiness.
Keep reading to find out the best way to achieve information system trustworthiness for your government agency.
TIS Handbook last updated July 2002, Version 4.
