Electronic access programs have the potential to ensure that the electronic records maintained by government agencies and other organizations will be available and useable for the widest variety of contemporary and future uses. If designed well, these programs allow users to readily locate, use, analyze and compare relevant data to answer questions that are important to them. While such programs can make life simpler for information users, they are not easy or simple to design. If your organization is about to become an access provider or to revise an existing access program, these guidelines should help you deal with the complex work ahead.

• Start with a candid description of your planned program and its context
• Assess users, uses, content, supplier, structure and context dimensions
• Diagnose the interactions among these dimensions and the options they offer for action
• Design a program at several levels of aspiration
• Estimate the costs of these alternative designs
• Analyze the relative costs and benefits of different design configurations

Having taken these steps, you will be well-prepared to select the best program design for your situation, communicate it to stakeholders, develop detailed plans and budgets, and begin the difficult but rewarding work of implementation.