Electronic records should be retained at least as long as required by law or best practices. They should not be kept any longer unless their value to the agency offsets the cost of their storage. Each series (a group of identical or related records, which are normally used and filed as a unit) should have its retention period listed on a records retention schedule to avoid appearances that records destruction is capricious.

System requirements and design must reflect the fact that records must be maintained for the length of their retention period in an accessible, reliable and authentic manner. Agencies need to ensure that electronic records remain accessible and useable to support the primary purposes for which they were created and any predicted secondary⁷ purposes for as long as the records must be legally retained. System designers should also remember to account for the fact that a record may need to be kept longer than its retention period. For example, records disposal must be suspended in the face of litigation, administrative hearing, or an open records request.

That small percentage of records designated as ‘archival’ must be preserved permanently in an accessible and useable format by the agency or the relevant archival authority. In the absence of well-established, time-test standards, preserving electronic records raises real migration challenges since technology will change continuously through the life of the record. The use of proprietary formats in the creation and maintenance of electronic records is strongly discouraged because the use of these formats makes the migration and preservation of electronic records more difficult and costly.

Another challenge to records preservation is that it’s not always possible to predict secondary use. That is particularly important because most archival use is based on the record’s secondary value. It should be possible to retrieve and view the records in a number of ways to enable uses other than those based on primary value and the original functionality of the e-records system.

The originating entity must maintain the reliability and authenticity of the records for the time period established by the records retention schedule. To do so, the originating entity must maintain the records and all related metadata, system documentation, procedures and policies, and proofs of authenticity (e.g., electronic signatures) for the entire time period established by the records retention schedule. All data elements that comprise a record of a business transaction must be accessed, displayed and managed as a unit for the entire time period established by the records retention schedule. This does not mean that everyone that accesses the record needs to have access to all of the data elements. For example, when analyzing data for secondary purposes, it may not be necessary to acquire system documentation, procedures and policies.

Records must be easily retrieved in a timely manner throughout the entire retention period. Government officials are responsible for managing records in ways that ensure accessibility under the state and federal Freedom of Information Acts as well as other state and federal statutes and regulations that govern accessibility for disabled populations.

This accessibility is not unlimited, however. The system must include the necessary security to provide full access to individuals and agencies that have the right to full legal access, while limiting access to individuals and agencies that do not have the right to full legal access.

Records must be searchable and retrievable for reference and secondary uses including audits and legal proceedings throughout the entire retention period. Records must remain searchable and retrievable beyond their retention period if – but only if – special circumstances dictate, such as records being relevant to pending or current litigation or because they have been identified as archival.

When a new system is designed to replace an existing system, the requirements for the new system must ensure that complete records along with their corresponding metadata can be migrated to the new system. In addition, functionality necessary for predicted use of records can be reproduced in the new system. Functionality should be based on predicted use based on status of records. For inactive records, the ability to search and retrieve records may be sufficient. For records still actively engaged in a business process, full functionality may be necessary.

In summary, the system must be designed to ensure that copies of records can be produced and supplied in a useable format for business purposes, all public access requirements, and/or transfer to the relevant archival authority.