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October 31, 2004
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User Questions

User Questions

The following questions were derived from the questions asked during the ERA User Conference held on 11/08/02.

Item Question Response
1 What do you recommend agencies do until ERA is operational?

 NARA’s Electronic Records Management (ERM) Initiative is helping to bridge that gap by providing Guidances on specific types of formats NARA can accept before ERA is implemented. So far, NARA has released Guidances for taking email with attachments, scanned textual images and records in PDF format. We intend to keep working through cycles of transfer formats for heavily used records formats as long as we need to be able to provide support to the agencies.

NARA is also working to increase its records management support to Federal agencies through the Target Assistance (TA) Program.
2 Do you anticipate accepting electronic versions of SF135’s and SF258s for transfer approval? ERA is looking to automate records transfer transactions to make the process simpler and faster.
3 Do you see ERA supplementing ERM systems at other agencies to become the RM system for the Federal Government?

 		 ERA will provide guidance to government agencies. NARA has endorsed DoD 5015.2-STD for use by other federal agencies. NARA collaborates with DoD to enhance the standard, specifically working to improve the metadata specifications within the standard and to articulate data, system and functional requirements for interoperability between RMA implementations.
4 What will NARA do to help empower the agency RM programs so that record keeping is integrated into systems from the beginning? Agencies are beginning to recognize that they have to manage the information in their systems longer than just for the life cycle of that particular application. With NARA’s Records Management Initiative (RMI), NARA is focusing on the need to get involved at the earlier stages of the records life cycle, to work records management into agency systems planning.
5 Has NARA participated in any research to find solutions to the technological challenges presented by the Electronic Records Archives?

 NARA is an active participant in a number of research projects that focus on authenticity, preservation and system scalability. We’re currently building a Virtual Archives Laboratory (VAL) with a high-speed internet connection between NARA, the San Diego SuperComputer Center and VAL University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies to test a Persistent Archives Architecture. ERA will use the VAL as a vehicle to gather additional research knowledge.

ERA Acronym List

Acronym Definition
AAD Access to Archival Databases
AERIC Archival Electronic Records Inspection and Control
APS Archival Preservation System
ARC Archival Research Catalog
CMM Capability Maturity Model
CONOPS Concept of Operations
COTS Commercial Off-The-Shelf
DARPA Defense Advance Research Projects Agency
DOC Distributed Object Computation Testbed
DOMPF Digital Official Military Personnel Files Repository
e-Gov Electronic Government
ELC ERA Life Cycle
ERA Electronic Records Archives
ERM Electronic Records Management
GPO Government Printing Office
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
InterPARES International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems
IOC Initial Operational Capability
IT Information Technology
NARA National Archives and Records Administration
NHPRC National Historical Publications and Records Committee
NPACI National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure
OAIS Open Archival Information Standard
OMB Office of Management and Budget
PD Program Director
PDF Portable Document Format
PERPOS Presidential Electronic Records Pilot System
POST Program Office Support Team
PM Project Manager
PMBOK Project Management Institutes Project Management Body of Knowledge
PMO Program Management Office
RCP Records Center Program
RD Requirements Document
RFC Request For Comment
RFI Request For Information
RFP Request For Proposal
RMI Records Management Initiative
SDLC Systems Development Life Cycle
SDSC San Diego Supercomputer Center
SEI Software Engineering Institute
Std Standard
UMIACS University of Maryland Institute For Advanced Computer Studies
URL Uniform Resource Locator
VAL Virtual Archives Laboratory
XML Extensible Markup Language
XO Executive Officer
WWW World Wide Web

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