The team issued the following schedules:

DAA-GRS-2013-0001: Input Records, Output Records, and Electronic Copies (Chapter 4.3)

DAA-GRS-2013-0002: Records Related to Records and Information Management (Chapter 4.1)

DAA-GRS-2013-0003: Financial Management Records (Chapter 1.1)

DAA-GRS-2013-0004: Records Related to System Development (Chapter 3.1)

DAA-GRS-2013-0005: Records Related to Information Technology Infrastructure and

System Maintenance (Chapter 3.2)

DAA-GRS-2013-0006: Information Systems Security Records (Chapter 3.3)

Each schedule package includes two versions of the schedule: first, the version produced by ERA, and second, a “review version” that is easier to read and looks more like what will be the version published on the GRS website. The team recommends that reviewers focus on the “review version” of the schedule rather than the ERA version, although the information is basically the same. The team has also provided crosswalks mapping old GRS items to the new schedules. These crosswalks, as well as the schedule packages, are available at www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/grs/.

The backlog records schedule reduction project will include a 60-day focus from April 1 – May 31st on actual backlog schedules and all FY 2011 schedules. During this 60-day focus, appraisers will review all backlog schedules and take actions to move them forward as rapidly as possible for approval. Appraisers will continue to work with agencies on prioritizing other schedules and during this 60-day period we will continue to work on other schedules that are already in progress or others that agencies identify as high priority.

At the beginning of the fiscal year there were 90 open backlog schedules and 142 FY 2011 schedules. Currently, there are 52 backlog schedules and 79 FY 2011 schedules. The goal is to reduce the total number of backlog and FY 2011 schedules by a minimum of 75%, or 98 schedules remaining.

We are interested in reducing the number of older, open schedules in anticipation of the OMB/NARA M-12-18 directive requirement that all agencies schedule all Federal records by December 31, 2016. Having fewer open backlog schedules will increase our ability to more quickly process all incoming schedules.If you have any questions about your agency’s backlog records schedules, please contact your Appraisal Archivist. A list of Appraisal Archivists can be found at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/appraisal/work-group-all.html.

For overall questions about the initiative, contact Margaret Hawkins, Director of Records Management Services, at (301) 837-1799, or by e-mail to margaret.hawkins@nara.gov.

I am writing to inform you that as a consequence of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Memorandum M-13-05, Agency Responsibilities for Implementation of Potential Joint Committee Sequestration, and the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) implementing guidance of this directive, we have decided to cancel this year’s RACO conference and annual Archivist Achievement Awards for Records Management.

As I am sure you are all aware, sequestration requires each Federal agency to make difficult choices. To comply with the OMB memo, NARA has applied increased scrutiny to all spending related to its conferences. As a result, after much analysis and discussion, we have determined that we should not proceed with RACO 2013.

We will continue to share critical government-wide records management information through the Federal Records Council and the Bi-monthly Records and Information Discussion Group (BRIDG) meetings, as well as our Records Express blog.

If you have any questions about this announcement, please feel free to contact me or Laurence Brewer, Director, National Records Management Program, at (301) 837-1539 or by email to Laurence.Brewer@nara.gov.

PAUL M. WESTER, JR.
Chief Records Officer
for the U.S. Government

I have embedded the video of the transfer guidance webinar below:

Join us on Wednesday, March 6 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern time for a free online briefing.  Stephanie Fawcett from NARA’s Records Management Oversight team will give us an overview of NARA’s Records Management Self Assessment and give us tips for completing the Self Assessment.  You’ll learn more about how the assessment is conducted and how the data gathered through the project is used. You’ll also learn more about the terms used and types of information gathered so you’ll be ready to complete the Self Assessment.

Who should attend:  Agency records management staff and others who will assist them in completing NARA’s Records Management Self Assessment.

How to register:  Go to http://nara.ilinc.com/public to register and receive connection information for this session.

As the nation’s records manager, The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is charged with ensuring that all records identified as being permanently valuable are transferred in accordance with their disposition schedules. As the nation’s archives, NARA is responsible for providing permanent access to those same electronic records and recognizes that the greater the variability in the file formats used to encode records, the more complex and costly it will be to manage them over time. NARA has developed transfer guidance products that identify sustainable, standards-based file formats as way of ensuring that electronic records will remain accessible for as long as they are needed. Unfortunately, agencies often use formats that do not meet NARA’s requirements and as a result the transfer process often involves negotiations over how to proceed.

NARA is currently revising this guidance to identify additional sustainable formats in recognition of both the changes that have taken place in the marketplace and also the greater management capabilities provided by the Electronic Records Archives.This presentation will provide a history of NARA’s transfer guidance and describe the current effort to revise it.

There are a limited number of seats available for this presentation. To register, please visit  http://nara.ilinc.com/public. This webinar is a part of a series of free webinars that NARA is offering to help Federal agencies meet the challenges of a complex and evolving records management environment. To receive more information regarding upcoming sessions, please send a request to workshop@nara.gov.

This new web page provides a general overview for agencies on the transfer and accession processes into Textual, Special Media, and Electronic Media archival units in the DC area. There is also information concerning the transfer of records using ERA, the transfer of Federal Records Center records, the transfer of electronic and special media format records, and access to accessioned records by agencies.

Accessioning staff will continue to add content on a regular basis. Topics for future updates include:  donations, box & folder list examples, NARA accessioning procedures for textual transfers (both direct offers and the annual move), as well as transferring microforms.  Content feedback and suggestions are welcome by leaving a comment here or by sending a message directly to the accessioning staff by email at A2accessions@nara.gov.

The meeting will be held at the National Archives and Records Administration downtown building, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (Metrorail’s Yellow or Green lines to the Archives/Navy Memorial station) in the McGowan Theater. Please enter on the Constitution Avenue side of the building, the “Special Events” entrance (which is actually the exit for the general public).

We will begin with an informal networking hour from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. in the Washington Room (mezzanine level). The BRIDG meeting will run from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the McGowan Theater (basement level). Following BRIDG, a Staff Meet and Greet for all Federal agency attendees who work with Appraisal Team 1 will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Jefferson Room (mezzanine level). At subsequent BRIDG meetings, we will continue to hold  Meet and Greet sessions for agency attendees that work with one of the other three appraisal teams.

Meeting agenda items include the following:

·        PRMD Guidance and Projects

Laurence Brewer, Director, National Records Management Program, and William Bridges, Director, National Records Management Training Program

Mr. Brewer and Dr. Bridges will discuss NARA’s guidance and projects to assist agencies in meeting the training requirements in the Presidential Records Management Directive

·        WNRC Storage Update

Chris Pinkney, Acting Director, Washington National Records Center

Mr. Pinkney will provide an overview of the current organization of the WNRC as well as updates on facility issues, operations, and classified records

·        Permanent Records Capture Team

Matthew Eidson, Supervisor, Permanent Records Capture Team

Mr. Eidson will give an overview of the recently established Office of the Chief Records Officer Team, its mission and priorities, and mode of interaction with Research Services and Federal agencies

·        Accessioning Resources

Dawn Sherman-Fells, Accessioning  Archivist, Research Services

Ms. Sherman-Fells will introduce the Research Services’ accessioning team’s web site, including information for agencies on transferring records to NARA

Please visit this link (http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/meetings/webcast-instructions.html) to view the steps you will need to take to view the webcast.

NARA will provide free wi-fi to on-site participants in the McGowan Theater. We will also be monitoring questions from both the on-site and remote audiences through Twitter. If you would like to ask a question or make a comment, please use the #NARABRIDG hashtag.

To reserve a place for the Agency Services-BRIDG meeting and/or the pre-BRIDG networking hour, please provide your name, telephone number, and agency name via email to rm.communications@nara.gov, no later than Monday, February 11, 2013. You may reserve places for several staff in the same email, but for security purposes we must have each individual’s name, telephone number, and email address. If you would like to attend the pre-BRIDG networking hour, please RSVP in your email response, so that we can determine an accurate headcount for catering. You do not need to RSVP if you plan to attend via the webcast.

To reserve a place for the Appraisal Team 1 Meet and Greet, a reservation is required. This meeting will provide an opportunity to meet with Appraisal Archivists and the supervisor from Appraisal Team 1, FRC account representatives, textual and electronic records accessioning staff, declassification and ERA training staff, and staff from the Permanent Records Capture Team. Agencies in Team 1 include, but are not limited to: Department of Justice, Treasury, Judicial agencies, and General Services Administration among others. All agencies listed as part of Team 1 are encouraged to attend this meeting.

Please email Shannon Olsen at shannon.olsen@nara.gov, or call 301-837-3486 if you need assistance.

NARA encourages agencies to participate at BRIDG by presenting best practices or lessons learned that would be helpful to other attending agencies. If you wish to lead a discussion, please reply to this RM Communications. NARA reserves the right to postpone or cancel a meeting at any time. We will make every effort to contact registrants by e-mail and telephone if that occurs, so complete information at the time of registration is very important. Meetings WILL BE CANCELED if the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announces a “closed,” “unscheduled leave,” “liberal leave,” or “delayed arrival” policy for Federal employees for that day or if there has been an elevation to threat level RED in the Homeland Security status. Official Government closing and leave information is located on the OPM web site at www.opm.gov.

Back in October,  the GRS Team issued its plan for updating and revising the GRS (RM Communication AC 02.2013). The plan may be downloaded (as a .pdf) at www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/grs/plan-2012.pdf. This year, the team is working on approximately ten schedules in the Finance Management, Technology Management, and Information Management sections. We wasted no time getting started on the new schedules, taking October to review existing schedules and background documentation.

In November we solicited agency volunteers for five topical working groups to aid in the development of schedule requirements. We gratefully acknowledge the 64 volunteers from 39 agencies that volunteered. These groups have been working since mid-November to draft new GRS schedules. Their work concludes in the next few weeks and will be followed by review groups that will further refine the schedules. In the coming months we will be finalizing the draft schedules, entering them into ERA, and writing appraisal reports. We are currently planning to make the new schedules available for external review in late May. For monthly updates on the progress of the GRS update, please visit our website: www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/grs/.

In the meantime, the team has also been working on other GRS related projects. The first week in December project lead Galen Wilson visited with various agencies in the DC metro area about their intranet sites. Galen is in the process of finalizing a draft GRS for web records that we hope to have available for external review in the near future.

Our training and guidance sub-team has been working on various products to assist in using and interpreting the GRS. We are in the final stages of issuing a general FAQ on the GRS and soon will be starting work on an FAQ about requesting exceptions to the GRS. We are also still working on guidance for incorporating GRS items into agency big bucket schedules. We plan to issue this guidance in early 3^rd quarter.

If you have any questions about any of the projects the GRS Team is working on, please feel free to contact us at GRS_Team@nara.gov.

The stated objectives of the Directive are to transition the Federal Government from an analog environment to a modern, electronic record keeping system by the end of the decade to ensure transparency, efficiency and accountability. Also the Directive aims to provide a foundation to ensure agencies can demonstrate compliance with Federal records management statutes and regulations. For more information about the Records Management Directive, check out this blog post from August.

There are a limited number of seats available for this presentation. To register, please visit http://nara.ilinc.com/public. This webinar is a part of a series of free Webinars that NARA is offering to help Federal agencies meet the challenges of a complex and evolving records management environment. To receive more information regarding upcoming sessions, please send a request to workshop@nara.gov.