Vital records, disaster prevention and recovery

Vital records, disaster prevention and recovery http://web.archive.org/web/20041224122434/http://xnet.rrc.mb.ca/recmgmt/chapter11.htm

Vital records: disaster prevention and recovery

Vital records

• Business records must be protected from disaster
• 60% of organizations experiencing a business closure of >2 days go out of business within one year

Identification and analysis of vital records

• Vital records (essential records) – those records essential to the continued life of a business, also called class 1 records
• May take any form
• Hard copy, magnetic tape, microform, optical disk, etc.
• May be active or inactive records
• “A Vital Records Program is a systematic method of selecting, protecting, and having available at time of emergency:
• records considered essential to the continued operation of an agency or business, commensurate with its emergency responsibilities
• records require to protect rights of individuals and the government, and
• records that are absolutely essential to reconstruction.”
• The ID of vital records and the implementation of the protection program for them evolves from the records inventory
• Vital records normally comprise 1 to 5% of an organization’s records

Organization analysis

• Organization analysis – management must determine vital functions or organization a functional organization chart is helpful
• Ask: “What information and/or records are needed to resume business immediately following a disaster?”

Classification of vital records

• Records are classified as vital, important, useful, or nonessential
• Read: Disaster Preparedness & Response Appendix B, p. 38 http://www.arma-gla.org/presentation/2001-02/armafeb20workshop2.pdf

Determining physical volume of records by class

• Paper
• How many square feet of shelf space occupied?
• How many file drawers with records and the square footage of these file drawers?
• How much total space required for Class 1(vital), 2 (important), and 3 (useful) records?
• What should be done with Class 4 (nonessential records)?
• Vital records in electronic form, gather for each record series
• Series title
• Storage media and other physical characteristics
• Location
• Method of protection
• Security requirements
• Brief rationale for categorizing series as vital

Determining space needed to house inventoried records

• Based on physical volume of records by class
• How much space should be allocated for each class?
• What is estimated rate of accession at which records added to each class?
• What is rate of transfer/disposal for each class?
• How much space required if total allocation for each class included accessions and transfers?

Determining production necessary for safe records storage

• Protection for paper records and magnetic media records must be considered
• Vital records require most protection
• Fire, main hazard
• Magnetic media and their containers do not pose a more severe fire hazard than paper
• Polystyrene cases and reels pose a more severe fire hazard

Analysis of risk

• The greatest cost to the organization concerns the loss of all records classified as vital
• Evaluate the dollar cost to the organization if all records classified as vital were lost
• Repeat for all the other classes of records
• Of those organizations whose records are destroyed, 35% go out of business

Fire and other natural and human hazards

• The primary risk to records safety is fire
• Associated risk: water or chemicals used in fire containment
• Other possible elements of destruction include earthquakes, wind and rainstorms, broken water mains, mould and mildew, insects and rodents, dust, theft, and vandalism

Methods of protecting vital records

• A vital records program is more important than insurance
• Protection of the organization’s vital records ensures the continued life of the business, while insurance pays the organization after its death following a disaster
• It is virtually impossible to provide 100% risk-free protection, need to use minimum risk storage techniques

Duplication

• A method of providing a copy of an original document
• Duplicates can take the form of paper copies, roll microfilm, microfiche, magnetic tapes, or other media
• Special requirements for storage must be considered

Dispersal

• Dispersal is one method of providing a copy of an original document for records reconstruction by having copies distributed internally or externally
• Examples of external dispersal include:
• Federal income tax records
• Bank records
• Insurance policies
• Normally used with paper copies only

Vital records transfer and storage procedures

• Vital records master list identifies all vital records in each department, including
• Department name
• Storage location
• Page number
• Vital records identification code
• Vital records name
• Retention periods
• Office of record (office responsible for maintaining “official records copy”)
• Vital records protection
• Protection instructions

Transfer of vital records
Vital records can be transferred on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

Procedures for handling vital records

1. In case of disaster during work hours, records in use should be returned to their proper places within the files if at all possible
2. Records in use but belonging in vaults should be returned to the safe or vault at the end of each working day. Never leave out overnight.
3. Employees should not allow important records to accumulate on desks or in in-baskets.
4. Records normally protected may be unprotected when temporarily in other hands. Copies should be distributed when possible.

Electronic vital records protection

• Electronic records present special problems and should be dealt with accordingly
• Analysis of each computer application must be done
• Procedures for backup must be established
• An alternative site for the processing of data must be considered

Alternative site location methods

• Reciprocal agreement
• Cold site
• Warm site
• Vendor agreement
• Commercial service bureau
• Hot site
• Redundant site
• Electronic vaulting

Method	Characteristics	Advantages	Disadvantages
Reciprocal agreement	An agreement between two or more compatible organizations to provide computer time for each other in case of a disaster	Inexpensive; little cash outlay	Hardware and software configurations may change; both organizations may experience the same disaster; not to be used on a long-term basis
Cold site	An alternative without environmental controls or hardware	Inexpensive; may be shared by two or more organizations; long-term use	If sharing, two organizations may need at the same time
Warm site	An alternative site with environmental controls and some or all computer peripherals	More expensive; may be shared by two or more organizations; long-term use	If sharing, two organizations may need at the same time
Vendor agreement	Contracting organization uses vendor's corporate facilities	Availability, lower cost than  other options	May be available for long term use; lack of configuration compatibility; other organizations may have similar arrangements
Commercial Service Bureau	This company provides data processing facilities	Pay only for the time used, immediate availability	Variable service; possibly security problems, expensive for long-term use, may not have the time and capacity for processing needed
Hot site	Fully equipped facility on continuous standby, on a first-come, first-served basis.	Security, availability, ease of plan testing, costs may be covered through business-interruption insurance	Very high costs, possible distance from data centre
Redundant site	Duplicate of the current data centre at an alternative site run by your organization	Assured compatibility, availability, security, ease of use	Most expensive option; trying to keep both sites compatible through reconfiguration and software updates
Electronic vaulting	Backup is done on a real-time basis. Data are duplicated in real-time and transferred to an offsite but connected system.	Direct access, tape vaults with communication facilities	Very expensive, new technology for disaster recovery

Source: Adapted from Brett Balon, “Disaster Planning for Electronic Records” (Proceedings of the Association of Records Managers and Administrators International 34th Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 2-5, 1989)

Action plan

• Contains procedures to protect electronic records
• Action plan must be tested

Vital records protection manual

• Lists all vital records according to department and contains both vital record code number and retention date
• May be a separate document or part of another documentation manual

Salvage methods

• Water-damaged materials result from 95% of all disasters
• Need to deal with both water damage and mould
• Salvage procedures for water damaged materials
• Air-drying
• Labour and space intensive but not cheap, not recommended for coated glossy paper as in magazines (pages can easily become permanently stuck together)
• Freezing
• Stabilizes wet materials and provides time to plan course of action if completed as soon as possible to prevent deterioration 
• Vacuum drying
• not recommended as heat involved is damaging to paper and photographic materials (Microwave ovens are not recommended for same reason)
• Vacuum freeze drying
• Safest and most successful salvage method for paper but most expensive

Recovery priority by type of records media
See chart on pp. 21-22 Disaster preparedness and response http://www.arma-gla.org/presentations/2001-02/armafeb20workshop2.pdf

Additional information

• Disasters Come In All SizesThis article, from the March 2000 issue of InfoPro Magazine, talks about the basics of planning ahead for disaster recovery.
• Emergency Management for Records & Information Management Programs
  Excerpted here are two chapters, including forms and checklists, from the book Emergency Management for Records and Information Management Programs. This material focuses on the steps for responding to an emergency or disaster and for beginning the recovery of information assets. These response and recovery steps are but a small part of a comprehensive emergency management plan that organizations need to formulate in order to prepare for disasters and prevent or minimize the loss of records.

• Access both from http://www.arma.org/rim/fundamentals/index.cfm?View=other

Electronic records management

http://web.archive.org/web/20041224123926/http://xnet.rrc.mb.ca/recmgmt/chapter9.htm

Electronic records management

Issues 

• Up to 93% of an organization’s information is created digitally
• Many different types of electronic information
• Text, image, audio, video, e-mail, web pages, databases, etc.
• Email can be a big issue
• No one dominant program
• Different versions
• Many different file formats
• Rapid rate of change and obsolescence
• Compatibility, security, crashing, archival, consistency

Canadian legislation

• Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
• Electronic documents equivalent to paper with regards to privacy protection required
• CGSB 72.34
• Fisher, Paul. Electronic Records as Evidence: The Case For Canada’s New Standard. Information Management Journal; Mar/Apr 2004, Vol. 38, Issue 2, p39, 6p.
• Discusses the development of the Electronic Records as Documentary Evidence standard in Canada. Factors that contributed to the creation of a standard application to both electronic records and results of electronic data interchange by the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB). Background on the structure and provisions of the standards; Predictions on the applications of the standard. 
• Available on EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier
• The Archives And Record Keeping Act S.M. 2001, c. 35
• “electronic” includes created, recorded, transmitted, or stored in digital or other intangible form by electronic, magnetic, optical or any similar means http://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/statutes/2001/c03501e.php

Types of electronic records

• Electronic records contain machine-readable information consisting of:
• Minnesota State Archives. Electronic Records Management Guidelines. File Formats. http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/records/electronicrecords/erfformats.html
• Types of storage media
• Magnetic
• Magnetic disk
• Magnetic tape
• Digital audio tape (DAT)
• Videotape
• Optical
• Large storage capacity
• Random access technology means fast retrieval speed
• Compact Disk (CD)
• CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW
• WORM: Write-Once/Read Many times
• Info on a WORM disk can be read many times, but cannot be erased
• Erasable optical (EO)
• DVD
• DVD video, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW
• Optical cards
• Optical tape
• any information that can be stored on magnetic media can be stored on optical media
• Minnesota State Archives. Electronic Records Management Guidelines. Digital Media. http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/records/electronicrecords/erdigital.html 

Storage options

• Online
• Properly designed storage in your computer system may provide full access to appropriate users. Online access means that the record is accessible immediately through your network (e.g. on your network server or on your computer’s hard drive). This option maintains the greatest functionality.
• Nearline
• Nearline storage includes storage in a system that is not a direct part of your network, but that can be accessed through your network (e.g., an optical media jukebox). This option maintains a moderate amount of functionality.
• Offline
• Offline storage refers to storage on a system that is not accessible through your network (e.g. removable media such as magnetic tape). This option retains the least amount of functionality, while still maintaining records in an electronic format.
• Paper or microfilm
• Printing records onto archival-quality paper or outputting them to microform for storage may be acceptable as long as the complete records, including all components and metadata, is included.

http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/records/electronicrecords/erdigital.html#storage
Digital preservation techniques

• Computer museum approach
• Emulation
• Migration and conversion
• Most common technique

http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/records/electronicrecords/erpreserve.html#techniques
Long-term retention approaches

• Conversion
• When you convert a record, you change its file format. Often, conversion takes place to make the record software independent and in a standard or open format. For example, you can convert a record created in WordPerfect by saving it as a Rich Text Format (RTF) file or to Microsoft Word.
• Migration
• When you migrate a record, you move it to another computer platform, storage medium, or physical format. For example, when you migrate records, you may need to migrate them to another storage medium to ensure continued accessibility. For example, if you migrate records from magnetic tapes that deteriorate, you may need to migrate the records to a compact disk to ensure continued accessibility.

Care and maintenance

• Minnesota State Archives. Electronic Records Management Guidelines. Storage Facilities and Procedures. http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/records/electronicrecords/erstorage.html

Electronic records management programs

• Identify all electronic records
• Conduct an inventory and appraisal
• Develop the retention and disposition schedules
• Develop procedures for storage and retrieval
• Store inactive electronic records carefully
• Update the records manual

Manitoba Government records policies and guidelines

• Guideline on Retention and Disposal of E-mail Messages and Electronic Documents http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/gro/recordkeeping/faq.html#2c 
• Records Disposal http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/gro/recordkeeping/faq.html#5
• Minnesota State Archives. Electronic Records Management Guidelines. http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/records/electronicrecords/erguidelinestoc.html